"So, what do we do now?"

That same question was rolling around in Jake's head and he had no idea how he was gonna answer it. The kids in front of him were definitely not the kids he had seen at tryouts. It was like... they had fallen apart before they even started. Jake was speechless and he was pretty sure Nick felt the same way.

The practice had started off normal. Jake just briefed over everything he had done at the tryout, trying to make it quick because he had said it before. And since he wanted to see how they all worked together, Jake set them up in positions that he had thought they knew. Fifteen minutes later, Jake hadn't moved from his spot near home plate, Nick beside him, and no one had caught a ball yet.

And all Jake was doing was hitting ground balls.

After another ball passed through Pete Rolfo's legs at first base, Jake had had enough.

"Guys! Come here"

Jake heard Nick mumble something that sounded like, "I feel the same way"

"Guys, I... not to come off as outright cause that's not me but what exactly did Lane teach you?"

The kids were silent as Jake looked at them all. He felt guilty the way he asked them the minute the words left his mouth. The last thing he wanted to do was start what might be one of the best things of his life with an argument.

"Uh, all he really did was make us run laps, Coach Jake. We did some fielding but we weren't very good," Parker finally spoke up, fiddling with the strings on his brown Wilson glove, absentmindedly

Jake's heart kind of broke at that moment, and it took all he had to not walk away and hand this job to someone else. Instead, he just took a deep breath and nodded.

"Alright. So, let's start over"

Jake put his bat against the fence and grabbed two orange cones.

"When I was younger, this was the first drill my dad ever taught me to do. Now I know this is high school, but we got to go back to basics, okay? And that's not a bad thing"

"Coach Jake?" Dainn asked, raising his hand.

"Yep?"

"You can just say it. We suck," Dainn laughed and the entire team joined in, nodding agreement. Jake smiled and then started to chuckle along.

There went that heart skipping a beat moment again.

"Alright, alright. We don't suck. Come here, fellas"

The team crowded around Jake as Nick stood silent, watching his best friend lay out the cones. There were three rows, two on each side. Jake positioned two people as if they were playing catch with each other and then walked down the line back to the front.

"Alright, listen up! Back to basics. Baseball 101. Glove remains on the ground the entire time. Not on our hips, not on our knees. On the ground. We have our legs spread out, not too wide, not too thin"

As Jake spoke, he demonstrated it, having Nick toss him his old brown glove. He thought melancholy, of his late father and how he was looking down and wondering how he raised such a good son. Jake shook himself off the conjuring memories and focused on his task ahead.

"Alright. So what I want us to do is roll ground balls back and forth to your partner. Nick, toss me like, uh, six or seven, balls?"

Nick nodded and grabbed Jake's bucket, setting it on the line and tossing him the number of balls he asked for. Jake saw the team looking incredulously at him as he caught some with his hand and four in his glove right after the other.

What could he say? He was coordinated.

"Thanks. Alright. Parker? Collin. Pete. Logan. Wayne. Frank. And Vince," Jake said as he tossed a ball to each player he named, on one side of the line.

"Unger. Stand over here for a second. Listen up. I'm gonna demonstrate. Hey! Guys, I don't want to yell at you. Let's quiet down while I show you this. Come on"

Jake stood across from Parker and crouched down, glove touching the dirt, and motioned for Parker to roll it. He did so and Jake stepped forward with his left foot, then his right, scooped up the ball, and popped up, his arm extended behind his head as if he was gonna throw a heater into Parker's glove, but didn't. He saw Nick smiling out of the corner of his eye and he smirked back but didn't say anything.

"That's what I want you guys to do. Roll some soft ground balls back and forth, practicing those principles I told you. Gloves on the ground, remember? We're not gonna win any games with those gloves on our knees? 'Kay?"

Jake got nods from every single player and sighed. "Good. Let's go. Come on," Jake clapped his hands and walked behind the lines watching as the kids began to do what he asked. Jake walked back to the fence to stand next to Nick in the shade. He took a drink of water and set it back down.

"Oh for goodness sake. What am I gonna do with this?" he mumbled, loud enough for Nick to hear but not enough to the point the kids could hear him. Jake had looked up from drinking his water to find slow rolling ground balls that a turtle could beat- going right through his kids' legs. He couldn't believe it. He crossed his arms and watched them all until the lightbulb finally went off. He told Nick his theory and Nick watched and nodded his head, nudging Jake to go ahead.

