“Rise and shine, twerp.” Nick slid the blinds open and flicked on the overhead light, secretly enjoying this little torture.

“Wha??? What the hell time is it?”

“6 am. Time for good fisherman to be awake.”

“You’re full of shit. I’m not getting up.”

“Okay, I’ll take your rod and lure back to the Romero’s today…take your ass home now.”

“You wouldn’t…”

“I would. I’m going fishing and you’re not staying here. We need to get the boat ready.” Knocking him on the bottom of his feet…dirty damned feet, Nick started out to the hall. “I need you showered and downstairs in 15 minutes.”

“Why am I showering if we’re just gonna sweat our asses off on the boat?”

“You start clean. You end dirty. That’s the way it goes.” Nick pulled the door closed but heard Ben shifting back into bed. Waiting an extra moment to listen if he got up, he yanked the door back open. “And DON’T make me come back up here to get you.”

Sitting up angrily and smacking the mattress, Ben downright pouted. “Jesus! Okay, okay…god, you’re worse than my mom.”

“Glad to hear it. Now get up. Towels are in the bathroom over here.”

“Ugh.” Ben fell backwards into the bed and almost dared to snuggle back in, but the alarm clock in the shape of a 22 year old pain in the ass was back already.

“14 minutes.”

“Asshole.”

“Donuts are waiting. I tend to eat the whole box, so hurry up.”

Good enough. Donuts could get the dead out of bed, couldn’t they? “Fine. I’m up, I’m up,” tossing back the sheets and standing in his boxers arms spread open and skinny, bony body shivering against the air conditioning, “See?”

“I see. 13 minutes.”

“You sure this is worth all this work?”

“For me it is, yeah. Go get the cooler and we’ll take off.”

As soon as Nick had the boat maneuvered out of the channel and they were taking off full speed into the Gulf, Ben got it. The warm, humid air took his breath away. He’d lived in this area all of his life, but had never been on a boat, never been fishing. Suddenly a 6 am wake up call didn’t seem so bad.

“Could you get us some water? We’ll go out a bit more and drop anchor.”

“Yeah, sure…” Ben had been pretty quiet since they arrived at Nick’s place after dinner the previous night. He was just overwhelmed. Overwhelmed at Nick’s house, the neighborhood, the view, the car collection, the…everything. He knew the guy had to be loaded, but Nick never showed money. Not around Ben anyway. The only thing flashy about him was his truck. Otherwise, he wore normal clothes, little jewelry…he seemed unaffected by his fame. But now? Now, Ben felt like a fish out of water…and here he was surrounded by the stuff.

He stood in the galley of the boat and just gawked. They could have spent the night on the water…this thing had 2 bedrooms, a bath and a half, full kitchen, living area. Insanity. A floating apartment. Where did Ben sleep? In a dining room. With a snoring brother next to him and a crying baby sister down the hall. In a pit. This? This was pure luxury. He didn’t feel like he belonged and yet…

“You bailin’ the water in from the toilet? Get up here, boy…I’m thirsty!” Nick tossed a towel down the stairs that landed dead on Ben’s head. Hearing Nick’s cackling from on deck, Ben had to smile as he pulled off the towel and slung it over his shoulder.

Somehow, none of the differences meant anything to Nick. He’d never made Ben feel like a lowlife, a lesser-than, a wanna-be. Oh, but he was. He wanted to be this…to have this. To never have to worry about money. To never live like he did now. Heaving a sigh, he grabbed two bottles of water from the cooler and jogged back upstairs, gasping as he saw nothing but water all the way around him.

“Oh wow…we’re way out, huh?”

“Yep. Grab your rod and we’ll set up over here.”

Ben did just that and followed Nick’s moves to get everything set up just right. Once satisfied, Nick opened his water bottle and stretched out along the bench that surrounded the deck.

“So, uh…this is it? This is all we do?”

