Author's Note: This is the first story I've chosen to release as a single entity, instead of releasing individual chapters or parts. I think it will flow better that way and I may choose to do more like this in the future. Enjoy!
Austin Frazier pulled up to the small townhouse and put the car in park. Looking up at the dull-brown unit in front of him, he spotted a discarded beer can in the flower bed right by the mailbox. Austin let out a disappointed sigh as he turned the ignition off and climbed out of the driver's seat.
At this point in his life, he'd been hoping to move forward with his life. Yet, staring at the rows of townhouses in their small college-oriented town had him feeling more like he was moving backwards. It wasn't that he disapproved of college—no, he'd been there and done that almost a decade ago. Now, he was thirty, and he'd been recently forced to sell his own five-acre ranch twenty minutes away (and much closer to his job) to take over the extra spot on his cousin JD's lease.
Interestingly enough, that story started back during his own college days. It was the second to last semester when Austin sat down right next to a stunning brunette in his Ancient Roman history class. McKenzie had been friendly and willing to carry her part of the conversation, and soon enough they had their own nightly meetings for studying. After enough time, those study meetings drifted from the local student union back to Austin's dorm, usually spending a good portion of the night undressed and under the covers.
McKenzie had been insatiable. In the beginning, she was a great girlfriend, but she always knew what she wanted—her path in life was already well-defined. She wanted to be married by twenty-five and have two kids by thirty. Always very family-oriented, McKenzie made sure that he knew
exactly
how she wanted her life to go. At first, he'd been onboard and willing to follow her time frame. At the time, he'd just wanted to make her happy because when McKenzie was happy, so was he.
They were engaged the year after college and married at the early age of twenty-four—a whole year ahead of schedule. Their first year of marriage was bliss. Austin had no idea what happened with other couples who seemed to bicker and argue all the time. Time with McKenzie just seemed easy. They didn't need to work too hard to make their marriage work, and Austin looked forward to a bright future with her.
Unfortunately, it all went downhill from there. McKenzie wanted to have two children by the time she was thirty and that gave them a full six years to get working on their baby-making duties. Yet McKenzie never seemed to become pregnant. It wasn't for a lack of trying. At first, they simply stopped using protection, hoping to get pregnant the old-fashioned way. When that didn't work, McKenzie decided to get a lot more practical. She started tracking her ovulation, and she made sure they always had sex during those special days every month when she was at her most fertile.
It was when they both turned twenty-eight that they had to admit out loud that what they were doing wasn't working. None of the pregnancy tests ever came back positive and frustration in their household was reaching a boiling point. What had been an easygoing marriage up until that point had turned a full one hundred and eighty degrees at the drop of a hat.
The struggles that they faced in trying to get pregnant led them both to doctors to test their fertility. In the worst news he'd ever received, Austin found out that he had weak sperm. In common terms, his little swimmers just weren't strong enough to reach the womb and often died long before they fertilized an egg. McKenzie was fine and perfectly able to get pregnant and the problem laid solely with him.
Austin was devastated. There's no feeling like being told you would never be able to become a father. That you would someday never get to hold a child of your own flesh and blood. The ride back from the doctor was a quiet one as he mostly stared out the window and tried to hold back the tears.
With the diagnosis, he was willing to try just about anything to fix the problem. He tried a few different drug prescriptions, a few supplements, and even changing his diet and lifestyle to remedy the problem. Even with all the changes, they never received a positive pregnancy test. Life for him would never be the same. Nor would it be for his wife.
If he had expected her to sympathize with his position, he soon found out that wouldn't be the case. McKenzie's sex drive dried up almost overnight. It was a complete change from the early years of their marriage when he struggled to keep her off of him. Now, she barely gave him the time of day and refused to have sex, often asking him what the point of it all was.
If that was all it had been, perhaps their marriage could've survived. But with their sex drying up and the prospect of kids never happening, and thus her time frame all but destroyed, McKenzie became even more withdrawn. They started having the nastiest of fights, often going days without speaking a word to each other. McKenzie went from being one of the sweetest women he'd ever met to becoming one of the cruelest. In some of those fights, she'd ridicule him for being infertile or take shots at his manhood for not being able to fulfill the simplest biological imperative.
Austin tried to attribute it to frustration on her part. He knew how badly she wanted kids, and she was taking her frustration out on him. He thought that if she could just get enough of it out now, eventually they'd be able to move on. Perhaps they'd be able to adopt and still be able to raise children even if they weren't biologically their own.
However, it was six months ago almost to the day when she dropped the biggest bombshell on him to date. McKenzie had met someone else—a man that she had met at work. In her own words, Kent was her soulmate. And she wanted a divorce. In the space of two minutes, Austin's entire life came crashing down.
He didn't try to fight her. All of the fight in him had already left. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't hate McKenzie for wanting to move on. She wanted something that he just couldn't give her, and there was no reason to hang onto something that was so broken. It only took them six months to finalize the divorce, no doubt frustrating the lawyers who would've wanted to drag it out for a larger payday. McKenzie got the ranch and the furniture while Austin just got back most of his own possessions and clothing. He was only too happy to give away the ranch. At this point, it only contained too many bad memories.
He had to move back home for several months but time spent living with his parents got old rather quickly. For that reason, when he heard his cousin JD needed someone to take over the other portion of his lease, he leapt at the chance for independent living once more. What was more, he actually liked his cousin, despite what the rest of the family had to say about him.
You see, JD was one of those perennial college students. Even though he was already twenty-five, he was still a year shy of completing his degree. It wasn't that JD wasn't intelligent—he just lived his life at his own pace, which happened to be much slower than everyone else's.
"Hey, Austin, welcome to the pad!" said a clearly delighted JD as he opened the door.
"Hey, JD. Thanks for letting me take over the other spot here," said Austin while setting his bags on the floor. "You have no idea how much I appreciate it."
"Oh, it's going to be killer, you have no idea! And feel free to make yourself at home. I got the Xbox hooked up to the plasma screen in the den and plenty of booze in the kitchen. Mi casa es su casa, brother," said JD.
Austin smiled politely, trying not to laugh at the clear reminder of his college days. Not that he didn't enjoy a night of Xbox or the occasional beer, it's just that he'd largely outgrown that part of his life. Still, Austin appreciated his cousin where a lot of his family did not. JD had a good heart and he was a straight-shooter. Most of the time. When he wasn't inebriated.
"Anyway, this is going to be your room. The walls are thin, so if you got a girl over, just remember to keep it down. A sock on the door helps to let me know too," said JD before grabbing a bowl of pretzels and heading for the couch.
Austin's room was spartan to say the least, but it was exactly what he needed at this point in his life. Not having many possessions, he didn't have a requirement for a lot of space, and the twin bed, dresser, closet, and desk were completely adequate for the situation. It didn't take him long to unpack, and soon enough, Austin joined his cousin on the couch to watch a little television. Thankfully, the common area didn't look too bad, and the couch was comfortable without having any major stains or tears. He just might be able to make this work.
"Dude, you wouldn't happen to have any rubbers on you, would you? I'm seeing this rocker chick tonight," said JD while grabbing another handful of pretzels.
Austin had to stifle a laugh but managed to shake his head. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had sex so it wasn't really like he needed a condom anyway. This living arrangement was sure to be interesting.