"Go. You're right"

"Guys! Hold the balls," Jake said as he walked down the line with his hands up. "I know exactly what's wrong and this drill isn't going to work anymore"

Jake gathered the team around Nick as he collected the cones and balls. He needed a new plan and fast. He knew what the issue was, he just didn't know how to fix it.

"You're all doing the exact same thing and I can't help but think Lane never saw it or fixed it. Whatever, I don't care. I'm here now and I'm gonna fix it. Uh, Parker. Sorry to single you out but come here. You're doing what I want to show them right. Nick, throw me my bat, and play first for me?"

"Sure thing, Jake"

Nick tossed it and Jake caught it with one hand, pointing at Parker at short, and swung his bat, hitting a sharp ground ball to him. He scooped it exactly how Jake saw him do at tryouts and fired to Nick, playing first base. Jake smiled and flipped his bat, walking back to the team, Parker jogging alongside him.

"Anyone notice anything Parker is doing that all of the rest of us are not? And please don't say, he caught it. I can see that"

The group was silent until Collin raised his hand.

"Yeah, Collin?" Jake said, hopefully.

"Parker doesn't pull his glove up when the ball takes a bad hop or when the ball is hit. His glove always stays on the ground. "

"Exactly! Thank you, Collin! Guys, here... Take a seat"

Jake walked the team to the outfield and they sat in the grass while Jake squatted down to their level, Nick standing up next to him.

"The mechanics are here. We just gotta find it. So, here's what we're gonna do. We got...," Jake checked his watch. "An hour left of practice. In this hour, we're gonna fix this. Partner up again but this time Nick is gonna take half and I'm gonna take half. And we're gonna work. Okay, enough chit-chat. Let's go do some baseball"

Over the course of the next hour, Nick and Jake were rolling ground balls to the kids, and with every pitch, it was getting better and better and Jake couldn't hide the smile from his face anymore. He signaled to Nick to speed up the balls a little bit to see how it goes and Jake was shocked.

They were alright. In fact, more than alright.

The Brennan High team looked like a totally different team than Jake started the practice to. Jake collected all the balls and positioned his infield and he saw something. He saw the talent, the grit, and the love for the sport in this team.

HIS team.

Parker at shortstop.

Jake Unger stood by Jake to catch, along with Nick.

Collin in right field.

Kevin Grammar on the pitcher's mound. Pete at first.

Hunter at second. Logan Rippert in left.

Dain at third. And Wayne Tricker in center.

Josh and Frank in left with Logan.

Christian in center field with Wayne. And Vince and Zayn in right with Collin.

Jake looked around and took a deep breath.

It was now or never.

"Alright! Going one!"

Jake swung his bat and hit a sharp grounder to third. Dain backhanded it and threw a rocket to Pete at first. Jake smiled and hit one to Parker. Same result. Hunter bobbled his a little bit but still made the throw to first smoothly. Jake made his way around the infield and not a single ball was missed, not a single ball was dropped- nothing. It was a totally different team.

Jake handed the bat to Nick to hit some fly balls to the outfielders cause he wasn't the best at it. Nick and he always joked and Nick teased Jake about it but it was all in good fun.

The outfielders' catches were as smooth as ever. Jake shook his head incredulously as he watched them, so happily. When everyone had a few turns, Jake called them all in the dugout and sat them down as they got drinks of water. He dragged the bucket in front of them, Nick sitting on another one next to him. Jake was silent for a while until he finally spoke, choosing his words carefully.

"Life hits us in ways we couldn't even imagine. We all go through hardships. Hell, I'm pretty sure you all are going or went through more hardships than I have in 26 years. Each of us, in our own way, has those moments. Being human comes with complications, team. I'm sure you all know that. And probably too many hardships. We all struggle at one time or another," Jake stopped, suddenly feeling himself get... emotional?

He couldn't believe it. He wasn't a crying guy but here he was, feeling choked up. Nick could tell and put his arm around his best friend's shoulders and Jake scoffed under his breath, sighing.

