BEEP BEEP!
A honk sounded from the road and I jumped, startled by the sudden noise.
"Fuck," I swore, stuffing my spare clothes into my beach bag and hurrying to the door to slide on pink flip-flops. They were my sister's, not mine, but she said I could borrow them as long as I was going to the beach. I figured real men wear pink so hopefully they didn't earn me too much teasing.
I hastened down the walk to the road, trying not to trip over the undersized flip-flops and fighting to put on sunglasses with my beach bag swinging around my arm. Mark had gotten out of his car already and was waiting for me with a sly grin on his face. His smile widened and he tilted down his shades to get a better look at what I was wearing.
"Ha! You look like a girl, dude!"
"Fuck off," I grumbled, feeling lucky I had my sunglasses to be surreptitious in looking him over in return. I'd been at college and it had been a while since I'd seen my best friend, a muscular, browned Asian guy. He had on swim trunks with one string still messily stuck in his waistband and a tank top that showed his thick, tanned arms. I'd always been jealous of his physique, being slender and white myself, and he knew it—it seemed nothing had changed when it came to the teasing. "They're my sister's, you know," I added as I pulled open the passenger door of his car and tossed in my beach bag.
"No, I mean, your trunks too," Mark laughed as he rounded his car. "They're a bit small for you, man."
"Yeah, yeah!" I said hotly, glancing down at the shorts that seemed to cling to my pale thighs. I hadn't gone swimming in a while, so yeah, maybe I was overdue for a new pair of trunks, but the beach trip had been a spur-of-the-moment idea. "Did you remember to get suntan lotion?" I slid into the passenger's seat, feeling uncomfortable as my shorts rode up and the back of my thighs rubbed against the leather beneath me.
"Yep. Parasol, towels, water, everything. Let's do it." Mark revved the engine and we were off, rolling the windows down to feel some air as we headed to the beach. We chatted a bit during the drive and I tried not to be obvious about watching him out of the corner of my eye. His haircut looked good, sending up a wave of black hair above his head. Girls probably got a handful of grease when they ran their fingers through it.
Before long we'd reached the beach and were heading down the steps in the burning heat. The beach of pale golden sand stretched out into the distance along the glittering blue bay. The weather was good, but there weren't that many people out for some reason.
"Wow, it's hot," I exclaimed, squinting up through my sunglasses at the sun. It seemed a lot more so now that I knew I was going to be out in it for a while. I'd gotten too used to the wind in Mark's car.
"Yeah, it's hot as balls," Mark exhaled. "It'll feel good after a while, though."
"Balls are supposed to be cool, you know," I got out, a little more awkwardly than I'd intended.
Mark looked at me, starting to grin. "What, your balls don't get sweaty as hell? How much hair do you have down there, man?"
"Don't ask that!" I scolded, flushing slightly. The week before I'd gotten fed up with all the hair down there and actually taken the time to shave my butt and my balls. It felt amazing to get drafts of air through my legs, but I didn't need Mark knowing that I'd done something like that. "L-look, there's a bunch of girls out today," I changed the subject.
Predictably he began scanning the beach, and I joined him in noticing a few groups of girls in bikinis lounging on towels not far away. My heartbeat quickened. There was a blonde one in an orange bikini whose glistening body looked fucking amazing even at this distance, and several shiny black girls lying on their stomachs with no tops on. Out on the water some guys were surfing the waves in their wetsuits.
"Should come here more often, huh?" Mark said with a sudden elbowing to my side that sent me off balance and stumbling out of a pink flip flop in the hot sand.
"H-hey, watch it!" I protested.
"Still haven't started working out, huh?" He laughed loudly. "You're still so light."
"I'm trying," I muttered. The truth was, I had actually been doing that, but every time I went to the gym and saw the shirtless guys all ripped and muscular I got frustrated that I was so far behind them and went home feeling bothered and flustered.
"How's here?" Mark queried suddenly.
I eyed our surroundings. "This is kinda far from the water. You just want to watch those black girls over there, don't you, Mark?"
He smirked at me. "Hey, if one of them turns over we have front row seats to some nice chocolate-covered strawberries."
"Ugh, you're so crude," I complained, putting my sunglasses up in my tousled hair and blinking in the sudden light. We laid out our towels first, then Mark stabbed a parasol into a stand to provide us some merciful shade. "Thank goodness," I said with relief as I slid into the cool shadow. The heat was oppressive today and my arms and legs were already shining with sweat.
"Alright, let's get this shit off," Mark said, fighting his tank top off. While it was over his head I chanced a look at his body, and ended up sucking in a breath of surprise. A sheen of sweat rippled across the contours of his muscular brown chest and abs, assets that looked like they belonged in a magazine for girls. Ohhh fuck. When had he gotten so toned there? And I noticed he wasn't bothering to hide the trail of black hair vanishing into his swim trunks, which seemed extra provocative.
"What, surprised?" I heard Mark's voice.
"Hm?" My eyes darted up to see a big smile on my best friend's face and I realized with horror that he'd caught me looking. "N-no!" I said, my face getting really hot all of the sudden. "I mean, sure. I didn't know you... you'd been working on all that." Fuck. This was so embarrassing. I averted my gaze and focused on pretending to sort through my beach bag.
"No, thanks, man, really," Mark chuckled. "I take it as a compliment. If I can get a look like that from you, I'm sure it can knock any girl out."
My mouth popped open and I turned to him once more, this time in protest. "I—I wasn't looking at you like that! It was an accident!"
"M-hm. I'm sure." Mark moved on, distractedly searching his own bag as I sat there defeated and blushing madly. Fuck fuck fuck. He had to make it weird. I should've known.
I bit my lip and went back to arranging myself, pausing for a moment before pulling off my own tank top. It was pretty embarrassing to be seen like this next to my muscular friend, but it might make it worse to act super timid about it. Mark noticed me nonetheless and commented,
"Lucky you're getting a tan on that today, buddy. You're looking a bit soft, don't you think?"
"N-now who's ogling who?" I shot back, but I didn't have much of an upper hand when he looked like that.
"Hey, just some advice!" Mark reasoned, raising his hands with a smile. "Don't want people calling my best friend a twink, after all."
"H-hey, what's that supposed to mean?"
"Twink—y'know, the boys in gay porn that—"
"I know what twink means!" I exclaimed frantically, feeling my face flush again. Fuck. Why did he even bring it up? I hated when stuff like sexuality came up because we'd always toss it around goading each other and being the more manly man Mark always seemed to come out on top. "Stop trying to say I'm gay, Mark! You know I'm not."
