500 Miles
by Parker
Williams
When I was
fourteen I fell in love with an older man. It wasn’t any one thing that made me
fall in love. In fact, I can’t even tell you when I realized it. When I started
high school he was there for me. He helped me in ways that no one else would.
He laughed at my jokes. He was playful. He never seemed to mind having me
around. He even ate lunch with me, despite the fact people gave him funny
looks. His name was Jason, but everyone called him Jase.
Jase was my
brother Eric’s best friend and he was perfect in my eyes. He was poised,
confident, friendly. He never treated me like a kid, even though I was three
years younger than he was. Jase always tried to include me in on plans they
had, sometimes against Eric’s protests. They’d made arrangements to go to a
baseball game and Jase wanted me to come along, but Eric whined about it. “I
don’t need my little brother tagging along every time we go somewhere.”
Jase chuckled.
“He’s not going to be your little brother forever, dude. When he gets older do
you really want him to remember how you treated him? I’d give my left nut to
have what you do. Let him come along, okay?”
I heard Eric
grumbling, but eventually he gave in. He always did. Jase was just that
convincing and it was one more thing about him I loved. I mean, really, what
wasn’t to love? Jase was taller than me, I was kinda scrawny at
five-feet-six-inches, a good six inches shorter than he was. I was lucky to
weigh in at one-hundred-ten, he was a bulky one-eighty. He kept his dark hair
buzzed close to the scalp, which made his forest green eyes pop out. My hair
was a boring brown and my eyes were like mud. Is it any wonder I worshiped this
man? God I was going to miss him.
---
500 Miles is the story of Mark, a young man who has fallen in love with his older brother's best friend and the event that is about to separate them. It was done for the MLR call "Mixed Tapes", an anthology I'm hoping to be part of.
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