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 Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:09 am
Paris loved warm weather. He loved the sunshine, he loved the bright skies and the temperate winds, and he loved what the spring and summer time did to clothing – shorts, skirts, and sleeveless tops instead of pants, coats, and layers of sweaters. He loved the fun to be had during summer; there was so much more to do once the snows melted and the temperatures rose. He didn’t even mind the humidity so much, though it did horrible things to his hair. He loved the smell of the flowers and the way the city looked in full bloom, and he loved how bright and alive everything looked, waking up after a long, depressing winter.
But most of all he loved the opportunity to go to the beach and spend the day in the sun, sand, and surf. Sadly, he didn't have the chance often, given how far away it was.
When Chris had called to ask if he’d mind driving out of the city to spend the day at the beach, Paris had assumed their afternoon would pass laying out on the sand with cold drinks and a radio playing popular eighties songs. Chris’s true intentions, however, had been quite a bit different. They did have cold drinks in a cooler, and there was a radio currently in the midst of a Cyndi Lauper tune, but the sand was a creamy line on the horizon, speckled here and there with color from towels, umbrellas, and appropriate beachwear. All around them was clear blue water.
Apparently the Gallos were the proud owners of their own sailboat.
“This is nice,” Paris sighed, feeling quite giddy. He had a burgundy colored sundress on and very little else – except for a pair of shorts underneath, in case the wind should attempt to blow the skirt of his dress up a bit too high. His black sandals had been removed soon after he and Chris had made their way on the boat. He took his wide-brimmed hat off as well, wanting to feel the sun on as much skin as possible, even if it meant his face and shoulders would be a little pink by the time they returned.
“This was a good idea,” he said, turning his head to look at Chris. “You should have told me you have a boat. We could have come sooner. All day, every day for the rest of the summer.”
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Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2011 10:48 am
"Well, I don't have a boat... my parents have a few boats, though," Chris confessed, leaving the awning where the helm was to join Paris out on the deck. "My parents have a thing for the ocean... They could care less about cars and expensive electronics as long as they can get out to the water." Which was why he had a used, far from luxury car he drove around. It was still a good car, but not, like, a Ferrari.
He moved over to sit next to Paris out in the sun, under the large main sail, pushing his sunglasses up on the bridge of his nose as he leaned down to pull out a bottle of water from the cooler, before sliding the box over to Paris so she could get what she wanted. "Thanks again for bringing drinks and lunch. You really didn't have to," he said, although he really was grateful for it. It was less work that he had to do, and they just had to worry about getting back into the harbor... but if he wasn't at least competent, his father would have never allowed him to borrow his boat...
"But this is okay, isn't it?" he asked, unable to keep himself from worrying. "I probably should have been more specific when I asked if you wanted to go to the ocean with me..." he said trying not to sound too awkward about it. He probably should have said 'going sailing' instead... because he was pretty certain that Paris thought he'd meant for them to go to the beach. And then his surprise when they showed up at the harbor, instead...
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Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2011 4:41 pm
"No, this is fantastic," Paris told him, stretching his legs out and tilting his head back so that there was more sun in his face, closing his eyes as he basked in it for a few moments. "Besides, I've never been sailing before, so this has the added bonus of being a new experience."
He'd been having quite a few new experiences since he'd begun going out with Chris, starting with their frequent visits to Destiny City's finer restaurants, and now this. He and Chris had seen one another often over the last couple of weeks -- sometimes for dinner, sometimes for lunch, and sometimes just to chat while walking Chris's dog. No matter what, Chris always had something nice to say to him, some compliment to give, something to buy him -- a full meal, a movie, an ice cream or a pretzel in the park.
Paris was being spoiled and he liked it.
"What do your parents do?" he wondered, opening his eyes and turning his head to look at Chris again. It was his less intrusive way of saying "how rich are you?" He'd wanted to know for a while now -- the restaurants Chris took him to weren't exactly cheap -- but he hadn't had the opportunity to do so until Chris had just brought them up.
