The Last Day
What Jared had failed to mention about coming to Marrakech was that he was bringing most of the cast with him—and that he would be arriving at six a.m.
“Aren't you dressed yet?” Jared was standing in the hallway, wearing a black wifebeater, shorts, white trainers, and the most ridiculous, enormous floppy straw hat Colin had ever seen, as well as a camera dangling around his neck. Colin thought he was having a nightmare, then he realized Jared was going for the ‘dippy tourist' look.
Surrounding Jared were Angelina, Gary, Jonathan and Francisco—who had apparently given up pretense and had their arms draped loosely around each other's waists—Rosario, who was also sporting a goofy hat—hers with a flowered band—and Val and Rory, both of whom were grinning huge and leeringly. All of them looked fresh as daisies and dressed for sightseeing. Francisco had huge, bug-eyed sunglasses on.
“It's six a.m.,” Colin croaked, painfully aware that he was standing there in his shorts in front of all of them. “What the fuck is going on?”
“God,” Jared sighed. “There's not a minute to waste!” He turned to Val. “Get your kid dressed and lets go!”
Val moved forward, and Angelina smirked and joined him. Colin was pulled yelping and swearing back into the room. “I can dress myself!” Everyone else gathered around the door, peeking in. He was going to kill Jared.
“Come on,” Angelina laughed. “Get dressed, and we'll have some breakfast. You'll feel more sociable then.”
Colin didn't feel more sociable at the breakfast table, which was on the patio of the hotel restaurant. Everyone was chatting and happy, which didn't bother him, but Jared was taking pictures of everyone and refused to take off his huge hat.
“Come on now, one with your wife!” Jared was saying, urging Colin and Rosario closer together. She was laughing as she slid her arm around Colin's shoulders. Colin was glowering at Jared.
“I'm sorry,” Rosario said, smiling and patting Colin's hair once Jared had took the picture. “Colin, he made me come along! He made all of us come!”
“Now one with the family!” Jared said, waving to Angelina and Val.
“Sit the fuck down Jared!” Val said. “God, let us eat.”
At least Colin wasn't alone in his irritation. Jared was relentless though. He did more bouncing around than eating, insisting that this was very important for posterity.
“We will never be here again like this, all together!” He said dramatically, standing before them at the head of the table. Gary and Rory threw toast and told him to sit the hell down. Colin smirked and started enjoying his breakfast.
Jared had an itinerary planned out for them, so they could hit all the important spots in the city. Colin had a feeling by noon they'd either be completely off it or everyone would be broken off into smaller groups going their own directions. Stepping out into the already hot morning sun after breakfast, Colin pulled out his cigarettes and Jared swept past him, snatching them.
“Hey!”
“You're gonna need your breath today. A lot of walking.”
Colin tried desperately to stay in a bad mood, but it was impossible. Gary, Rory, and Val soon drew him into their joking and carrying on. Rosario and Angelina walked next to them, chatting and occasionally laughing or shaking their heads at their antics. Jonathan and Francisco drifted along behind the group, wrapped up in each other and pausing now and then to look at things. Francisco had come back after their return from the desert to rejoin them in filming as they made their way to Thailand. Jonathan had been like a kitten since he came back, agreeable and very nearly purring.
Jared was directing the tour, which started in the nearby square of JemaaelFna, the very heart of the city and where the medina and all the shopping was located. They then went to the The Koutoubia Mosque and explored the grounds, not being allowed inside since they weren't Muslims, but what they saw of it was beautiful. There were museums to visit as well, and during their tour through the second one they lost Francisco and Jonathan, who said they were going back to the square and would meet them for lunch at the designated restaurant. Jared seemed miffed but didn't fight with them.
When the museums were done it was time to eat, and Colin's mood had improved considerably. He had a few drinks and felt even better. He was even starting to like Jared's stupid hat.
After lunch everyone wanted to go to different places, and as expected the itinerary crumbled. Jared was livid.
“I made this up so we could see everything!” He waved the rumpled paper. “This is our last chance!”
