Luca and the Long, Hard Summer Ch. 04

"I just want to -"

"Shut up." The hand on his arm squeezed harder, and Thomas breathed in sharply. "We are not doing this in front of Nim. Not ever," he almost growled. "She cannot know about this."

Thomas took a breath for courage. "What do you want to do, then?"

He heard Luca breathe out a long breath through his nose. "We pretend like nothing's happened."

"In front of Nim, and the mums?" he had clarify, even though his chest felt like it was being squeezed in a vise.

"In front of everyone."

"And when we're alone?" he was almost afraid to ask.

Luca's grip slackened. "I don't know," he said finally. "But we can't argue in front of Nim. Not ever," his voice had lost it's edge, and Thomas looked up into his his friend's face. A fleeting look of sadness crossed his eyes before it too, disappeared behind the wall. Thomas watched his Luca steel his expression before forcing a smile onto his face, and patting him on the arm like he hadn't just tried to claw his way through to bone.

"Where's this ride then, Nim?" he called as he turned, his voice surprisingly jovial. Maybe he could act after all, though he'd have given anything not to have found out this way. Thomas steadied himself before trying to muster up an excited expression. It was hard. He'd never seen his friend that way, if he could even still call him 'friend'. Thomas swallowed the lump in his throat. He was going to lose Luca - had maybe already lost him. He had to act like nothing was wrong, when his best friend of ten years was walking away. He wanted to sob. He could feel it clawing at his chest. Instead, he stretched a smile on his face and turned to follow them. Luca may not forgive him for this holiday disaster any time soon, but he had the feeling that if Nim found out about it all, Luca would never forgive him.

Luca smiled so much his face hurt. He hadn't meant to snap at Thomas. He'd gone to apologise. Truth be told, he'd gone to beg. But when he'd seen him with Nim, something inside him broke. What if he'd told her? Nim had barely been old enough to know what was going on when his mum had divorced his dad, but she was old enough to remember the yelling. She was old enough for the fights to become nightmares that haunted her sleep for two years following. She spent those two years creeping her way to his room in the middle of the night, trembling, terrified to go back to sleep. One out of three nights, she'd had to crawl in next to him before she could drop off again. She was young then - only five - but she still had the dreams occasionally. Some nights he'd walk past to the bathroom and see her light on through the open door. She'd be asleep in bed, her blankets tangled around her, like she'd been running from something in her sleep.

He couldn't let that happen to her again. Thomas had been a big part of her life. He couldn't fight with him. Not in front of her. He couldn't put her through that again. And so instead of begging, he'd basically whisper-yelled at his best friend, and manhandled him until he'd agreed to pretend like nothing had happened. Smooth. And now he probably hated him. First he'd managed to fuck up their friendship by acting on his lust-fuelled fantasies, and now he'd actually physically threatened him not to talk about it. He really was a colossal dick. He should have just apologised and put him off until later. He should have just explained.

Still, he couldn't fix it now, not with Nim standing there with her hands on her hips, impatient to be whizzing through the air in whatever ride she'd taken a fancy to. There was nothing to do but smile and pretend like he meant it.

"Come on, Thomas!" Nim cried, stamping her foot. Luca looked back over his shoulder to see Thomas turning to follow him, a tight grin etched into his lips. His dimple was pulled taut. It reminded him of a skeleton's smile. Dead, and terrifying. Luca tried to lighten his own expression, sure that he looked just the same. But Nim looked at him askance.

"You look weird," she said, pulling a face. Shit.

"You look weirder," he replied and poked his tongue out at her. She head butted him in the stomach and he feigned being winded. Thomas finally drew apace with them, and Nim grabbed their hands and held them aloft while singing out "let's go!" And so they were pulled through the crowds towards a ride that looked like a spinning metal octopus with pods at the end of each 'tentacle'. He could see mum standing near the ride, munching on some fairy floss. Ma would have told her off for that. She would have stolen some too, but there would have been words like 'blood sugar' and 'cholesterol' thrown about. For now though, his mum looked pretty pleased with herself. She waved at them from the line, and in her hand were what looked like tickets. She'd obviously had faith in Nim's powers of persuasion. He didn't blame her. She was well known for it.

