"C'MON MATTIE! THROW THE BALL!"

The pretty blonde sitting a few seats down from the onlooker turned around to see one of the father's of the high school football team shouting at the quarterback. She turned forward just in time to see number 9 on the Wolverines run the ball himself. Instead of handing it off or throwing it down the field, the quarterback had decided to run it. Which, by definition, was a ball hog. But the girl couldn't speak bad of him. Matt Eckert was a family friend, and she loved the high school senior like he was a little brother of hers. At one point, she thought he would've been, but those days were long in the past, and she preferred not to dwell on them.

As the coach of the Wolverines called a timeout, she glanced at the cheerleaders with the pause in the game. Her face lit up in a smile as her gaze landed on the small form of her sixteen year old sister. She hadn't seen her in three years and was excited to be back. At the age of twenty, Alice had gone off to Columbia University in New York for college. With plane tickets being so expensive nowadays, especially flying cross-country, she had only visited once. It had been three years since that visit, and she missed her family. With the school having renovations going on, she had decided now would be the time to visit.

"Get within field goal range!" Alice heard the football coach shout to Matt. And instead of passing the ball, he ran it yet again. But did get within field goal range.

But, the kicker missed it and cost the Wolverines the game. She sighed as she gathered her stuff up before descending the stairs of the bleachers. Alice leaned against a light pole while she waited for her sister to finish talking with her friends. After a moment, Athena waved goodbye to her friends and turned around, off to find her ride home. The little brunette stopped in her path, her head cocking to the side-like she couldn't believe who was standing in front of her. Alice smiled widely before nodding her head, ensuring her sister it was who she thought. At that instant, Athena dropped her bag where she stood before racing off towards her big sister. Alice laughed as her little sister tackled her in a hug.

"Oh my God! What are you doing here?" Athena asked as she stepped back from the hug, but before Alice could even answer her question, the brunette gasped before twirling one of her sister's curls around her finger. "You're blonde! Oh my God, I love it!"

Alice grinned. "You like it, really?" She asked, and her sister nodded her head.

Alice was a natural blonde, inheriting the hair color from her mother. But after her mother's death at the age of fourteen, she had dyed her hair dark brown because she wanted nothing that would remind her of her deceased parent. However, after moving to New York for college, she had let her hair grow back out to it's natural light blonde. She was proud of that decision because she felt it was more her, and it helped her feel closer with her mother, which was something she wanted now. But, of course, no one from this town had ever seen her with blonde hair, except in pictures maybe.

"I do! It looks really great," Athena stated.

"Well, come on. Grab your bag so we can get going. I wanna head down to Josie's and grab a beer," She stated. Josie's Bar and Grill was a restaurant in Spokane, Washington where most everyone hung out after sporting events at the high school. It was close by and provided a friendly atmosphere.

Athena nodded and walked back over to the spot where she had dropped her cheerleading bag. As the younger Mason sister made her way over towards Alice, she heard her name being called behind. She turned around to see her best friend, Erica Martin, walking in her direction. She waved her hand at the blonde girl as she reached her sister. Erica came to stand in front of the two Masons before smiling up at Alice, which the blonde woman returned. Alice used to be a cheerleader in her days at Warwick High, and her name was pretty well-known in the small community and Erica was someone that looked up to the high school graduate.

"Hi, Alice!" Erica greeted in her usual cheery fashion.

"Hey, Erica. That was a nice halftime routine you had out there," She told the girl who smiled proudly at the fact it was being complimented.

"Thanks!" She exclaimed happily before she smiled at the male who had just jogged up beside her. He was still in his football uniform, having just gotten out of the meeting the coach had called right after the game.

"Hey, babe," He said before kissing Erica quickly. "I gotta go change then I'll meet you out front, all right?" Erica nodded her head to his request before the male turned towards Alice.

"Hey, Alice," He said smiling at the girl. She returned it with one of her own.

"Hey, Mattie," She greeted. She hadn't seen him for just as long as she hadn't seen her sister, and she was glad to see him once again.

"You see the game?" He asked and she nodded her head.

"I did. You did great, but you gotta learn to pass the ball, hon. You're not the only one on your team, you've got other players. But, what you did do? You played your best." She smiled at him and he seemed to have brightened up at her words. Then Athena nudged her playfully.

