Change for Me?

Race to the Finish

“Why do we have to run so long?” Kasper asks whilst we are only a mile into our run.

Groaning, I just smile at Kasper and tell him that if he wants to, he can walk, while muttering quietly underneath me breath. Hearing a deep laugh, I look over to my left side and see Kolby trying to keep a straight face; knowing that he is laughing because of the fact that I am mocking Kasper under my breath, I give him a look trying to silently tell him to be quiet—but also laughing with him on the inside.

“Where are we even running to? I feel like we have been running for hours!” Kasper complains not even thirty minutes after we started running.

“Kasper! Kolby and I are trying to enjoy a peaceful run, but you constantly keep ruining it with all of your complaints; so please, if you really no longer want to run, start walking a we will meet back up with you,” I say to him, hoping that he doesn’t think that I am trying to get rid of him.

“I’m fine,” he replies, looking over at him I see that he is breathing heavily and turning extremely red in the face. Not wanting to injure my little brother, because I know that this is his first time running in a long while, I stop—making Kolby suddenly stop also out of shock.

“Are you finished running?” Kolby asks, confused that I had run a total of eight miles yesterday but can barely finish two today.

“No, I think I am just going to walk for a little bit. If you want, you can continue running and Kasper and I will meet up with you at the pond in a while,” I tell him, not wanting him to stop his run because I have stopped.

“It’s okay, I could use a break also,” he says, his eyes flickering over towards Kasper—acknowledging that he knows why we are actually stopping.

“So,” my brother starts awkwardly, looking at Kolby as though he is a hero, “do you have a girlfriend?”

“No, I don’t have a girlfriend; I had one, but then we mutually broke up—deciding that we were both better off single,” Kolby says, giving my brother a small smile that had me wondering how mutual their break-up actually was. 

“That means that you kissed her than, right?” Kasper asks.

“Kasper, it is inappropriate to ask people question like that,” I tell him, giving him a look that says he will be scolded later.

Laughing and rubbing at the back of his neck in an awkward manner, he finally says, after a few moments of him seemingly trying to find the right words to say to Kasper, “Yes, we had kissed a couple of times in the time span that we were dating; but only after having gone out for almost a year with each other.”

“Oh, I get it,” Kasper says, winking at Kolby and nodding his head in my direction, “you only kissed after a year of dating, right.”

I look at Kasper in disbelief, “You are done with this conversation, now why don’t you run ahead like a good boy before I tell all of your friends at school about that time you wet your bed.”

“Why are you always trying to cramp my style,” Kasper says weirdly, before taking off in a light jog.

“I am so sorry for him,” I tell Kolby, imploring that he will forgive my brother for his strangeness.

“It isn’t that big of a deal, he’s a kid,” Kolby says, shrugging his shoulders at my apology. Then, giving me a friendly smile, he takes off at a fast paced jog making me also run to keep up with him.

Easily passing Kasper, we run the rest of the way at this pace and make it to the pond in record time. Kolby and I sit on the ground beside the pond, underneath a weeping willow, and wait for Kasper to catch up with us; a couple of minutes later, Kasper sprints to where we are sitting with a smile on his face.