Connie sat at the counter at Bischopp's Diner feeling thankful for the way life was going. They'd won big yesterday and Luis had offered to take her out to lunch the following day to celebrate. She was happier than she had been in weeks and it felt like things were turning around – she hadn't even thought about Guy yesterday. Though today, she'd been rifling through her desk drawers looking for some homework that Julie had asked for and instead she'd discovered her eighth grade math notebook. At first, Connie was confused as to why she'd kept such a useless thing, until she read "Connie + Guy, Forever and Always" written in Guy's handwriting on the cover. Of course, she remembered now. She'd hardly done any math that year and had spent most of that class daydreaming about her then boyfriend and all of her scribbles within the pages were evidence of that.

Things couldn't have been more different now. She and Guy weren't speaking and she was dating another Duck. Well, not exactly dating. Luis didn't want to put a label on what they were, which Connie agreed was a good idea. Labels and official relationships just complicated things. They were having fun – why ruin fun? Thinking about her friend brought a blush to Connie's cheeks as she brushed some hair out of her face, waiting for Luis to show. He was already ten minutes late, though it was expected. He was usually late to practice as well.

What wasn't expected was Guy tapping her on the shoulder and greeting her with a soft smile. Connie huffed inwardly, she really couldn't go anywhere without him popping up to ruin it. "Great game yesterday,"

She raised her eyebrows at him, her happiness instantly down the drain. "'Great game?' That's all you have to say to me?"

"Connie, I already apologized for what I said. I'd never think any of less of you because of your choices. You're my friend and every nice thing I ever said about you, I meant," His face was genuine, as was his tone, and Connie believed his words, but couldn't find it in her not to be annoyed. He'd still said it. And besides, they had other problems aside from just that.

"You're still letting your girlfriend boss you around into ending a friendship that we've had since kindergarten,"

Guy sighed. "She's my girlfriend, Connie. I have to do what she says – I care about her,"

She rolled her eyes and turned even further away from him. "Exactly, which is why I have nothing else to say to you for the time being. Call me when you grow a pair,"

"I'm talking to you now. Isn't that good enough?"

Boys were so dense. She'd always thought that Guy was different than the other boys, but clearly she'd been wrong. Still, she wanted to keep talking to him. Damn him. Connie repositioned herself so that she faced the chair beside her and nodded at Guy to take a seat – he did as told immediately. "I was going through some stuff today and I found my notebook from the eighth grade. And you know what's written on the cover? 'Connie plus Guy. Forever and Always.' You wrote that,"

Guy was even more confused now. "I thought you said you weren't gonna try to get me back,"

"Yeah, I did, I did say that and I meant it. I just want to know why. Why did that 'forever and always' turn into 'for a little while?'"

He sighed and grabbed at his nose with his hand, making a scrunchy face that Connie shouldn't have found as cute as she did. "Okay, you broke up with me or did you forget that part?"

"I was being stupid! I was being one of those stupid girls who expect guys to read their minds and you could always read mine so maybe I thought that you'd know I wasn't serious,"

"Alright, maybe, I did think that it was a joke or whatever at first. But then you went out with Arthur Avery and then what was I supposed to think? You found someone better and I accepted that,"

Connie shook her head and smiled, although there was nothing to smile about. "There's no one better than you. I don't know why I did that. Forget I brought this up –"

"No, I can't. Why'd you bring it up in the first place? I have Alexa. I love Alexa. What did you want from me then? What do you want from me now?"

"I wanted you to fight for me," she leaned in close to him so that she could be emotional without being overheard. "I wanted to make sure that you weren't just with me because you always had been. I wanted to feel like I meant as much to you as you did to me,"

Guy scoffed. "What about Luis? You're with him now,"

"Not now. I don't want all that now," she lied. "But I did. I wanted you to be there even when I pushed you away,"

"Then why did you push me away?!"

"I don't know."

