Background: 
Austin grew up in a poor home in Deltona Florida, he spent most of his life in a trailer and only during high school moved to a house.  His friends were Nathan and Joe growing up, and later on he met Phil and Dan as they also surfed.  He played on several H/S sports teams including Baseball, football, and Rugby.  He won a sports scholarship to UF for Baseball and went there for three years before the story takes place.  Austin has had a long list of girl friends, none of which lasted very long.
Although he did love each one, he would eventually grow bored and begin to cheat.  And then move on to the next girl, never finding what he was searching for.  Austin's best friend in Gainsville is another surfer and a fellow frat member named Bryan.

 

Background:
Alex Johnson grew up with his mom and brother after his father left while he was still in high school. Alex was a quiet kid and took his share of battering as a child, hence his interest in martial arts. During his first year in Judo, he developed a crush on an older black belt and eventually came out to him.  He moved away and Alex's affections turned to a bad boy named Jake.  Living up to his image, Jake ended up abusing Alex verbally, emotionally and eventually physically.   In the end Natasha, Alex's transvestite friend, came to his aid and ended the cycle of violence that Alex found himself in.  He met Phil and his liberal group of straight , but not narrow-minded friends shortly after and started hanging with them quite a bit. Alex is still close to his mom and his brother and his family live close by.