Gary snatched it off of him and looked at it. “Well why can't we all just go where we want in the order we want?”
“Because we're supposed to do it as a group!”
“Oh, come on Jared,” Rory said. “We can see everything and not all have to be together!”
There was some arguing. Colin had a feeling that Rory and Val were up to something, and this was confirmed when, after Jared relented sulkily, Val nudged Colin's leg under the table and leaned toward him, whispering. “We're gonna hit this bar we saw down the street soon as everyone's done. Come along.”
When they walked back out into the blazing midday sun, Val cleared his throat. “We're going this direction,” he thumbed over his shoulder. “Come with us, Colin.”
“All right.” Colin started casually in that direction, but Jared grabbed his arm.
“No, you're coming with me. We're going to the El Badi Palace,” he said firmly.
Colin watched woefully as Val, Rory, and Gary walked off, casting sorrowful looks back at him. Angelina and Rosario joined Jonathan and Francisco and made back toward the square.
“Aw Mum, I been good. Can't I go with my friends?” Colin said irritably as Jared drug him in the opposite direction. “God, you and your fucking itinerary. Let go of me!”
Jared looked back over his shoulder, then let go of Colin's arm and gave a relieved sigh. “Damn, I thought we'd never get rid of them.”
Colin looked at him in surprise. Jared smirked and crumpled up his paper. “You don't really want to go to the palace, do you?”
“Why'd you bring everyone then, if you wanted to be alone with me!” They were standing on the sidewalk of a crowded street, people weaving and winding around them.
“Are you mad that I did?” Jared smiled.
“Only because they saw me nearly naked at six a.m.!” Colin sighed and looked back up the street, but the guys were gone. “Seriously, why'd you bring them then, and insist on this stupid schedule?”
“Because it was nice for them to come. I knew they wouldn't stick to the itinerary, but I thought I'd try. They deserve to see the place one last time too.”
“Does Oliver know they all came?”
“Yes, we have cars picking us up to take us to the airport in the morning.” Jared locked his arm through Colin's. “Now, let's go do some sightseeing!”
“Stop,” Colin wrenched his arm away. “And take off that stupid hat.”
“You don't like my hat?” Jared tugged at the brim, grinning. “Rosario gave it to me. I made her take the flowery band off it first, though.”
Jared's continued sightseeing involved stopping at a small, sparsely populated café at the end of the street, which was a pleasant surprise. It was cool and breezy inside, huge windows facing a lush garden, giving the air the smell of flowers. They sat at a small square table in the back of the café and Jared ordered them mint tea.
“God, this is good,” Colin said, sipping it from a delicate cup with a floral pattern on it. “I've never had anything quite like it.”
“It's the national drink, actually.” Jared pushed Colin's confiscated cigarettes at him. “You're allowed to smoke in here.”
Colin didn't, only because he didn't want to ruin the taste of the tea. It was strange, sitting there in the peace and quiet with Jared and not feeling jumpy around him for once. They sipped their tea, Jared gazing out at the garden. He had taken off his hat and had it sitting on a chair of the table next to them.
“Jonathan and Francisco look cozy,” Colin finally said, turning his cup in his fingers and watching the surface of the tea ripple. “Real cuddly.”
“Yeah, I think they gave up trying to hide it,” Jared said. “They haven't gotten too much flak. I think it's because half the guys on the movie, gay or straight, would do Francisco.”
“I would,” Colin took a sip of his tea.
Jared focused his eyes on him and smiled. “Have you missed me?”
“How could I miss you?” Colin licked his lips and sat the cup down. “It's only been three days. And I've talked to you every night.”
“Three days is enough time to miss somebody.” Jared slumped back in his seat, sliding down a little, and a moment later Colin felt his foot touching his ankle, rubbing. “Even if you do talk to them every night.”
Colin pretended not to notice his foot, Jared's toes poking out the end of his sandal crawling along Colin's calf, trying to nudge the leg of his jeans up. Colin glanced around, but no one was looking in their direction.
