Ocean Avenue

DAY TWO

The next morning, Alex awoke to rain pelting on the outside of his window. Pulling himself out of bed to access the weather, the brunette groaned as he felt some sand that had been sticking to him fall to the floor. Even though he'd taken a shower, the gritty substance had still been able to make its way into his bed, and now onto the rug. Wondering if all of the locals had homes as sandy as this, Alex made his way over to the window. Prayers flew through his head as he pulled back the blinds, as the young boy wanted nothing less than to stay inside on a trip to California due to rain.

Alex sighed as he got a good look at the west coast. The rain was coming down hard, and it didn't look like it'd stop any time soon. Deciding that he'd figure out what he'd do about it later, Alex began to get ready, brushing his teeth and fixing his hair and such. Once he was dressed, he made his way into the kitchen, to be greeted by both of his parents sitting at the table.

"Good morning, son," his father greeted, and Alex smiled in reply, mumbling out a similar reply.

"What are your plans for today?" Mrs. Gaskarth asked as she served her son a plate of pancakes, and just as Alex was about to reply, his phone buzzed from across the room where he had left it the night before.

"I'm not sure yet, hold on a second,” Alex said politely, getting up and crossing the room to fetch his phone. A text from Matt lit up the screen, simply stating,

Shitty weather, we're hanging out at mine today. Want us to pick you up?

Quickly typing out a reply, Alex was putting his phone down again, and joining his parents at the table once more.

"I think I'm going to visit some more shops again today, if that's alright?" Alex asked, to which his mother replied with a nod. Alex didn’t like to lie, but he was still a bit hesitant to talk about the boys he’d met at the beach. He wasn’t ready for all the questions and excitement unless they continuously hung out.

"Are you sure you want to do that on a day like today, though? You'll get soaked, dear," Mrs. Gaskarth reminded Alex.

"It's alright," Alex answered, "I'll just take the bus."

Finishing up his food quickly, Alex hurried upstairs, eager to get ready. As he tried hard to locate an umbrella, he wondered what the other boys had in store for their day at home, and he was curious if they'd hit it off as much as they had the day before.

-

Matt’s house was, well, huge. Alex couldn’t help but stare as Matt pulled up to his home. Of course, all of the houses in the neighborhood were fancy and definitely for the very wealthy, but the one Alex was visiting now was the star of the cul de sac. It stood two stories high, with enough square feet to fit probably three of Alex’s own residence inside. It was a mixture of light brick and stone and a dark shingled roof, with a long driveway housing a BMW parked in it. Alex gawked at the perfectly manicured lawn and beautiful native garden accents. Large, sparkling glass pane windows were pressed into the sides of the building. When Matt cut the engine and got out, Alex found himself weak on his feet getting out of the car. Even though there was rain and cloudy skies, everything was impressive.

Alex followed Matt closely as they made their way in. The inside of the house was even more beautiful than the outside. Alex felt like he was in a mansion, and to him, this really was a mansion. He could hear a TV playing loudly in another room. Matt smiled at him as he put his keys in his pocket.

“Rian, Zack, and Jack are already here. They’re playing GTA V,” he said. Alex just nodded as they both walked down the grand front hallway and into a spacious room with a TV at least seventy inches. In three gaming chairs on the floor were the other boys. They were laughing and yelling at each other as they played furiously. Alex’s eyes couldn’t keep up as he watched the giant screen.

“Hey, pause the game,” Matt said loudly over all of the commotion. Rian chanced a look back before pressing a button on his controller and making the screen freeze over with a menu window. Zack and Jack turned around as well, and Zack smiled.

“Hey, Alex,” he said. “Cool to see you again.”

Alex felt strangely pleased with the other boy’s words. He mimicked Matt’s movements and sat down on a loveseat to the side of the rest of the crew. He leaned back and smoothed out a scrunched up part of his shirt. “You too,” he spoke with a genuine smile. He watched as Jack grabbed a handful of chips from a bag nearby and began to cram them ungracefully into his mouth. Of all the guys, Jack seemed to be the most languid and careless, Alex decided. Jack was the chill one, Rian was the fun one, Zack was the kind one, and Matt was the organized ring leader.

As Alex mentally categorized the other boys, he thought about what he might look like to them. Did he have a welcoming personality? Or did he come off as shy, or even as rude? Hoping that it was not the latter, Alex jumped in his spot as he heard someone calling out his name, pulling him from his thoughts.

