Jake and I spent our childhood locked in an endless competition—who could run the fastest, climb the highest, take the biggest risk. But in the end, when I won our final bet, there was no thrill of victory. Just an ache I never saw coming. We had been best friends since before we could walk. Our moms loved to tell the story—two toddlers in diapers, both stubbornly gripping the same toy truck at daycare, neither willing to let go. From that moment, we were inseparable.
We grew up in houses just a few doors apart. If Jake wasn’t home, his mom knew to check my place, and vice versa. We were brothers in every way except blood. But what really defined us? The bets. “Bet you can’t make it to the end of the block before me,” Jake would say, already sprinting. “Bet you I can,” I’d shoot back, legs pumping.
