Before...

Glen laid on his bed, highly amused as Audrey finished getting dressed. She was currently sitting on the edge of the bed and was lacing up her sneakers. Glen reached over, hooking his arm around her waist and pulling her backwards towards him as she squealed with delight. Devouring her mouth with his, he kissed her deeply, before she pulled back, breathless but smiling.

"Good morning to you too."

"Screw the library, come back to bed."

Audrey's nose wrinkled as she sighed and shook her head.

"Sorry mister, I have a big exam and I gotta hit the books. Good luck with practice today."

Glen frowned staring at her.

"You know you're breaking my heart not having my good luck charm with me."

Audrey smiled, brushing back Glen's bangs.

"I think you'll survive."

"I don't know..."

Audrey smiled, and cupped the side of Glen's face, before suddenly staring straight at him. Her eyes and expression were serious. Staring up, Glen nervously laughed.

"What is it?"

Audrey sighed.

"I just want you to be happy Glen."

Glen raised an eyebrow suddenly confused.

"What? I'm more than happy. The team is about to go to the playoffs...and I have you..."

He leaned forward softly kissing her. Smiling, Audrey pulled back staring at him, a faint smile on her pretty lips before she winked at him.

"I'll see you tonight...maybe we can start talking about ordering that water bed."

Glen laughed, and the strange tension broke. She kissed his stubble covered cheek, before rising and grabbing her bag. Smiling at him, she opened the door, letting herself out. Laying there, faintly hearing her footsteps barrel down the stairs, and saying a quick goodbye to the guys downstairs, he heard the door slam, and then laid back against the sheets. One arm tucked behind his head he sighed and stared up at the ceiling. Roper had spent the night with a freshman last night, so the two had the room to themselves. Knowing the ring had already been bought, he couldn't wait to surprise her. Still, something seemed wrong. Thinking of what she just said, he couldn't help but get goosebumps.

"I just want you to be happy Glen..."

He didn't understand what that meant. Of course he was happy, he had her! Shaking his head, he pushed any thoughts of it away and threw back the sheet, and climbed out of bed, heading straight to the bathroom for a nice long shower. Having absolutely no idea that in just a couple of weeks...Audrey would be dead.

Present.

A huge group of the guys decided to have dinner at Joe's Steak House. It was just down the street from the Jolly Fox, and they insisted that all of the guys join as well. Roper's father had insisted on paying the huge bill, and wouldn't accept anyone trying to toss in some cash. Instead for two straight hours, the guys, and their families all sat around eating, drinking, and laughing talking mostly sports, and a little bit of school. Jake sat sandwiched between Bev and Dale. Jake loved all of the guys' families, who were all extremely friendly, and seemed just as passionate about the game than even them. Across from Jake was McReynolds, sitting next to his mom, laughing along and talking with everyone, grinning as everyone raised their glasses to the fact he had in fact been drafted and was onto in just a few months to play pro ball.

During the entire meal, Jake kept catching McReynolds staring at him and smiling. Feeling that strange fluttering feeling in his stomach, he tried to keep looking away, but strangely couldn't seem to stop.

Later...

After the meal, everyone kept thanking Roper's father over and over again in the parking lot of the restaurant. The crowd of them stood for a while in the parking lot talking before everyone slowly started heading towards their cars, mentioning going back to the hotel. Jake eyed Mac and his mom for just a second, before Bev hooked her arm into his and the two started walking towards her dorm. The walk was pleasant, and by the time they reached her door, Jake's thoughts were interrupted by Bev waving her hand in front of his face.

"Earth to Jake? Come in Jake?"

Jake blinked, snapping out of his thoughts before he smirked.

"Sorry."

"You okay?"

"What?"

"Sorry, just during dinner you just seemed kinda out of it. You okay?"

"I'm fine, guess I'm just tired."

Bev smiled before motioning to her door.

"Do...you wanna come in for a bit?'

Jake smiled, already knowing this entire year with Beverly had been a waste. He really cared about her, but not like this. She was sweet, and he had tried being with her, but it just didn't seem right. He couldn't break up with her here, but he knew he would have to soon. Sadly smiling, he shook his head.

