The day ended and Erika was ready to leave the set. She was waiting outside for her ride to get back to get to another shoot. She looked at the time on her phone to see if she was running late.

Also, Shay and the other players were about to go too until he saw Erika was all by herself. Since their ride was not there yet, he decided to go to her. "I'll be right back," he said to the guys.

"Okay," said one of the teammates.

"Hey! Erika." Shay ran to her. "Thanks again, back there."

"No problem, Shay," Erika replied. "Or should I call you Duke?"

"No, I prefer to be called Shay. You know I don't like to be called Duke."

"Got it. Does your head still hurt?"

"A little bit, so what are you doing right now?" he asked her.

"Another photoshoot," Erika answered.

"Cool. By the way, you were amazing back there."

"I was just doing my job."

Shay find himself feeling embarrassed and awkward from what he just said. "Yeah, of course. I'm just saying you're doing a great job at it." Then he took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I'm guess I'm just flustered seeing you again."

Erika put on a gentle smile because a part of her did feel happy to see him again. "You're okay, but uhm... I'm not allowed to... talk to you while we're working together."

"Why not?"

"Because you're a celebrity. I don't know, it's just part of the job and I don't want to get in trouble or anything."

"But, work time is over for now. I think you're good," Shay chuckled.

"Right."

"But okay, for you, I will becareful."

"Thanks, Shay, it's nice seeing you again," Erika said.

"Listen, I was thinking. When you're free maybe we could..."

All of a sudden, Erika's phone rang. "Uhm... I'll just take this." Then answered the call. "Hey, Bubba, is everything okay there?... Aaw... I miss you too. Don't worry, I will go straight home after work and maybe stop by seven-eleven to buy some sweets for you... Okay, Bubba, I love you, too."

Hearing that kind of conversation as she put the phone down, Shay had an assumption in his mind. Eventually, his ride arrived. "Shay, the van is here! Let's go," his teammate called out to him.

"Coming," Shay responded, then shifted to his ex-girlfriend as he plastered a smile on his face to hide that he was hurting. "I... better go. Nice seeing you again, Erika."

"You too," Erika said to him.

The poor guy turned around with his expression changed to being upset as he head to the van.

Later that night, he was back in the hotel and went ahead to call his best friend to about what went on. "Hey, Dude, what's up?" Gio greeted from his home office.

"Hey, man," Shay sighed.

"Uh oh, that is not a happy hello. What's wrong?"

"You know the photoshoot I'm doing for the Aero campaign?"

"Yeah..."

"Guess who I saw there?"

Gio tried to think who he was talking about, then he figured out for about a second later. "Erika?"

"Ding. Ding. Ding," Shay uttered sarcastically.

"Seriously!?"

"Apparently, she has a career in modeling after ballet."

"Really? That makes sense. No wonder she looks good when I saw her." Gio nodded in acknowledgement. "But nevermind that. So what are you so upset about?"

"I kinda find out that she's... not single anymore," Shay answered.

"Oohh..."

"Anyway, I guess I shouldn't feel this way. I was the one whe broke it off, so if she's moving on with... another guy, then it's cool."

Gio could feel the regret his best friend was feeling. "Dude, I'm sorry."

"I'm fine. Really. Besides, at least she's happy with... her... Bubba," Shay rambled.

"Bubba? That's his name?"

"I don't think so. More like pet name. Lucky guy. We didn't have pet names when we were together."

The bitterness was so strong that Gio cringed as he pitied his buddy through the phone. "Right... Dude, it's okay to be upset. You're only human."

Shay knew that his best friend was right that he was upset to know that Erika had moved on with someone else. "Okay, I admit when I saw her again, I immediately sort of had in mind that she and I could get back together."

"Seriously?"

"Now, I don't think that's possible."

"I'm sorry, man," Gio responded.

"I wish I didn't broke it off with her," Shay moaned.

"These things happen. Look at it this way, at least you got some closure."

"Yeah, a closure that I don't have a chance."

"I know it sucks, but back then was... kinda complicated, so stop dwelling on that. I'm sure she understood that," his best friend reminded him.

The soccer star recalled. "I guess you're right."

"Also, you're Duke Shay. A Super Tundra's top striker," Gio reminded him of who he was. "Last time I check, ladies throw themselves at you."

"I never cared about that... sometimes, but you're right. Maybe... I should move on from that," Shay responded. "And by 'that', I mean Erika."

"Right, but that doesn't also mean that you guys can't stay friends."

"I guess... I... We can do that."

