The French Lesson, Part 6

by The Scholar

"Let me taste it."

"No, me!"

"Wait your turn, you'll all get a chance."

"Well hurry up, I wanna know if it's as good as you keep saying."

"It is and it's worth the wait."

"He's right, it tastes fantastic."

"Yeah, I've never tasted anything like it."

I could just see Simon Taylor standing near our bunk surrounded by the other boys from our school who had come on this school trip to France. He was shirtless and, as far as I could see, so were the majority of the other boys, but what on earth was making Simon suddenly so popular, I had no idea. I mean it wasn't that he was unpopular, far from it. Simon had always been popular, he made friends easily, but this was a new kind of popularity, the kind that had every boy in the dormitory clambering around him, but for what? Perhaps it was because he was shirtless. A shirtless Simon Taylor was an awesome sight - trust me.

"Hey, Carter, you tasted it, yet?" Mark Richardson.

Tasted what?

"If you haven't then you should, it's awesome, isn't it Al?"

"Best ever I ever tasted." Alan Taylor, friend of Mark Richardson.

Before I could even ask they had gone. Left the dormitory and not only had they gone, but they were being followed by a few of the other boys, all of whom were seemingly just as impressed by the taste of whatever it was Simon was offering them.

What was Simon offering them? A shirtless Simon Taylor, a shirtless group of boys around him, what the hell was on offer?

"I didn't expect it to be so sweet." Tony Wilkinson. "One long slurp and you're hooked," he continued, as he and Kevin Bradshaw headed from the dormitory, followed closely by Mike McKenzie.

"Hey, you wanna try some of that," said Mike, as he passed me.

Some of what? I still had no idea what anyone was talking about. All I knew was that Simon had something everyone wanted to taste, it was sweet, the best anyone had ever tasted, and it was making my best friend the most popular boy in the dormitory.

Should I be jealous? Had I anything to be jealous of? My best friend was half naked and surrounded by a group of other half naked boys all eager to get hooked on one long slurp from something Simon had.

My mind went into overdrive, as I inched closer, desperate now to find out just what it was that Simon was allowing people to slurp. A few boys remained and Simon saw me and grinned.

"Hey, Paul, you wanna taste, too?"

I did.

I had no idea what it was I would be tasting, but if it was something that Simon had then I sure as hell was gonna have some.

The remaining boys all moved away, grinning as they did so, licking their lips and muttering how awesome that had been.

I saw Simon standing by our bunk, alone now and still shirtless. Not only was he shirtless, but also trouserless, a pair of pale blue briefs and white socks is all he wore. Come to think of it, some of the others were dressed only in their underwear, too.

Simon was still grinning. He shouldn't do that. It makes my heart melt. Even more so when he grinned at me whilst wearing just a pair of pale blue briefs and white socks. I wanted time to slow down so that I could take in the full picture before me, study the god that beckoned me closer – the grinning god that melted my heart with just one look.

"I still have some left if you wanna taste it," the voice was muffled, but that was only because I was still staring at him and I wasn't really concentrating on anything he was saying, as I just drank in the beauty of the boy who slept below me in this dormitory of boys on a school trip to France. Simon, my reason for being in this foreign land; blonde-haired, beautiful Simon, a god indeed.

"Sure, I'd like to see what all the fuss is about," I said, as if it were no big deal either way, but continuing to walk closer to the object of my desire.

Simon held out his hand – was I to take it? Was I to be drawn closer to him than I could ever have hoped to be drawn? Was the god before me offering me something that I had longed for, ached for, for such a long time?

"Here," he said. "It's the nectar of the Gods, trust me."

I did. I always trusted him. There was no one on earth I trusted more. He was a god himself, he offered me the nectar of the Gods and I so wanted to take a long slurp and be hooked, just as Tony Wilkinson had been.

I reached out for his hand and, as I did, I saw that it contained a bottle. A bottle? He was bottling his nectar?

"Taste this, it's awesome," he said.

I accepted the bottle and drank from its neck. The liquid was sweet, but also had a light bitterness too it, together the two differing tastes merged and created something that seemed to be out of this world and I voiced that same thought.

"It is, isn't it? I got it in the dining room, they're selling it down there and they get deliveries every day. It was the bottle that attracted me to it, bit unusual, I thought, never seen one like that before, but when I tasted it I thought I'd died, it was amazing."

It was; I had to agree.

I looked closely at the bottle. Like Simon had just said, it was an unusual bottle, a big rubber stopper that went into the neck was held in place by two metal clasps, one on each side. I had never seen a bottle like that before.

"There's gonna be a queue for this tomorrow morning at breakfast, you wait and see," grinned Simon. "Now come on, we have to get washed up before bed and you haven't even stripped down yet."

Simon walked away and I watched as he headed out of the dormitory and to the shower block, passing some of the other boys that were returning to the dormitory having already tasted the nectar and taken their showers.

I placed the bottle of lemonade on his bunk and quickly followed.