“Why do you have a hamster?” Reed asked, gold eyes trained on the little cage sitting on the bench beside Lance.
He was pulling his indoor soccer shoes on, but at the hungry look in Reed’s eyes, he scooched the little plastic cage he’d found at the store closer to him. Raisin was running out of food again. He’d never imagined something so little could eat so much. Maybe he had a tapeworm or something.
Reed scooted closer, eyes unblinking on the cage. He was some kind of shifter, but Lance had never been able to figure out what kind.
“Why did you bring prey to the game?” Reed asked in a deep, growly voice.
“Hey, man, back off. This is my friend.”
Raisin was hiding behind the food dish, frozen in terror.
“You’re scaring him.”
“Him? That thing has zero balls. That’s a girl,” Natalie said from where she was crouched behind the bench. She tapped on the plastic cage with her long, pink-painted fingernail.
“Oh my gosh, it’s so cute!” Ava said as she set her purse down and squatted near the cage too. “Reed, you can’t eat him.”
The Reed in question was practically crawling in the cage now, so Lance pulled it into his lap. “You’re scaring my best friend.”
“I thought I was your best friend,” Brock said, sitting on the ground beside his back. He unzipped it and pulled out his shoes.
“Can I babysit?” Natalie asked. “Reed won’t eat it if I’m holding it.”
“Sure.” He handed her the diaper bag he’d bought at the store that he’d stuffed full of small-sized snacks. “You have toconstantly feed him or he gets real mad. He likes the cashews the most.”
“She,” Ava reminded him.
Crap, why hadn’t he thought to check if it was a boy or a girl before he named it. Raisin still worked for a girl though, right?
He looked around for the twentieth time, but Birdie still wasn’t here. He checked his phone, and still nothing. She should at least be back on the shuttle by now. He got this bad feeling that she was freaking out or something.
“Is this a fruit roll-up?” Ava asked, pointing into the cage.
“He…she…likes the cherry ones best,” he muttered, typing out a text to Birdie.If you’re freaking out a little? It’s okay. I can give you space if you want. I have no regrets. I just wanted to say that. I like you, Birdie. Lance frowned. That might make her freak out more. He deleted the last line and sent the rest.
“Ready?” Coach called from the other side of the gym.
Game face on. Sure, he would check the stands probably a hundred times for Birdie during the game, but he needed to try his best. They were one game away from league playoffs.
Dang, he really wished she was here.
“Hey, Lance?” Ava asked from the bleachers where she had settled in next to Natalie.
“Yeah?” he called, walking backward.
“Where did you get this hamster?” She was staring at it with this strange look on her face, and her eyes were bright green, like her inner armadillo was all riled up.
He hadn’t seen that color in her eyes in a while.
“It’s that hamster the little boy lost a while back. I found it in one of the cabins. Why?”
She shook her head, but she was still staring at the hamster. “No reason.”
“Lance, let’s go!” Coach barked.
Lance sighed and joined the warm-ups with his team.
He checked the stands again, and then the front door, but still no Birdie.
