It was completely unexpected, seeing as how young I was when I first met him. But there was something about his glassy eyes that kept you coming back to that first moment. You were only fifteen, didn't really understand why your older sister was so attracted to men his age. I mean he was twenty-five and has facial hair. He just looked way too old to be attractive to me. Yet that all changed when I met him.
FP Jones. My sister Mel always spoke about him. He was part of the Southside Serpents, a crew you knew should never be messed with. They dealt in drugs, murder and alcohol. None of this appealed to me. However he lived nearby your family home, just a block away in the rundown trailer park. He lived on his own, it's believed his parents abandoned him to the Serpents because he was a product of his mother's affair with the recently deceased Serpent leader. At least that is the legend they speak. It explains why FP Jones, at the age of twenty-five is the leader of a crime gang, the youngest one they've ever had. I had only seen him in the distance as you were walking home from school, and in the old school photos where he can be seen standing isolated in the back. I had never met him, and you did not mind the fact. That however was about to change.
It was three years ago today, he wasn't the leader of the Serpents yet, but he still carried the weight of them on his shoulders. I was walking home from school, passing by the trailer park. This is the worst part of the walk, a lot of the Serpents live out in this trailer park because of how cheap the rent is. I've slowly become used to the unnerved feeling I get when walking by, however the goose bumps on my arms are unusual for this time of the year. I didn't think much of it and keep walking when suddenly I started to hear light footsteps behind me. Seeing my mailbox from where I was and knowing how close I was to home, I didn't think much of the footsteps and only moved my legs slightly faster. I noticed the footsteps behind me mimic my action and that was when I knew something was off. I turned my head and noticed a tall, broad man in a leather jacket was following me. He has a creased brow and seemed very determined to catch up to me. Out of the corner of my eye, I also noticed a younger man in a grey sweater jumping over the metal fence that surrounds the trailer park. The tall, broad man stopped walking when the man in the sweater headed towards him. I felt stuck, I just stopped and watched as he swayed on his feet and started swearing and trying to swing at the man in the grey sweater. The other man just stood there calmly, avoiding the fists being thrown at him and within thirty seconds had spoken the man into walking in the opposite direction.
I felt my feet move again and started to finish my speedy walk home when I heard the younger man calling out to me. He caught up to me quickly and stood in front of me, not budging as I tried to manoeuvre around him. I took in his glassy blue eyes, and scruffy appearance when I realised he had been speaking to me. "Are you okay?" he repeated once I came back into focus. I bleakly nodded, mesmerised by how intense his eyes were. He continued on, "Yeah the boys get way too drunk for this time of day. He won't be hassling you any more". I just expressed a lowly thankyou and then moved to go past him once more. "Hey" he said firmly, "You're welcome by the way. I saw him from my window, he's an acquaintance of sorts. Figured I'd could help out". He stuck out his right hand for me to shake and I just stared at it, then back up to his glassy eyes as he said "I'm FP Jones, glad I could help. And you are?".