"You're sure you want to keep this?" I said, holding the miniature baseball bat that I got when I was 10 years old.
Roger smiled, "Seth, of course I do." He reached over and grabbed the bat out of my hand. He muttered something about memories and sat it down on the desk behind him.
I had begun packing up my things at Roger's house. Roger and my mom married when I was ten. Six years later they divorced but Roger had been the only father I had ever known, so we maintained a relationship. I was heading off to college in a few months so I figured it was best to start packing the stuff I had left in my room at Roger's house before my mom and I moved out. Roger had always wanted to make sure that I had a room at his place and I used it on occasion, but I figured it was time to move on. I didn't have to have a room at his house to have a relationship with him.
I continued to rummage through my drawers and Roger just lingered in the doorway.
"Don't look so glum, I'm only going to be a few hours away."
"I know, it's just going to be weird for a little while." Roger said frowning.
"I will be back every other weekend and you can come visit me whenever you want."
"I will make sure to come up and annoy the crap out of you." Roger said laughing.
I smiled back at him and continued to go through some of my stuff. Separating stuff I was going to keep from the stuff I was going to donate as I went. Roger turned and went down the hall. I sighed as I watched him, he seemed so lonely.
I spent hours in that room going through stuff. I lost track of time and realized it had gotten late. I sent a text to my mom to let her know I was going to stay at Roger's. I walked down the hall to the living room where Roger was.
"Hey, bud." He said. He looked as if he had been dozing for awhile.
"I'm going to crash here for the night if it's okay"
"Well, that's why you have a room here." He smiled. I laughed and said, "Goodnight."
I walked down the hall toward my room. I took off my clothes and crawled into bed. I laid there and thought about the future. I wondered if Roger and I would continue our relationship after I left. We had always been close but I worried that with a few hours between us we would drift apart. I knew it happened, but besides my room here we didn't really have anything tying us together. For some reason these thoughts made me panic. I loved Roger and constantly looked forward to seeing him. And I had to admit, and I could only admit it to myself but when I first met Roger I had a crush on him.
Roger was actually the one who made me realize that I was interested in men. I remember when I first saw him. I was with my mom and she was introducing us for the first time. He walked in, he was tall and you could tell he enjoyed the gym. His arms was the first thing that caught my attention. They were big and strong. They reminded me of the Brawney man's arms. He had black hair lightly sprinkled with grey and a strong jaw that was always sporting a five o'clock shadow.
I had never acted on my crush, but it didn't mean I didn't think about him from time to time. I sighed and rolled over. I was fast asleep.
I awoke to the morning sun coming through my window and hitting my eyes. I crawled out of bed and headed to the bathroom to shower. I undressed and looked at myself in the mirror. I was tall and fit. I was often told I looked a little older than my age. I turned on the shower and got in.
I was washing my brown hair when I heard the door open. I heard Roger's voice say, "Hey, sorry I have a meeting that I'm running late for, I need to shave real quick. Do you mind?"