Nim was pulling them forward like an overeager labrador on a walk. Thomas and Luca trailed behind, pretending to be excited, and doing everything in their power to avoid each other's gaze. They could talk tonight, when they got back. At least, after everything, he hoped they could still talk. What a fucking mess he'd made of things.

His mum looked between the three of them, and he could only imagine the picture they made. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, but she handed over the tickets. She had that 'we'll talk later' look to her. Just what he needed.

Thomas, Nim and Luca only had to wait five minutes until the next available seats. Three to a pod. It would have been perfect, except Nim was third with the party before them, which left them with sitting next to a surfer looking dude around their age. Nim jumped in first, with the abandon of a teenage feral, leaving them to grab the capsule afterwards. The surfer tilted his chin at them in a very 'bro' like ackownledgement and took the seat closest the outside, leaving two for Thomas and him. Next to each other.

He could feel Thomas' gaze on his, but he ignored it and climbed in. There was nothing for it. Terrible as it was, it had to be done. He sat himself on the outside leaving the middle seat next to surfer dude free. The pod rocked as Thomas climbed in after him, sitting down between them on the shelf seat. Luca could feel their thighs touch along the entire length in the tight space. He could feel the heat of his flesh through the material, and burned. He half wanted to shift away - ask the stranger to swap with Thomas, but the softer, hungrier side of him wanted to lean in closer. Shoulder to shoulder. Hip to hip. But that was what had gotten him into this mess. Just one touch too many. One kiss too far. His friendship was teetering on the edge, and all he could do was wonder what the inside of Thomas' thigh felt like. He was dirt. No wonder Thomas had flinched away from him earlier.

The attendant pulled down their safety bars, and they sat around his chest like a hug. Thomas was shifting quietly in his seat as the attendant slammed the door to the pod. His mum watched from the sidelines, fixing him with a measured look. Damn. She only made that expression when she knew something was up. Maybe he could distract her later and avoid an awkward conversation. If one thing was certain, he definitely couldn't tell her the truth.

The ride lurched forward, and upwards the arms went. The pods spun and danced. The Disco Spinner was appropriately named. But as they hurtled around in the little pod, collecting G's like stickers, all his attention was focussed on the one point of heat between him and Thomas. Every time the pod changed direction, he'd be thrown sideways. Their shoulders would touch briefly as they slid along the seat. Their thighs would press together more firmly as they tried to brace themselves against the rotation. Luca was storing up every touch in his memory like it might be the last.

He could hardly believe it when his pants started to feel uncomfortably tight. He could not be hard in this situation. He was not horny. He was devastated, full of anxiety, a bit wistful, and even a bit nauseated, but he was definitely not horny. But his body disagreed. His cock thickened in his pants, pushing into the padded safety bar. The second it made full contact with the bar, he knew why he'd gotten hard.

Vibrations. The safety bar that connected with a clip between their legs was humming with vibrations as the ride whizzed around, and his erection was grinding right into it with every rotation. Luca felt the tingling go right down his balls, and he choked back a moan. He felt tears gathering in the corner of his eyes, and he told himself they were from the wind. But knew deep down they weren't. He'd been too close, too many times today, and it had made him abuse his friendship in the worst possible way. Despite his anguish, intense pressure began to build behind the base of his cock as the vibrations did their work. He tried his best to push himself back and away from the bar. But the attendant had done his job well. That thing was tight against his hips, buzzing against his hypersensitive cock like a hitachi. Salt water streaked across his face as the tears broke free. He didn't want to be aroused right now, let alone actively fighting back an orgasm. Thomas' thigh was hot against his, and he wondered if he was having the same problem. Probably not.

He heard the surfer dude whoop with excitement on the other side of the pod and he clamped down hard on his arousal. The vibrations were torture as he tried to hold himself back. Thomas' thigh tensed, pressing against his, hard. He tried to angle away from him, but that pushed his cock further into the bar. The underside of his glans rested for a second on the undulating bar, and that was all it took.

