Walking up the stairs to the apartment, Guy's cell phone vibrated in his coat pocket. He looked at the screen and a name blinked repeatedly. It said Connie. Connie. The name always made Guy freeze, or nervous, or upset; you can't help it when it's the name of your first love. He answered hesitantly. "Hey."

"Hey, Guy!" She sounded so happy in the University of San Diego. "How're you? Me, Ken, and Charlie miss you guys a lot."

"I'm good. The guys are good, too. We had our first practice today, it was a killer. We miss you guys, too." Guy smiled at the thought of his fellow Ducks that he spent so many years attached at the hip with.

"Aw, man, we got practice tomorrow, and I am definitely not ready for it. Oh, I gotta go, Guy, I just wanted to check up on you. I really miss you. Tell the guys I miss them, too, and I say hi."

Guy took a few seconds to respond. "Miss you, too, and I will. Bye, Connie." One conversation and Guy's excitement for his first day of college was gone. He was ready for music and sleep, so he wouldn't have to deal with the thoughts running through his mind every time Connie said she missed him. Love, it should be shot at.

- - - -

Guy sat on the couch with the fellow Ducks and sighed. "Connie says hi, and that she misses you guys. Charlie and Ken say hi, and they miss you, too."

Fulton looked at Portman, who shook his head and shrugged.

Fulton said, "Oh, cool. Uh, tell them we miss them, too, next time you talk to her."

"Mm-hmm," Guy mumbled.

"Come on ,Guy, forget about it. It's new beginnings, remember? Oh, hey, look, look, it's Parker!" Luis pointed towards the kitchen and nodded furiously. Guy stared at the TV. "She's wearing short shorts." He didn't budge. "Well, that was my attempt."

"Guy, c'mon. Connie moved on and you should, too, man," Portman added as Guy just indulged in his thoughts. "Parker's wearing really short shorts?" Portman shrugged and sunk deeper into the chair. "Yeah, that's not gonna work.""I'm gonna go lie down or something. I'm not up for a movie anymore." He walked away as the guys shrugged, because they never knew what to say or do when it came to Connie. Guy walked into the guest room to see Parker staring at the wall and listening to the iHome. "Oh, sorry, I was just gonna lie down."

She looked at him. "It's okay." She stared at him for a few seconds. "You okay?"

Guy tilted his head and smiled a little. "How'd you know?"

"I don't know. You just seem really sad. You want to talk about it?"

It was coming like word vomit. "Connie called me." He was surprised at himself. "Connie, my ex-girlfriend, she was a Duck." He sat on the bed across from her. He was telling this girl he just met about the love that he felt he would never really move on from, and he didn't understand why.

"Yeah, she's really pretty. Coop and I watched her play at the Goodwill Games. She's too pretty for you. Just kidding. That's cute, I'm sure you guys were cute together." Parker smiled, but Guy still had a frown on his face. "Or not."

"No, it was great. We were cute, I guess. We went out ever since the Ducks started out, till the middle of freshman year. We were on and off after that. It just got rocky when we got to high school." He was staring at the floor, elbows on his knees. "I don't even remember why."

Parker nodded but didn't have a clue what to say. "Did you guys end badly? Well, I mean, are you guys still friends?"

"Oh, yeah, of course we are. We're friends. Sometimes that's the hardest part. She's moved on; it seems it's like she doesn't even think about us at all anymore. But it's not like I'm waiting for her or anything, or even in love with her in that way anymore. I know we're not gonna be together again. After we broke up, it was kind of bad I guess, because we were so on and off. But then, junior year she started dating other guys, so I started dating other girls. But senior year, I really started to notice how well she and Charlie got along. Charlie, Charlie Conway, he was the captain of the Ducks. I just waited for them to open their eyes and waited for them to realize that they're supposed to be together, and they eventually did. My ex-girlfriend and one of my best friends... it was kind of hard to swallow that." Parker watched Guy as he vented with his eyes still glued to the
floor. "They're the definition of really close girl-boy best friends, and it had to happen sometime. I knew Charlie didn't want to go through with being with Connie, because he didn't want to hurt me, but I told him it was all okay." He looked up at Parker. "It killed me, though."

"Yeah," Parker agreed. "It would kill me too."

"I'll always love her. Well, not in that romantic kind of way, but in that friends kind of way. Actually, a little more than that, I don't know how to explain it. I don't even know what I'm saying anymore. Basically, I love her, but not that way, I think that's how to explain it? I just spent so many years being with her as a friend or as a boyfriend, with all the Ducks, so many years, and then college just separates us all. It feels like I've lost that connection with my best friends because of distance. But at least I got some of the Ducks here with me." He looked up at Parker. "And you."

Parker stared back at Guy and her heart started to race. Some part of her was saying this was right, but there was always that part in her mind that told her to run. But this time, this moment, she wasn't paying attention to the voice that screams at her to run out of the building and head for the hills. She wanted this, she wasn't scared of it, and it
surprised the shit out of her.

"I know what you mean." Parker broke their eye contact. "First loves, especially childhood first loves, have that weird 'I love you, but not that kind of way' thing. The 'I miss you because you've been by my side and you are one of my best friends' things." Guy nodded slowly. "They'll always have that piece of you, but you know nothing will happen ever again."

"Exactly," Guy smiled to himself in a reminiscent way, "You still talk to your first childhood love?"

"Oh, yeah, see him everyday."

"Who? The big guy on the hockey team?" Guy joked and Parker smiled.

"Oh, no, no," She paused, "It's Jess."