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Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2011 4:57 pm
He couldn't help but enjoy time with Paris. His best guy friend was busy mooning over some girl he met. Zia was busy doing cat stuff and being possessed by parasitic souls, and although he had a handful of other friends, he just... found Paris intriguing. As though there was a sense of mystery about her that he just couldn't quite figure out. It was as if she was keeping a secret from him, but... he couldn't quite figure out what it could be. But that didn't bother him. It just added to the adventure.
"Not everyone has..." Chris said with a smile, not thinking it was that big of a deal if Paris hadn't been sailing before. "But I'm glad you're enjoying yourself," he continued, amused by how Paris was making himself right at home.
Uh, as for his parents...
"Well... Mom does a lot with charities and non-profits... Hostessing galas and stuff like that." So she didn't really get much money from that... but that didn't matter really, since her family was on the upper class side. "Dad is, uh... in the Navy. Which probably explains the fascination with boats, huh?" Since... yeah, his dad was always around boats, and when he wasn't, well, he was with his family. It got lonely for his mother, so he didn't blame her for being clingy to him and his brothers. And with only Peter left at home...
"What about you...?" he wondered, although he paused, thinking about it for a moment, "Unless you don't want to talk about that... Sorry." Since... The subject of parents was a bit touchy for Paris.
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Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2011 6:20 pm
Secrets. Yeah... about those secrets...
Paris had gotten to the point where he no longer felt he had to try too hard to keep Chris's attention, nor was he doing very much pretending aside from hiding a few key bits of information. He felt comfortable with how things were developing and worried very little about Chris finding him out. He hadn't yet, and as long as he was careful he wouldn't until Paris felt it was time to reveal himself, though the fact that he was getting so much out of this relationship was making him more and more reluctant to get to that point.
They saw one another enough for Paris to feel confident that Chris was definitely into him. It was just a matter of making things official and adopting those trite little labels of "boyfriend" and "girlfriend."
"My dad has his own store," he said, figuring there was no harm in answering a question like that now. Things were more natural with Chris now than they'd been at the beginning. He didn't see any need to hide more than he had to, though he still didn't think he had to say very much about his mom. "He sells art supplies. It's small, but he does well enough, I guess. He used to be an artist, or tried to when he was in France. Mom's probably a secretary or receptionist for some fancy-pants lawyer in New York. I bet he pays her pretty well to take his phone calls and make his appointments, probably because she's easy on the eyes."
He wanted to ask more about Chris's parents, but couldn't immediately figure out how to do so without it seeming like he was fishing for information about their financial status. That Chris's mother hosted galas and charity functions made it seem as if they had money to burn, but he hadn't been under the impression that Navy men were so well paid.
"Wait, I thought you said before that your dad works in the government," he realized, confused. He supposed Chris could have meant the Navy by his use of the term "government," but wouldn't it have made more sense to say "military" instead?
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 6:42 am
Chris listened with interest as Paris told him about what her parents did. "Does he? I'll have to send my mom your dad's way. She's always buying art supplies. She has a whole room just for her supplies," he told her, hoping it didn't sound too strange. His mother was... an interesting sort, but she was good at what she did, when she did it. If only she could actually decide on one thing to do, rather than switching hobbies all the time.
As for Paris's mother... he didn't comment on her. He knew she was never around (obviously, since she was in New York), and that their relationship was rather rocky. At least they knew each other enough to actually talk about things like that though, right...? At first, Paris had avoided talk of parents, but now she was a lot more open to it. Or at least she seemed that way.
"Uh, he does work for the government," Chris said in agreement, shifting a little in his seat. Military and government when hand and hand when rank goes up high enough. Of course, his father has been doing the same thing for almost his entire life. He loved it, so why not? "He's an Admiral, so he gets to do all the paperwork, really..." Which... is why it was a government job, too.
