Wow! Y'all are awesome. Thank you for the reviews; I am enjoying what you all have to say. I'm hoping to update every five or so days, so next update will probably come on Friday after this, but if I get a bunch more written in the meantime, that might change. Anyway, it's really nice to see a lot of familiar faces but also some new ones. I hope this story lives up to your expectations. I'm enjoying writing it. :)

Let me know what you think. Enjoy!


Austin woke to a text from his girlfriend saying that she couldn't wait to see him and how surprised he would be. He smiled at Piper's cute text and wondered what it meant. He then saw that the clock read eight pm and that he must've slept through dinner. He walked down the stairs through his house, hitting all the creaky steps that really needed to be fixed and stopped short at the kitchen when he heard his mother softly crying. He could smell the dinner still in the air—probably chicken—and wondered if maybe she was upset about him oversleeping. Then, he noticed she was on the phone.

"I'm sorry, Jamie. I know you have to get ready for the bake sale tomorrow, but I didn't know who else to call. How can you tell your son that he can't go to prom because you can't afford the ticket? I know how excited he is. But we just can't do it – we're already a month behind on the mortgage and as much as I would put it off for months and months to see him happy, I cannot do it. I know God doesn't give us more than we can handle, but I'm struggling. I need a sign, Jam." She sniffled. "I know I'm rambling; forgive me." There was a silence. "Yes, I am praying, of course. I just wish I understood the world sometimes."

Austin felt his chest constrict at the sound that his mother had not yet bought his prom ticket, and got tighter when she started to sob to her best friend (Piper's mother) because she felt so guilty. He already had everything planned for that night – and he knew Piper was so excited.

"No, I refuse to let you give me the money, Jamie. I know how you have been struggling too since you lost your job. I am not asking you for that." There was another silence. "I don't give a … I said no," she said firmly. "I know you say that you hare giving me God's will, but I refuse. And if you try to give it to me anyway, I will not help you with the bake sale tomorrow."

There was a pained chuckle.

"Yes, I will not help you. My delicious apple pie will just have to go unmade tonight."

Another silence.

"Alright, Jamie. I think I'm going to wake Austin up, he slept through dinner. I know he's had a rough few weeks with school, so I let him sleep. Besides, Mike had a rough day at the firehouse and I think he enjoyed the time to eat alone without a family dinner. It'll get better, I know that. Thank you for listening to me. You're my person," she laughed, and then she heard the phone click. That was his mother's and Mrs. Clark's thing. They always said they were each other's person. Their platonic soul mate kind of deal. Like himself and Dez.

He waited a few moments so it didn't look like he was eavesdropping on the conversation (and so that he could remind himself that prom wasn't everything and that Piper would understand) and then strolled into the kitchen, wiping his eyes for dramatic affect.

He finally turned to face his mother and smiled, "Sorry, mom. Did I sleep through dinner?"

She smiled back at him and amazingly he could not even tell she'd been crying. Women were some sort of mythical creature. "Yes, sweetheart. It's okay. I saved you a plate. If you hurry, you can help me finish off the pie in the oven so I can let it cool for the bake sale tomorrow. Are you coming? I know you probably have a lot of studying to do with finals coming up, but I know Piper would appreciate the hand at the register. This is a very big sale for our church."

"Sure thing, Mom." He helped himself to the plate in the fridge and quickly microwaved it. "I will be there. Are you heading to bed after the pie is done?" He inconspicuously eyed the clock… it was nearly eight thirty. He had an hour and a half to sneak out. It seemed that his father was at the church for some time, probably to prepare for the bake sale tomorrow, and if his mother headed to bed, he could make it seem like he was asleep on his own bed without anyone noticing.

"Yes, Dear. I have had a long day," she chuckled. "That was my fifth pie! Fifth! It seems our lovely church family raved about the pies last year. I couldn't just bring two."

He knew how great his mom's pies were and could understand. "Alright. How about you go up and get ready then? I'll take the pie out when the timer goes off. You deserve to get a good night's rest."