"To become the people we need to be, in life and for this team and live the most amazing life we're all meant to live, sometimes we have to go through bad times and shitty times. Rick Lane was your shitty time, okay?" Jake said, his voice cracking.

"Sometimes we have to get broken down so that we can learn, grow, and re-calibrate. So, I don't normally give homework but here is yours- when times do get tough, I need you to tell yourselves that it happens to us all the time and that there is no specific reason okay? And I know this is some pretty heavy stuff but you know what? I needed you guys to know I'm here for you and my heart has been breaking ever since the day I learned what you went through"

Jake nodded, tears in his eyes as he looked at every kid's face, some of them smiling through tears like Jake was and then Jake looked at Nick.

Oh jeez, he shouldn't have.

His vision just got blurrier. Nick had been by his side enough times to know that Jake wasn't like this at all. But yet, he was there for him if he did get like this.

"C'mere y'all," Nick grabbed Jake's shirt sleeve gently and hugged him, the kids slowly surrounding them both, laughing. The hug eventually pulled Nick and Jake to their knees as the kids followed.

Jake had never hugged anyone tighter.

"Oh God, thank you. These kids are gonna be my saving grace aren't they?" he thought silently, burying his head into the group hug, never feeling happier or luckier.

"You have that same look on your face as that night at Brennan, you know that right? The night we stared at the sky?"

Jake stopped looking out the window and stared at Nick, who was smirking at him over the rim of his iced tea glass.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Jake said, waving him off. It got silent as Jake looked out the window of Dizzy's again and Nick picked up a fry, still watching his friend intently.

After practice, Jake had been too riled up to go home right away so Nick suggested they get a late dinner at Dizzy's. Nick had also texted Mackenzie, his girlfriend, to come. But what Jake didn't know is that Mac was bringing one of her girlfriends along. And Nick was concealing his plan and the goal of it quite well. But he didn't care about that now. All he cared about was making sure Jake was okay because his head seemed to be in the clouds. While they waited for Mac to come, Nick decided to try to pull a truth out of his friend.

"So," Nick said, setting his glass down, the ice clinking in it as Jake tore his gaze away from the window. " You worked some magic today with those kids. How did you see it that fast? How did you know?"

Jake shrugged. "I don't know. I just did. Can't really explain it"

"Try. Cause I want to know," Nick replied, spitting the words out right after Jake had stopped speaking.

Jake scoffed, taking a sip of his water. "Oh alright. I surrender. I used to do it when I was a kid. I picked my glove up every single time a ball was hit to me. And I missed it every time. My dad would spend hours standing behind me, placing his arms over me, his hands helping my glove to the ground," Jake stopped, feeling himself get teary-eyed again.

These past few days had been some of the most emotional of his life. He was thanking the lucky stars he had Nick. Nick opened his mouth to ask him to elaborate but thankfully, for Jake's sake, Mackenzie walked in with her friend behind her. Nick smiled past Jake and waved them both over.

"Hi," Nick said, getting up, kissing Mac on the cheek, and having her slide into the booth as Nick took a seat next to Jake.

"Hi. Hi, Jake. Nice to see you again," Mac said, settling herself in the seat. Jake would have replied right away but his eyes were glancing between Mackenzie and this other girl she had brought. The girl's eyes were a dark brown but still bright as ever. Her hair was light brown with streaks of highlights from the sun. Her eyebrows were the same color as her eyes, maybe even darker. Her eyelashes were elongated by her mascara and her bashful, shy smile made Jake stop and stare at her.

"Uh, you too, Mac," he finally said, taking another sip of his water to distract him. The girl sat next to Mac in the booth as Nick sat next to Jake.

"So, Riley, this is my boyfriend Nick and his friend Jake Wolff. Guys, this is my friend Riley Tamaquez," Mac said, introducing them both.

Riley. That was her name.

It sounded weird but since she walked in, even though it was only a few moments ago, Jake wanted to know her name.

"Jake, Riley plays softball," Nick said, winking in Mac's general direction when Jake wasn't looking.

"Oh really? What position do you play?" Jake asked, even more, interested in this girl.

Up until now, Riley hadn't spoken, fidgeting with her sweater sleeves. She looked up and Jake had to try not to turn red. She was pretty cute.

