Mulligans

1. You Can't Blame a Person for Who They Are

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YOU CAN'T BLAME a person for who they are, Chase thought, leaning against his best friend's car—a new silver Beemer convertible, but who keeps track of things like that? The spring breeze licked its way through the hallway of trees lining the long driveway up to the residential halls of the university. The place was a zoo this morning as parents returned to pick up their sons and daughters for the summer. Chase inwardly winced, just a little. Being the only son of a single mom hardly made him a charity case in this day and age—more run of the mill, actually. What upset him was the look on his peers' faces when they greeted their parents: a look of excitement, a look of anticipation of happy times, laughter, and memories to be made this summer. He'd seen the same look on his classmates every year through grade school, and it was no different now. He wanted to feel that, wanted to manufacture it somehow, but he wasn't even sure where to start. The only part worse than the end of the school year was the beginning of another, when those same faces returned, nearly busting at the seams from their ear-to-ear smiles, competing to outdo each other with stories of their magical summers.

He desperately wanted to feel something, anything, for his own mother, but he just... couldn't. There was nothing there. The closest thing to an emotional response he could identify might be sympathy, but it wasn't that strong. Apathy would be much closer to the mark. Too many years spent watching her drink herself into a stupor. He couldn't blame her. Or could he? No, he was past that. What do you do when the love of your life dies and you're left with a runty kid to raise by yourself? Raise the kid, not another glass.... Enough!

Chase took a deep breath and rechecked the clock on the tall bell tower above the residence hall's front door. Tyler was only slightly later than usual. While waiting, he could easily get lost for hours in the labyrinth of his mind and all the dark corners of his past. But not today. The sun was shining, college was out for the summer, and he and Tyler were going to spend it together. A smile played on his face. At last something to look forward to.

Tyler Davidson was... well, perfect, mostly, except for his habitual lateness, but even that minor fault Chase could readily forgive. His best friend was everything he wasn't, or at least that was the way Chase saw it. Tall, blond, blue-eyed, hunky Tyler. Always ready with a one-liner to make people laugh and seemingly able to glide through life without a care. Girls wanted to be with him and guys wanted to be him. Somehow he'd decided to lay down the unjust title of Best Buddy on Chase—a term that in Chase's mind only served to contrast them further.

It wasn't that Chase wasn't handsome; he was just more of an acquired taste, with short dark hair and big almond eyes. And next to the roaring blaze that lit up a room when Tyler entered it, Chase felt like he was a single burning match, good to light a cigarette occasionally but hardly something to gather around.

He was obsessing again. It was a habit—not a particularly useful one either, just something he'd gotten in, well, the habit of. Chase closed his eyes and took a deep breath, enjoying the feel of the warm sun on his face.

A summer to look forward to, he considered. He had no idea what to expect. When Tyler had asked if he'd like to spend the summer with his family at their lake house, he hadn't even stopped to think before saying yes. Since then, of course, he'd obsessed about it, imagining every detail. It sounded so... exotic: summer at the lake house. Definitely far from his existence in his mother's city apartment.

He'd actually been a little surprised by the ask; they'd only met this year. Chase had transferred to the university on scholarship after working his ass off for the past two years at a subpar community college. He wouldn't have been able to afford the tuition, but fate had smiled on him when he submitted his art portfolio and was invited to attend gratis. Fate had smiled on him again when he and Tyler were assigned to share a dorm room. They had hit it off immediately, but Chase was still at a loss as to what exactly it was that Tyler saw in him. Tyler could have chosen to spend his time with anyone he liked—there was all but a line outside the dorm room every day. But Tyler chose him. He didn't need to understand why; he could just enjoy it.