He stood up from the stool and patted down on the counter, as if to make some sort of point. "I think you do. I think that you gave up because I wasn't good enough for you. I wasn't sexy enough or interesting enough or a good enough player. You thought you could do better and you know that's the truth,"

How could he ever think that? Was he so dense that he didn't know that he was Connie's entire world? "If that's true, then explain why every single god damn page in that notebook is littered with 'Mrs. Connie Moreau,' 'Moreau-Germaine,' 'Germaine-Moreau,' 'I love Guy, he's so great,' 'Guy is so amazing, I could never deserve him,' 'I'll love Guy until the day I die.' Why did I write all that if I thought I was so much better than you?"

Guy's eyes welled with tears and Connie almost couldn't believe that he still maintained that he felt nothing for her. There was such an obvious connection there, did he really not feel it? Before she could consider other possibilities, Luis sauntered in and kissed her on the side of the head, not sensing any of the tension in the air. "Hey Guy, what's up, man? You look like you just got punched in the stomach,"

"I was uh, I was just leaving," his voice cracked and he wiped at his nose.

"Whatever. See ya at school," Luis shrugged and took the seat previously occupied by Guy. Connie took his hand in hers, attempting to make it look like she didn't care at all about her ex's presence. She must've been doing a good job (either that or he hadn't even noticed) because Luis didn't even mention Guy's name after that.

But his name was the only thing on Connie's mind and all she wanted to do was go home and cry and listen to sappy music.


Russ, Dwayne and Ken leaned against their lockers instead of going to cafeteria to eat with everyone else on Monday. Across from them were posters for the Thanksgiving Dance plastered all over the wall, advertising the 'biggest non-Prom event of the year.' They dreaded the stupid thing each and every year, but this time put more pressure on them than usual. They were seniors and if they showed up without dates, it'd be more embarrassment than any of them were willing to bear.

"C'mon fellas, it's not like we're gonna be the only ones without dates. Averman and Goldberg won't have any either and I don't think Fulton's even going," said Dwayne.

"Yeah, but Averman and Goldberg are Averman and Goldberg. I don't ever want to be compared to them," Russ noted.

"Maybe one of us can ask Julie. She doesn't have a date either,"

"That'd only solve one of our problems. Besides, I heard Julie say she and Adam are going together," Ken explained.

Russ sighed. "They always go for the gay guys. I have to get a date. If I have to spend another dance watching Goldberg eat all the mini weenies, I'll kill myself,"

"The whole thing's gonna be a bust, regardless. Connie and Guy are going to have a huge fight, everyone's going to choose sides. Luis'll say something homophobic and Adam'll run to the bathroom and cry, even though he'll tell everyone he wasn't crying. Charlie will yell at Luis, Luis will yell back, one of us will have to break it up," Ken couldn't think of anything more intolerable. Sometimes he didn't know why he put up with his teammates.

"Be more optimistic," said Dwayne. "It's the last dance of the 90s, the last dance of the – the – what's the word?"

"Millennium," said Russ. "You be optimistic, we're being realistic,"

It wasn't like Russ hadn't gone on dates before because he had. He just never had anyone to ask whenever events like this came around. Keeping girls interested had never been his strong suit. God, there had to be girls around that didn't have dates either and would be willing to go with them. Damn social standards and damn girls for never having to ask the guys. A turnaround dance for once would make things so much easier. But maybe they didn't need a turnaround dance, maybe they could come up with something else.

"Wait a minute," said Russ after thirty seconds of silence. "We're not the only Ducks without dates and – how many of them have dates?"

"Connie, Luis, Charlie, Adam, Julie, Guy. Six," Ken answered.

"We can work around that. What if we did one of those auction things, like in Batman and Robin? All the men of the Ducks – the guys with dates can just give their girls the money to bid on them. And then we give the money to a good cause or some shit to actually get people to bid on Goldberg,"

Ken and Dwayne's faces lit up and they exchanged grins. "That's a mighty fine idea, Russ!"

