The boy from city was one of those common, ordinary guys David met at every disco. He had reddened cheeks and sparkling eyes and had probably had a beer or two.
"Oh, fuck, up close your eyes are even prettier!" exclaimed the boy without even trying to hide his admiration. "You have to dance with me! I've never seen such a pretty girl! Are you a local?"
David heard his colleagues laughing. They were even falling down with amusement. He, however, was not laughing.
"Thank you," he replied politely, "but I have to say no. I also like girls."
"And wouldn't you like to try something different? You know, there is a certain part of a man that is simply irreplaceable for certain pleasures...."
Well great, he took me for a lesbian!
"Thank you, I have mine," he replied grimly. That one did not understand. He probably thought he meant a vibrator or something similar, so to avoid further misunderstandings David added "I'm not a girl! I'm a man!"
"Oh, sorry…"
Philip could no longer stand the laughter and wiped his tears with his fists.
"Gosh, I'm going to fall on my knees" he broke down. "It's always the same and always makes me laugh the same way!"
"Good for you" muttered David feeling a little silly, but he too had a smile back on his lips. He felt a little sorry for the boy, who confusedly disappeared somewhere in the crowd. He even cursed his face, which was so misleading to people. He even began to consider whether to try to get some kind of scar to discourage guys from hitting on him. However, he quickly chased that thought away. He wasn't that crazy to mutilate himself.
As David predicted, his popularity was not limited to men and several girls from the city gave him their attention. He took turns dancing with them, favoring none of them because, although very interesting, they were not Berenice.
***
"Well, what? Did she trash you so quick?"
Luke, the boy who had just tried to pick up the black-haired beauty with sparkling cornflower-colored eyes curled his lips.
"It's a guy," he replied, making it clear to his friends how disgusted he felt.
They came to this disco in five. Their goal was clear and one - to have fun with the village girls. They were convinced that each of them would happily fall into the arms of a city boy. After all, such rural pumpkins didn't have much opportunity to smell the big world. But even to them there were occasional failures. Some a little more often than others.
"Don't worry!" one of his colleagues comforted him. "You'll find a prettier one. And a girl!"
"So what if it's a boy," interjected the other grimly. Luke looked toward Greg, who was following someone in the crowd with his eyes.
"Well, what do you mean?" laughed another uncertainly. "He has the wrong thing on the front."
"But on the back they have the same thing."
Luke swallowed his saliva. As far as he knew Greg, guessed what he meant.
"Ehm, no... I think I prefer traditional..."
Greg did not respond. He continued to stare somewhere in the crowd and Luke concluded that the object of his interest was a black-haired boy with dark blue eyes. The atmosphere suddenly became a bit awkward and heavy like an entire train set.
"Ehm, I think he won't be interested," Luke remarked quietly. "I mean he told me that he prefers girls."
"Oh, really?" Greg's eyes narrowed a little. His focus widened.
Luke felt distinctly uncomfortable. He had a feeling that Greg had no intention of giving up on picking up the black-haired boy. Seemingly he could try, there was nothing wrong with that, but Greg took refusals very badly and here it was almost certain that it was refusals that he would be dealing with.
Luke wasn't the only one who had his suspicions, as the other boys also became restless and began to distract Greg. This was easy, as a group of clearly interested girls had just appeared nearby.
Luke was immediately relieved when Greg turned his attention back to the girls. Usually he didn't care about his business, but if his friend had persisted with that boy over there, he could have caused quite a stir, and Luke absolutely didn't need that. Walking away to the girls, he cast one last glance in the direction of the smiling black-haired boy dancing with the girl, and thought that for him he could try a less traditional way of playing. The guy was just so damn appealing. At this point, he couldn't condemn Greg at all.
***
David's joy didn't last long, however, because he suddenly remembered that he hadn't turned off the sprinkler in the palace garden for the night. Actually, no big deal would have happened if the water had flowed all night. Its flow wasn't so great as to cause flooding in the nearby basement, but the new owner was due to arrive tomorrow, and David's father was very anxious to make the entire property look perfect. Large puddles of water and mud were not welcome and David would hear from his parents later.
There was no way out, he had to stop having fun and turn off the water. However, it was a good five kilometers to the palace and he didn't wont to travel that distance on foot. He looked around the threshing floor looking for a familiar face from that area. Lucky for him, he noticed that one of the girls was vomiting. He helped her get out and cool down, she, however, still felt wicked. In a moment, her friend appeared and said that they had to go home after all.
"Wouldn't you give me a ride to the palace?" he asked.
They were younger than him and the more aware one looked at him suspiciously. However, both of them had known him for a long time, and now he had been working in their neighborhood for a almost a year and probably posed no great threat, so they agreed. He packed himself into the back seat of the small, women's car that the girl's mother usually drove, and in a few minutes he was there.
***
The girl Greg was talking to was not bad. Quite even pretty for a country bumpkin. Maybe just too easy, since he didn't even have to convince her much to come out of the barn where the disco was taking place with him. She was a little too eager to lunge at him when he initiated the kiss. Boring. Greg liked a challenge.
While kissing her unenthusiastically, out of the corner of his eye he noticed the black-haired boy with dark blue eyes who had caught his attention so much earlier. He tore his lips away from the girl, who tasted somehow bland, and ran his eyes over the boy.
"Something wrong?" she asked in an artificially charming voice. "I don't think you're losing your... mood..."
She was exasperated.
He wanted to tell her that yes, he was losing his mood because of her, but the boy, who appeared in the company of two younger girls, probably still high school students, caught all his attention.
"But no," he smiled at the girl. He reflexively brushed her cheek.
The black-haired boy was talking to the girls, one of whom was clearly drunk. Could it be that he liked the younger and innocent ones? Although these two did not look innocent. One of them gave the impression that she was having too much fun tonight.
"Hey, focus on me!" complained Greg's companion still pretending to be cute. He thought she had watched one too many anime.
'Better a sparrow in a handful than a pigeon on the roof' said the old adage, but Greg wasn't so sure. He had a country sparrow in his handful, and he was all too quick to catch it, just enough to spill a bit of bread crumbs when a few dozen meters away a beautiful black-winged raven was tempting with its glossy feathers and sparkling eyes. To capture such a stately bird....
"Hey, can you hear me?"
She was annoying, she was damn annoying.
"Sorry," he released her from his grasp. He put distance between them.
She was disappointed and angry. Maybe he even offended her pride.
"City loser," she muttered under her breath and walked away. Good thing, Greg wasn't desperate to have to take advantage of just anyone.
The black-haired boy had just gotten into the car with the girls. The less drunk one sat with the wheel of a small women's car, her friend took the seat next to her. He sat alone in the back. So are they going somewhere? Is the beautiful raven about to disappear from Greg's hunting ground? Damn!
Greg put his hands in his pockets and felt the shape of the car keys.
He had only a moment to make a decision....