We Come Alive 4

Stone Cold

Saturday morning was quiet, calm, and silent. An unusual morning that Clover had when she spent it with Dante. They usually were laughing, loving, and goofing around the entire time while making breakfast and eating together. Dante's dad had left to go to work early since he owned his own restaurant leaving the young couple by themselves.

Clover picked up her plate off the table and went to take it to the sink where Dante was cleaning the dishes they used to make breakfast.

"I got it." Dante said, taking the plate from her and putting it in the sink. Clover went to help him, but he shoved her hands away. "Clover! I said I got it!"

Clover jumped back from his sudden yelling, but nodded slowly. She went off into the living room and sat down on his bed. She put her knees to her chest and laid her forehead on them. She stayed like that for a couple minutes as she knew what was going to happen. It was clear between them. They'd been fighting none stop, yelling at each other, arguments sparking out of nowhere. The only time they got along nowadays was when they were around other people.

"Hey."

Clover looked up and saw Dante was sitting right in front of her in his chair. He had been shirtless all morning and in a pair of sweatpants that he slept in.

Clover didn't reply as she just looked at him. She let her legs drop down so they were crossed Indian style. Dante sighed as he rubbed the back of his hand across his forehead.

"I didn't mean to yell at you. You know that." He sighed again.

Clover shrugged as she took his hand when he put it in her lap. "It is what it is."

Dante wheeled himself closer so he was touching the bed. "What's been on your mind the last couple days? I can tell something's bothering ya."

"While you were deployed," she begun, "I made out with Ricky. But it meant nothing. I just—"

"I don't care." He interrupted. "Honestly, at this point I don't care anymore. As long as you didn't sleep with him, I don't care."

Clover looked up at him shocked, but he had an emotionless look. They both just stared at each other knowing despite them being face to face and holding hands, there was so much distance between them.

"Wanna talk about this or you wanna just pretend it doesn't exist for a couple more days?" Dante asked, giving her a sincere look.

Clover wiped the tears that were already leaving her eyes. "Let's talk." She whispered. "You're gonna break up with me aren't you?"

Dante scoffed as he reached forward and wiped away her tears. "You really think I'm gonna break up with you? My ride or die girl? Hell nah." He smiled, but it slowly faded. "But this is a lot. For both of us."

Clover nodded her head agreeing with him as she felt his hand slip away from her face. "So what're we gonna do?"

"Take a break." He said easily. "It's what's best. I gotta get my life together and I'm not gonna sit here and watch you be miserable while I deal with this. You have better things to do."

"You are better things." She sniffled, but gave him a loving look. "But I understand where you're coming from. You didn't want this. You didn't deserve this."

Dante put his hands to her face and brought her closer so they could kiss. When they did the sparks were still there, but they weren't as strong as they were before.

"I don't want you to see me when I'm like this." Dante whispered against her lips. "I don't wanna keep yelling at you. I'm just so mad at the world about this. I don't want to accidentally ruin what we have. It won't be long. I promise."

Dante kissed her cheek then pulled away. He wheeled himself back a couple feet and looked at her. She stopped crying, but he knew this was paining them both.

"You can go date someone else if you want to." Dante offered. "You don't have to come back to the paralyzed guy. I know you have a lot of better options right now."

Clover glared at him. "What? A felon?" She scoffed with a small smile.

"I'm serious." Dante said, his voice cold and his expression stern. "Seek out your other options. I want you to be happy. Even if that's not with me."

Clover held out her pinky. "Only if you promise you'll seek out your other options. Even though I most likely won't. But go see if you want a different girl. You don't have to come back to the girl with a missing tooth."

Dante cracked a smile and wrapped his pinky around her's. "Promise." He said.

When they let go, they weren't as heartbroken as they expected themselves to be, because deep down they knew they weren't gonna go far. They'd come back to each other. Eventually.

~**~

That evening, Stephen sat on his couch listening to his friends yelling voices fill up his living room. Stephen, Jacob, Jose, Ricky, and Diego were sitting in Stephen's living room watching Andrew's college game on tv together. Ethan was stuck in the facility all day and Clover said she was spending the day with her sister.

Stephen laughed when Jose got up and yelled at the tv since the referee gave Andrew's team a bad call. When the Mexican boy turned around, he saw his friends laughing at him.

"This isn't funny!" Jose yelled. "This is serious!"

"Sit down, Speedy Gonzalez." Ricky chuckled, holding onto his side where his wound was as he laughed.

Jose rolled his eyes and sat back down on the ground next to Jacob since not all of them could fit on the couch. Diego got up and went off to the kitchen to get more snacks. Stephen's mom left plenty of snacks for them in the kitchen and even baked them cookies since it wasn't often that Stephen had his friends over.

Diego took the plate of cookies and walked into the living room with them. "Your mom really made us cookies." He smirked. "Perks of being an only child, huh?"

Stephen shrugged, taking a couple cookies off the plate. "It has its perks, but it gets lonely sometimes. That's why I hang out with you insane people everyday."

Jacob laughed at Stephen as they all watched Andrew walk on the field. He stood on the line of scrimmage and waited for the play to be put into action. They all cheered when the quarterback threw the ball to a receiver and Andrew blocked him from catching the ball, making the ball hit the ground beside them.

"He's still got it." Ricky smirked, changing positions on the couch.

Diego glanced at the Egyptian boy sitting in between him and Stephen then back at the tv screen. "He never lost it. This kid is something else. Tears his ACL and still gets to the career he wanted. He's a true freshman playing a great first season."

The boys all turned their attention back to the tv screen just as the quarterback handed off the ball. The receiver ran down the side of the field as he tried to get to the endzone. All five boys erupted in yells when they saw their friend running towards him.

But as quickly as the boys got loud, they got quiet. When Andrew and the receiver collided, they could almost hear the impact. Their helmets collided and both of their heads thrashed around right before they both slammed to the gridiron.

The crowd fell silent, the commentators didn't say a word, the field was quiet.

The trainers ran onto the field and tried to assess the two boys laying on the ground before ultimately calling for an ambulance. The trainers helped Andrew up, just for him to fall to a knee and wait by the boy's side who he had tackled just before. The boy laid on the ground, not moving a muscle.