LEO"He's gonna go for the pass here. Trust me, I know this." Tate Durham ran one hand through his short hair, damp with sweat. "I don't know, man. Why wouldn't he just run with it? Makes more sense." He was hunched over, his head near mine in the huddle. "And why should I trust you? You don't play defense.""Neither do you, doofus. But I know because he's my brother, and he thinks he can exploit our weakness, which is defending the pass play.""Doofus? What are we, nine?" Tate jabbed me in the arm. I grimaced. "Sorry. Hanging out with Danny tends to bring out my inner little brother. Would you be more comfortable with me calling you asshole?""Nah. I kind of like the doofus bit. You know me and my retro slang." "Yeah, that's true.""Hey, are you two finished making out over there? Can we get back to playing this game, or do you need to cuddle for a few more minutes?" Danny stood a couple of yards away, hands on his hips. "Shut up." I straightened. "We were figuring out wh

QUINNQuinn: Hey, are you busy? Leo: No. Just laying here hoping to die.Quinn: Why?? What's wrong? Are you okay?Leo: Yeah, sorry. Spring conditioning is brutal. Just got back home, made it as far as my couch. Not sure I'll move again tonight. Quinn: Oh, you poor thing. What did they make you do?Leo: Sprints. Bear crawls. Burpees. You know, the trifecta. Quinn: Yikes. I'll let you rest. Text me later if you have a minute.Leo: No, I'm fine. As long as I'm laying here hurting, I might as well chat with you. Quinn: Ummm, thank you? Leo: LOL no, no, no, didn't mean it that way. Just that talking to you distracts me from feeling bad. What's up? You all right?Quinn: Yeah, I am. I just ...I wanted to tell you I'm sorry, Leo. I never really said that to you, but I am sorry. I spent a lot of time today talking with Kara and Allan about Nate. I guess I finally admitted to myself how mad at him I've been.Leo: Mad at Nate? For what, dying?Quinn: No, for asking me to marry h

LEO"So, Taylor. When do you head out?" Corey wiped off his forehead and bent at the waist, breathing hard. We'd just finished running three miles, and for the life of me, I couldn't remember why. After all, mini-camp had ended the day before, and preseason training camp didn't start for another month. This was supposed to be our break, but Iverson had big ideas about staying in shape between times. I'd agreed to do some lifting and a little PT, but I hadn't expected him to want to run today. When he'd showed up at my house, though, eager to get in a few miles, I hadn't had the heart to turn him away.Not that he would've left anyway. Dude was seriously stubborn when it came to this training shit. Now I stared at him, my eyes narrowing. "Where exactly am I heading out to again?" "San Fran, to see your girl." He spoke serenely and certainly, as though I actually had discussed plans of this nature with him before. I hadn't. Oh, had I considered the idea of flying out to see Quinn

LEO"It would be impossible for me to take you to just one favorite restaurant." Quinn grinned at me across the table. "So this is in the top ten. Tomorrow we'll have dim sum in Chinatown, but it would be hard to talk there. Tends to get a little noisy and crazy."I couldn't complain about the small restaurant she'd chosen, although I did love a good Chinese dumpling. This one, though, was cool in a kitschy, throwback way: it was a little hole-in-the-wall in Haight-Ashbury called Aquarius, and the walls were covered in old stickers and photos from the days of the hippies. Groovy music-or at least, that's what Quinn called it-played in the background, and the wait staff all looked as though they'd stepped out of a documentary about the Swinging Sixties. "This one feels very San Francisco." I took a tentative bite of my black-bean-and-veggie burger, which was liberally covered with sprouts of some sort. It was surprisingly good. "So." Quinn crumpled her napkin in one hand and bit t

LEOWe'd been good over these past four days, Quinn and me. We'd kept our promise to each other, and although we'd touched and held hands, I hadn't kissed her on the mouth yet, and we'd shared only brief hugs at bedtime. It was as if we both knew that taking one more step put us at risk for a plunge we weren't ready to navigate yet. But tonight was my last night in San Francisco. Tomorrow I'd board a plane that would take me three thousand miles away from her, and neither of us knew when we'd be together again. Quinn had told me that she was technically free to leave any time, but she still felt responsible for some of the final cleanup details that went along with publishing and releasing a book. She wasn't sure when she would be back in New Jersey. "The thing is, I'd like to have a plan before I go back," she'd said earlier. "Mom's sold the house, you know. She and Shane the dry cleaner are in Europe right now." There was still a little residual bitterness in her tone, but I und