“Did you miss me?” Colin asked. He was curious to know the answer, and how Jared reacted to table turning.
“Every minute,” Jared said softly, giving a little smirk. His eyes focused on Colin in a way that made Colin glance to the side. “My body missed yours.”
“Poetic.”
“True.”
Colin looked back at him. That little smile was still tugging at his lips, his eyes fixed and bright.
“Why do you keep running away from me?” Jared's voice was one notch above a whisper. His toes found their way up inside Colin's pant leg. “I'm not asking you to fall in love with me. I'm not even asking you to be gay. I'm just asking you to be with me, while there's still time.”
Colin felt the weight of his words pressing down on him, the moment suddenly surreal and intense. Jared's toes stroked along the front of his calf, tracing his shinbone.
“What does ‘being with you' entail?” Colin took a sip of tea to hide the halting in his voice.
“Just let yourself go. Enjoy it. Embrace it. I think you'd have such a wonderful time and you'd discover things about yourself that you never knew.”
That sounded dangerous to Colin, and largely the reason why he didn't want to do it. Jared sat back up in his seat, then stood. Colin looked up at him questioningly. Jared pulled his chair around next to Colin's, and Colin looked around nervously again.
“Jared.”
Jared plopped down in the chair, close enough that their legs were brushing. Jared leaned across the table and pulled his tea over in front of him. “This is what I mean. Can't you just enjoy me sitting here with you? My closeness? My scent?”
Colin took another nervous sip. There wasn't much to smell over the scent of the garden and the aroma of the tea.
“Sure, whatever.”
Jared started talking about shooting, about going to Thailand, as amicably and comfortably as if their knees weren't touching, that simple contact drawing all of Colin's attention. Slowly he realized he could smell Jared's shampoo, as the breeze from the garden stirred his hair. He could smell the sweat-and-soap odor of his skin as well. Colin had the burning urge to reach over and tug the side of his shirt up and draw his knuckles along his ribs. He resisted it, though.
“Do you feel more comfortable now?” Jared asked after awhile. Their tea was nearly gone. Colin was more comfortable, though he knew it was mostly because no one was paying attention to them, nor if they did would they even know who they were.
“I suppose,” Colin said. He looked up at Jared, then forced the words out that had been stuck in his brain since they sat down. “I want you to understand something. Just because I don't want to hang all over you in public doesn't mean I don't enjoy being intimate with you.”
“Being intimate with me?” Jared smiled. He was fidgeting with the handle of this teacup. “What does that mean to you, being intimate? Does it mean fucking me?”
“It means being with you, like you said.” Colin leaned in closer, lowering his voice. “Jared, I'm not your boyfriend. We're not in love.”
“I know,” Jared whispered and leaned in closer too, still smiling. “But we are fucking.”
Colin shook his head. He wasn't sure this conversation was going anywhere. He finished up his tea and made to move away from him, but Jared stilled him with a hand on his knee.
“If you let yourself, right now, what would you most like to do?”
Colin looked down at Jared's hand under the edge of the table, resting on his leg. Not squeezing or rubbing, just sitting there. Colin swallowed, his tongue feeling thick in his mouth. “I don't know,” he said.
“Yes you do. You were thinking about it while I was talking. What would you do? Tell me now,” his voice grew softer then, fingers gently squeezing. “Show me.”
Colin looked up, across the café. It was almost as if they were alone, tucked away in their little corner. Colin could hear the leaves out in the garden rustling in the wind. The breeze touched the back of his neck, caressing it in soft gusts. If it would make Jared happy…
Colin didn't realize the effect it would have on him as well. He tucked his hand under Jared's arm, and he lifted it a little, looking down between them curiously. Colin tugged the side of his shirt up and ran his knuckles along bare, warm skin. The hard ridges of Jared's ribs slid under his fingers.
“Oh,” Jared said breathily. His fingers tightened on Colin's knee.
Colin wasn't sure what to say. All he knew was that the feel of Jared's skin, while a familiar thing now, felt completely new. It sent a heat rushing through his veins that woke every part of him up.