"It actually is, though. This'll probably work," Ken crossed his arms over his chest. "We just need to get Dean Buckley to sign off – which he will if it's for charity,"

"What're we waiting for then?" Russ motioned towards the end of the hallway where Buckley's office was located. Dwayne saw his outstretched hand and high fived him, tagging Ken on the back and racing him to their destination.


The stupid auction that Russ was already advertising only hours after getting Buckley's approval (and coming up with the idea in the first place) was the last thing on Charlie's mind that afternoon. He, Fulton, Julie, Adam, Orion and Fulton's mother were picking Portman up from rehab and to say that Charlie was nervous was an understatement. He hated hospitals. Hated them. The last time seeing Portman had been stressful enough, but this was going to be something else. Julie had said that Portman had been different lately, kinder, but Charlie didn't know if he believed that. In his experience with addicts, they never stopped or changed. And Portman certainly wasn't the type to quit.

Still, he had to be there for his teammate and he could tell that Fulton needed him to be there. He kept saying "Thanks for coming, Charlie," like Charlie had just given him a billion dollars or something. Charlie supposed that maybe it was because he hadn't really spent time with Fulton lately, he'd been too wrapped up in his own shit. He hated thinking that maybe Fulton hadn't expected him to show up.

To make things more uncomfortable, Adam hadn't stopped staring at him since Saturday. It wasn't like Charlie could hold it against him, they had jerked each other off and that wasn't exactly something that you could just forget about. Charlie certainly hadn't forgotten about it. He couldn't believe that he'd even done it. He must've been pretty tipsy at the time. Maybe Adam had just come on to him and unzipped his pants and Charlie wasn't able to say no to getting off. But that didn't seem like something Adam could do. And Charlie could vaguely remember hitting on him, even though he didn't know why. Was he attracted to Adam? Was he attracted to men? He couldn't be! He'd always liked women, he'd always been attracted to women. He wasn't gay.

Right now though, Adam didn't look all that interested in Charlie. He was holding Julie's hand and leading her down the hospital hallway, whispering something in her ear. Now Charlie was the one staring – why did Adam seem so much calmer than he was? Adam was the anxious one, not him. And Adam being calm and collected was making Charlie think of what they did in a bit more positive of a light. It had been fun . . . and Adam was cool . . .

Fulton's mother knocked on the room door as they approached, knocking Charlie out of his thoughts. Portman was standing in front of a made bed, packing clothes into a suitcase. He turned around and beamed when he saw them. "Hey!" he threw his hands around Fulton's mom and kissed her on the cheek. "Kathy, thanks for coming,"

Next, he shook hands with Orion and clapped Fulton on the back. "How you guys doing?" Adam and Charlie each got handshakes and Julie, a kiss on the forehead. "Nice to see you, Cat,"

The blush on Julie's cheeks was obvious.

"You excited to go home?" asked Orion.

"Extremely," Portman was relaxed, which was unlike him. "I'm pumped to get back on the ice,"

Charlie patted him on the arm. "We're excited to have you back, bud. Our defense has really been lacking,"

"Speak for yourself, Charlie," Fulton chuckled. "Although, it'll be nice to have my brother back,"

Portman looked around at each of them and stopped on Adam. "Heard you're gay now, Banksy,"

Adam's eyes widened. Charlie wondered if he was surprised that Portman knew, and then wondered why he'd be surprised, considering Julie had most likely told him, and if she had, she wouldn't do it without Adam's permission. "Uh, not just 'now.' But yeah,"

The air was thick with awkwardness and Charlie brought his hands into fists, angry at the thought of Portman saying anything discriminatory. He'd had more than enough of this shit from the guys on the team, and he didn't need it from someone he was supposed to be glad to see. Instead though, Portman broke out into a gigantic grin and enveloped Adam into a hug. Adam blinked, taken aback by this. "Congrats, man. I'm happy for you,"

Julie's smile was as huge as Portman's was. She looked proud, like she'd been worried about Portman's reaction too.

"Uh, thanks. Appreciate it," said Adam. Charlie could tell that he was happy and oddly enough, it made him happy as well.

