We Come Alive 5

Ready, Set, Don't Go

Thursday afternoon, while most of the football players were in school, their head coach and his daughter were cleaning out his office for the summer. Mateo turned around and looked at his daughter to see she wasn't working, instead she was staring at a picture.

"What's that?" Mateo asked, walking over to her.

Manny smiled to herself as she stared at it. "It's the roster picture from a few years ago. They...they look so grown now."

Mateo chuckled, putting his hand on her shoulder. "So are you. I still remember when you were in your mom's belly. Seems like yesterday you were a baby."

Manny giggled, putting the picture back up on the wall after she accidentally knocked it down. "You gonna miss them?"

"Yeah, just like I'm gonna miss you. It's like I got a bunch of kids." Mateo admitted. "I...I'm gonna miss their personalities. I'm gonna miss seeing them every day. Especially Ethan. It could be six in the morning, and he's still cracking jokes and being loud."

Manny laughed, but could feel that her dad wasn't saying this as a joke, but because this was the first group he was genuinely getting heartbroken over. He was going to miss them.

"You can always go visit them." She reminded him. "Just like you're gonna visit me."

Mateo chuckled with his back to her. Manny rushed over to him when she heard him sniffle. "But that's the difference. You're mine." He whispered, hugging her tightly. "I can see you whenever I want to. I get to watch you grow up. I get to walk you down the aisle. I...they have parents. They have people to be there for them. I'm not their parent."

"But some of them, you did a lot more for them than their actual parents," Manny replied. "How many times have I walked out my room, and a football player was sitting on the couch? How many times have you stayed hours after practice was over because one of them couldn't get that play down just right or-or cause they couldn't lift the bench press bar with 2,000 pounds on it?"

Mateo chuckled as he watched her go on a rant, but his smile faded when she got more serious.

"Or when they were scared to go home? You made sure they were safe. Dad, if anyone deserves to watch them graduate, to watch them win championships, to watch them get married, it's you. Not some lowlife people who couldn't keep it in their pants and brought a child into a world and they knew they couldn't take care of them." Manny expressed. "Don't give up on them now cause you think I'm gonna be jealous or because they're getting a handshake and a piece of paper. I'm pretty used to them being around. Hell, I might as well see them at your Thanksgiving table every November."

Mateo smiled softly. He stuck his hand out and brought his daughter in for a hug. He kissed the top of her head and let out a deep breath. "Te quiero tanto."
(I love you so much)

~**~

Meanwhile an hour later, Jose was walking to his aunt's house with Ethan since the addiction facility was on the way there. Both boys were empty-handed since their school workload had lessened since their senior year was coming to a slow end.

"You and Colby got matching suits and ties for prom?" Ethan asked with a smirk, making sure he didn't trip over the cracks in the sidewalk with his crutches. He watched his best friend roll his eyes.

Jose shoved his hands into his pockets. "Don't worry about it. Don't need you stealing my style. What you and Christin wearing?"

"Nothing," Ethan answered, using his crutch to push a rock as he went along, "we're not going together."

Jose stopped in his tracks. Ethan kept going a few more feet before stopping and looking back at the Mexican boy. "What do you mean you're not going together?"

Ethan shrugged his shoulders, turning all the way around to face him. "We broke up a while ago. A few weeks ago. I didn't want to talk about it. I just made Andrew my 'date' so he can go to prom with us. Says he always wanted to."

"Why'd you break up? You two were perfect together." Jose coaxed, gently walking towards him and putting his hand on his shoulder. "What happened?"

"Graduation." The Spanish boy whispered. "Let's be honest, after graduation, after summer, was she really going to stick around? Hell no. She's gonna go to college, or trade school, or whatever she's gonna do. Anyway, she's going; she's not going to stick around to date some junkie who can't even watch the sunset outside on a weekday. Christin is gonna go off out of Dallas, out of Texas, out of America maybe. I can't even leave the county without being in huge trouble. She never has to worry about drug tests or getting injured, or anything like that. She gets to live free while I watch her live out her dreams that I thought were my dreams, but now my dreams are just being able to be sober and functional. She's gonna leave and I'm stuck."

Without hesitation, Jose embraced Ethan in a hug. "We'll always come back for you." He promised. "We won't leave you behind. I promise."

Ethan wrapped his arms around Jose's back and sobbed into his shoulder. Neither one of them moved for what felt like hours. When they finally separated, Jose walked Ethan into the facility and even stood in the lobby with him until it was time for him to go. Ethan went into his section with a smile while Jose continued his walk to his aunt's house.