"Sorry, I promised the guys...we're all gonna try and party it up for the little time we have left with the seniors. Raincheck?"

Bev smiled before she leaned forward lightly kissing him before tilting her head to the side.

"Sounds good. Night."

Jake smiled.

"Night. I'll call you tomorrow."

Watching her go in, he hated that he suddenly felt a huge sigh of relief. Shaking his head, he turned, and hurried down the stairs, before reaching the parking lot, then walking down the street towards the baseball houses. It was dark, and the neighborhood seemed pretty quiet. Walking with his hands stuffed in his front pockets of his jeans, he walked on the sidewalk, enjoying the nice warm air when suddenly...

"Hey freshmen."

Nearly jumping out of his skin, Jake spun around and saw Mac standing behind him grinning. Making a face Jake walked over to him, his hand on his chest.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack."

Mac grinned, looking handsome as ever, before shaking his head.

"Just heading back from dropping my mom off at the hotel. Beverly got home okay?"

Jake was a little taken aback by this question that Jake actually cared to ask. Smiling, he nodded.

"Yeah she's good."

"Wanna take a walk?"

"Sure."

They walked together, side by side in the dark, not speaking a word, only the sounds of their shoes hitting the sidewalk before they took a left instead of a right, and Mac sighed as they continued walking. Finally he stopped, and Jake suddenly knew where they were, he looked up and saw the gray house. Mac sighed before pointing towards the dark pavement of the road.

"This is where it happened. I was up there on the balcony of the house across the street. I just watched as that car plowed into her...and there wasn't any fucking thing for me to do."

Jake starred as Mac suddenly began to breath heavy, his hands curling into tight fists. Spinning around to the closest tree, Mac punched it with all his might, tiny pieces of bark went flying, as Mac's knuckles opened up and instantly started bleeding.

"FUCK!"

Mac screamed as he punched the tree again, and again, and again.

Suddenly as he was ready to punch the tree yet again, Jake's arm shot out and he grabbed Mac. Glen spun around, ready to punch Jake just out of relex, when he froze, his eyes wide, seeing what he was about to do. His bloody hand shook, before dropping, before Glen himself dropped to his knees himself right on the sidewalk, his head lowered as he began to sob. Right then and there Jake understood Mac perfectly and was heartbroken to see it. Squatting down himself, he gently took Glen's bloody hand and turned it over. Glen looked up, tears of grief and anger still running down his cheeks. Jake shook his hurt hand and gently picked it up, before he used his own T-shirt to gently wipe the blood off, instantly staining his shirt. After that, he gently kissed his knuckles, one by one, not caring if anyone happened to walk or drive by. Mac watched him, before he leaned forward, dropping his hand and kissed him.

Friday...

Almost everyone had left. The last few days had been a blur of parties, and now it was only them, the last few of the original group from the beginning of Jake's freshmen year. The group of guys who he instantly became not just teammates with, but friends as well. They all stood outside, the seniors cars parked in a perfect line, as they all stood around with freshly cracked beers, standing in a circle right by the house's porch steps.

Finn sighed before looking at them.

"And so ends another era and chapter in our lives. I'll admit, the last four years have been some of not just the cariazest, but the happiest of my life. You guys were perfect roommates, teammates, and friends. I have enough material to write my book..."

The guys all chuckled as Finn went on smiling.

"So we'll end this chapter in a fitting way. With a toast. A toast to some of the best teammates I have ever played with. We make the game our own, and despite the ups and downs, we all had fun. That doesn't happen often gentlemen, remember that. I was born an only child, and I'll be the first to admit it truly sucked growing up...but for these last four years...I had brothers...a whole team of them."

Raising his can, he smiled.

"Here's to us...the unstoppable team."

"Cheers!"

Everyone said, rising their cans and drinking them completely down. Plummer burped, before they all stood around and threw down their cans. With that, Jake, Dale, and Plummer watched as the seniors got ready to climb into their cars. Unable to believe it, Jake actually felt himself starting to tear up.