“You want to go back to the hotel?” Jared murmured. His hand slid caressingly over Colin's knee.
“Yes, but finish your tea first.”
Jared finished his tea, sipping slowly. Colin's fingers crawled up and down his side, and then he tucked one in the top of his shorts, exploring the sweat-damp flesh below his waistband. Jared leaned his body toward his, his hand resting on Colin's knee still, sometimes moving, sometimes squeezing. Colin was so close to his hair that its scent was all he could smell. He kept glancing up, but no one was watching them. The tendons in Jared's neck kept tensing and showing in hard relief, and if Colin had the guts he would have leaned over and sank his teeth into one.
“We better stop so we can actually stand up at some point,” Jared said with a soft chuckle. Colin nodded and slipped his hand from under his shirt. Jared's nipples were hard against the fabric. Colin looked away and tried to think about something mundane—he started adding fractions in his head, his knees drawn together under the table.
Eventually they did get up, and the walk back to the hotel was strangely slow and dreamy, strolling side by side. Colin kept gazing at everything around him, drawn to the brightness of everything in the afternoon sun. Jared's arm kept brushing against his, at one point their fingers ghosting over each other for the barest of seconds. Jared was carrying his hat, his hair shifting on his shoulders. As they stepped through the door of the hotel, Colin let his hand slide over his back, his fingers tangling in the silken strands for a moment.
In the room, Jared tossed his hat on a chair and went over to open the windows. “I'm going to miss the sultry air here,” he said with a sigh.
Colin kicked his shoes off, then pulled his bracelets off one wrist. At the other arm he paused, looking down at his watch. He went over to Jared.
“Let me see,” Colin said softly, touching his left hip. Jared looked down, then back up at him curiously. Colin tapped a finger against his watch. Jared smiled and undid his shorts.
There was a mark on Jared's hipbone, close to his groin, faded to pink now. “There's not much left of it,” Jared said, running his finger over it. Colin ran his finger over it as well. He could see the faint lines where the links had rubbed in.
“Did it hurt?”
“Only if I touched it.”
Colin's fingers traced his hipbone, finding the elastic of his underwear. “Did you?”
“All the time.”
Colin moved around in front of him. The dust from the streets was imbedded in the black weave of Jared's shirt, glinting in the light from the windows. Colin tugged it up over his chest. Jared's nipples were hard again and he gasped as Colin latched his mouth on one, sucking. “That's it.” Jared whispered.
There was a wide, low chair next to the windows, covered in a dark chintz pattern. It had arms but extended out like a lounge, and it was big enough that they both fit comfortably in it. Jared's mouth tasted like mint tea, and Colin explored it slowly and fully—tongue, teeth, the soft, wet insides of his lips. His fingers stayed on Jared's nipples, plucking and squeezing. Jared's breath was hot around Colin's mouth, caressing his cheeks and chin, his body pressed tight against Colin's and squirming.
Colin worked his way down Jared's body, nervous but determined. His mouth found his nipples again, dark against his dark skin, hard little peaks beneath Colin's tongue and between his teeth. Jared liked that, Colin could tell by the way his shoulders drew back, his body arching. Jared was hard against his stomach.
“You'll have to tell me,” Colin whispered, but only with his face nearly pressed to Jared's stomach, so he didn't have to look up at him. “Show me.”
“I'll show you,” Jared's hand slipped past Colin's cheek, to pop the button on his shorts. His voice was breathy. “You're doing fine so far.”
“I'm not doing much yet.”
Colin licked and tasted, skin that was salty, bitter with soap. He swirled his tongue around Jared's navel, felt the soft line of hair that started beneath it and followed it downward.
Jared lifted his hips off the chair and they pulled his shorts and underwear down together. Colin could smell his musk long before, and it was stronger after they did, tantalizing and alarming at the same time. His cock was firm, flushed, and despite Colin's previous teasing, plenty long and thick enough—in fact, now that he gauged it for his mouth, he thought probably too big to avoid making a fool of himself.
