"You don't have to this, Z-man. My dad will hire you back. If construction's not your thing then go to the police academy."
"I can't until I'm 19."
"That's only six months off, man. Just give yourself some time, okay? Work around here until then and after that, you can serve to your heart's content."
He knew he shouldn't bring this up, but if it would keep his best friend from joining the Army or even worse—the Marine Corps, then it was fair game.
"Your mom's still getting over losing your dad, Rick. It's barely been two years. How is she gonna handle it if you..."
"Walker, you've been my best friend since we moved here in second grade. But don't go there, okay?"
He knew how sensitive the topic was, but the thought of losing his best friend was more than he was ready to accept. And although things weren't like they were in 2008, people did still get killed in Army and the Marine Corps. And as much as Rick leaving would hurt him, that was the thing that scared him most of all.
Yes, he knew Rick's mom supported his decision. It even made sense in several ways. His father, Thomas Zander, hadn't had any life insurance and his wife had been forced to try and fend for herself and her son. She'd only ever worked part time and while finding a job was easy, finding one that paid well was nearly impossible. So she'd worked two while Rick went to school and worked construction for his best friend's dad each afternoon and on Saturdays.
Rick's mother, Taryn Zander, was just 34 and one need not be a genius to do the math. Even as a freshman, Taryn was far and away the cutest girl in their high school. She had boys sniffing around day and night until a very handsome, very determined senior named Tom charmed her into doing things she wasn't ready to do. Among them was having a baby during her sophomore year.
She'd not only gotten pregnant in high school—early in high school—but to everyone's surprise, she not only kept the baby, she ended up marrying the recent high school graduate who worked his backside off to support them. That man, was of course, Rick's late father, and like so many others in their small town, he'd worked for Walker's dad right up until the time he got so sick he could no longer work.
Lymphoma is readily treatable these days, but only if it hasn't done too much damage before being discovered. In this case, Rick's father truly believed he was just tired from working so many hours a week, and he worked a lot of hours. He took all the overtime he could get and no one could ever say he hadn't stepped up when it counted. But because he was such a workhorse, he refused to see a doctor until he collapsed on the job one day and woke up in a hospital room the following morning.
Tests were run and within 24 hours, Tom was diagnosed with Stage IV, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma or NHL. NHL makes up only 12% of all lymphomas and has a five-year survival rate of around 85%. But that percentage goes down the further the disease has progressed and his case, by the time they diagnosed him the cancer had spread to his lungs, his liver, and his spinal cord.
There was wasn't anything the doctors could do except keep him from experiencing too much pain. Both Rick and his mother kept a vigil by his bedside for the next two weeks even after he slipped into a coma four days before passing away.
Rick's best friend was Walker Emerson. Walker was not only Rick Zander's best friend, he was the guy nearly everyone wanted to claim as their best friend. Like Rick, he'd just graduated from high school, but unlike Rick who was a 'C' student, Walker was their class valedictorian. Rick had had girlfriends, but Walker had dated the two best-looking girls in their high school. Walker was a natural athlete who'd lettered in three sports, and he still found time to to do volunteer work at animal shelters because watching a dog—or any other animal—suffer tore him up.
Walker's parents had money, but Walker worked for and earned every dollar he had. His mom was a pushover and would do anything for her son to include trying to give him cash or 'finer things', but Walker's own values wouldn't let him take anything for nothing from anyone, and that included his own mother.
Rick shared his best friend's values, but not the same good fortunes of Walker's family. Then again, there was nothing fortunate—if being fortunate implied luck—about Walker's father who'd worked his ass off to start and then grow his own construction company. He took nothing without earning it, either, and his son admired his father, Walker, Senior, more than anyone on earth. And now that his own dad was gone, Rick also looked up to 'Senior' as he was affectionately called, almost as much as he'd looked up to his own father.
"Sorry, man. I...I just don't want you to go. I know you'll get the GI Bill, but come on. College is overrated."
"I know you're not going, Walk, which no one understands because you're so damn smart, but that's your choice. I want to go, but we can't afford it. And besides, I kind of believe in that 'duty, honor, country' stuff, you know?"
Walker did know. He was also very patriotic, too. But he never wore it on his sleeve. His love of country was an internal thing and not something he had to tout. So yeah, he got it. But that didn't make saying goodbye to his best friend any easier.
"You could still do that by becoming a cop, though. What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing. It's honorable, too. But college is my goal and cops don't get a GI Bill, remember?" Rick reminded his friend.
They'd had this conversation several times and as smart as Walker was, he kept bringing up the same objections that been answered over and over again.
"I hate when you out-logic me," Walker said finally managing a smile. "So when will you be leaving?"
"It looks like mid-August," Rick told him. "But that's nearly two months away and we can have a whole lot of fun in two months, right?"
Walker looked over at him and said, "Yeah. I suppose we can. How about we start having some of it tonight?"
Growing up just a few miles from downtown Seattle meant there was always something going on somewhere. Friends had parties, kids had fake IDs, and if a guy was cute enough or nice enough, he could 'score' with a young lady pretty much anytime he wanted. Walker was both smart and nice, and like his best friend, they were both ready for some action.
After hanging out with some friends for a couple of hours, the 'dynamic duo' as everyone called them, headed into the city and ended up at a bar that was willing to accept any ID that was quickly flashed.
"Yeah! This is what I'm talkin' about!" Rick said.
It wasn't much as bars went, but for two 18-year old kids, it was about as good as it gets. Until two women who were clearly a lot older than them smiled at them when it suddenly got a whole lot better.
"Hey, check it out! Did you see those hotties checking us out?" Rick said as he nudged Walker in the ribs.
"Easy, dude. Yeah, I saw 'em. But um...they're like your mom's age."
Walker looked around and pretty much every woman in there was in her late 20s or in her 30s.
"This place is dead, man!" Walker said over the music. "Let's go somewhere where there are mostly college chicks."
The two women smiled again and Rick said, "Uh-uh. I'm checking this out. Come on, Walk. Every pilot needs a wingman. Come with me."
"You've watched Top Gun one too many times, Rickster," Walker said shaking his head.
An hour later they were back at one of the women's apartments fucking their brains out. The two 'mature' women began hitting on the younger, very-cute guys as they called them, and in short order invited them to go home with them.
Neither of the guys were virgins, but neither one had ever scored with an older girl let alone an actual woman. And both of these women were pretty damn hot for however old they were. All they'd admit to was being 'over 30' but it was more likely they were closer to 35 or even 40.
Screwing someone on the same bed with your best friend isn't something many 18-year olds do. Screwing women twice their age is probably just about unheard of. But that's what happened and Rick couldn't stop talking it about it for days.