And it wasn't as though he was embarrassed about his father's job! He was really proud of being his son. He just knew people sometimes made it out to be more than it really was. So making it to be less than what it was lead to a lot less awkward conversation. Of course, he didn't know how much Paris knew about the Navy or rank... His father just happened to be at the right point in his career at the right time, so he got lucky.
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 5:05 pm
Paris smiled and nodded as Chris commented about his dad. He'd yet to let Chris meet him. He wasn't too worried about Dad revealing his secret; he wasn't the sort of share that sort to information with people who were dumb or oblivious or desperate enough to fall for the ruse. His father was simply a lot to handle, and since he and Chris weren't technically an item, nor was their relationship in any way serious, he saw no reason to have any meet-the-parents get-togethers.
He was, however, quite interested to finally hear what Chris's father did. "An Admiral?" he said. He didn't bother to hide the fact that he was impressed. He wasn't very knowledgeable about military ranks, but he knew an Admiral was pretty much Top Dog thanks to his father's habit of watching Star Trek re-runs. "Wow. Well, that explains a lot, I guess."
If he was that important then he was probably paid pretty well, which meant Chris was probably pretty well taken care of, and it definitely explained the boats and the fascination with the ocean. Paris felt giddy again just thinking about it. Here he was, the tramp from the wrong side of town, sitting on a sailboat with the son of an Admiral like he belonged there. It was sort of empowering when he thought about it. Of all the people in the city Chris could have asked out, of all the pretty girls he probably saw on a daily basis, he'd chosen to ask him out on a date -- thinking he was a pretty girl, of course, but that didn't change much.
Naturally, he couldn't let Chris know he was thinking things like that. "You're always so neat and presentable and well put together," he said, moving a hand up to fix Chris's collar, which had come up a bit with the breeze. "I bet you take after your dad. The Illustrious Admiral Gallo?" he joked, but not to make light of his position. He just didn't want to seem intimidated by it, because he wasn't. At all.
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 7:05 am
It explained a lot?? What was that supposed to mean?? Chris blinked at Paris as she explained, feeling himself relax from tension he didn't know he'd just built up. He didn't know if he was expecting something bad or what. Either way, he was glad it was for those reasons. Of course, he wasn't going to tell her that even with his father's salary, they got most of their money from his mom's side and her trust fund. It also helped that they tried to live with as little as needed, or at least not as if they were well off.
Except mom liked buying everything organic, and that got expensive, but 'It's organic!' would be her excuse. Not that he ate more than takeout and whatever his mom give him as leftovers at his apartment. Yeah, he missed being spoiled needlessly.
"Not really," he said lifting his chin so Paris could fix his collar, although he was sure it would just get messed up again. He happened to think that his father was a lot more ambitious and confident than he could ever be. His father also didn't have the same temper as his son... But he wasn't about to share his faults with a girl he was hopefully impressing with things like... his personality and being able to get a big a** boat out of the harbor.
"He has a wikipedia page, but I think that's as illustrious as he's allowed to be," he said with a laugh, knowing his father would probably grimace at the thought of too much attention. "He likes what he does. It makes him happy, which makes things difficult because he wants to be with us, too," he said, wondering just how often he has seen his father over the years. He hated to think that it was almost only half his life that he's been around, but that was the nature of his job... And he was close to retiring anyway.
"We look the same, though... Well, except our eyes are different. He has blue," he explained. His mother always gushed about how he and his brothers would look just like their father when they got older, and looking at his father's old high school yearbooks... yeah, they did look almost identical.
"So what did you bring for lunch?" he asked, semi-hoping to change the subject as he leaned away from her to pull the cooler closer to check everything out. "You really didn't have to, you know..."
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 9:54 am
Paris played with some of the hair that fell along Chris's neck after he was done fixing the collar of his shirt, making sure it seemed as if he were paying attention to what he was saying. He was, partly. He couldn't stop himself from being a bit interested in Mr. Gallo's career, but he also couldn't squash the desire to spend a little time just staring.