She smiled lovingly at her son and he felt a twinge of guilt for using her like that. Still, she was lying to him about prom without even knowing it, so that made him feel a bit better. "You are a wonderful child, my Austin. Thank you. Please make sure you turn off the oven. We do not want to burn our home down." She winked. "I don't think your father wants to go back to the fire house tonight."

He laughed along with her. "Alright. Sleep well, Mom. I love you."

"Love you too, Austin."

She left the room and he quickly downed some of his dinner, and then turned off the oven as the timer went off. Finishing off the remainder of it, he put the pie in the window and then tossed the plate into the sink, climbing the stairs quietly so that his mother wouldn't hear him. Then, he quickly changed into a new pair of shorts and a tank top, bringing his bathing suit with him. He didn't want to wear it there because wearing a wet bathing suit on the way home would be uncomfortable and weird.

Finally, he texted Dez and said that he was about to leave. Brad lived only down the block from him and his older brother was letting Austin borrow his car so they could drive down to the lake. The lake was one of the few areas in Miami that they were surely safe. It was nowhere near any kind of normal hazards like alligators or sharks, and Dallas's parents owned a huge lake house there that everyone knew and loved. He was so glad that he wasn't missing it this year.

He snuck out with more expertise than he imagined he had and silently apologized to God for lying to his mother about his whereabouts. He then ran the short distance to Brad's and thanked his brother for the ride. They ran off into the night, piling into the car.

"Dallas's here we come," Dez crowed. "Summer 2015 is gonna be the best one yet!"

The lake house was packed when the boys arrived and Austin felt exhilarated just being there. He quickly parked the car on the grass where they were told to and told his friends he was going to look for Piper, to find him when they were ready to leave. He also winked at Dez when he saw Carrie out of the corner of his eye and then laughed, walking into the crowds where people were drinking and dancing inappropriately with each other.

Finding Piper in the crowd did not come as hard as he thought it would.

She was with a group of her friends, all girls in the church choir and smiled brightly at him when she saw him coming. To his surprise, she was holding some sort of drink that smelled of alcohol and from the way she jumped into his arms, it wasn't her first.

"Are you drinking?" he asked in surprise. It wasn't that he hadn't snuck out to have drinks with his guy friends before; despite being the pastor's kid, he was far from innocent. But his girlfriend was much more religious and firm in her beliefs. He only saw her drink wine at Christmas dinner every year.

She nodded with another huge smile, "It tastes amazing," she admitted. "Like candy!"

He sniffed and figured it probably had tequila in it. No wonder she was already so happy. He laughed, taking a swig of it himself.

"Hey, get your own, you cute boy, you!"

He resisted the urge to tell her to slow down and then just admired her. She was wearing a beautiful black dress that clung to her body, the straps showing off her bathing suit—to his delight a two piece—what kind of night was he in for? He couldn't help but smile. She had her hair simply pulled back and out of her face and her make up barely on. He loved her when she just radiated pure happiness.

"You look beautiful," he told her, kissing her cheek. "How long have you been here?"

"About an hour," she giggled and dragged him over to the table. He helped himself to a beer, bumping into Dallas who also was pretty drunk himself. He waved at the popular jock and they shared a few words, before he was whisked off by some blonde girl with tall, long legs who wore a skirt that he was sure could probably slip off with wrong move. Austin shook his head, noticing that Piper had left to be back with her friends, and he gave her that space for a bit. He mingled with his classmates, joking and laughing when he heard the first person go splashing into the lake. Oddly enough, it was Carrie.

Austin laughed harder as one of her friends dunked her under and she came back sputtering, looking pissed. Still, the girls giggled and Austin saw Dez go in after her, and they began to chat. He floated somewhere out in the water and he admired his friend's balls. Drinking could make anyone brave.

