I was out in the garden pulling weeds when I heard the car pull up. I looked up from my work to see Reverend Sam Walker and his son Billy Ray get out of the car. They both waved at me and I waved back, dirt covering my hands. The Reverend helped my father set up the chairs for their weekly meeting circle. A dozen or so people from around the neighborhood would come over to hear the Reverend speak about things that mattered and then to sit around and talk. Usually, this process went four about three hours or so.
I didn't partake of the meeting, the things mattered that to the adults didn't really matter to me. I was eighteen, sure, but I was still a kid in my own mind. I didn't mind that my dad did it; I just didn't want any part of it. I figured it was a good time to work on my chores.
I looked back down at my mother's garden, trying to figure out where to start next. I was starting to move to the other side of the garden box when a shadow fell over me, long in the setting sun.
"Hey." I looked up, my blonde ponytail swinging behind me, squinting toward him. It was Billy Ray.
"Hey," I responded. I had never been a real good friend of Billy Ray's but our dads were life-long friends, so they wanted us to be the same.
Billy Ray crouched down next to me and started pulling weeds with me. He looked at me and smiled, obviously trying despite my lack of interest. He was a good-looking guy; about six foot four, even though he was only eighteen. A longish mop of brown hair topped an always-smiling face, his blue eyes always shining.
Billy Ray was an athlete, lettering in football and basketball. I was more focused on academics, having made Honor Roll since first grade and getting academic scholarships to several colleges. He was the outgoing life of the party while I was introverted. We were friends but only on the surface. We were too different to be true friends.
We finished the weeding, my last chore of the day. Billy Ray asked me if I wanted to do anything, but I just shrugged. I usually went in and read books, but I figured I should at least make an effort to be nice to him.
"You want to go for a walk in the woods," he asked. I nodded and wiped my hands on my jeans. We headed for the woods that bordered our property. I put my hands in my pockets, realizing they were shaking slightly. I wasn't worried about being alone with him. Could I possibly be anxious?
We talked about this and that as we walked, though I was just playing along when the talk turned to sports. I'm sure he was too when I was talking about the latest scientific research that interested me. It's something we did when we talked. We were in different worlds, each not really caring about the others interests.
We walked for a while, almost an hour. We were halfway to nowhere. We weren't in shouting distance of much of anybody. I was tired from all the yard work I had done, so I sat down on a fallen tree, Billy Ray standing there looking at me.
"You know," he said. "Regardless of how it seems, I've always liked you."
"Why's that," I asked.
"Well, you don't care about sports, so you don't care what I do on the football field or on the basketball court. You're real. You're not fake like a lot of people are."
"Fake?" That was all I said.
"Yeah. Especially the girls. The just want to know me because of what I can do, not who I am."