“Yup, set up the poles, keep an eye on ‘em and just…breathe.” Taking in a deep breath of the ocean air, Nick stopped cold and looked around Ben who hadn’t relaxed enough to sit down. Giggling, he motioned him closer. “Come here…”

“What?”

“Turn around…you’ve…” turning Ben around so his back faced him, “…you’re worse than Liz. You’ve still got the sales tag on your trunks, punk.”

“Oh…I thought something was itchin’ back there.”

Ben twisted and turned to try to get a hold of it, but was failing.

Seeing he’d have to get a little personal, Nick approached with caution. “Here…I’m gonna have to…”

“Yeah, it’s okay…”

Nick snuck a finger into the boy’s waistband to retrieve the plastic holder and quickly ripped it off. “There…I don’t know how you missed it…it’s huge. Fish would think it was a lure after I pushed you in.”

“Pushed me…you’re not pushing me in way out here!?” Panic. Then he saw Nick’s smirk. He wouldn’t, would he?

“No…I’m kidding…just don’t piss me off. Aaron’s had to swim home before for bein’ a smart ass.”

“I’ll bet your fishing stories are a riot.” Adding hand motions and a fake deep voice to dramatize his point, “Yeah, man, that last one was this big…almost broke my rod on it!”

“Kinda like your tales of video game victories, huh?”

“Shut up…I’m whoopin’ Jack’s butt on that Spider-man one you got us.”

“Yeah, but isn’t Rod beating your ass on Final Fantasy?”

Ben shot a glare at Nick and finally sat down, willing himself to relax, enjoy, take in the quiet. “To a pulp. I don’t think I’m patient enough for that one.”

“Eh, you’ll get it. Is it working out…you guys taking care of that thing?”

“Yeah. I set up time limits. Mom was getting sick of me and Jack fighting and Rod and Steve hanging out all the time.”

“Good for you…”

“But Liz is still pissy. She wants to play and can’t. It’s too hard for her.”

“Hmm…wonder if we could find a game more her pace.”

“Dunno. Until you gave me mine, I only played what was displayed at the stores.”

“I’ll look. Doesn’t seem right she doesn’t have something. You’ll help her with it?”

“Yeah…if she doesn’t throw a fit if she loses.”

“Liz!?”

“Oh shit, yeah…god, she’s obnoxious.” Adding a whiny voice for effect, he mocked, “She just thinks you’re cuuuuuute. So she’s good around you.”

“Ah, yeah…always bringing out the best in the ladies.”

“I’m gonna be seasick. Although, Miss Romero…man, she’s different around you.”

“She is?” Nick tried to will his heart from racing, sure Ben would notice the change in his demeanor. Lani was off limits. Totally off.

“Oh yeah…flirty or something. It’s weird. Never seen her like that before.”

Nick didn’t say anything else, not sure where to take the conversation. To another place would be good. How about to the fish? He turned around to check his and Ben’s lines and almost choked at Ben’s next utterance.

“You sure you’re not fuckin’ her?”

“Ben, we talked about this…even if I was, it’s really none of your business.”

“So you ARE! I knew it!”

“Why are you so curious about my love life, huh?”

“I dunno…” Ben looked down, afraid he’d crossed a line again. Also amazed he really cared. He actually cared about something. Felt kind of good. Until now. Maybe he’d screwed it up.

“Well, I’m not with Miss Romero, okay. Get that out of your head. And if I was, “fucking” would not be a topic of discussion with you…or anyone. Makes it…just. Stop asking me that stuff, huh?”

“Still don’t have a girlfriend, do ya’?” He totally missed the point.

Nick had a sick feeling he was going to have to have a birds and bees discussion with this kid if for no other reason than to same him when it was time to start dating. Ben would be a callous mess. Although, Nick wasn’t the hero when it came to that stuff either. Time to fess up. “Nope. Too busy being stupid. Probably missed a good one while I was screwing around.”

