I never had many friends growing up. I was usually a loner. As an only child, it was tough meeting people around the neighborhood. When I was about ten, our next door neighbor Jerry would often stop by to talk with my parents. He and my father could talk about anything.
Jerry reminded me of Ethan Hawke. Always very friendly and welcoming to me, even at such a young age.
Flash forward to my sophomore year at college. Now nineteen, I am home visiting from school, I still have zero friends to hang out with. It goes without saying that I haven't been sexually active.
My parents are both working and I have nothing to do all day, like usual. I hear a knock on the door, I answer it. Jerry is standing there.
"Hey buddy!" Jerry says.
"I didn't know you were gonna be home." He continues.
"Yea, I'm home for the weekend." I answer.
"Nice! Are your parents around? I was supposed to return their lawnmower." Jerry explains.
"No, their not, but you can drop it off later if you want." I say.
"You okay? You seem, down." Jerry says.
I pause for a moment.
"Well, it's kind of a stupid story." I say.
"Nonsense!" Jerry responds. "You can tell me anything bud."
I pause once more.
"You wanna come in?" I say. "Maybe we can talk about."
"Love to" Jerry says with a warm smile.
Jerry and I venture to the couch in the living room. We both sit.
"Talk to me buddy. What's got ya down?" Jerry says with sincerity.
"I thought college would help me make friends. I though at least I'd meet a girl and..."
I pause once more.
"You can tell me..." Jerry says.
"...and have sex. It's college! I'm supposed to meet people and have sex, but none of that's happened for me." I say.
Jerry puts his hand on my right leg.
"Those are two separate things but also similar. When making friends and meeting people to have sex with, you wanna be yourself. Eventually, people will see your honesty and wanna get to know you better. You should also find someone you trust to have sex with." Jerry explains.
"Well, if I'm being honest. You're the best friend I have. I haven't trusted anyone enough to tell them about this before." I answer back.
Jerry looks at me hard. His hand still on my leg. He pats my thigh.