"Alex!" Rian spoke, receiving a questioning look from said boy in reply. "We were wondering if you had any suggestions on what to do." Alex blushed slightly despite himself when he realized he must have been spacing out.

“I, uh..." Alex tried, unsure of what to say. It was at this point that he felt the oddness of his situation; this wasn't a normal predicament for him to be in. Halfway across the country, in a house he'd never been in before, with boys he barely knew. Half of him was stuck on the fact that he didn't need to be here, and the other half thought it was stupid that he was even giving the thought the time of day. Deciding to just forget about it and live in the moment, Alex finished with, "I don't know." Normally, he wouldn't be deciding such things, as he usually just made choices just for himself. At least he was putting in some effort to think about it now.

“Dude, you just blanked out like, twice." Jack chuckled.

“Our new friend here's a dreamer." Matt laughed, patting Alex on the back.

Alex shook his head in response, trying to fight off the flush appearing again on his cheeks from all of the attention.

“How about we do prank calls?" Jack suggested, bringing his friends attention back to Rian’s his prior question.

Everyone nodded, as Rian responded with, "Yeah, duh! Why didn't I think of that!"

Matt pulled out his phone, sitting up straight on the edge of the sofa. Alex watched as he opened the dialler and looked around at his friends with his eyebrows raised. “Who’s our first victim?”

“Adam Monson? He keeps trying to cheat off my tests in AP Calc,” Zack said with a slight frown.

AP Calculus. Fuck. Zack must have been a genius or something. Alex had stopped after Algebra Two. He thought it kind of funny that a kid who’d been let into a class like that was trying to cheat.

“Fuck, yeah. He’s an asshole. Remember that girl Layla I dated for a month last year? He’s the guy she cheated with at that party,” Jack mentioned with a look of disgust. Alex wondered why the girl would cheat on him, but then reminded himself that this was California. Stuff happened.

Alex watched as Matt scrolled through his contacts, added *67, and held the phone in his palm, the speakers turned on so everyone could hear. The phone rang two times before Adam answered.

“Hello?” he asked.

Jack smirked and leaned forward, putting on an accent when he spoke. “This is Jeff from Pure Pleasures. I’m calling to confirm your order of twelve exotic Mexican dancers for a bachelor party on the twenty-seventh?”

Alex pushed a hand over his mouth, trying to suppress laughs like the others were doing. Only Jack kept a calm voice, though there was an amused smile on his face.

Silence followed, and finally the voice spoke again.

“What the fuck? I didn’t order Mexican dancers!” Adam exclaimed. “You have the wrong number.

Jack just hummed. “I have Mexican dancers for a Mr. Adam Monson. Is that not you, sir?”

Adam stammered. “I-I… That’s me. But I didn’t order this!” he insisted.

By now, Zack had his face in his hands, his body shaking with laughter. Matt struggled to hold the phone near Jack.

“We’ll send over a representative to speak with you now, Mr. Monson,” said Jack.

Alex leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, face in his hands as a stupid grin refuses to leave his face. This is undoubtedly the most fun he’d had in a long time, which pleasantly surprised him. From the beginning he hadn’t thought he would get this much out of a bunch of guys who were polar opposites of him.

Their victim continued to sputter and rage over the phone as he began to caught on, and soon Jack cut the call short with a triumphant laugh.

“Alright, who’s next?” Zack asked with an eager smile.

-

An hour passed. The group planned and executed a few more calls, including the infamous “I’m pregnant and it’s yours!” prank (Alex could achieve a pretty high and feminine voice when he needed to). They even got an old woman to fall for ‘Is your refrigerator running?” but then felt slightly bad after she’d hung up. Alex ended up with a cherry popsicle in his hand and his legs tucked under himself, numbing them, as he and the other four all smashed onto one sofa in order to each be near the phone. No one even noticed the rain letting up and the sun peeking out from behind gray clouds hesitant to leave the sky. The sun was never far behind in California.

-

It was mid afternoon when Rian was the first to leave, claiming he had to take his shift as lifeguard at the local pool. Soon after, Jack left, and then Zack, leaving just Alex with Matt. Alex was still a little shy around his new friends, especially alone with one in their house, so he mentioned his parents taking him out to some museum and Matt brought him home without complaint.

Alex’s mother was making lemonade when he walked into the rental house. She gave her son a big smile and immediately asked how his day had gone once he was sat at the table with a glass of the fresh drink in front of him.

Alex just smiled as he stirred the ice around with his straw. His mother didn't know where he’d been, but he found no need to lie in order to give her the answer she expected.

“Good. It was really good.”