So much so that he barely paid any attention to the others, even when Orion handed him Portman's backpack to carry out to the car. It was such a rarity to see Adam smile, and Charlie thought that he had a really nice smile. It only ever came out when he was caught off guard, when he didn't realize that he was being watched, when he made a really great play or when Julie would mutter something under her breath that only the two of them could hear. He had nice hair too, and nice eyes. Charlie had always thought that, that wasn't a new occurrence. And his lips weren't bad either . . . alright, maybe that last one was a new thing. Perhaps he'd realized that the other night at Jan's place and that's why he'd been so okay with the kissing.

Had what went on really been all that bad? It wasn't like they were dating or anything, they'd just hooked up and Charlie had enjoyed it. Adam was his friend and he wasn't going to tell anybody. He'd already sworn the Ducks to secrecy after coming out, making them promise not to tell anyone who wasn't on the team. Seeing how crazy he was about keeping that quiet was even more proof that Adam wouldn't open his mouth about the two of them.

Still . . . he was seeing Linda. They weren't official, but he figured it was kind of an unspoken thing that it was. Then again, Adam was a guy. Is it still cheating if you're doing it with someone of the same gender? Linda would probably think so, but Charlie ignored that. What he wanted was to be able to rationalize a way that continuing to hook up with Adam was okay. He finally pulled the taller boy aside as they walked out to their cars and Adam waved goodbye to Julie, who was going with Portman and the Reeds. "Can we talk?" he asked.

If Adam was surprised, he did a good job at hiding it. "Um, yeah, sure. Do you, uh, want a ride home?"

Charlie nodded. He'd ridden here with Adam as well, but with Julie in the car, it hadn't forced any conversation between them. Charlie sat in the passenger's seat and watched Adam buckle himself in and check his mirrors like three times before starting the car. It was sort of endearing.

"I uh, just wanted to . . . check in with you about Friday," said Charlie.

"If you want to pretend that it never happened, it's cool," Adam stated, sounding rehearsed. "We were both drinking, I get it. And I won't tell anybody,"

"Thanks. I won't tell anyone either," said Charlie.

"And I asked my dad about the lawyer. I'll give you his number at school tomorrow and we can set up a meeting with him," he cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Uh, I told the guy that I'd take care of the finances. I hope that's alright,"

Normally, Charlie would've felt like a charity case and he would've gotten angry at Adam for even suggesting paying for him. But right now the sun was reflecting off of his face in this really nice way that made Charlie want to kiss him all over and any hostility disappeared from his thoughts. "That's nice of you. Thanks, I appreciate it,"

For the rest of the ride to Jan's, they were both nearly silent. Adam kept glancing at Charlie from the corner of his eye, like he thought Charlie was going to punch him or something. Punching him was the exact opposite of what Charlie had in mind because as soon as they parked, Charlie grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and brought their lips together. "I've been wanting to do that since the hospital," he admitted.

That genuine smile appeared on Adam's face. "So then . . . do you want to – I mean – is this -?"

"We're friends. That doesn't need to change. But friends can kiss and do other things," Charlie whispered into his ear and kissed the skin below it, making Adam turn scarlet.

It was all too easy to get Adam to agree to this, and even easier to get him to come inside and make out with him for a couple of hours. He was all too willing, so trusting – which was odd considering that he'd thought Charlie was going to be angry with him in the car. Now, he acted like he could put his whole life in Charlie's hands and trust him with it (which he sort of was, but Charlie didn't need to know that).

This was much more fun that kissing Linda, Charlie thought to himself. That had become an awful lot like a chore lately. With Adam, he knew that there were no feelings involved. He could have fun and distract himself from the current craziness in his life, and then return to reality without worrying about having to call at a specific time or meet up somewhere on a certain day. This was going to work out perfectly, in Charlie's opinion. He could go to Adam to unwind and then talk to him at school and at practice without any of the bullshit that came with a relationship.


Author's Note: Hi! I'm so sorry that it's been so long since I updated. I promise I didn't forget about this fic! Thank you so much to everyone that's reviewed.