The next day, Mark checked in on Zach at the weight room even though he didn’t have time to work out. He seemed to be in good spirits. His two sidekicks were there, too. Maxi was absolutely going at it like a crazy man. Mark couldn’t help but notice Maxi’s appearance. Maxi was shirtless as he was clearly trying to mimic Zach. Maxi was starting to get some definition and, most importantly, he had shaved his entire upper body.

Mark shouted, “I barely recognized you, Maxi. Keep going like that and you will look better than him.” Mark glanced in Zach’s direction.

Mark took off to have a talk with Coach. He needed to update Coach on some of the things that were going on.

Mark knocked on Coach’s door. Coach invited him in and Mark took a seat. Mark let Coach know about how he encouraged Lee to spend time with Trey and things seemed to work out very well. He said that he knew that they were having some fun in the treatment room and asked Coach if he had seen any of what went on there.

Coach said that he couldn’t show him the video, because it was four hours long. Apparently, they had a rather long, romantic encounter that looked to be rather personal. Mark was completely satisfied with that answer. He explained that Lee was being a gentleman and wouldn’t admit that there was more than a kiss involved.

Mark also asked about Ant being absent from practice and if Coach had heard from him. Mark expressed concerns since Ant and Justin seemed to be breaking up. Coach said that he hadn’t heard anything and that he was hoping that Ant would be there today.

Then Mark took a long, deep breath, “Coach, I need your advice about Zach.”

“Son, I will be happy to listen and give you some guidance. But these are your decisions to make. I believe in you and your ability to make the right decisions for the right reasons,” Coach answered.

Mark explained, “So, yesterday we got in an argument. Zach is upset that I have been seeing other people, even though I told him that I was going to. My hooking-up with Justin in particular didn’t sit well with him. So after practice, we had a private meeting in the equipment closet. He told me that he was in love with me.”

Coach chimed in, “Zach told you that?”

Mark continued, “Yeah, I am not sure if it’s real, though. I think that he believes that. But, he has been bottled up for so long that I think that anything would feel like love right now to him. Then he actually told me why he has been so distant. I don’t want to reveal exactly what happened to him, because that would feel like a betrayal. But apparently, his first experience involved him being submissive with an older teammate that he had fallen for. The teammate then publicly exposed their little encounter that very same day to the entire student body. Ever since that incident, Zach has tried to be like him so nobody could hurt him. Well, until now.”

“Son, you can’t beat yourself up about that. Love isn’t always sunshine and roses. It hurts too. Sometimes disproportionately. But if you can make it through the pain together, then you know that you have something special,” Coach added.

Mark’s voice got low, “Zach is doing a great job with Luke and Maxi. You would be really proud if you saw them lifting together. Thanks for listening, Coach.”

Mark got up and headed for the door, “I am more proud of you, son,” Coach boasted.

Mark closed the door and headed for the locker room. He was still quite early.

Mark was alone in the locker room. He went ahead and got his uniform on. Still, nobody had shown up. He went out to the court and warmed up a bit. He saw a couple of the guys heading into the locker room. He waited a bit, and then headed back.

Lee, Justin, Devon, and D.J. were there. Mark went directly to Justin. He asked him if he had heard from Ant. He said that he hadn’t.

Mark was pacing around the locker room. Nobody was sure what was going on with him, but they could see that he was upset.

As time ticked on, Chris and Jamar showed up, followed by Zach, Luke, and Maxi. Mark was getting more and more agitated. Trey showed up next, leaving only one.

It was almost time for tip-off. There was still no sign of Ant. Mark had a terrible feeling that he just couldn’t shake. He ran up to Justin and asked for Ant’s phone number. He then ran to Coach’s office and told him that Ant was a no-show again. He told Coach that he had to try to get in contact with him and that he would be on the court as soon as he could. He didn’t wait for an answer. He just rushed out and headed out of the nearest door where he could get a better signal.

He dialed Ant. There was no answer. He paced for about five minutes. Then he called him again with the same result. Mark was worried, and he feared the absolute worst. He started to run in circles around the small circular yard, but in his over-stressed condition, he wasn’t breathing properly. He ran until he fell over coughing, wheezing, and crying. He pulled his phone out again. This time, he got an answer.

“Who is this? Why are you calling me?” Ant shouted into the phone.

“Ant, are you alright?” Mark asked.

“Yeah, I am fine. Who is this?” Ant asked again.

“It’s Mark,” he said in an exhausted fashion. “Ant, I am so glad to hear your voice.”

Ant responded, “Mark, are you alright? You don’t seem quite right.”

“I am great, don’t worry about me. Where have you been? We all missed you,” Mark questioned.

There was a brief silence, “It didn’t work out with Justin. We broke up yesterday. I just can’t come back,” Ant exclaimed.

“So, you are doing okay then?” Mark followed.

“I am not okay, but I am well if that’s what you are asking,” Ant responded.

“Ant, we want you here. We need you here. You are one of us,” Mark pleaded.

“Mark, I appreciate that you called. I can feel the concern in your voice and it means a lot to me. I can’t come back, though. I loved him. I really did. Do you how it would feel to have to be around the person that you love and to have to see them every day? To have to see him move on like you don’t matter? To see him be with other guys? I can’t do it. I just can’t,” Ant stated.