After three weeks of trying to cum, he was finally there. He'd give anything not to be, but he had no say in it, as his pleasure spiked high and he felt his balls draw up tight. No! He wailed inside his mind. After all this time, he could not lose himself on a carnival ride with a stranger and his best friend. Especially not his best friend. But despite best intentions, he felt his desire tighten to its exquisite peak. Luca scrunched up his face, and held on, clenching every muscle in his groin to try and stop himself. His cock started to pulsate as he held himself tense. Ecstasy leaked through his defences in shallow waves as his erection strained against the foam safety bar. He gritted his teeth and fought against it for what seemed like a life time until finally, his pleasure crept down from the crest in tiny increments, and he released his clenched muscles. A second later, and the vibrations became too much to bear. He tried to squirm away from it, but couldn't move. Luckily, as another second went by, the sensitivity passed, and was replaced with a new problem. It was starting all over again.

Luca marvelled. Had he really just cum on a carnival ride? He honestly didn't know. Had that been an orgasm? He'd definitely reached his peak, but the feeling of release had not come. His erection still stuck out as stiff as an iron poker, and he was just as horny as he was before, even though he'd come back down from the edge. He could feel the pressure still there, gathered with force at the base of his cock. Even as he wondered, the delicious tension was rekindling and building in his groin again. The ride still spun and bucked, and the wind whipped his curls around his face. A quick look to his left made sure that neither of the other occupants were paying any attention to him. Thomas' expression was tense though, and his face was scarlet. Perhaps he was feeling sick. Or perhaps he was in a similar predicament.

The thought of Thomas sitting thigh to thigh with him as he finally gave in to the weeks of unsatisfied, urgent lust, made Luca weak. The jack-hammer vibrations of the safety bar were relentless against his cock. He could feel himself getting close again. It wouldn't be long now, and he'd be exploding. There would be no holding it back.

Then the ride started to slow. The rattling of the safety bar slowed too, until the vibrations were just occasional pulses. Luca quickly adjusted himself so that his condition wouldn't be obvious, and was taken by surprise. There was no wet spot. He hadn't cum. But he'd felt it. It had been pathetic, and barely a release at all, but he'd definitely had...something. Maybe he'd been wrong. Maybe he had just fought it back successfully. Luca glanced at Thomas, who was red-faced and stoic. He could hear from the next pod, Nim laughing in one breath and complaining that it was over in the next. He couldn't believe he'd almost creamed his pants in front of everyone in line for the ride. That was up there with the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to him. If there had been a shower available, he would have used up all the hot water just to have an excuse to hide his face from the world. But no amount of thinking of dead puppies would have saved him from that humiliating experience. The vibrations had been too strong and too localised for him to contend with. At least there was no stain for him to worry about. Luca almost sighed with relief as the attendant released the bar. He scrambled out of his seat and out of the pod as quickly as he could, making sure to shield his crotch from view. His mum was waiting for them as they all piled out of the ride.

"Have fun?" she asked, with a fair amount of side eye in his direction. Nim practically gushed, followed by an immediate plea to 'go again'. Luckily his mum convinced her there was more to see, and before they left to explore the rest of the carnival, his mum turned to them.

""Did you want to follow us, or find something else to do?" she looked between them discerningly, trying to figure out what was going on. He had no idea what to say. Thankfully, Thomas took the lead.

"I think I'll just have a sit down, Mrs M. That morning walk took it out of me more than I thought."

She looked to Luca, and he nodded. "Think I'll do the same, mum. Feeling a bit sick from the ride." She looked sceptical, but with Nim already ploughing off into the crowd, there wasn't much else to do but agree.

"Sounds like a sensible idea," she replied. Nim's voice piped up in the background, echoing her with "sounds boring". His mum didn't acknowledge her, instead telling them to meet back at the car in an hour's time. Before she turned to leave though, she looked straight at him, and very deliberately wiped her cheek. She then set off at a trot to catch up with her wayward 13 year old.

Luca quickly copied her, and felt the residue of his wind-blown tears crust off of his skin. Shit. She definitely knew something was up. Thomas threw a sideways glance at him, but otherwise said nothing as he turned and walked in the opposite direction with a stiff gait. It seemed that the ride hadn't left him unaffected after all. He didn't feel quite so bad about his own slip up now, or at least he wouldn't, if he wasn't still achingly hard. A furtive check through his pants pockets confirmed that he had not 'released' anything during the ride, although he still couldn't quite believe it. But at least he wouldn't have to clean his pants in a dingy carnival toilet. But he had more important things to worry about right now. He needed to talk to Thomas, and if he wasn't mistaken, his mum had just deliberately given him an hour to sort it out.