His iPhone vibrated, signaling that he had received a text message.

"Hey dude, your phone just beeped," his tall, baby faced friend said.

The blond haired tan boy ran down towards the hoop, stopped for a second, and shot the basketball straight into it. He then tossed the ball to his friend before running towards the bench where his phone lay on top of the sweat soaked tee he had shed only minutes earlier.
Fast fingers typed in the lock code and then opened the text.

"I need to see you. Tonight," the message read.

His stomach twisted Ina knot because he knew what he had to eventually tell her.

"I'll pick you up when I'm done ballin'. Be waiting."

An hour passed as she continued to shoot hoops with his buddy. The sky turned shades of yellow and orange, then soon enough the gorgeous Iowa sunset had turned to black in the humid August night.

The short muscular boy gatherd his things and said his goodbyes to long curly headed one. This would be the last time they will see each other for a few months. The blond climbed into his orange truck and the brunette his red one.

She saw the truck pull into her driveway and she ran outside. His heart twisted when he saw her, just like it had ever time he did for the last few months. Her long dark blond hair fell down her back, as it was starting to curl up in ringlets since she had just taken a shower. She wore his old football jersey. The one he had given her last year. The white lettering on the back of it was beginning to come off. The double digit number was hard to read and the L in his last name was almost gone. She was barefoot and only wore boy short underwear underneath the jersey.

The beautiful girl climbed into the cab and pulled the seatbelt across her body and clicked it into place. "Drive," was the only thing she said.

And that's exactly what he did. They traveled a familiar dirt road in silence for several minutes until he glanced over and noticed tears falling down her cheeks. He pulled over and cut the engine.

"You do know my flight leaves tomorrow morning, right'" he asked.

"I know," she choked out. "I just don't want it to."

He undid his seatbelt and slid across the seat to her. She undid hers as we'll and he pulled her into his arms as she began to cry harder. Her head falling to his chest. He cradled her in his arms and rested his lips in her hair until her crying ceased.

"Why can't you stay here," she whispered. "You haven't lived in Arizona full time in four years. You don't have your residency there. Just go to college here. It makes a lot more sense for you to stay here."

"I miss the mountains," he replied. "And seeing my mom everyday."

"But people here will miss you too," she said sadly as she played with braided bracelet on his wrist. He knew she was partly right. He would miss his little half brother and half sister. His older sister had moved to Iowa for her senior year to be with him. She was going to college in Iowa now too. They're only 16 months apart in age. The year they spent mostly apart when she still lived in AZ with their mom and him in IA with their dad, stepmom, and younger half siblings had been extremely tough on the both of them. It was nice to live with his dad too. He knew that even though they butted heads his dad was finishing raising him how he did because he loved him. And his stepmom had been more of a mom to him than his actual mom had ever been.

He'd miss his friends too. The ones he played sports with, and hung out with all the time. They were like brothers.

"I need to go back to where I was raised for a while," he told her. "I'm ready for a change again."

"But you were born here and spent the first few years of your life here. You graduated from high school here," she told him angrily as she sat up.

He started the vehicle again and drove back to her house in silence. He parked outside the green house. She almost couldn't get out fast enough.

"I'm leaving tomorrow whether you like it or not. You need to understand that." he said firmly.

She slammed then passenger side door and stalked up to the front door. She was more upset then when picked her up. Once she got to her bedroom she sent him one final text message.

"I'll always love you no matter what. You need to understand that."