This long-ass stretch of away games is finally coming to an end, having brought us from New York to what feels like every single college in New England with a baseball team. At least we have a two-week stretch of home games before our next overnight, and the prospect of sleeping on my own cushy mattress with Callum curled up next to me has my brain spinning in anticipation.
These hotel mattresses have a whole lot of lumps and a painful absence of Callum.Mymattress has a whole lot of Callum and a wonderful absence of lumps.
I’m freshly twenty, and I’m already picky about sleeping conditions. Does that make me a diva? Maybe.
Okay, yes, it definitely does, and I don’t want to change that.
The post-game debrief is over in a flash; Coach Ramirez probably wants to get some rest as much as the rest of us, so wescramble for the limited showers as soon as he’s done, and I’m lucky enough to snag one first.
I’m efficient, and I sneak past Nick, who claims my stall the second I unlatch the door. Honestly, the team should set up a sprinkler on the field or something so we could get this over with faster, without having to fight our own team for a stream of cold water.
After getting dressed, I reach for my phone, and I break into a wide, lip-splitting smile as soon as I see the message from him.
Callum Cross
How’d the game go?
My face is visible to the whole team, but they can call me whipped, sentimental, soppy, or whatever. I don’t care. Callum’s mine, I’m his, I’m head over heels for him, and that’s the way things are.
Good! We won
Thanks to me lmao I scored the winning run
That’s awesome!
Can’t wait for you to get back
Oof.I’m fine. I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine. It’s just that my chest tightens and sends dull pangs of longing through my whole body.
I miss him so bad all of a sudden. Like, I’vebeenmissing him, but not in an achy, urgent way all the time—it’s more that his adorable quirks are notably absent from my life, like the way he mumbles nonsense as he’s falling asleep, how he twitches when he’s about to wake up, and how he randomly hugs me from behind.
Yeah, oh boy, I’m so gone. Callum lets me be my whole, over-the-top, affectionate self without pushing me away.
“You’re thinking about Callum, aren’t you?” Jeremy nudges me and grins, which makes my face heat up.
“I am. He’s texting me.” There isn’t a situation I can think of where I’d ever want to deny it.
Jeremy scoffs. “Oh, man, you’re so fucked in the best way. You’re stone-cold sober, yet you’re smiling like you’re crossed on a fifth of liquor and, like, a hundred edibles. ”
That’s quite the visual, and I crack up. “Love is one hell of a drug, man?—”
Whatever the modern equivalent of a record scratch is, that happens.
Holy shit. I said it out loud. Not to Callum, but I said it. It’s the first time I’veeversaid it in that way, and my god, it feels so right.
“Are you… Is that…” Jeremy tilts his head.
“Yup, I love him.” That rolls off the tongue so easily.
“What’s going on here?” Nick asks, toweling his hair and joining us.
Jeremy replies before I can. “Scotty’s in loooove.”
Nick looks to me for confirmation, and I give it to him.
“That’s fast,” he says.
“Yeah, we’re almost two months in,” I reply. “And I don’t have anything to compare it to, but I just know.”
