Jay drove Don home after a few hours of sitting at the park. As she turned into the Billingsley driveway, Don turned to her. "Thanks." he said. "For everything." Jay nodded and looked at him lovingly, and again Don felt the feeling of being home. He reluctantly spepped out of the car, rubbing his still-sore hands. He stepped into the house, and ran to his room as he heard his dad stomp across the floor.
The next practice, Don got better. He heard his dad cheering for him as he caught the ball, and looked to the bleachers. His dad smiled at him, but Don looked away sadly. His spirits were lifted as he heard another bout of cheering, this time from Jay. After practice was over, Jay mat Don outside the locker room. They kissed passionately. "I thought you had to work today!" he said happily. Jay shrugged. "I took off, to see you." Don kissed her again, but broke off as his dad walked over to him. "You did good, son." Mr. Billingsley said, rumpling Don's hair and hugging his son. Don, after a momentary hesitation, hugged his father back. Then, as his dad walked away, Don swept Jay into another kiss, as Boobie came out of the locker room. "Oooo, look what we got here! I think Don's got a good one, guys!" he shouted. This didn't seem to faze Don, however; he kept right on kissing Jay. Jay, however, gave Boobie the finger behind Don's back, which sent all of the players, even Mike, away laughing or smiling. Don pulled away from her. "Why are they laughing?" he asked. Jay, and the rest of the team who were spying on them burst into laughter again. Don gave Jay a quizzical look, but she just shook her head. The two lovebirds walked away hand in hand.
When Don got home, his dad was there to congratulate him. This time, instead of looking away from his father, Don smiled as best he could and hugged his dad for the second time that day. There was a small party at Don's house, mostly made up of family members. Don was, for the first time, happy with where he was. With his family. After the party was over, Don called up Boobie to see how he was doing. "Hey, man." Boobie answered the phone. "Hey, " Don answered. How are you? Coming back to play next game?" Boobie sighed. "Not sure, man. I'm going to get an MRI tomorrow. No tears or anything, but..." Don sighed. "Well, I'm wishing you luck." He hung up the phone. "Hey Don, come here!" his dad said. Don sighed again. Suddenly all he wanted to do was be alone. "I-I think I'm gonna go to bed, dad!" Don called back. Mr. Billingsley nodded, though Don couldn't see the motion. "Good! Get some sleep for the practice tomorrow!" he called. Don went to his room and fell onto his bed. He felt unexplainably lonely, and tears filled his eyes. He called Jay after a few hours, after he made sure his dad was asleep. "Jay? I need to talk to you." as soon as Jay answered the phone, and heard Don's tone of voice, she was suddenly wide awake. "I'll come over." she said.
Jay silently slipped into Don's room, where he lay on his bed, trying to control his emotions. Jay sat down next to him, and took his hand. "What's wrong?" she asked tenderly. Don shook his head. "I don't know. Dad threw me a party tonight. It was, you know, small, just family, but-but-I wish he could be like this, happy with me, all the time. Not just when I win a game, or don't fumble. All the time, like Boobie's uncle to him, or-I just feel so lonely all the time, even when he's happy with me. Like today." Jay lay next to him on his bed. "I don't know." she said in a whisper. "But you know what I said. I'm always here for you." She had no idea how wrong she was...