Whoever Chris looked like, he looked good. Even if Paris hadn't seen anything else in him, he at least would have acknowledged that. Occasionally, he could be shallow, but for the post part he wasn't very picky about which partners he chose to spend time with -- unless there was something seriously wrong with them, like they were unnecessarily violent or too temperamental, or had an incurable case of bad breath. But he could appreciate a good looking guy when he saw one, and he'd instantly marked Chris as one of those.
If Chris looked like his father, then he imagined Mr. Gallo to be a dashingly handsome older gentleman, perhaps with a few lines on his face, and just the right amount of gray in his hair to make him look distinguished without causing him to appear old. Like George Clooney.
He came back to the conversation at Chris's question, shifting away from him long enough to grab the cooler and open it. "Not a lot. Just some bread and sandwich meats from the deli," he said. He'd picked up the pre-packaged kind at the store, but thought better of it and went for the more expensive option in an attempt to seem as if he had some tastes.
"I brought some strawberries, too. I like fruit, so... and some chips in case we wanted anything salty. We can eat now if you want. There's plenty for both of us," he offered, already beginning to take a few things out. He'd packed plastic utensils, too, so they could spread mustard or mayonnaise on their sandwiches if they wanted. "What did you want on your sandwich?" he asked, pulling out a roll and slipping one of the plastic knives through it to cut it open length-wise. "There's salami, turkey, ham, and roast beef. I didn't know what you'd like, so I got some of each. I'm sure Dad'll eat what we don't, unless you want to take it home with you."
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 7:52 am
Chris didn't mind Paris playing with his hair. In fact, he kind of liked it... His mother liked telling him how he needed to get it cut, but he happend to like how it didn't look so carefully trimmed and in order. He liked the scruffiness, if it could be called that. He still made sure to keep it neat and such, but it was no military cut.
"That sounds fine with me," he told her, not minding sandwiches at all. There was some food down in the kitchen inside the cabin, but he wasn't sure how long it would take to make something. Chris had made sure to call ahead of time to get it stocked for the day. Of course, that was after getting permission from his father to temporarily captain the Lenore, named thanks to his mother's fascination with Edgar Allen Poe.
He watched curiously as Paris started making the sandwich for him, a little surprised that she would. Well, he supposed if she only wanted one person touching the meats... or maybe she was just being nice...
Either way, he liked the way she smiled. It was sweet and carefree. She seemed to have forgotten about whatever problems she had back on land and just... went with the flow now that they were out on the ocean. And she had amazing legs... Smooth and shaped from dancing. Hmm, maybe it would be kind of creepy if he said that stuff out loud, but he couldn't help but want to look.
At least he wasn't staring at her boobs... if she had any worth staring at. But then again, there were plenty of women who weren't very well endowed. Not that he cared about that, anyway. It was totally the legs for him. And she was funny and sweet and just... everything his ex wasn't.
Paris was different, and he liked that about her.
Chris watched as Paris pulled out the bread and plastic knives, waiting until she turned to look at him before leaning in to give her a kiss on the lips, pulling back after a couple moments. Er... he hoped that hadn't been too fast. He didn't think he was, since they'd been seeing each other for a month or so. Not enough to be serious, but a kiss on the... what...? Tenth or so date was acceptable...?
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:50 am
He wasn't really making Chris's sandwich for him on purpose. It wasn't like he'd pulled it out to start working on it with the intention of being nice or helpful. It was habit, mostly. Whenever he was at home, he did all of the cooking. If he didn't, all he and his dad would eat would be take out, pizza, or microwaveable dinners, and while he'd never really eaten anything especially fancy until Chris started taking him out, Paris at least refused to eat complete junk. He had to be somewhat healthy if he wanted to keep up with his dancing.
He paused with the knife and bread in his hand, about to reach out to exchange the knife for one of the zip-locked bags of meat, when Chris leaned in to kiss him. It wasn't his first kiss by any means -- not by a long shot -- but it still surprised him and he didn't immediately respond, finally pressing back only seconds before Chris pulled away.
