Too Much

We're Older Now

When you're little, the thought of adulthood is like a fresh apple waiting to be plucked.

As you sit at the trunk and gaze up at the apple hanging from the branch, you seem so small, so insignificant. And when you're small you can't help but see the world from a small perspective. Never fully grasping the reality of the apple, never knowing how heavy the fruit is, never knowing that it's rotting from the other side. You only see one side of its shiny exterior.

And when you're younger, you think the only thing stopping you back from reaching adulthood is your age.

Age and the passage of time mean nothing if you grow with the tree in which the apple hangs from. The older you get the farther away the apple gets.

The thought of maturity being a destination only leads into a giant game of cat and mouse.

"When I'm older I'll be tall enough to ride all the rides".

"When I'm older I'll be able to control my wolf".

"When I'm older I can drive".

"When I'm older I'll have my mate".

All these uncertain promises that somehow give people the hope they need to continue to the next year.

We're all pitiful aren't we?

There was a time when Kaleb and Dimitri were small and reaching for the same apple, competing for the same spot in life. Then one day, they found the apple split into two pieces, one half in each of their hands.

One held the pure side, untouched by disease and insects, the other wasn't as lucky.

Destiny has a funny way of torturing those who were born to run the same path. She's as sly as she is ominous, and that's not always a good thing when it comes to happy endings.

"Dimitri, Kaleb," Dimitri's father Samual spoke, "you know how Dimitri's uncle, Denny, had to leave the pack when you were little."

They nodded.

"Well, someday, someday very far in the future, there will come a time where Kaleb will have to move in with Denny."

"Uncle Denny's coming back?" Kaleb asked.

"No," Samuel smiled, "Kaleb's the one going to Denny."

"Then I'm going too," Dimitri pouted.

"Sorry kiddo," Samuel said, ruffing up his kids hair, "this is a solo mission."

Dimitri wasn't a very sociable toddler, he had more fun playing by himself than he did with his peers. Though he was happy, Sam and his wife always worried that he'd end up not having the social skills needed to bond with his pack, so they decided to hire a nanny with a son.

The nanny's son had dark hair, grey eyes, and rarely smiled. He wasn't an angry kid but he always looked irritated at something. Dimitri didn't mind though, he smiled enough for the both of them.

The boy, Kaleb, looked unapproachable at the time, all gloomy and always looked he was seconds away from tears. Samuel never planned to get so attached to Kaleb, nor did he intend for his son to befriend another alpha.

The intention was for them to get along and then drift apart. Sam soon realized this was another one of destinies conspiracies.

Samuel knew he should never had let the boys get so close. He knew, yet, he was a weak father that didn't want to see his son grow to be lonely. And he was a selfish man to see him as a second son.

"It doesn't matter, because Dimitri and I will stay best friends forever."

That's what the boys said but, as truths were revealed and their paths slowly started to drift from one another. And the apple that split into two— each half of a whole, never really complete without the other— began to oxidize in order to protect itself.

Just like the apple. The boys learned to live without the other.

Their childhood flew by far too quick, promises were forgotten, loose ends were never tied, and stewing thoughts were never said.

Dimitri and Kaleb were fated to grow apart, and that was what was on the rotting side of the apple that they were blind to.

Now "If only I was older..." has been replaced with "If only I had treasured you sooner..."

***

In a shared apartment somewhere in downtown Las Angeles, USA, the will to live is straining.

"I'm an idiot," A burnt-out man sighs as a shirt flies across the room into a small book bag. "I mean, who the hell follows a stranger into a public bathroom."

"You're right, that was pretty idiotic."

The room he's rummaging through is a mess, the bed in disarray, and the floor is covered in used condoms and questionable liquids.

"I was pent up, it's not my fault you were busy."

"You knew I was on business."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm never doing that again."

"You're leaving this Saturday, right?" the tan long blond says.

"Yeah, I have to go see my family," the grey eyed beauty shares.

"It's been, what, seven years since you last saw them?" The older man asks.

"Yeah, though I was gunning for longer."

"He was your ex's dad, no one's asking you to go."

A Kaleb with slightly longer hair, a five-o'clock-shadow, and a more angular face stops packing his bag and looks at his friends-with-benefits with an exhausted expression.

"He's not my ex and I already told you, he was like the father I never had. Samuel never asked much from me, I owe him at least this much."

"My, my, so mature. And to think, just a couple years ago you were a heartbroken puppy that drank 'til he dropped on his first night alone in the big city," Adam chuckles. His chuffing stops when he notices the expression on his friends face and he sighs.

"You're over him, right?"

Kaleb pauses, "Yeah," he says with uncertainty. "I'm fine, alright? I gave him six and a half years. Surly that's enough time to move on," he says with a soft smile.

"Was it enough for you though?"

"Yeah, I've moved on."

"Really? I seem to recall a very blasted you telling me I looked like your 'loverboy' that night I met you, strange," he taunted.

"That 7 years ago! I'm over him!" Kaleb insisted.

"But you moan another guys name while we—"

"You're making that up! I'm leaving!"

Kaleb's almost out the door when he hears Adam yell, "Tell that to the picture you keep in your wallet!"

Flustered, Kaleb slams the door to Adam's apartment.

It's been seven years, in all that time Dimitri should've found his second chance by now. He'll have his second chance mate and Kaleb will be nothing more but a friend from the past.

Kaleb's already predicted that Dimitri's learned to live without him.