FOR THE SAKE OF A TITLE (REDONE)

After writing this story I reread it and realized some flaws I left out a whole middle part that I thought I had included, so here is the elongated/revised version. Any thoughts you have, as always, are appreciated.
FOR THE SAKE OF A TITLE.

There were two men who worked in the same office.  For the sake of this story we shall call one of them Mark and the other one Ben.  Mark was built like a quarterback with broad shoulders, big frame and strong muscles, the works. This was a bit remarkable because Mark had never really played much football, he stayed in shape by frequently exercising at the local gym.  Ben was Mark’s opposite in almost every way (except for the fact that he was not female).  Ben was short, wore glasses and not too strong, he looked like the stereotypical geek/nerd. 

They were both in love with the same woman, we’ll call her Sue.  They were constantly trying to one-up each other to prove to Sue that they were the best man.  Ben would buy Sue a red rose, and mark would buy her a whole bouquet of red roses with a couple other flowers thrown in to accentuate her blue eyes. Mark would buy Sue a ticket to a concert, Ben would buy her front row tickets to a ballet. It went on and on like this for a few weeks. Sue didn’t mind the extra attention, she was actually rather flattered, but she knew it couldn’t go on like this. Eventually she pulled Ben and Mark aside to have a talk with them.

“Here’s the deal,” she began, “it’s quite clear that both of you enjoy my company and while I am flattered and enjoy both of you this can’t continue. I’m sure if you both spent some time together you could find some common ground. I want you both to find an activity that you both enjoy and spend the day talking to each other. I’d rather have you two be friends than opponents

            For their activity they had decided to go to the shooting range.  Two men just shooting targets just basically having a good time.  Mark was better than Ben, but Ben wasn’t bad either.  As they were finishing their last round Ben turned his gun on Mark. 

            “For the longest time I thought I was the best shooter around here, but you proved me wrong.” Ben told him.  “My dream, ever since I remember, was to be the better than everyone else with a gun, to surpass everyone else’s skill. I wanted the title of Best Gunslinger.  I have trained endlessly to achieve this, but today you have proved that you are even better than me.”

            “It’s not that big a deal, Ben” Mark replied. “I can help you become just as good as I am, there are only a few modifications you would need to make.  With a little time I could help you become just ast good as I am. Maybe one day you could become even better”

            “Mark it may not be a big deal to you, but you have nearly crushed my dream,” Ben explained. “I don’t want to be as good as someone else, I want to be better.  The only way I can regain my title of being the fasted draw, the best shot, the best with a gun all around is to kill you.”

            Before Mark could say another word Ben shot him. Mark lay there on the ground dying and Ben walked away, content. Ben was, once again, the best with a gun . . . for now.  He realized he might have lost his chance with Sue but he had regained his title as The Fastest Draw.

             

           The Moral of the story is: Don’t let anyone or anything stand in the way of your dreams. :D