Well, that was... unexpected. Not unwanted, no. He'd have liked that to have happened a lot sooner than now, but he hadn't initiated it himself because he had a feeling Chris was more... traditional. Besides, Paris had made a bit of a fuss about things going too fast before, so he hadn't wanted to seem like he was rushing by kissing Chris before Chris thought it was an appropriate time to do so. But he liked kissing, and he had a feeling he could like kissing Chris.
"I'm not lunch," he teased, biting at his bottom lip to keep himself from grinning too wide. It had been pleasant, and he'd like to do it again -- soon, if he could -- but there was also that cruel, immature voice in his head going 'ha ha, you just kissed a boy!'
"You didn't tell me what you want on your sandwich," he said. He shifted an inch or so closer, smiling more freely once he had his thoughts a bit more under control. He didn't want Chris to think he'd minded the kiss, but he didn't want to gush about it like some dumb girl who'd never been kissed before either. "You can't just skip straight to dessert."
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 11:32 am
So, that wasn't too fast for him to do that? He had been worried for a few moments when Paris didn't reciprocate the kiss, but after a few moments she did. He smiled a little awkwardly at her comment. "Sorry," he apologized softly, "You're just... I'd been wanting to do that."
For a couple weeks, at least, but then there was the whole... trying to manage it at the right time. Now that they were completely alone, out on the ocean, it was a little easier to just... relax and not worry about other people seeing. It wasn't that he was embarrassed to kiss her. He just didn't want to be a hypocrite — he wasn't that big of a fan of public displays of affection.
"Uh, right," he stared at her as she moved closer to him, although he remained where he was. "Surprise me?" he said rather lamely, not really knowing what to pick. "Make me what you'd make for yourself," he tried again. It wasn't as though he was indecisive about what he wanted for lunch. He just wanted to know what she liked... Okay, that sounded lame, too... But whatever.
He'd just kissed a pretty girl — the first in over... almost two years, in fact — he was allowed to be distracted. And he was curious about her, anyway. He was always curious about her. He had yet to be disappointed, at least for long. She was beautiful, had a scholarship, had a good sense of humor, indulged him in his lame walks in the park with his dog... She was just... fun to be with. And he liked that. He needed that, what with things like fighting crime and whatever.
"I'll be gone for the next three weeks," he said suddenly, not wanting to jump it on her in the last minute. "There's a summer camp that I'm going to be a counselor at," he explained, biting at his lip for a moment, before continuing. "I was wondering if you wanted to go with me? As a junior counselor, I mean. You could teach dance to the children — they'd love it!" And he would like to be with her, too... Since three weeks was kind of a long time in a new relationship.
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 11:56 am
Paris continued to smile, quite pleased with himself and the fact that Chris seemed pretty infatuated with him. He felt sort of proud of himself, to have snatched someone he normally would have considered out of his league, and to have that someone actually wanting to spend time with him in whatever manner possible. It was almost enough to make him feel bad for what he was doing.
Almost... but not quite.
He went about making Chris's sandwich for him, putting a few slices of ham and turkey on it, and some white American cheese he'd gotten as well, along with a little bit of mayonnaise. He handed Chris the sandwich once he was done, passing him a paper towel as well, just so they didn't make so much of a mess. Then he took out another roll and began to repeat his actions to put something together for himself.
He raised his eyebrows a bit skeptically at Chris's invitation. This was the first he'd heard mention of any summer camp, but he couldn't say he was all that surprise to learn that Chris spent his time as a counselor. It seemed like one of those goody-two-shoes things he'd do, watching after kids and making sure they didn't do anything to get in trouble. Paris had never been to any sort of camp before, but he wasn't against gaining the experience, especially if it meant luring Chris in further. The more they did things together, the more infatuated Chris would be, right?
"I guess," he said, not even thinking he could potentially be agreeing to something that could end up being a mistake. Paris wasn't always one for forethought. "I've never done anything like that before, but I don't mind kids. They can be pretty funny, and I don't think teaching would be all that hard. I teach a few of the kids on my street sometimes since they can't really afford lessons."
