Damn. He was more experienced. “Yeah, well …um… no.” Unless Dave counted a certain water-balloon incident when he was eight and didn’t know the packs he’d found in his cousin’s Mustang weren’t really balloons. They’d tasted funny and made his lips greasy when he’d tried to blow them up.
Billy’s eyes took on a “plotting” gleam. “Let’s grab a handful on the way out.”
“What?” Oh, no way in hell! Yet, one day Dave hoped to have a sex life. He’d listened to enough lectures to know that sex required a condom. Even his parents had told him that.
The day he’d come out, his Mom had hugged him, cried, treated his cuts and black eye, and told him he’d be safer at Aunt Lisa’s. Dad had paid a visit to the high school to “open a can of whoop-ass”, tried not to let his feelings show otherwise, then sniffled and hugged the stuffing out of Dave the day he left.
His folks had come to visit twice since he’d left, and he chatted with his mom online nearly every day. Dad sent a text every two or three days. As slow as he typed, he’d probably burned up the rest of that time hunting and pecking on his cell phone.
They loved him. They wanted him safe. But they had a farm, forty head of cattle, and three more kids in Podunk—also known as Spruce Hollow, North Carolina, population 1,400 if you counted pigs and chickens. Moving the entire family to Asheville wasn’t much of an option.
Billy’s grin widened, shooting straight past mere “plotting” to “plotting world domination.” “Why not? No one cares. That’s what they’re there for. So young people like us don’t have to take chances.”
The coffee drink Billy had gotten Dave tasted like heaven. Okay, he could trust Billy with coffee, but what about other things? A girl about their age snagged a few condoms, face coloring to match her copper hair. No one said a word.
Whatever Billy blathered on about went straight over Dave’s head. That innocuous-looking basket, nothing special on its own, held his full attention.
“C’mon, let’s go hang out at my house until Mom gets home,” shook Dave out of his reverie.
This was it! He took a deep breath, determined not to wimp out. Maybe Billy could create a diversion while Dave grabbed a few packs. He stood and made a beeline for the basket, by way of a trashcan, so as not to seem too obvious.
The trashcan was two feet away. If he tossed his cup just right, then kept the forward movement, he could… His world turned upside down. Green, blue and red wrappers came closer, so fast he couldn’t track. Smack! On the floor he went. A shower of condom packs rained down.
“Oh my God! I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there.” A young woman with a bag the size of Milwaukee slung over her shoulder stood above him, holding a kid in her arms.
“He’s all right,” Billy interjected, grabbing Dave’s upper arm and hauling him to his feet.
The condoms lay in a rainbow of plastic at Dave’s feet. The elusive prizes he’d been hell bent on taking. He did the only thing he could think of to do. He ran.
“Dave! Dave!” Billy huffed and puffed behind him, dodging folks on the sidewalk. He finally caught up, only because Dave stopped. “What’d you take off for?”
How could Dave tell him he was ashamed of his own cowardice? Under the guise of picking up the packs, he could have stuffed his pockets. Stupid, stupid, stupid. “I can’t believe I got knocked down into a pile of condoms.”
Billy grinned. He had a big, goofy grin now, the kind that made Dave want to grin too. “You got some, right?”
“No.” Dave hung his head. The perfect opportunity, wasted.
“That’s okay. I’ve got enough for us both.” Billy reached into the pocket of his hoodie just enough for Dave to see what he’d hidden inside. Holy fuck! Billy had struck the mother lode!
Heat crept all the way up Dave’s face to his ears. “Your house?” he squeaked from a suddenly dry mouth.
“Yep. Let’s go.”
They shuffled down Main Street, leaves crunching under their feet. A man passed with a mini dog on a leash, and two skateboarders headed in the other direction, one with two inch gauges in his ears and tattoos all the way up his neck. Dave never saw stuff like that back home. He and Billy caught