A Weekend At the Ranch
You received a long lengthy text from your best friend Cole you've known for 12 years at 2 PM; he was in a panic. His father had a severe stroke and was in the hospital. He didn't know what to do, his mother was never in his life and he was the only child. His dad's side of the family was nonexistent too. He had no support system. You haven't seen him since your 24th birthday about 9 months ago. He's been working at his father's ranch while you just graduated college and currently doing an internship. They've been bugging you to take some off since you never do for quite a while now. Now you have a reason. You're excited, yet slightly nervous, you haven't told anyone you're gay, not even Cole. He just thought hated dating in general.
You put on a skin-tight gray athletic shirt followed by black mesh shorts and old beat-up black sneakers. You exit your studio apartment with 3 days' worth of clothes in a navy blue backpack. It was an extremely humid and hot day in June, the sun already beating down on your fair skin. You were going to drive 4 hours to southern Texas to surprise Cole and spend Friday through Monday morning with him. You get into your 2005 white Ford and begin the journey.
For the past 20 minutes, you've seen no houses, buildings, or man-built structures. Just endless plains and fields of crops while driving on a dirt road. You drive up to a white moderately large house with a burgundy-colored barn on the left of it and a large field on the right of it. You honk the horn 4 times right before you exit your car to hopefully get Cole's attention. As you exit your car you see the door of the house open.
Cole is staring at staring in confusion wondering who you are, you're about 35 feet away. He was wearing a white tee shirt with cargo tan shorts. Suddenly he full-on sprints to you, before you say anything. Cole hugs you tightly without saying a word, you've never had another man hug you this long before. The hug was too long. Before you could complain he finally stopped.
Cole was 5'11 with hazel eyes and a crew haircut. His hair was a dark brown and was surprisingly pale for working on a ranch. His lips, palms of his hands, and so on were a fleshy pink. You've never seen him so happy. He's 180 lbs and fairly lean, you both played football together in high school. You both also have the same sized feet, and both of you wear a size 11 shoe. His eyes were bright and full of jolly as he looked into your eyes.
"I haven't seen you in so long Eric, you really came to visit me!" Cole said with excitement.
"You're my best friend, Cole. Of course, I'd come to visit, I care about you man," you reassuringly said.
"Let me grab your bag, and we can head inside, I finished most of the things out here today," Cole replied.
You both went inside, when you entered the house you could smell a strong pine scent. You're not sure if it was from a candle or a plug-in air freshener. There were also a set of stairs almost directly in front of the entrance.
"I'll throw your bag in my room," Cole said.
"I thought there was a guest bedroom here," you said confused.
"Oh, um yeah, I'll throw it in there then, yeah good point," Cole said somewhat disappointingly.
Cole then ran up the steps, you took off your shoes and placed them beside each other on the mat next to the door. You walked into the living room and sat down on the wine-red couch, it felt great. A real seat for the first time in 4 hours. Cole seemed very off, but why wouldn't he be? His only relative is in the hospital and he's here alone with no support system. Was that smile genuine or fake because he's trying to be strong? Cole then comes back down the stairs.
'Hey, you want a beer, or some water, or orange juice or something?" Cole asked you.
"Some water would be amazing," you replied.
Cole grabbed a glass from the kitchen and then filled it with water; you wondered where his long-term girlfriend was.
"Where's Natalie man?" you asked.
"Um, we ended things," Cole said quietly.
"What? You two were dating for almost 7 years, she loves you. What happened man?" you said shocked.
"Things just change, you know," Cole said looking away.
"Cole, elaborate, that makes no sense," you replied.
"Well, just because a bird can fly straight doesn't mean it has to keep flying in that direction. Maybe it has always preferred to fly backward or vertical and doesn't like flying straight," Cole said awkwardly.
You were baffled, what the fuck does that mean? The Cole you know is straightforward and never speaks like that. Cole was blushing too, but why?
"Um, bro, are you ok? I'm not sure what the fuck that means. Can I help you out?" you said concerned.
"You're partially the reason I left Natalie, I think you helped already," Cole said awkwardly.
'What the fuck? I haven't seen you in almost a year, what the hell did I have to do with this?" you shouted in anger.
"I-it's not a bad thing, you helped, Eric," Cole said with a blood-red face.
"Jesus Christ! What the fuck is wrong with you?" you replied.
Cole's face was still blood red and sweat began to form on his face. He was silent, you could see the fear and dread in his eyes. He suddenly dropped the glass of water never gave you. It shattered when it landed on the hardwood floor.
"FUCK, FUCK," Cole shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Shit, let me help you clean that up," you said.
"Shut the fuck up and sit done, I got it," Cole shouted at you.