We Come Alive 5

"Don't Change"

Sunday early morning while the moon was still in the sky and all of Texas was sound asleep, Kiara woke up to go to the bathroom, but stopped in the middle of the hallway seeing the tv on. She slowly crept to the end of the hallway and saw Manny pushing Esmeralda in her stroller back and forth in front of the tv. Kiara smiled to herself as she went to the bathroom, remembering that the little girl was sick and hadn't been going to sleep in the evening.

When Kiara came out of the bathroom, she noticed Clover asleep on the couch with a blanket around her. Kiara nearly jumped out of her skin hearing Esmeralda's loud cries echo throughout the previously silently home. Clover arose from her slumber and switched with Manny like clockwork. Manny curled up in the blanket while Clover silenced Esmeralda and continued to push her in front of the tv to distract her. As fast as she cried, Esmeralda was calm and slowly falling asleep again.

Kiara quickly went to her room and closed the door before the girls noticed her, and better yet before Esmeralda awoken again.

~~

In the morning, the two best friends were on their way to the pediatrician for Esmeralda. Manny had made sure she had the insurance card that Bryce gave her since his job gave Esmeralda health care.

"Thanks for coming with me." Manny expressed, glancing in the rearview mirror to see her daughter sleeping in her car seat.

Clover yawned as she looked at the window. "You're welcome. It's a good distraction."

Manny's heart sank as they pulled up to the doctor's office. "What're you gonna do for prom? You should still go. All the boys are."

"Lo asked if I wanted to go with him." The African American girl whispered, playing with her nails. "He didn't have a date and he knew I was really looking forward to it. You remember Lo, right? The cornerback? Samoan kid?"

Manny snickered. "How could I forget? He's like 6'3" and five thousand pounds. And his hair is longer than I am tall."

Clover laughed realizing how silly it was that Manny could forget him. "Yeah, him. I don't know if I wanna to go with him, but I just might. And I'm still running for prom king and queen with Ethan. Just trying to keep my life going, y'know?"

"Yeah," Manny whispered, reaching over and rubbing Clover's knee. "Ready?"

Clover nodded, getting out the car before the topic could linger any longer between them.

~**~

A few hours later and almost across the city, Jose hopped off the treadmill he had been running on and walked to the weightlifting area where he saw his boyfriend setting down two dumbbells.

Colby turned around to see Jose taking off the weights that were around his ankles. "Intense." Colby chuckled. "Need me to carry you to the car again?"

Jose sarcastically laughed but ran his fingers through his hair with his free hand that wasn't carrying the weights to the locker room where their gym bags were.

Colby swatted at Jose's butt as they rounded the corner into the gym locker room. He noticed some men crowding around a corner of the room, but he didn't pay much attention to them. Jose, on the other hand, watched them pull small bottles out of one of their bags. Jose turned around when Colby nearly hit him with the locker door.

"Pay attention, Garcia." Colby chuckled, looking back at his boyfriend. "What? You wanna take steroids with them?"

Jose shook his head, turning around quickly so he could get his bag and leave with Colby who was already starting to walk off. Jose caught up with him when Colby was holding the door open for an older gentleman walking into the men's locker room.

"Have you ever taken steroids?" Jose asked curiously, watching Colby walk through the gym in front of them and outside to the parking lot.

Colby chuckled to himself. "No, I haven't. I've never felt like I've needed to. Have you?"

"No," Jose admitted. "I wanted to, but Sam told us that our balls would shrink if we did."

Colby laughed as he pressed the unlock button on his keys. "I think your balls will be okay. You want something to eat or you just wanna go straight home?"

Jose smelled under his arm and almost gagged at the smell. "How about we go home, shower, then come back out?"

"You got yourself a deal, sunshine."

~**~

Meanwhile across town, Stephen was leaning against the opening to a store inside the mall. He looked up when he noticed someone standing in front of him. Stephen locked his phone and looked at his best friend in the eyes.

"Get what you needed to get, queen?" Stephen sighed.

Andrew smirked and lead Stephen away from the store. "I needed to get Madison a gift. It's our anniversary soon. We're having dinner with our parents."

"Why? Making an announcement?" Stephen hinted. "You gonna make me an uncle soon?"

"No." Andrew laughed, trailing behind Stephen into a store when something caught his eye. "We're gonna move in together after my freshman year is over. It'll be better for us since we're always going back and forth between here and College Station. It's putting a strain on our relationship, so we found this one bedroom apartment not too far from campus."

Stephen stopped searching through the clothes racks and looked up at his best friend. "Y'all really growing up and gonna leave me behind, huh?"

Andrew nodded his head, running his fingertips over the shirt on the rack in front of him. "I'll still come to see you play when I can. We'll all try."

"Can Y'all even afford it? You're a broke college kid." Stephen pointed out, walking over to him. "I don't want to see you get over your head."

Andrew sighed, clapping a hand on Stephen's shoulder. "Madison's got a job almost every day as a hair and makeup artist. She's even gonna do Clover for prom. It helps she comes from a family with money. I just...I need to be able to make it, you know? If I don't make it, none of this was worth it."

Stephen nodded his head. "The goal of ours now that we're forced to go down separate roads, is taking over the business. So whether we're friends or enemies, we're gonna own the business. Whether we're on the same team or different teams, we're the next generation of great players and we're showing that. I can't be mad about you wanting to get further. We're not teammates anymore, only friends."

"Best friends." Andrew corrected. "You're wiser among your years, you know?" He laughed, wrapping a strong arm around Stephen's neck. "Don't change, kid. Don't change."