When I met Kaique, I was completely unprepared. I had just turned 18. I had no idea I was bisexual, meaning I hadn't had a problem getting on with girls. I had my share of internalized homophobia, so it was unthinkable to assume what I felt for him, for Kaique, when I saw him surfing for the first time, was attraction.
We sat down on the sand, me and the guys. Kaique was surfing on our usual place. It had never happened before, so we were a little surprised. Sitting down to watch the intruder riding the waves was like a silent agreement to muse over what to do next.
I was the youngest, but my extrovert personality sort of pushed me to be the head of the three.
"What do we do now?" Lucas asked me.
"I guess we have to share," I said, a little grumpy.
"He's sort of good," James pointed out. We looked at him. "Just saying."
Kaique was dark-skinned. Not just tanned like the three of us, but possessing a deep brown complexion. The sun sprinkled on it as he bested the waves. Then he fell off and upon remounting the board seemed to notice us. He stared for a few seconds before making his way to the shore.
"Seems like he's leaving," I said unnecessarily. "I think we scared him off." For some reason, I felt bad.
Kaique carried his board by his side, walking towards a bundle of what seemed to be his private things.
We decided to approach him. Well, I did. Kaique barely looked interested at our approach. I introduced myself.
"I'm Julio. Sorry if we seemed too nosy, but we never find new people here."
"I'm new in town. I was leaving anyway." His voice was low and calm. It seemed like he didn't want to talk to me, which of course didn't bother me.
"You don't want to share the waves with us?"
"Don't like the crowd."
"Fair enough. What's your name?"
"Kaique."
"Dude, don't be shy. Come join us."
Kaique shook his head, but I felt a glimpse of interest. The shy comment had been a shot in the dark. It hit the mark anyway. James and Lucas were shy. I thought it was funny how I attracted shy guys as friends. I came to realize later that I was the one being attracted.
"Seriously, you telling me you don't have a little time to make new friends?"
Kaique shrugged.
"Alright."
He was about my height, slender, had well-defined muscles. His hair was crispy and short.
He had green eyes. Maybe it shouldn't have surprised me, but it did.
We headed back to James and Lucas. Kaique didn't say much. When he did it was short and to the point. A man of a few words.
We ended up sharing the waves. Our love for the sport made up for any lack of familiarity. Kaique seemed to be slightly better than us, which forced us to admire him, if grudgingly.
The afternoon wasn't half done, however, before Lucas and James had to attend a prior commitment. I had known this. I didn't like to surf alone so I started back with them, then stopped.
"Are you staying?" I asked Kaique. He was chilling on his board.
"Yeah, I'll stay a little more."
"You mind if I stay?"
"No."
I gave a quick glance towards James and Lucas. They nodded.
"See you guys later!" They said.
I padded back to Kaique. "Damn, I'm glad you're here. I'd hate to leave right now."
"Yeah."
I looked around, thinking about what to say next. I hated silence.
"So, hm, how old are you?"
"Twenty."
"Oh cool. I just turned 18 last month."
"Cool."
"Yeah." I bit my lip. Now I felt like I was being annoying. I realized not having Lucas and James there with me took away some of my confidence. "Do you like Rock?"
"Not really."
I nodded. After a few silent moments, I sighed. "Let's catch some waves."
"Sure."
By that point I was sure he hated me. I wondered why. I hadn't done anything wrong, except maybe coming on too strong. I could do that sometimes. I felt like I should fight for this guy's good graces. Why? Well, I liked the challenge.
Hating me or not, he surfed with me until the sun was going down. We left the water together.
"Hey, nice meeting you."
"You too." His handgrip was firm. He even smiled. "Can I join you again another time?" He asked. That had to be the most words he had said to me at once.
"Absolutely, man."
We met again a few times, always the four of us at the same spot during the weekends and holidays. Kaique was more comfortable around us, but he remained stoic, reserved, unreachable. Most of the time he was just there. Sometimes we were surprised he even showed up.
Until one day Lucas and James bailed on me. They both gave me the same reason of being tired from work, but since they worked together for my dad, I shrugged it off.
I texted Kaique to see if he would bail too, but even after I told him about Lucas and James he wouldn't. So we met on that Saturday morning. We surfed. We didn't talk. The silence didn't make me feel weird. I enjoyed it. I had a lot in my mind.
We laid some towels on the sand, lay on top of them and enjoyed both the sun and the silence.
Eventually my talkative part took over.
"Sucks that James and Lucas couldn't come." My comment was left in the air. Kaique was unresponsive. "Ever since they started working for my dad, they're sort of drifting away."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I helped them get those jobs. Almost makes me regret it." I hoped he didn't catch the bitterness. It definitely surprised me. I felt bad.
"Huh," Kaique grunted. I looked at him.
"What?"
"Relax. Give them space."
I chuckled. Kaique raised his eyebrows.
"I didn't know you were capable of offering advice, dude."
To my surprise, Kaique chuckled too. It may sound weird, but that felt like an achievement. A big one.
Kaique turned, lying down on his belly. He closed his eyes. It seemed like he had reached his quota of talking. His face was turned to the other side. I looked at the back of his head, the shoulders sprinkled with sand. I sat up and stole a few glances of his toned body, appreciative of the form of his butt, very tightly grabbed by the speedo.
Nice ass. I felt a stir in my underwear. It gave me a slight moment of 'what the fuck?' and nothing else. I shrugged it off.
Kaique parted his legs a little wider. I kept waiting for him to catch me, but he couldn't know I was eating him up with my eyes. I would deny anyway. My hard-on could easily be explained with a lie.
Kaique didn't catch me.
I invited him home for the first time. The last thing I expected was that my father would disapprove of him. I hoped Kaique didn't notice the side eyes I received. I took him to my bedroom, showed him my Heavy Metal collection, my games. Kaique looked impressed but in his quiet way. I started to like his quietness. The way he would listen to me, grunt and offer a small comment or two. He always seemed sincere. When he left, I found out my father didn't like him because he was black. He didn't say it, but I could tell.
I didn't give a damn.
It was pretty obvious after a few days that James and Lucas were avoiding me. But since I had Kaique, I felt... less bad.
Surfing ended up being our thing. Just the two of us. And the speedos.