Page 17 of Flowers To Give

“Mhm! Roberto! Look who I found!” Ryan calls out in a sing-song voice.

Another twink with a longer face looks over his shoulder and squeals, “Eneki! Honey, how are you?”

“And look,” Ryan pretends to whisper as they draw closer, taking the two spots next to Roberto and forcing Jeremy to sit on the other side of them, “A cowboy.”

“Hi,” Roberto bats his lashes as Jeremy sits down next to him, “I’m Roberto. What’s your name?”

“Jeremy,” he smiles politely, sipping on his beer as soon as he’s settled on a blanket. The crashing waves are so loud in his ear, tempting him to run into their watery embrace.

“Jeremy,” Roberto repeats slowly, leaning closer and tonguing his teeth, “So. Where’s your girlfriend?”

Uncomfortable, Jeremy shakes his head and looks away.

“No?” Roberto teases, lightly poking at Jeremy’s arm, “Oh my god, do I make you nervous?”

“Cut it out,” Eneki tells him, “Not everyone is ready for your level of gayness.”

Jeremy feels bad so he jumps in, “It’s okay. I just don’t think I’m your type, is all.”

“Oh yeah?” Roberto grins, twinkle in his eye, “How do you figure?”

“I’m- Well, uh,” he glances between Eneki and Ryan before telling Roberto, “We’re the same.”

Roberto’s brow scrunches. They sit in silence for a beat before Ryan cries out, “Shut up!”

The three of them look to Ryan whose jaw is wide open. He smiles and seals his lips, patting his hands on his lap and smirking to himself. Roberto catches on next, whipping back around to him and gasping, “You bottom!”

Jeremy half smirks and takes a big swig from his beer.

Roberto twists his mouth before flaring his fingers and saying, “Girl, I’ll top you. Try me.”

Ryan spits out his mixed drink, guffawing, “Bitch! Yeah right! When? In what world? How?”

“I’mma show this cowboy tonight! I’ll brokeback his mountain, mhm,” Roberto snaps in a zigzag formation.

Jeremy does not end up taking Roberto up on his offer, but he enjoys laughing along with them and finishing his beer. Eneki offers him a ride back to the hotel but Jeremy’s already called an Uber. He says his thanks and goodbyes, getting a lift to the car rental lot where his truck is ready. It’s an old Ford and Jeremy is in love.

Getting his map app out for the Four Seasons, he notices a missed call from Barry. He chews on that as he drives through Oahu, windows rolled down and smoking a cigarette in the humid tropical air. Before anything, he needs a long shower after riding a horse for ten hours.

The hot water washes over him and he suddenly realizes how much more comfortable he is now than he was this morning. Surprisingly, a lot of the work feels like his early days of wrangling on Willmaker Ranch before he steered more toward cattle driving as his profession. He figured cowboying was where the money was, but he would have never expected this sort of opportunity.

Toweling off, he calls Barry back and puts him on speaker as he shaves his face in the mirror. The ranch hand picks up, “Jeremy. Hey, it’s kind of late for you, huh?”

He looks at his phone clock - midnight, must be five AM for Barry. He smirks and asks, “Yeah. You just startin’ your day?”

“Yep… Man, it feels weird without you here.”

“It feels weird not to be there,” Jeremy admits.

Barry takes a moment to answer, the background noise shifting, “How’s Hawaii? Are you ready to throw Clark into the ocean?”

“He almost did that to himself today.”

Barry laughs, thinking that Jeremy is joking, “Well, what’s it like there?”

Jeremy rinses his razor, thinking of how to explain the island effect. He shrugs to himself, shaving the other half of his jaw as he puts it simply, “Gorgeous. Nothin’ like it.”

“Even the beautiful Colorado mountains?”