“I didn’t mean you had to change it,” Lia protested.
She convinced me to leave it down. I almost decided not to go to the game. She convinced me to go to that too.
“Reece needs you there. Forget about Brooks. Your brother is your focus. Besides, it’s baseball, Bri, and you love baseball.”
I did. I really did love baseball. But now, through the whole game, I’d have to watch Brooks as he crouched behind home plate. As he scooped up or caught baseballs and then threw them back to Reece on the mound. I’d have to reconcile the fact that in all his catcher’s gear, Brooks was perhaps the best-looking guyI’d ever seen. And, I’d have to try not to look at his hands and remember what it had felt like when he’d held mine. His strong hands. I’d felt safe when he held my hand. Even if he’d been pretending.
Mom, Dad, and Reece had left earlier to get Reece to the field in advance of the game. So, I got to drive Mom’s car and I had to end the call with Lia.
“Keep your eyes on the road,” Lia teased in a sing-song voice.
“I will, I will.” And then I laughed. I had to laugh. I couldn’t spend the rest of my sophomore year of high school“looooooooooonging”—as Lia put it—for Brooks. It was time to move on. To move past it. To move pasthim.
I saw the ballpark up ahead and put on my turn signal to pull into the lot. It was a beautiful spring day. The sun was out. March was well on its way toward April. I could practically smell baseball in the air.
Yes. That’s what I was going to focus on. Baseball. And, I’d brought a book just in case there was down time and I needed something to read.
I turned the steering wheel and pulled the car into a parking spot, immediately dialing Lia back.
“Are you in park?” Lia asked.
I turned off the engine and then eyed my phone. “Yessss?” I answered, with a question mark firmly planted at the end of my response. She was acting cryptically. I was instantly on the alert.
“So I just want you to know that I love you,” Lia stated.
I blinked. Yep. She was framed in the video call. I could see her eyes, her blond hair, her smile. Her smile! It was . . . hesitant. Worried.
“Lia? What did you do?”
Her eyes widened. “Don’t be mad. I just love you, that’s all.”
“Lia!” I said sharply. “What is going on?” I knew I was running late because I could hear the announcer on the loudspeaker. I glanced out the window and could see the digital display board. Top of the first inning. Visiting team—our competition—was up to bat. “The game has started. I need to go,” I said. “You want to stay on call? I’ll put you in my pocket,” I offered.
“Wait.” The wobble in Lia’s voice made me pause again.
“If youhave something to say, say it.”
“I talked to Reece!” Lia blurted out.
I frowned. “So?” They’d talked before—sometimes without me. Which was a little weird, but whatever.
“He agreed,” she continued.
My stomach gave a little warning flip. “Agreed? Agreed with what?”
“He agreed that you and Brooks have feelings for each other,” Lia admitted.
“Not now, please?” I sighed. I really wanted to just enjoy the day. The first game of the season. To trynotto think about everything that had transpired.
“Well—it kindahasto be said now.” Lia gave me a smile that looked more like a pain-filled wince.
“Why?” I lowered my voice in trepidation. Something was off.
“Because neither of you is going to do anything about it. Neither of you wants to hurt the other. So you’re both just going to pretend you don’t care. When you do. Do you realize you two have this thing withpretending? First, it’s pretendingtolike each other, and now, you’re both pretendingnotto like each other. You need to get honest. Both of you.”
“Not gonna happen.” There was honesty so you weren’t living a lie that hurt other people, and then there was honesty that was more like tact. I was practicing tact.
“Actually, it is going to happen.”