Jared's fingers were tangling idly in Colin's hair. “Take it slow,” his eyelids were drooping, long lashes darkening his gaze. “You know how it's done, just relax.”
Colin stroked him first, because that he knew well enough. Jared was hot in his hand, growing slick as Colin smeared the fluid leaking from the head down the shaft. Colin tasted his fingertips and found it tangy. Jared's breath was shallow and quivering.
“You like how I taste, don't you? You're always tasting me.”
“You have a certain delicious appeal.” Colin shifted himself up a bit. “Let's get a good taste, then.”
“Wait.” Jared slid his hand over Colin's wrist, squeezing it. “You have some oil or lotion or something?”
“Why?” Colin lifted an eyebrow. It seemed absurd to be chatting with Jared's cock twitching and straining next to his cheek
“I want you to put your fingers in me.”
Colin went and found some lotion in his travel bag, his jeans undone, shirt askew. He pulled it off while he was up. Jared pushed his shorts and underwear the rest of the way off and took his shirt off as well. When Colin returned he had one leg draped over the arm of the chair, a casual, aroused beauty laid out before Colin in all his glory.
“You are something else,” Colin crawled back onto the chair, between Jared's spread thighs. This time he'd had the sense to bring a towel along with the lotion.
“What sort of something?” Jared wiggled around, adjusting his hips. Colin tucked the bottle of lotion between the cushion and the arm of the chair.
“Something that kicks the hell out of my resolve.”
Colin knew the mechanics, even if he was rusty in practice. He felt silly, opening his mouth so wide, but once he got it over Jared's cock everything was about concentrating on not choking, not scraping his teeth. Soon he relaxed enough to start a smooth, steady sucking.
Jared was moaning, his hand fisted in Colin's hair. His taste was sharp and pungent on Colin's tongue, his thickness compelling and almost overwhelming in Colin's mouth, spreading his jaws, the head nudging at the back of his throat. Jared slid a hand down and gripped the base, holding it for him.
“Colin,” Jared said huskily. “For being bad at this you're doing pretty good.”
Colin continued with slow up and down movements, the weight of Jared's hand on the back of his head reassuring, though it had bothered him at first. Finally he had to take a break to rest his jaw, and reached for the lotion.
“Colin…” Jared looked absolutely wrecked with pleasure now, his skin flushed and hair lying limply on his shoulders and hanging over his forehead. He spread his legs wider, draping the other one over the other arm of the chair. Colin opened the lotion. “Just relax,” Colin whispered, feeling more in control now.
Jared arched beautifully off the chair, his hands wandering over himself restlessly as Colin filled him with one, then two lotion-slick fingers. The tight heat inside him spurred Colin's desire as it always did. He took him back in his mouth, slow and careful so as not to overwhelm him with sensation.
Jared was soon squirming and writhing around so much that Colin found it difficult to maintain what he was doing. He slid his mouth off and opted instead to work his fingers and just give occasional strokes and licks to his cock, lest he get his jaw broken. Jared was clinging to the chair back above him, eyes closed, mouth open in ecstasy. He had such a beautiful face, painfully beautiful in fact, especially when he was turned on.
“I think I'm ready for something more,” Jared finally said breathily, opening his eyes and gazing at Colin, their blue depths tempestuous now.
“I think I am too,” Colin said.
He slipped his fingers out of him and reached over the side of the chair, grabbing up the towel. When his fingers were cleaned off he removed his jeans and underwear while Jared watched him. Colin wasn't fully hard yet, but Jared remedied this with a few slow, firm strokes as Colin hovered over him, his hands on the back of the chair.
“You want me to get on my knees?” Jared murmured.
“No, like this is fine.” Colin sat back and hooked his arms under Jared's knees, drawing them back. “Just like on the phone.”
Jared gasped and then cried out as Colin slid into him, nice and smooth and easy. He clung to the chair above him again, his eyes wide and looking up into Colin's. It was an intense moment of connection, and Colin was terrified of what that wide-eyed look opened up in him.
