... and that was it. My football career, my scholarship, my life. After three and a half years of struggling to maintain a 2.5 GPA for a degree I never cared about. After spending all of my free time working in a kitchen so I could pay my rent. The countless NFL scouts... It all ended with a slip on the ice.

Now, almost twenty-three years old, I was forced to move back to Stoneybrook. Since moving to New York, I hadn't come back once. My family came to visit me for holidays and birthdays - they all agreed that New York was more interesting. Last year, when my mother passed away, we went back to Louisville for weeks. I never wanted to so much as drive through Stoneybrook, and now I was being forced to live there once again.

Temporarily, of course. I just needed to sort things out...

I arrived at the bus station in Stamford, met by my sister Kerry. Originally I was supposed to take a cab home, but Kerry had begged for our father to lend her his car so she could come pick me up. I was grateful - my money was tight and I wasn't about to expect my father to help me out at all.

"I'm really sorry, Logan," Kerry broke the silence, keeping her eyes on the road. "I know how much that scholarship meant to you..."

"Don't worry about it," I replied, not wanting to discuss it. Even though she was three years younger than me, we'd never really been very close. I envied the relationship she had with Hunter, who was now fifteen. They shared a bond that I would never be able to understand. Everyone had always called me the "golden son" up until high school, and I took a serious hit when the praise started disappearing.

"Well, you've been doing really good," Kerry continued. "Maybe you can save up enough money to go back and finish your degree? Or get a student loan or something?"

"Maybe, we'll see..." We remained in silence the rest of the way home.

Much to my surprise, my father rushed outside when we pulled into the driveway. A smile spread across my face, for a quick moment I could remember how it felt to be appreciated by my father. This feeling was snatched away from me, as fast as my father could rip the keys from Kerry's hand and inspect his car for damages or spills of any kind. He muttered a quick, "hey" to me before going back inside.

"God, he is such a dick," Kerry sighed before grabbing some of my bags and heading in the house. I grabbed a couple of bags myself and followed her inside. She led me to Hunter's bedroom and placed my things next to the closet.

"Uh, you're gonna have to share a room with Hunter," Kerry explained. She pulled me inside the room and lowered her voice. "When Mom died, Dad switched to your old room and locked Mom's things in their old room..."

"Are you fucking serious, Ker?" I groaned. "That's just stupid!"

"Well, I never said it wasn't! But that's how it has to be, okay?"

I nodded, and set my things down. "Where is Hunter, by the way?"

"He's with one of his girlfriends," Kerry snarked. "He's kind of a man-slut."

"Oh," I answered.

"So, anyway," Kerry interjected. "It's too late for you to really do anything, like looking for a job or whatever you wanted to do, so I was thinking you might wanna..."

"I just wanna sleep."

"Yeah, but, I know for a fact that a certain someone is on her winter break as well and still lives right across the street!"

"Mary Anne?" I tried to hide my intrigue.

"Yeah, and I don't think she's seeing anyone right now!" Kerry flashed an obvious grin. "I heard it from Jeff, in case you were wondering..."

"Who's Jeff?"

"Dawn's brother," Kerry answered. "Mary Anne's step-brother."

"Shit, that's right..." I was embarrassed that I'd forgotten about him. "So, what? Mary Anne and I broke up for good, I think..."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever!" Kerry rolled her eyes. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and started sending a text message. "I'm telling Jeff to get Mary Anne's butt over here, 'kay?"

"This is juvenile!" I shouted. "Don't bother, I'll just go over there, okay?" Kerry smiled at me and then disappeared into her bedroom.

I went into the bathroom and started at my reflection. I had noticable bags under my eyes from lack of sleep. Since my "accident" on the big, bad patch of ice, I'd been having trouble sleeping and would often drink coffee and pull all-nighters, or drink until I could pass out. The latter is what I chose the night before coming back to Stoneybrook.

I took a quick shower. Maybe I could look a little more... human. Ugh.