Chapter Fifty One
Eighteen year old Riley Belden triple-checked his backpack for all of the necessary papers and his passport.
He was set to go to Europe with his friends, and cousin Jesse in two days. They would be backpacking through Europe for three weeks, staying in hostels and riding the Euro. They would be sampling the fine alcohols of Europe, and his friends would be picking up girls along the way, he knew.
But he wouldn’t. Girls just didn’t interest him. They never had.
For a long time, he had thought it was because he had two sisters and a large number of female cousins. Their endless chatter tended to irritate him and none shared his love of science and research. He had wanted to be a doctor, like his Uncle Brian when he was younger. As he got older though, he found himself drawn to research, to studying, to writing long papers, and discovering how things worked in the human body.
Finally he settled on a goal of being in cancer research. Science, chemistry and physics came easy to him, and in the fall, he would be headed to California for his undergrad studies. Away from his family, where he could be more than just one of the Belden-Duke clan.
He loved his family. He had a wonderful family, for all their oddities. The aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins—he had never lacked for playmates. He was one of the quietest cousins, always with his nose in a book, studying something, as opposed to the three oldest cousins who were always into some kind of mess. Or the younger twins, with their constant pranking and clowning. He wasn’t one of the athletes either.
But he was smart, easily holding the highest GPA among his cousins. It had earned him a partial scholarship to college, not that he needed it. His mother’s family was more than wealthy enough to send him wherever he wanted to go. Riley had secured the position of valedictorian of his graduating class with immense pride. None of his older cousins had managed that.
Now he was looking forward to getting away from the current family turmoil. His second oldest cousin, Aralyn Duke, had taken off for parts unknown and the family was in an uproar. None of the mothers had gone a day without crying. His twin sister, Rayma, was furious with Aralyn, and his younger sister Mabon, who had always looked up to Aralyn, was crushed. His dad, Mart, had spent a lot of time with his sister Trixie—Aralyn’s mother— over the last few days, as the Marshal’s used every contact they had to try and locate her.
He was ready to for his European adventure, and a break from the family drama.
Setting his backpack aside, his eyes strayed to the graduation picture on his dresser. Him, Jesse, and their two buddies, Nathan and Nick all in their caps and gowns, grinning like fools.
Riley rubbed his eyes, his thoughts turning to Nathan, as they had so much in the last year. He had known Nathan since grade school. They were the two science nerds, and had teamed up for science fairs, winning several prizes. Nathan had big dark eyes, an easy smile, broad shoulders, and stood as tall as Riley’s own six feet. With longish, light brown hair, he had been a nice looking boy, who was becoming a handsome young man. Especially to Riley.
Riley wished for the millionth time he didn’t have his mother’s violet eyes. They looked great on his twin sister Rayma and his mother. On him, they were a cause for teasing when he was younger, and whispered speculation as he got older. With the blue-black hair, also from his mother, Riley wondered if all the teasing over the years had settled into his subconscious somewhere.
But girls had never interested him. Even when Tim and Jesse snuck the porn magazines into their tent while camping or under their pillows during sleep overs to drool over, Riley had been dismissive of them—until a couple of years ago, when something interesting had happened.
He and Nate had finished their showers after gym class, and Nate’s towel had come undone, falling to the floor. Nate had cursed and grabbed the towel and Riley averted his eyes quickly, as his heart pounded. Suddenly, he realized Nate was bulking up in the chest. Always a slender boy, his gym time was beginning to pay off. He was a bit gangly still, but Riley was suddenly very aware of his friend’s body. More aware than he thought was appropriate.
Then he’d catch himself checking out the other guys. Not just during gym, but men walking by. The first time he’d awakened with a hard-on, he’d been dreaming of Nate. Nate liked girls though and dated frequently, and it annoyed Riley, even though the dating never lasted long. Nate got bored quickly with them, preferring to hang with his buddies.
Riley hoped that meant Nate wasn’t interested in girls either, but he wasn’t about to bring it up to his friend. He wasn’t even sure that his feelings for Nate were real. The teen years were all about discovering oneself, and Riley wasn’t sure he wanted to discover everything about himself yet.
Besides, he thought, in the Belden-Duke Clan, all of the men were straight, tough, guys’ guys. His cousins, Bo, Luke and Dan had been notorious womanizers in their youth. Tim was a very good looking young man and also something of a womanizer. Jesse had similar good looks to his brother Tim but was devoted to one girl. Leif, Logan and Miles were all charming and flirtatious, and, with their curly blond hair, a big hit with the women. Jace was good looking and played football, girls were automatically drawn to him.
Women adored Riley too, but it made him uncomfortable, especially when they commented on his unusual, pretty eyes. Riley wanted to get colored contacts. Just plain dark blue would be fine he thought. Maybe brown. Something so he didn’t stand out so much.