It was hard and fast like they always fucked, and yet unbearably deep and powerful this time. Colin had taken what he wanted, what he really wanted, and it gave a certain force to every thrust that made him shudder and Jared moan deliriously. He thought Jared's neck must surely be hurting in the position he was in, but he didn't complain, in fact begged for more and urged him on until Colin was in a frenzy, a haze that clouded all his rational thinking and drove him with pure need and instinct.
“Yes,” Jared was moaning, his voice almost a sob. “God, that's how I've always wanted you to fuck me.”
Jared came first, without any stimulation to his cock, which Colin found startling and amazing. The way he thrashed and yelled and his eyes fluttered and rolled back in his head, Colin thought he'd killed him. Then the clenching around his cock and the feel of Jared's wet heat splattering his stomach sent him over the edge, pounding into him until he too was yelling as if he were being killed and filling him over and over in hot, seemingly endless spurts.
“God,” Jared was panting. Colin slumped over him, trying to catch his breath.
Afterwards they lay tangled together on the chair, sweaty and wet with other things, Jared's hair tangled around his face and brushing Colin's cheek. Jared's hands were caressing idly over Colin's damp flesh.
“That wasn't so bad, now was it?” Jared murmured.
“It was intense,” Colin replied. He still had the taste of him on his tongue. “God.”
“I told you, if you let yourself go, you'd find out things about yourself that you never knew.”
He had been right, so incredibly right, and that was the problem.
******
The room was dark, the lights of the city stretching out in the distance beyond the windows, fading away toward the shadowy mountains against the blackened sky. Colin stood at the window, feeling the cool night air on his skin, a forgotten cigarette burning down to the filter in his hand where it rested on the wall next to the window. He heard shifting on the bed behind him, the sound of feet slapping softly on the floor.
Hands slid over his chest, a warm body pressed to his back. A cheek rested against his shoulder.
“This suits you,” Jared murmured.
Colin was wearing his djellaba, fastened in the front only at his waist. He shifted, noticed his cigarette, and ground it out in the ashtray on the windowsill.
“So I've been told.”
The hands continued to roam lazily over his chest, over the fabric, beneath it. Colin drew a heavy breath of the night air.
“I'll miss this place too,” Colin said softly. “I've never been anywhere more beautiful.”
“Me either,” Jared said softly, his breath seeping hot through the fabric on Colin's shoulder. His hands quit moving, resting lightly against Colin's chest, one over his heart.
They were silent for a few minutes, the stillness broken only by the sound of the wind and the distant, subdued noises of the midnight city. Colin lifted his hand and rested it on the one that Jared had over his heart.
“Jared,” he said softly. “Don't do this. You know I can't.”
“It doesn't matter,” his cheek was still resting against Colin's shoulder, so his voice vibrated against his back. “You do what you want to, and I'll do what I want to. I'm not asking anything of you.”
“That makes me a horribly selfish man,” Colin's voice was tight as he spoke. “How do I live with that?”
“Unrequited love is as old as humanity,” Jared lifted his head from his shoulder and moved his hand from beneath Colin's. “You're not doing anything that hasn't been done by a million people before you.”
Jared slid his arms from around him. Colin tried to turn, but Jared stopped him, playing with his hair. “And people have gotten over it since the beginning of time,” Jared gave his hair a little tug, then released it. “Don't you worry your pretty blond head over it.”
He turned and went back to the bed. Colin watched him go, watched him crawl back under the covers. The streetlights shining through the window glowed soft on his face, and he gave Colin a smile before settling down against his pillow. No invitation to come to bed, no entreaty. Simply a bare pillow and an open spot that Colin could take or leave as he chose.
Colin stood at the window for a long time, not looking out at the city but with his hand over his eyes, elbow resting against the wall. Tomorrow, Thailand and the end of this crazy, mind-warping African heat. Yes, soon he'd be somewhere else, soon he'd have his head about him again. Soon he could go back to sleeping alone, instead of crawling back in bed with Jared.
main page back
continued in the 'Thailand Fling' series
No comments:
Post a Comment