Ready to Run: Sunburn
Joel is standing at the edge of the pool. Geoff does what he can. A Ready to Run AU piece for the end of the summer. 1.4k. Mentions of underage drinking.
"What," Joel said immediately, unimpressed and in the passenger seat. "Are we doing here?"
Geoff couldn't help but grin. "C'mon, Joel..."
"We are not squatting here. That's too risky. That's... you're kidding, right?" He'd been staring out at the house, the... the mansion Geoff was parked in front of, but now he turned back at him and squinted, trying to figure all this out. "This is a joke? This is a shitty fuckin' joke, Geoff, ha ha, but--"
"It's not a joke," Geoff insisted. "C'mon. It's the end of the summer. Your birthday is comin' up..." "Geoff, we can't break into an actual fucking home just because it's my fucking birthday in... in..." "It has a pool! I figured we'd blow up some floats, get some beers--" "In two weeks doesn't mean--" Geoff interrupted him. "Were you doing math that whole time?" "What?" Joel said, derailed. "That didn't take that long." "You don't know how close your birthday is? Like, off the top of your head?" Geoff asked. He was horrified. "I mean..." Joel gave a series of unhelpful hand gestures before giving up, deflating, sitting back in the seat. "I... I haven't really been paying attention, since we're not really... we don't have enough..." "We're still gonna celebrate your birthday, Joel," Geoff said earnestly. "I... we're not gonna..." They'd only been on the road for a little more than two months. They had left right after Geoff's birthday. Joel, apparently, hadn't thought much of anything out yet. They had $150 to their names and a shitty car and last night they had slept in a burnt down barn, sharing a twin sized blanket and using their jackets as pillows. They knew this life wasn't going to be easy, but did that mean they really had to give everything up; the things they celebrated and the things they liked to do? Did Joel have to sacrifice enjoyment of his birthday just because they were... they were practically homeless? ...Well, he’d thought so. Apparently Geoff didn't. "I know for a fact that this family is out on an extended vacation. Half a week. They're not coming home until Wednesday." "And you know that how, Geoff?" Joel asked in disbelief. "You talk to a circuit of homeless people?" "That's exactly what I did," Geoff said. "You're fucking with me." "This time, yes," Geoff said, and he was still fucking beaming. Hadn't stopped, Joel was pretty sure. "Overheard some of it in the diner this morning. Confirmed it with a group of teens in the neighborhood, who wanted to like... you know." Joel waited for him to continue. He didn’t. "I don't." "They want to come over tonight for a party but after that, we're good." "Geoff," Joel said reluctantly. "I don't know..." "It's fine! It's fine. Two of them got a go ahead from the kid who lives there. They're just gonna be using the pool and drinking a bit. It's not a big deal." "And did we get said 'go ahead from the kid who lives there’ to stay there for four days?" Geoff raised his eyebrows at him. "Four days?" "It's Saturday,” Joel quickly explained. “We stay all day Sunday and Monday, sleep in the afternoon on Tuesday and we're gone by sunset." That only made Geoff grin wider. "Shut up! It's compulsory. Maybe I want to sleep in a real bed for once, okay?" "We can, Joel. It’ll be fine, I promise." Geoff assured him. "Just... let's live a little, alright?" "Fine. Alright." -- The kids at the "pool party" couldn't've been any older than 16, but they had two bottles of vodka and were emptying them easily. Joel didn’t even know their names despite the fact that they were all introduced as soon as they got there. He’d forgotten completely. They all looked the same. He would never see them again. It wasn’t a big deal.
“Just like Texas,” Geoff said, as he accepted a red solo cup from one of them.
“Yeah,” Joel said. “Boring and sad. Just like Texas.”
---
When the kids went home--with a designated driver, Joel had made sure--Geoff brought out a six pack.
“Got it when I went out to get food,” he said, proudly. Joel couldn’t help but grin. “Just because the vodka’s gone doesn’t mean we can’t have somethin’, right?”
They sat with their feet in the water, listening to the bugs hum and sing as the poolside lights--fairy lights and Tiki Torches, which they had to admit was a nice setup--gleamed in the dark.
They didn’t say much of anything, because they didn’t have to.
---
Joel stood at the edge of the pool. He hadn't packed anything close to swim trunks when they left, but he'd made it a point to go swimming at least once. He owed it to Geoff. The chlorine wouldn't do anything to his cargo shorts, and he could wash everything anyway; the Wilsons--Geoff had let him know after snooping through their mail--had a washing machine.
That... wasn't why he was hesitating. The water rippled and glistened in the sun. It was a nice pool. Really nice. Joel had to wonder why the Wilsons had even gone on vacation when they had a pool like this in their own damn backyard. He would never understand rich people. They were so far from where he was it was like trying to understand what a dog was thinking. Except the dog had hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was hot. He wanted to jump in. The sun beat down on his back unforgivingly. Cicadas buzzed. A fly circled around his head and tried to land in his hair. He swatted it away. He didn't really know why he was hesitating. Every moment that he wasn't in the water made him think more, and that was quickly becoming unbearable. He supposed he was scared of the cold shock. Which was stupid, but he still couldn't do it. "What the hell are you waiting for?" Geoff asked, coming up behind him. He, at least, had basketball shorts. "You," Joel said. "What, you wanna jump in with me?" Geoff bypassed the water entirely and ducked into the watershed, pulling out an inflated pool float, complete with cup holders. "Preferably holding hands?" "No," Joel said. "Then jump in already." Joel tried. He couldn't even get his knees to bend. A cold knot of nerves twisted in his stomach. He backed away from the edge. "You're a baby," Geoff said. He was already in the pool, floating around in the shallow end. Joel supposed he missed a few seconds when he was working up his courage. "Go in." "No," Joel said again. "Why the hell not?" Geoff asked. "Are you afraid it's gonna be cold?" When Joel and Geoff left Texas, they had planned ahead. Joel would say they had a month of actual, serious planning in advance, but it was longer than that. Joel's mentions of the future had always been preluded with "when I get out of Texas"es and "when I leave"s. Geoff had never said anything about it, but Joel knew he noticed. How could he not? When Joel said he hated Texas, he meant it. He showed it. He sneered at road signs and news reports. He bitched and moaned and whined his way through high school. Geoff noticed. It was hard not to. Two months before Joel and Geoff left Texas, Geoff started a sentence with "When we leave Texas." Joel had never said anything about it, but Geoff knew he noticed. Because a week after that Joel proposed their escape. And they had never looked back. "Yeah," Joel said. "I think so." "It's not," Geoff said. "It will be at first, but when you fuckin' get in, it won't be as bad." And Joel, because he trusted Geoff, jumped.
---
Joel got sunburn on his shoulders and his nose. "You look good," Geoff said, as he started the car. They'd cleaned their clothes in the washing machine, and the towels and sheets they used. The garbage bag they'd put to the side for their stuff was in the wheelie bin, and everything was back in order. Pristine. Like they'd never been there. Joel was going to miss sleeping in a bed. "Yeah," Joel said. "I feel good." Geoff had sunburn on his face, too. When he smiled, he winced like it stung, but he was smiling all the same. "Thank you," Joel said. “For… for this, for getting us out of there. For doing this for me. For everything.” “Joel,” he said. “We’re best friends, man. I would do anything for you.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.” "In that case, let's get some Aloe Vera."
Geoff laughed, tossing his head back. The sun was setting, and they were cast in gold.