He found it amusing that he wanted to blend in, when most of his cousins competed to stand out, in sports, or drama, whatever. His twin sister Rayma was about to be named as the face of Daisy Duke Designs, where she had been modeling in Daisy’s runway shows since she was twelve.
With a heavy sigh and shake of his head, as if to clear thoughts of Nathan from it, he returned to checking his packing.
***
He overslept the next morning, dressing quickly. It was going to be a hot day so he opted for his swim trunks and a t-shirt, running his comb through his black hair.
Breakfast was being served as usual in the dining room. While his parents could easily afford a cook and staff, Mart and Diana Belden didn’t believe in it, at least not once the younger twins had become self-sufficient. In their youth there had been more house staff, as the two sets of twins were only two years apart and overwhelming. Mart and Diana both cooked, though there was a lady that came to help clean the house, and had twice a week since the second set of twins, Miles and Mabon had arrived. Diana was more involved with Daisy Duke Designs than Honey or Trixie, and spent several days a week in the city with Daisy, at the offices.
That morning, Nate was meeting him at the lake of Manor House, which backed up to Ten Acres, and Ten Acres Academy.
They had spent many days of summer over the years at the lake, and this summer was no exception. Riley had practically grown up there, and Nate had been along for countless parties and swims. All of the children in the family preferred the lake to the chlorinated and crowded pool in the neighborhood. They also got to interact with the boys of their cousin Jim’s school, which usually proved fun.
“Dude, we have so got to check out the Leaning Tower of Pisa,” Nate was sprawled on his stomach on the boat dock on a towel. He was leafing through one of the many tour books they had gotten for their trip.
“It’s on the itinerary, I promise,” Riley answered. He lay on his back, sunglasses hiding his closed eyes so he wouldn’t be tempted to stare at his friend’s muscled up chest. Both boys had a summer tan, and he couldn’t help noticing how Nate had changed over the year. His best friend was now totally ripped.
Riley had never kissed a girl, and if he didn’t keep his eyes off Nate, Riley’s thoughts turned to kissing him. His dates to the prom and various dances had been his sisters or cousins. He didn’t even have that many female friends, though Nate teased him about Esther from the science club having a crush on him. Esther was nice, but she was a girl. Riley could appreciate her intellect but that was it.
The boys would be staying in hostels across Europe. Close quarters, sharing bathrooms. Riley tried not to think about being so close to Nate. For years they had been camping together, attending overnight science fairs as roommates, and it had only been the last year Riley had become uncomfortable. Nate was comfortable with his body, and wore as little as possible in the summer. Riley hoped it wasn’t to tease his female cousins, but it was torment for him. Nate could easily have a female date with just a few smiles. And he knew Mabon had a wicked crush on him.
“Hey, can you get my back?” Nate tossed Riley the suntan lotion. “I couldn’t reach all of it and I don’t want to fry.”
Riley swallowed. Nate sat up and Riley silently squirted the lotion into his hand and began to rub Nate’s back. He had done this a thousand times over the years. There was one spot in the middle of his back Nate just couldn’t reach and it would fry bright red if not covered.
“And the Louvre. We have to see the Louvre.”
Riley grunted an affirmative, noting how strong Nate’s back was. They had had this conversation a thousand times. He almost touched the soft brown hair that needed a haircut but didn’t. Riley realized he was having trouble breathing and tried to steady himself.
“You all right?” Nate turned and looked at him. “You look kinda funny.”
“What? Yeah. I just felt kind of light headed.”
“We can sit in the shade, dude. You don’t look so great.”
Riley shook his head. “No, I’m okay.”
It occurred to him that come fall, he wouldn’t be seeing Nate much at all. Nate had been accepted into several schools, including Riley’s, but had chosen to go to Texas instead. It would be weird not seeing his best friend almost daily. And the thought made Riley’s lungs constrict.
“This is going to be an awesome summer. And I can’t wait to get overseas,” Nate reached for his water bottle. “No parents, we’re old enough to drink over there-Jesse and Nick will be chasing everything in a skirt.”
“True enough,” Riley forced a smile. “Well, Nick will. Jesse is still head over heels for Stephanie.”
Nate made a noise of affirmation. “I hope he won’t whine the whole time how much he misses her.”
“I doubt it. It’s only for three weeks, they’ll be fine.”
“European women are kinda scary though. I hear they don’t shave their legs or pits,” Nate shuddered as Riley chuckled.
“I’m sure that’s some exaggeration,” he said. If women with hairy armpits turned him off, then Nate definitely wouldn’t be into a guy, Riley thought morosely. He pushed the thought out of his head.
They were leaving tomorrow. He had to get a rein on his feelings for Nate.
Meet the cast in full & see the family tree!
***
Author’s Notes
- A huge yeee-haa to Ronda, my lovely editor who helps keep me on track!
- I hope you've enjoyed meeting Riley! He's very shy but he might come back later on.
- Word Count, 2,059
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