Jason Finds Someone

by
Gary Cottle

Jason came to the city as a very young man. His Mormon parents couldn't deal with the fact that he was gay, so Jason felt he had to move on, escape their judgment. Luckily, Ted picked him up in a McDonald's across from the Amtrak station the night he arrived. Ted was in his early thirties at the time, and it turned out he had inherited some money from his grandmother. He was a surgeon, too. The older man had the means to be generous, and he offered Jason a place to stay.

Of course Jason was scared at first. Even back in the little town where he grew up, Jason had heard stories about older men who preyed on young runaways. But Jason only had a few dollars in his pocket, and he was homeless. So he put his faith in this stranger. When he looked into Ted's eyes, he saw kindness there.

Jason was right to go with his instincts. Ted was a good man, and he never forced Jason into anything. The boy was so happy to have found a friend, and he was so needy. He clung to Ted, and he missed him very much when he was at the hospital. By the end of that first month, he and Ted were lovers.

When fall came around, Jason enrolled in college, and Ted paid his tuition of course. Over the next four years, Jason got used to the good life--the expensive clothes, the dream apartment, the trips to Europe. He grew accustomed to Ted's reliable companionship, too. But somewhere in the back of Jason's mind, he knew that true passion was missing from his life. He loved Ted, and he enjoyed making love with him, but Jason was often burdened with a sinking feeling of guilt because after their first year together, he knew he stayed because relying on Ted had become a habit…and because he feared facing the world alone.

Two months before Jason was to graduate, he started hanging out with a boy he met in his Russian literature class. They fell in love, and they started having sex. Jason felt awful about cheating on Ted, so one evening while waiting for the man who saved his life to come home from saving the lives of others, Jason had come to the conclusion that he had to be honest. He had to tell Ted that he had found someone else and that he was moving out.