Roper went first, he shook all of their hands, joking around before sliding on his sunglasses, and peeled out. Nes was next, ruffling all of their shoulders, before getting in his car and driving away. Coma was after that, hugging them, and joking around, promising to stay in touch before getting into the car and driving away. Finally it was just Mac and Finn. The rest of the seniors had taken off yesterday. A few of the other underclass men were down at the student center for some stupid drive-in thing they were throwing on the field hockey field. Today on this warm May day was just Dale, Plummer, Jake, Finn, and Mac. They all stood around before Mac surprised them by hugging them one by one. When he got to Jake, he could feel himself pressed tightly against him for just a few seconds, smelling that strong cologne he usually wore, and fighting every urge from getting a hard on right then and there. The last few days they had all done what they did when Jake and Plummer first arrived last year. They partied like there was no tomorrow. Lucky for Jake, Bev understood Jake wanted to spend as much time with the guys before they graduated, and only called a few times since then. While Finn and Roper were getting laid, Mac, who usually was the ladies man would simply stand back at the parties, holding his beer and smiling while watching Jake. In these few days so much had happened, Jake honestly couldn't even think. The two had snuck off into enough closets to fool around, exploring each other, and enjoying the excitement of doing this right underneath everyone's noses.

Now the fun times were over, and as Mac tightly hugged him, Jake knew how much he was going to miss him.

Mac went down the line, letting go of Jake which absolutely destroyed him, and hugged Pliummer. Standing back, Mac grinned before turning towards Finn and tightly hugged him.

"Gonna miss you resident all American!"

"Fuck you."

Glen laughed, before letting go. Looking at Jake he smiled, before slipping his large dark glasses off, and approached him. Handing them to him, he also slipped Jake a tightly folded up not that nobody else saw.

"Keep working on that ping pong freshmen!"

Jake laughed quickly, slipping the note and glasses into his pocket.

With that, McReynolds took one last look at the house before sighing and smiled. Winking at them, he climbed into his car, started the engine with a roar, and smiled at them before peeling out. Jake watched his car until it disappeared and took a tight vanishing out of right, Right then and there it hit him.

McReynolds was gone.

His thoughts were broken as Finn, the last of them got into his own car, and stared out the window at them. Jake came to know Finn as one of his closest friends, and seeing him leave as well really made his heart ache. Finn had became something of a older brother to him.

"Well my freshmen friends...or now sophomore friends...my last words of wisdom is to play your hearts out...keep this team's legacy alive. Enjoy it, and set the tone for the new guys coming in this August. As for this place...much like the game...keep it alive. We were known for our parties, keep them up. Make me proud, and have fun guys. I'm gonna miss you all."

With that, he nodded before starting his engine, crying out the team's chant, as they cried it out in return, and wit that Finn peeled out and left, leaving the three of them suddenly alone.

Turning, Jake saw Dale wiping tears away, before he laughed.

"Can't believe I'm gonna miss those assholes."

Jake stared at the empty street before smiling and hooking an arm around Jake and Plummer.

"Well...let's do what they would have done...let's get another beer."

Laughing, the three of them walked up the steps and inside.

That night...

Jake was sitting on his bed, on the phone with Bev. Billy was gone yet again, going to visit his girlfriend, and Jake had the whole room to himself, which usually happened almost every weekend. Feeling, depressed, he tried to sound chipper, before Bev asked how everyone was doing now that the guys had left. Taking a look around and not hearing the TV blaring from downstairs, or people trying to slide down the stairs on a mattress, Jake sighed.

"It's weird...quiet I guess."

After a while he hung up since Bev had rehearsal. In two more weeks the semester would be over, and everyone would be packing up to go home for the summer. Sighing, he looked at the phone, before hanging up and reaching for the folded up not he had kept in his pocket all day, too scared to read it as Dale and Plummer drank beers, and tried to make the best of things. Finally Dale said he was gonna jump in the shower since he had a date with a girl he met on campus, and Plummer was getting ready so Jake and him could maybe meet up with Blummly and see what was going on at the student center. They heard they were showing Jaws and Jaws 2 on that big screen. Jake finally decided he couldn't wait any longer. Slipping Mac's sunglasses up on his head, he smiled before feeling his heart pound and unfolded the note and began to read it. After just a few sentences, Jake smiled and began to feel his eyes fill with tears of happiness.

This was how Jake finished his freshman year in the year of 1981.