Giving his neighbors' kids a few pointers was a bit different than teaching a whole class, of course, but he didn't imagine it would be that difficult. Dancing was something he was good at. He felt comfortable and sure of himself when he was doing it. He rarely had to question it. Spending a couple of weeks showing others how to do a routine probably wouldn't be much of a challenge at all. And there was the whole spending time with Chris thing to consider...
"Sure, why not?" he decided, placing some turkey and ham on his roll as well. "I don't have any other plans for vacation. It'll give me something to do. It'd probably be good for me, too. I need to get out more."
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 12:53 pm
Chris let out a small sigh of relief when Paris agreed to go with him to the camp, feeling much more excited about the next three weeks than he had before. Sure, he enjoyed camp, but he didn't usually have someone to actually spend time with while he was there. Well, he was supposed to be taking care of the kids, so of course he would be focusing most of his time on that, but seeing Paris after a long day of running after kids would make everything worth it.
He really hoped he wasn't coming off as desperate or anything like that. He just really enjoyed his time with her. And any time he could get with her would be great, even if it was while they were watching a bunch of little kids.
He took the sandwich with a small 'thank you', but waited until Paris had finished making one for herself before taking a bite of his. "I'll get the paperwork for you when we get back," he said once he'd finished chewing and swallowing. "I was wanting to ask you, so I'm really glad you said you'd go," he told her, before taking another bite of his sandwich. It was going to be great! Paris teaching dance and participating in activities and all that. He was really looking forward to it, now.
"You'll be great at being a counselor, I just know it," he grinned, setting his food down to take a drink of water. "Have you ever been canoeing? We can do that, too. And hiking is always fun. There's a place with a waterfall close to the lake that we usually go to. And then stories around the fire... I'll be bringing my guitar," he went on, going over he arts and crafts they could be doing and telling Paris the general layout of the campgrounds...
Er... maybe he was getting a bit too excited about camp now... But it was something for them to do, right? It would be fun!
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 1:16 pm
He couldn't say he'd expected Chris to be that excited to him agreeing to go. Paris paused to question himself, wondering exactly how serious Chris was becoming about all of this. It hadn't seemed so bad over the last couple of weeks, and they'd only really been seeing one another for about a month -- a month and a half at most. As much of a an ego boost as it was for him, this was still just about the fun for him.
He wondered what it was about for Chris...
"Nope. Never been canoeing," he said. "The most I've ever done with water is swim in it."
He wouldn't mind doing all of the things Chris suggested. He didn't really know what one did while canoeing except sit out in the water on a boat much smaller than this one, but he was willing to try it. Hiking might be a little less enjoyable depending on how uneven the terrain was, but the waterfall and the lake sounded nice, and Paris thought he could really enjoy himself. He'd never had some of the experiences other kids did, so maybe doing all this with Chris would kind of make up for that.
Paris ate his sandwich slowly, listening as Chris described the camp and explained some of the other activities. He interjected when he felt as if he had something to comment on, but for the most part he let Chris do most of the talking. He liked hearing about the things he did, learning about his perfect, normal life, and listening to the enthusiasm in his voice. Chris seemed to have so little to worry about, unlike Paris, who's life was filled with so much stress and drama that being around someone normal for a change was refreshing. He could use the times in which he was with Chris to just... relax.
The radio continued to play in the background, serenading them with a stream of 80s tunes interspersed with commercials and the occasional weather update. Paris paid it very little mind, putting most of his focus on Chris, until he picked up on the familiar strains of a guitar filtering out of the speakers. He stopped talking mid-sentence and pulled himself to his feet; he'd finished his sandwich by that point, and set his bottle of water down after quickly screwing the cap back on.
"Sorry, hold on. This is my favorite song," he said, hopping over to the radio to twist the dial and turn up the volume.
'Maybe we can make a deal. Maybe together we can get somewhere...'
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