Mark conceded, “Alright, I can accept that. If you ever change your mind, you are always welcome back on the team at any time. If you ever need somebody to talk to, you have my number now. Please use it.”

Ant thanked Mark for his concern and ended the call. Mark sat there stunned for a while. He had lost a teammate. Fortunately, it was not in the way that he had feared, but Ant was gone nonetheless. There was also the guilt of having hooked-up with Justin. Plus, what Ant had just said felt like it applied to Mark’s recent encounter with Zach.

Eventually, he slowly got up and wandered back into the building and to the basketball court. The game was just past halftime. Mark staggered into the gym. He was still crying and his uniform was grass-stained. He walked to the edge of the bench and placed his hands on his head. Coach looked over, saw him, and called a time-out.

The team ran over and collectively asked Mark what was going on.

Mark said, “Ant is gone.” Everybody went silent. Justin went white.

Then Mark added, “He isn’t coming back.”

Coach asked Mark, “What do you mean, he isn’t coming back?”

“He isn’t coming back to the team. He told me that he couldn’t do it,” Mark said.

Coach followed, “Are you saying that he quit the team, son?”

Still crying, Mark answered, “Yeah. I’m sorry. I let Ant down. I let everybody down.” Mark stared at Zach.

Everybody looked relieved, Justin in particular. The buzzer sounded. The referees came over and told Coach that they had to get back on the court. Coach called a second time-out. The guys could not believe how distraught Mark was over Ant quitting and presumably by being late getting to the court. They were all equally confused and inspired by his concern.

Coach called Mark over beside him on the bench as play resumed. They were down by twelve points at that time. The team was inspired by Mark’s dedication to each of them. From that point forward, they were not holding anything back. Everybody was hustling their ass off. In between each play they guys looked over to check on Mark, who seemed like he had no idea what was going on.

Finally, Mark looked over at Coach and asked to be subbed into the game. Coach asked if he was sure. Mark said that he was. The ball was in-bounded to Mark and he dribbled up the court, clearly not himself. Mark looked at the clock which was ticking down from fifteen seconds in the fourth quarter. He hurried up a bit. Then he saw Zach standing near the post and bounce-passed the ball to him.

Mark’s defender, clearly feeling that he was no threat, ran over to double-team Zach. Zach passed the ball back to a wide-open Mark standing just beyond the free-throw line. Mark caught it and threw up an off-balance shot as the buzzer sounded. He stumbled backward and fell flat on his ass, staring at the ball the entire time. The ball hit the backboard and then ricocheted off of the front rim. The ball rattled around until it rested on the rim for what felt like forever. It fell outside of the cylinder and Mark stared at it as it landed on the hardwood.

Zach ran over to Mark. Mark mumbled, “I missed it. I missed it. I let the team down again.”

A confused Zach responded, “Mark, we won by seven points.”

“What? No, I missed the shot.” Mark looked up at the scoreboard. “How did we win? We were down and…”

Zach jumped in, “We outscored them by almost twenty points after you showed up. We were all inspired by how much you care about us. Everybody wanted to win it for you.”

Coach walked over to Mark and Zach stepped away. Coach said, “Son, I don’t know how you do it. You single-handedly won that game without doing a damned thing on the court.”

“You know, you can’t save everybody. All you can do is try. You did help Ant. He had his moment with Justin. It just didn’t work out. You can’t beat yourself up over these things. Now get your ass up off of the floor. You are making a scene.”

Coach reached his hand down and pulled Mark up to his feet. Mark gave him a long hug. A tear slowly trickled down Coach’s cheek. Mark let go and started to walk across the court.

The entire team ran over to check on Mark. He was starting to bounce back. Each member of the team gave him personal words of encouragement and thanks.

By the time that everybody had worked their way to the locker room, Mark seemed like he had collected himself. The guys were keeping an eye on him as he stripped down to get ready for his shower. Justin walked over with a towel and handed it to Mark. Mark took it and watched as Justin walked back to his locker. He noticed the locker next to Justin’s. It still had Ant’s name on it. It actually said “Antonio”, but somebody had taken a Sharpie and marked over the “onio”.

Mark stood there scanning the locker room. He was completely naked and still holding the towel in his hand. “Hey, Guys!” Mark shouted. “I talked to Ant today. He doesn’t think that he will be back. I told him that he is always welcome here. So, at least for now, we have to move forward without him. I have to move forward. I owe that to all of you that are still here. I am really proud of you guys.”

Zach’s voice boomed, “Give our captain a round of applause!”

The locker room erupted in applause. Everybody hit the showers at once. Once again, the number of people was larger than the number of showers. The guys paired up at some of the showers. The last guy in the showers, Zach, paired up with Mark. As Mark looked around he noticed that despite having eleven people and eight showers, not all of them were taken. Maxi, Luke, and Justin were on their own, but then there were Chris and Jamar, D.J. and Devon, Lee and Trey, and Mark and Zach all paired up.

The energy in the showers slowly picked up. There was quite a bit of chatter and the guys started to get a bit playful with each other. Mark started to smile as he scanned the showers. He thought about the ten beautiful young men that were in there with him, and the selfless man that was surely keeping an eye on them. Zach kept a careful watch on Mark until his eyes lit up.

Zach placed his hand on Mark’s shoulder. Mark reached up and placed his hand on top of Zach’s. Mark thought to himself that there was nowhere else that he would rather be.