We Come Alive 5

Voicemail

Wednesday afternoon, instead of going out and hanging out after practice, Diego, Stephen, Jose, and Ethan went to their old hang out spot, the back parking lot of the school. Most known as the football parking lot.

"We just going to lay here for the rest of the afternoon?" Ethan asked, glancing over at Diego and Stephen on either side of him in the flatbed. He was the only one laying down since Diego and Stephen were sitting up.

Diego nodded his head. "But we're having a guest. She should be here any second."

Stephen looked back at the school, sighed, and looked back at Diego with an unamused expression. Diego gave him a confused look for a moment then understood what was wrong. While Diego had invited Mila to hang out with them for a little while, she was driving home with Jessica, forcing her to bring her along.

"I didn't know, I swear." Diego whispered to his younger friend.

Stephen didn't say anything, just pulled out his phone and tried to make the best of the situation. The two girls greeted the boys, but slightly jumped when Ethan sat up quickly with a groan.

"What're you fine ladies doing that you're coming to stand in an empty old parking lot?" He asked, picking dirt off his shoes.

Jessica giggled at Ethan's nonchalant manner. "We're coming from cheer practice. We have a competition this weekend up north. Y'all coming?"

Stephen and Ethan shook their heads, the former not looking up from his phone, while Diego nodded. "I'll be there. Wouldn't miss it for the world."

Mila smiled sweet and blew a kiss to him. "That's great. I'm proud that you're getting better at the boyfriend thing."

Diego chuckled to himself. "I gotta win the award for being the best boyfriend on the Jaguars football team. Maybe even the baseball team. Ethan here is shit, Colby and Jose are decent, but I'm better. Jacob's single, Clover has a vagina, and Stephen's single."

Jessica glanced up at her ex-boyfriend when he glared at the Latin boy. Stephen caught Jessica's stare and turned red on sight.

"I think he's a good boyfriend." Jessica defended. "Sweet, kind, supportive. Couldn't ask for a better one."

Mila rubbed her best friend's back while the Native American younger girl looked down at the ground. "Speaking of boyfriends," Mila changed the subject, "how's Clover doing? She with her fiancé?"

All three of the boys shrugged their shoulders. "We don't know where she is today." Ethan admitted. "Ricky told us that she broke her phone so we can't call her. But they told her boyfriend Dante the night that they left the lake house. Ricky told him."

Mila and Jessica nodded understanding. Neither one of them said anything else on the matter, opting to just leave it at that and say their goodbyes.

Stephen sighed and stood up in the flatbed. He hopped over the side and landed on his feet. Diego did the same on the other side while Ethan just laid back and felt the rumble of the engine underneath him. He closed his eyes and felt at peace as he felt the soft jolting motion of the truck moving on the road. Eventually, Ethan opened his eyes and smirked to himself looking at the clouds as the wind blew on his face, not too hard but not too gentle either. When he got back to the facility, he was in a better mood than he would've been.

~**~

Late that evening, Clover was laying on the couch in her living room. Her mother had gone to bed hours ago and the movie she was watching had ended. Clover picked at the bottom of her shirt as she thought for a moment. Since she had shattered her phone, she couldn't sit on it wasting time like she usually would.

Clover sat up slowly and looked around the room. Nothing seemed to peak her interest, and even less interested her on the television. But what did catch her eye was the blinking red light on their house phone. Clover slowly got up and walked over to it. She grabbed the answering machine and slid down the wall into a seated position on the floor. Her mom never used the house phone so everyone knew it was more for Clover and her sister. She hit the button to play it and listened to the beep.

"Jones." Hursts' voice flooded through the speakers. "I heard you're going through some personal issues so I'll replace you for the rest of the week. But we have a game Saturday and I'd appreciate it if you showed. If not, tell me or Ricky and I'll figure something out. You don't say anything to one of us for the rest of this week, you're off the team. Sorry, but it's what I got to do. Wish you the best of luck with what you're going through. Goodbye."

Clover deleted the message and let the next one play aloud. She gasped hearing Dante's voice.

"Hey, Clover. I have meetings all this week so I'll try to visit you when I can. Your phone must be off so I'll try and come there in person tomorrow if I can. I'd appreciate it if you got back to me."

She deleted the message when the machine said it was over. Clover then felt her heart stop for a moment when the final message played and Mateo's deep sigh and deep voice started it off.

"Hey, uh....it's me. I just want you to know, I'm not mad at you for disappearing. They filled me in on what happened. I'm...I'm just sorry. I'm sorry...about....everything. I don't want you to ever get hurt, at all. And I especially don't want to lose you. You're the best anyone could ask for. Just let me know somehow that you're alright."

Clover stared at the answering machine in silence for what felt like hours. She just listened to the message play over and over again. When it played for the fourth time, she stopped it by re-dialing the number. When it got to the third ring, she heard the phone be answered.

"Hello?"

Clover sniffled. "Hey. I got your message. I'm okay."

Mateo let out a breathy laugh. "Thank you. It's late. What're you doing up?"

"Insomnia." She admitted. "Can't sleep. Sorry if I woke you up."

"I'll talk to you until you fall asleep. I'll tell you a story I told Manny when she was a kid." Mateo offered. "And in the morning, call me when you wake up. We can figure out what we'll do about your position on the team. I'm sure you'll be keeping it anyway."

"Thanks." She whispered. "What's the story about?"

"A king and a queen..."

Midway through the story, Mateo knew Clover had fallen asleep on the floor of her apartment. In the morning, Clover woke up with a blanket over her body and a note from her mom. Before she even got up, Clover called Mateo and he promised that she'd be fine when she came back. At the end of the phone call, Mateo promised that Clover was loved and that she would always have him in her corner, something she didn't know she needed to hear until that moment.