“Then quit screwing around, putz.”

“I think you’ve got something.”

“Me? Advice for the lovelorn?”

“No, dork…on your line…get your line!”

“Ah!” Ben jumped up and swirled around, almost dancing in place when he saw his pole bending toward the water. “Oh God…what do I do!?”

Before Ben could panic himself beyond repair, Nick was up, taking over the reeling in of his line. “Come on, Ben. Calm down and come do this…” He was fighting not laughing at the kid. He could bad mouth the school principal but a one pound…what was this…he couldn’t tell yet, but it wasn’t huge…a one pound fish made the kid freak.

“Jeez…sorry, okay, what do I do?”

Nick let go of the line with one hand and brought Ben in, wrapping his arm around him, showing him how to reel the line in. “Just take your time…hang on now…you’re getting it. Oh yeah, a nice little sea bass there.” He pulled back and watched Ben get a good grip of his line while trying not to let the excitement of his first catch make him lose concentration.

“Wow…it’s pretty!”

“Yeah…a blue one. Those are nice…keep going, you’re getting it.” Nick took hold of the rod again and helped him bring it all the way on deck, releasing it from the line. Holding up the fish for Ben’s inspection, he beamed with pride too. “Look at that…nice job, Ben.”

“Wow…it’s uh…kinda small though, huh?”

“Yeah, these usually are. Not big enough to eat. We’ll throw him back.”

“Wait! All that work and we’re gonna toss him back!?”

“Yep…go get my camera from my dresser though. Jack will want to see it or he’ll think you’re lyin’.”

“Well, we could skip the pic and I could...tell him it was an 8 pounder or something.”

“Get the camera, Ben.”

“You’re no fun…” Ben chuckled as he disappeared down into the boat leaving Nick with his catch. Naturally, Nick’s line sat completely still. Would have been nice had Mr. Sea Bass brought along a friend or something.

Nick took Ben’s picture with his fish, made him give it a kiss before tossing it in and started the process again. The morning sped along with the rare catch, a lot of video game talk and just a generally nice time. No arguments, no attitude and no clock watching. Until Nick looked up to see the sky changing.

“Oh shit, Ben…there’s a storm out there. I think we’re gonna have to head in early.”

“Damn, where’d that come from?”

“No idea…let’s go.”

Without much thought, the lines were in and Nick was speeding back to the slip at his house. And Ben began growing silent again. Concentrating on parking and making sure they’d collected everything, Nick didn’t ask. Not yet anyway. Ben was moody and honestly, Nick understood it. So was he.

After slapping together a couple of sandwiches, Nick joined Ben out on the deck to watch the storm come in.

“You okay, Bud?”

“Eh…you’re gonna laugh at me.”

“Probably. Here’s lunch.”

“Thanks…I, uh…I don’t wanna go home.”

“Why would I laugh at that?”

“Cuz I didn’t wanna come in the first place…”

“You’re allowed to change your mind. I’m glad you like it here.”

“Yeah, and uh…now you’re really gonna laugh.”

Nick just took a bite of his sandwich and said nothing. Knowing Ben was enjoying himself was hardly funny. It was great.

“Can we bring Jack next time?”

“Of course. I’d like to have everyone come out some time.”

“Yeah, but just Jack at first…maybe to go fishin’ too?”

“How ‘bout tonight? Fish again tomorrow.”

“What!? Really?”

“Yeah, let’s make sure the weather will be good and we’ll get him. I promised dinner for your mom and we can just pick him up then.”

“You’d do that? You’re not busy?”

“Not tonight. Was just gonna go out and probably be stupid. This is a much better idea.”

“Wait a minute.” Ben tossed his sandwich on his plate and looked at Nick in shock. “You mean I’m keeping you out of trouble???”

“Stranger things have happened.”

“Not where I’m from they haven’t. No one makes good choices in my life.”

Well, it’s time to make a change then, huh?”