"You see Jed at the game?" She asked in a teasing tone, but the blonde's happy demeanor had instantly changed and her face contorted into a frown.

"No." Came the short response as she dug through her pockets to retrieve the rental car keys she had been given.

The mood around the group instantly changed. Athena knew Matt's older brother was a touchy subject for her sister. For a year and a half, Jed and Alice had dated. But the summer between Alice's sophomore and junior year of high school, the Eckert's mother passed away in a car accident. Not handling the news well, Jed signed up for the Marines a few weeks after her funeral. With him being eighteen and already having graduated high school, he was shipped off to bootcamp within the month. During that entire time of him signing papers and finalizing everything, he pushed Alice away and only spoke to her when absolutely needed. Athena remembered her sister driving to the airport to try to stop Jed from leaving and only returning empty handed and with a broken heart. Alice refused to speak about what had happened between her and Jed at the airport, but it became clear the two had broken up-and what had been said had been harsh.

Despite it being six years since he had left her, just the mention of his name shot a pain through her heart. She had tried to move on from him and forget him, but it had been hard. She had dated a few guys since him, but every one she was with just couldn't measure up to the high standard Jed had left behind. Adults always said that teenagers couldn't understand love and loss, but she could. She had loved him, and no one could tell her differently. And she could truly say that it was not better to have loved and lost than not loved at all.

Matt rubbed the back of his neck, knowing the hurt Alice went through when Jed left. She had been close with him and his father, and both had seen her as part of the family. Often times, Matt thought she would be part of the Eckert family, and he had hoped for it. He liked her, and thought she was a great girl-especially for his brother. But Jed had ruined all chances of that.

"Well, I'm gonna go change. Alice, see you at Josie's, right?" Matt asked as he started to back away from the group. She nodded her head, a smile appearing on her face. Though, to Matt and Athena, they could tell it was forced.

"Of course. Gotta celebrate your almost-victory, right?" She said, a tone of teasing entering her voice. Despite being upset at the fact Jed was in town the same time she was, she wouldn't let it ruin her chances to see her sister and everyone else she cared about.

"Ha ha," Matt said with a roll of his eyes before he turned around and jogged towards the locker room. Alice laughed before waving at him, then she turned to Athena.

"Come on, Thee. Let's get out of here. You can talk with Erica at the bar," She told her little sister who nodded her head before saying goodbye to her friend.

Once in the car, Athena turned to Alice as the older girl started up the rental and headed towards the bar. "We're not gonna make a habit of you only visiting every three years, just so you know," Athena stated matter-of-factly.

Alice could only laugh at how determined her sister sounded, like she had a say in how money was spent. "I'll make a note of that and tell it to my financial advisor who takes my money for college tuition. I'll let her know my little sister said I have to have money in order to visit every few months. I'm sure that'll go over real well." She smiled at her little sister who could only roll her eyes at the sarcastic tone in her sister's voice.

"You're an ass," Athena stated.

"Careful now, that's foul language you're using," She said then grinned as she held her hand up in a measure of height. "Must be this tall to use."

Athena's mouth fell open in a gasp at the joke about her height. She was small, standing at 5'2", and everyone in her life often liked to remind the little one about just how tall she was, or rather not. She knew she was short, and Alice also knew she hated it. That's why she teased her about it. Alice herself wasn't much taller, standing at an average height of 5'5", but she was okay with being on the shorter side. While their father was tall at six foot, both girls inherited their mother's genes of being short.

"That's unfair!" Athena exclaimed as she pulled her sister's hand down before both girls laughed, falling back into the easy routine of sibling teasing. "And totally uncalled for!"

"I think it's perfectly fair and perfectly called for," Alice said as she pulled into the parking lot of Josie'sand parked the car.

Before heading inside, her eyes scanned the parking lot and fell on the all-too-familiar truck of Jed Eckert. She hesitated, unsure if she wanted to risk running into him. She didn't know if she could handle it; she had been away from him for so long and had been so strong about everything. She was so sure that one look at him, and everything she had built back up would come crumbling down around her. Was she willing to take that risk? As soon as the question had popped through her head, she knew the answer was yes. She had to be a big girl, and she couldn't run and hide. She had taught herself to face her fears head-on and that's exactly what she would do.

"You okay?" Athena asked her sister when Alice had stopped in the middle of the parking lot. The blonde girl nodded.

"Yeah, I am."