----

Meanwhile, Erika got home. She felt exhausted from another long day of work that she was happy to be home to be with her son. "Hey, guys!" she chimed as she entered her house. Her dog instantly ran, always happy to see her. "Hi! Crumbs."

Thirdy turned around while he was watching cartoons. "Hi, mom," he greeted.

"Hi! Bubba, where's Coco?"

"Right here, Honey." Collins came out from the kitchen, carrying a pot of mashed potatoes. "Good thing you're here. I just finished cooking."

"Thanks, Dad. That smells good. What did you make?"

"Garlic buttered chicken and mashed potatos with some mixed veggies, so my grandson here could grow tall and strong."

"That's right." Erika turned to her kid. "So, Bubba, you better eat your vegetables because Coco made it for you."

"Yes, mom," Thirdy replied, as they sat at the dining table and began eating.

"By the way, before we eat, tell your mother what happened in school today," Collins reminded his grandson.

"Tell me what?" Erika asked.

"Oh, right, let me just get it." The little boy ran to get something from his schoolbag, then went back to show his mother a piece of paper. "I got a perfect score on my math quiz today."

The young mother was elated that she let out a gasped, looking at the big A plus at the upper corner of the paper. "Oh! my, Bubba, that's amazing!" Afterwards she gave him a hug. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thank you, mommy."

"This truly deserves an ice cream after dinner."

"Yay!"

After dinner was over, Erika's father left. She was in her son's room with Crumbs to tuck him in bed. The dog jumped to the bed, and lied down beside his little human. "There you go. I love you, Bubba, Good night," Erika said as she kissed his forehead, then also gave one to Crumbs.

"Mommy?" Thirdy uttered before his mother stood to walk out the door. He looked towards his football that was placed on his shelf.

"Do you need something?"

"Will I ever play football again now that Coach Joel won't be coaching anymore?"

"Of course you will," Erika assured him.

"How? I don't have a team," he asked.

"We'll just have to find you new team, that's all."

"A new team?"

"Yeah," the young mother nodded.

"So I won't be playing with Owen and Sean anymore?" Thirdy questioned.

Erika understood that her son would want to play with his good friends from his old team, but she knew she could not promise that would happen. "I'm not sure, Bubba, but we'll see, okay? But, who knows, you'll make new friends."

"Okay," Thirdy mumbled.

"Don't worry, I will find you a great league to play with once summer starts. Now go to sleep. I love you, Bubba."

"I love you too, mom." Thirdy then closed his eyes and starting to doze off while his mother head to the door to turn off the light.

Erika got to her room to get ready to call it a night since it was going to be another long day for her as well. She had to put on night cream and applied lotion on her body to get nicer skin.

She let out a heavy sigh as she looked at herself in the mirror because she remembered Shay coming back into her life. Deep inside her, Erika missed him as well as she looked back at their encounter earlier.

The next morning, the young mother helped her son to get ready for school by packing his books in his backpack. "You have a great day in school, okay?" she told him. "Be good and remember to not talk back to your teachers."

"Yes, mom," the kid replied.

"Unless necessary."

"Got it."

"Still, just be good," Erika insisted, then bent down to her son's level to fix his hair a bit. "There you go. So handsome."

"Thanks, mom," Thirdy said.

"Oh! Your ride is here. I will pick you up at Owen's, okay?"

"Okay." Then he turned to their dog. "Bye, Crumbs."

The bulldog was at the couch, lying like a lazy potato. He put his head up a bit, acknowledging that his humans were leaving, then just went back to sleep with a little grunt to it.

"We love you too, Crumbs," Erika giggled as they walked out from the house. "And your food is in the kitchen."

"He sleeps a lot," Thirdy laughed. "I wonder what he does when we're not at home."

"Yeah, me too. Maybe he watches TV and cleans the house."

"Or maybe, he's a secret superhero on a mission."

Erika just laughed off her son's wild imagination. "It's possible," she said. "He happened to save the world without us knowing."

Afterwards, the young mother watched her son ran to his school bus and to make sure he went inside it. She gave him a wave goodbye, then went into her car to be on her way to work.

Later, she arrived at the location to continue the shoot. It was another day, another day to deal with what life hits you and that was having to be around your ex-boyfriend in one place.

Speaking of which, Shay was there with his soccer buddies and Erika avoided eye contact the moment she spotted him. She just looked the other way, heading to the make-up area to get things started.

The work hadn't started yet, but Erika already felt a lot had happened and wishing that the shoot would end already.

However, while she was about to get fixed by the stylist, her ex saw saw her and smiled just having her presence there.