"How about you join me in that water?" Piper cooed and Austin smiled another time seeing her now stripped into just her bikini. It was hard not to enjoy what he saw. He knew what he wanted as a man but also understood how important and wonderful it would be to wait. Still, looking would not do any harm. He told her so and she erupted into further giggles, demanding he switch into his bathing suit and meet her by the water.

It all went well for a while as everyone swam and played around. He saw Dez goofing off with Carrie out of the corner of his eye and Piper was enjoying using Austin as a floatation device. He was careful to keep his eye on her because had had a few drinks. He didn't want to explain any near drowning experiences to her parents.

Then, there was a shout and Austin flipped around, Piper still clinging to his backside when a tall, burly dude that Austin recognized as Carrie's ex and a football player came up to Dez. He too was pretty sloshed as the football guy whose name escaped him threatened Dez, telling him to keep his distance from his 'girlfriend'. Carrie scoffed but it did little to deflate the situation. Austin asked Piper to let go and demanded that she go sit on the shore for a minute while he tried to straighten the situation out. Drinking could be great, but it brought the assholes out in a lot of people.

He stopped in front of the scene, giving Dez a look that said 'I got this'. As much as Dez dressed quirky and often acted just the same, he was really a shy guy who didn't like confrontation. He knew how much he really appreciated and worked for Carrie and having her there with him probably meant the world. Some dumb jock was not about to screw that up for his best friend.

"Yo," Austin said, trying to garner the attention of the said football player.

"Brody!" some other guy yelled. "Pastor Moon's kid is yelling at you."

Yelling would be a huge overstatement. He simply stated a word, but Brody flipped around like he'd threatened his entire family and then to steal his girl, too. Austin flinched at how much larger he was then him and then went on with it anyway.

"What's the problem?"

"Mind your own fucking business, dude," the guy snapped, shoving him away. He got right back into Dez's face, who was trying his best to protect the blonde behind him. He saw Piper out of the corner of his eye, standing on the beach with a towel, looking worried. He shoved Dez this time, much harder and told him that he needed to get his hands off his girlfriend. The verbal assault continued to get more physical when Dez defended himself for a moment, and then he lunged at his redheaded best friend.

That was all Austin needed to be the hero. He tackled him first and they wrestled under water, deeper and deeper until his lungs burned. He came up at the surface to an enraged jock who wanted more. Austin, having had swim lessons from a young age, dodged him until they were on the shore, probably not a great playing field now that the guy had a one-up on him again. The football player tackled him on the ground and he heard girls shouting for it to stop. They wrestled and punches were thrown, finally being broken up by Dallas who insisted that the guy leave.

Before he did, he got one last word in. He glared at Carrie, "Why don't you tell him about your baby?" he snarled. "Our baby?" He tilted his head. "Oh wait. It doesn't exist anymore."

Sometime later, Carrie, Piper, Austin, and Dez were sitting on the beach, sharing a bottle of something strong that didn't really taste all that great. Carrie had gone from hysterical to somewhat blubbering. She hadn't gotten an abortion, like the asshole had made everyone think (though Piper was first to assure her she wouldn't have thought any less of her for it), but instead lost the baby a few weeks back. She was secretly relieved in a sick way, she was not ready to become a parent, but losing something so precious still hurt more than she could ever put into words.

His sick attempt to hurt her only brought the four of them closer, and as time went on and Carrie revealed that he not only said things like that to her, but also abused her, Austin and Dez were so furious that they couldn't contain themselves. Absolutely nothing that the girls said could stop them from quickly heading to Brad's brother's car and going to the house of the football player. They got in, ready to go show him a piece of their mind but did not take into account just how much they had had to drink.

They were on the highway when Austin drunkenly slurred that he was going to punch him in the gut so hard that he felt the kind of pain that Carrie went through.

Dez shouted similar threats. They were so egged up on the adrenaline yet so tired and impaired otherwise, he didn't notice slipping into the other lane until the headlights came forward. And by then, it was much too late to do anything to stop it.