"I'm a shortstop," she said, her voice, tiny yet pretty.

"Oh, awesome. I am too," Jake said, smiling at her. And she smiled back at him and at that point, Jake was pretty sure he was bright red now.

"Uh, I'm going to go order some food for us, Ry. Nick, you want to come, babe?" Mac asked, nodding her head at Jake and Riley and then at the food counter.

Nick finally caught on and opened his mouth. "Oh, yeah. Sure"

Riley slid out of the booth to let Mac out and Jake did the same for Nick. Once they were gone, it was utter silence as the two tried not to look at each other.

" 'You in college?" Riley finally asked, Jake grateful that she could break the silence that was comfortable in ways but at the same time, awkward.

"No. I graduated a year ago. St. Joseph's. What about you?"

"Oh, that's a great school. And I graduate this year. I'm a senior at Temple University. I'm spending the semester with Mac because most of my friends don't live on campus so I go home for the remainder of the season"

"Oh alright, cool. Temple's a great school too. And I did that. Living with friends. Just didn't like spending so much time away from home, you know?"

"I do, actually," Riley said, her face lighting up like Christmas lights for the first time since she sat down. "I have a brother and two sisters and we're all really close. My brother Shane is 27 and my two sisters, Cassandra and Iris are twins, 18. I'm 25. Yeah, I know. Little old for a college senior but I started late so," Riley giggled, making Jake smile.

"Oh no, you're good. I started late too so I graduated when I was the same age as you. I'm 26 now"

" 'You have any brothers or sisters, Jake?" Riley asked, looking at him.

"I was actually adopted. But I do have one brother from this family. His name is Garrett and he's 21. So a few years younger than me. He's a junior at East Stroudsburg University. Tried to get him to go to Saint Joe's but he didn't want to be in the area," Jake said, shrugging his shoulders playfully. It made Riley laugh and made Jake feel... Really good actually.

As their laughter died out, Mac and Nick came back and slid into the booth next to their friends.

" 'You guys getting along?"

"Yeah, we are," Riley said, glancing at Jake. "Jake's pretty cool"

While Riley was looking at Jake, Nick shot Mac a look that clearly said,

"I told you" She shook her head, smiling fondly.

"I heard that you and Nick have a new job, Jake?" Mac asked, taking a bite of her burger.

"Yeah, we do," Jake was speaking slowly, not taking his eyes off Riley. "Uh, coaches for the Brennan High School baseball team"

"Oh, I went there," Riley piped up. "Great school"

"Yeah, I love it too," Jake said, staring into Riley's brown eyes. He didn't know but Nick was trying not to bounce with joy in the seat next to him.

The plan, so far, was playing out perfectly.

"Our first practice was today and you should have seen Jake. The kids couldn't even field a ground ball but by the end, they all could. It was so awesome," Nick said, smiling at Jake.

"Oh stop, you git," Jake said, shoving him after he had put his glass down. "I'm not that good"

Nick pointed a finger at him and then Mac. "You two... What am I gonna do with you?"

Mackenzie had played soccer and ever since Nick and she had started dating, she doubted her playing ability seriously. At one point, Jake thought Mac was gonna break up with Nick, her mental health was so bad. But Nick got her back on track and their relationship was better than ever. If not, closer even.

"Wow, Jake. That sounds incredible. You should let me know when you guys have a game! Maybe Riley and I will stop over," she said, winking at Nick again who nodded his agreement in her choice of words.

"Yeah, that would be great," Jake said, grinning at Riley.

The table was silent as they all continued eating. Jake was no longer staring out the window of Dizzy's.

How could he when Riley was sitting in front of him...

When they all finished eating, the waiter took their plates and Mac and Riley left to go to the bathroom before they went home. Jake watched her all the way around the corner until she disappeared.

"Jake's got a crush," Nick said, laughing, in a sing-songy voice as Jake shoved him.

"Oh shut up," Jake said, but he was smiling too. "I know you did that on purpose"

Nick turned to Jake, mock shock on his face. "What?"

"Oh really? You didn't think I caught the winks to Mac across the table, Mr. 'I'm So Stealthy,' " Jake said, holding back a snicker.

"Okay, fine. I did it because Mac and I have been talking, Jake. Allison