Will and I were great friends for years. We had gone to college together and through sports, mostly running, developed a great friendship that sustained college and some years after. I got to know his family and friends, and then ultimately his girlfriend who became his wife Her name is Ann. Since Will and I were from the Northeast, we did end up with jobs there after college and stayed in touch, though no doubt, he ended up being his wife's husband first and my friend second.
Nonetheless, we three did lots of things together, and when I was with my girlfriend, we made a pretty consistent and friendly foursome. One of the things we did a lot together was run. Getting into our late 20's, and busy with professional lives, we found a common outlet in running and joined a running club together, that met after work most weekdays, and for long runs on the weekends. Ann didn't always join the long runs, but Will and I would start with Ann joining us, and then she may drop off with some others to join us at the end for some post run stretching/cool down stuff. I always loved looking at her long, lithe legs with the short running shorts that showed off her toned calves and smooth legs...right up to her amazing ass. It gave me the occasional partial boner just looking at Ann and Will stretching together, because of the multiple erotic and quite inappropriate images that were running around in my head. I had to stretch more so that I could get distracted. Running gear doesn't leave too much for the imagination. Or rather, if quite fuels the imagination...
Now Ann was really quite amazing. She was about 5'6", long brown hair and a super body and personality. She was always so easy-going and just always a nice person and fun to be around. Will would joke and say that even though she's so nice, she can be quite the unexpected tigress in bed. That was one of the things that attracted him to her at the start. She just came across as the typical 'girl-next-door' type, but then she was just this amazing sexual creature when they were alone. Sometimes, when properly prompted or when he was a little drunk, he gave more details, which fueled my imagination... like her propensity to make him come on her, and her love of oral sex, both giving and receiving. Those stories that he told, mostly when we were out drinking and the subject came up among the guys, really created some crazy powerful images in my head that were sometimes hard to get out when we were all just hanging out socially.
We did lots of stuff together, including eating out, going to each other's house for dinners and parties, and then we started a movie night where all 4 of us rented a movie and had a dinner/movie thing. I was in a mildly serious relationship with Bonnie, whom I met through some other friends and we had been dating for about 6 months, and all got along quite well. Nothing terribly serious for me, but I think Bonnie wanted more from the relationship than I did at this point. But we all had fun together, and had lots of laughs.
Anyhow, we were training for a half-marathon, and the group would do 15 mile runs on Saturdays, in addition to about 15 miles during the week. Several members were working towards that race, and sometimes pushing each other real hard. I had to miss one week for a business trip, and I had a phone call one day from Ann just a day before I was coming home that changed our lives.
Ann and Will had been married for about a year at that point, and all was going so well for them. Ann called me one evening on my cell phone when I was in the hotel getting ready for an evening meeting, and the sound of her voice made me stop in my tracks.
She had obviously been crying and I could hear her voice crack.
"Joe...I've got some bad news..." she said slowly and full of sadness.
"Ann, what is it? Are you ok?"
"Joe. Will is dead."
I literally had to sit on the bed because the air was just sucked out of my lungs. I couldn't even fathom that this was reality.
"Ann, are you kidding? What happened?"
"Joe...he just died today. They think he had a heart attack or something..." and she started crying all over again.
"Ann...tell me what happened. He was a fit as anyone I know...how can he have had a heart attack? That happens to older people with bad hearts..."
"I don't know yet...I just came from the hospital and they called me and said he was brought there after running and had collapsed. It's been so hot here and he and the guys were running and they said he just collapsed...They called 9-1-1, but there was nothing they could do..."
"Oh Ann...I'm so sorry...I just can't believe that...I've know Will for 10 years, and never known him to have anything wrong with him whatsoever..."
"Well, apparently he did have some congenital condition that was supposed to be mild and never cause any problems. But he just got overheated and...now..." she started sobbing all over again. "...now he's gone Joe..."
I was horrified, shocked and devastated by this news. I had lost a friend and Ann had lost her husband. These things weren't supposed to happen. We were young and had lives to look forward to and families to raise and so much in our futures, that we don't for a moment, consider that one day and one moment, our lives can be simply over. It doesn't seem fair and it certainly didn't make any sense.
"Ann...I'll be home first thing in the morning. Is there anything I can do for you? Is Joe's family notified and coming in?"
"Yes...they called me first a few hours ago, and then when we knew there was nothing more that anyone could do, the doctors and I called his folks and sister. They're coming in tonight."
"Ann, thank you for calling me yourself. I can't imagine how this is for you. I'll help in any way I can."
"Thanks Joe...you were always his best friend, and I just feel so sorry to have to tell you and so sad that we've just suddenly lost our Will..."
So in the ensuing weeks, the funeral was done and we so mourned Will's life, then celebrated his life and cherished the memories. He was such a fine man and a good friend to me and husband to Ann. Ann, Bonnie and I continued to hang out because we wanted to support our friend and keep her company and be around in her sad times.
We tried to keep the movie night thing going, just with the three of us. Weeks turned into months and Ann seemed to be dealing as well as can be expected. She had returned to work and had family and friends giving her as much support as we all could and as much as she seemed to need. The movie nights, though sad with 3 instead of 4, did seem to give all of us something to look forward to each week.
There were many nights that just Ann and I hung out because of schedules, and talked of many things, including Will and she seemed to be able to laugh more and was not so sad all the time, at least not in front of me.
"I still cry a lot Joe...I miss Will and all the plans and memories that we had together," she once said. "But I can laugh now too...I wasn't sure I'd ever laugh again."