Work Hard and Play Hard

We obeyed no rules and took nothing for granted. I woke the next morning and felt last nights events take effect on my body, but I didn't care. We all had one last summer to do this, it seemed, before our jobs took us away and careers consumed our laid back  lifestyle.

Hancock was already awake and making a greasy breakfast which was a standard routine for morning such as this one. He handed over my phone and gave me a smirk.

“You have 20 unread messages.”

I looked. Yep, I was miss popular last night. Considering what we had done and the way it all made me feel, I was glad I didn't have it with me. Most of the messages were from Dante wanting to see me and asking to hang out. He even sent me videos of the party he had been at. The thing I found myself liking about him was his humor.

“You inviting your new man to my party tonight?”

“What? Dante? Yeah, I’ll bring him. He’s cool, I think you’re gonna like him.”

“Better! Sick of douche bags like your Ex. Don’t. Ever. Date. Him. Again.”

“I know, I know,” I say watching Hancock shake a spatula at me, flinging bites of bacon grease on the floor.

He put his hands on his hips and that’s when I notice his attire. He wore just an apron with only his under wear and socks pulled up as high as they could go.

“Hancock where the hell is the rest of your clothes?” I shake my head at him and continue going through the messages.

“This is my house! You’re lucky I’m not naked. I sleep naked you know. Freaks some girls out.”

“The ones you bring home? Really?” Again I shake my head at him, wondering where his logic was sometimes.

He had already been apart of the Fun Culture for some time now, before my first break up with my Ex. He had a girl, worth every minute of his time, she brought out a happiness in him that I never knew could exist. But then, one day after the perfect weekend together, she broke up with him. For such a good reason that it was hard for him to get over it.

Since then he had his girls, he liked his parties and developed his lifestyle and suddenly became apart of Fun Culture. Yet, it wasn't like he had a high number of people he’s slept with either, he just went out and had whatever fun he wanted.

Finally, here I was, just stepping into the Fun. Already I wanted to start racking in some numbers, not anything out of hand, but a good amount… for experience if anything. There was only one objective now, to make the summer as long as possible. Hancock talked about inviting Jeremy for tonight, joking that he was going to bail.

We ate our hangover breakfast as Matty rolled out of one of the spare rooms. Without saying much, he ate what was left of our food from last night and made his way home. I started inviting friends to Hancock's party and we started re-arranging the house to be party proof. Rian was coming without his partner and couldn't wait to stare at Dante all night. Dante was 100% down to hangout and inside grew an excitement.

I knew what I wanted that night and if things played out just right, I was going to bang Dante. I was actually glad that we didn't bang the first night of meeting, because I found that waiting this long was going to be worth it. Another boundary to push and hey, I figured waiting this week was long enough. It wasn’t going to be a one night-er, at least I didn't hope. I didn't know what Dante’s expectation of this was, nor did I, other than we just were going to have some fun. If the fun lasted until the end of the weekend, then so be it. If it lasts all summer, then this summer will definitely top them all. 

“Jeremy says he’s coming tonight,” Hancock says checking his phone.

“That’s great… I guess?”

Hancock shrugs.

“I think him and The Snot broke up. He’s all, ‘yeah I'll come hang out.’ So I’m assuming she’s not hovering over his phone to tell him not to be texting me.”

“Maybe. It’ll be interesting to see what he has to say if they did.”

“Maybe. Maybe he cheated on her.”

“Sad to say, but I hope so. Then she’d know how I felt. Stupid girl.”

  

There were boys galore, but I had my eyes set on Dante. He charmed Hancock and socialized with everyone, allowing me to talk with my friends, without having to worry about him. It was nice to know I could leave him alone and know he was going to be fine. Dante joked and did shots with Hancock, immediately becoming pals. Sometimes, Dante would look over at me and give me a sly wink and a smirk, then go back into the conversation. Boy did he know how to flirt.

Even when I joined him, he slung his arm around me, gave me a kiss on the cheek like we were an item. There was this electric pulse between us, whenever I caught his eye, I’d even think dirty thoughts, anticipating high hopes for later in the evening.

The best part about it was the fact Hancock and I put on the vinyl, played some oldies like The Eagles, and this, preppy, well put together, downtown go-er of a Italian, (Dante) knew and sang all the words. He even had a look at our collection and picked out some Led Zeppelin.

Soon we sat by ourselves in the basement after a few rounds of pool, which he so cleverly won at, and chatted on the couch. I placed my body half across him, face to face to create a more intimate atmosphere. All at once his features popped out at me and I realized why Rian thought he was so attractive. (Not to mention Rian had been creeping him the whole party.)

Dante was your conventionally pretty boy. Everything was symmetrical, and little things like his eyelashes and eyebrows, had an enhanced fullness to completely his features. You could tell that he put a lot into his appearance but at the same time it came naturally to him, you could tell. I began to like how he took care of himself. Even his smile was a skill.

He showed me homemade songs that him and his friends had done, and flipped through his phone as he told me stories of girls he had dated before. I kept asking questions because it all intrigued me, I even asked to creep their Facebook, so we did, we creeped them together. 

“I've never done something like this, you know,” he says.

“What do you mean?”

He looks at his phone thoughtfully and give me that smile I was admiring, “Talked to a girl about all these things.”

“Oh?” was all I could really reply back to him.

What was he getting at? Maybe this was just one of his ploys when he goes out with girls to sleep with them? Was this just another way to play the game? Even so, I was in this game too. Some of these ploys, used skillfully enough, might come in handy one day. They were skills that I felt I needed for the Fun Culture if I were to continue summer like this. 

It was skill to step back and live without getting attached. To have a love affair like a summer fling and be strong enough to move away to the west was the skill I needed to acquire. That's when it hit me, I was obviously attracted to Dante and enjoyed his company and wanted to hangout with him as the time if I was able. So taking the step to sleep with him was a big one. I never had a bang-buddy before and whenever I watched movies about it, it all had the same kind of ending. The two fuck-buddies ended up together. But for us, Dante and I, I was leaving and he knew it, so maybe this thing we had that was catching fire was going to be set ablaze for the summer, only because it had that all-so-mighty "Expiration Date".