If I’m being honest, I’ve thought about doing that before, but it didn’t feel right. There’s even been times I debated on asking Dylan if he wanted to go. Obviously, I refrained.
“I’ll go with you,” she announces like she’s just made some epic, life-altering decision. I snap my head in her direction. “I can practically see the wheels spinning, so it’s settled. Girls’ day at a baseball game—I’ll find us tickets. Do you care if I invite my friend Elle?”
She’s already pulling up the ticketing website on her phone when I say, “Baseball doesn’t really seem like your kind of thing.”
“Punk Princess, if it makes you happy, it makes me happy.” She stops mid-scroll. “Should we get good seats or nosebleeds? Really drive it home that you don’t want him knowing you’re there?”
“We can sit wherever. Just get whatever’s cheapest. It’s not like he’ll see us in the stands, anyway.”
But she’s not listening. Instead, she keeps rambling while clicking around, trying to find us seats at a game. “Should we wear their team colors? Maybe I should get us jerseys. Is baseball the sport where they rock black smudges on their cheeks? That seems like fun.”
I roar a laugh. “No, that’s football!”
“Damn.” Rosie pouts, and I see her push the buy now button on her screen. With a feline smile, she sets her phone down. “I really liked the idea of painting my face.”
My boss really works fast when she wants to, and that same weekend I’m sitting in the nosebleed section of the stadium, my body full of jitters as we wait for the Bears game to start.
A piece of me wishes I had just taken Gareth up on his open offer of the VIP box. Instead, we’re sitting in the last row of thestadium, and Rosie’s friend Elle has a pillar planted directly in front of her seat, blocking her view.
Rosie barks a laugh as we settle into our seats. “I’m so sorry, Elle. The tickets said obstructed view, but I thought it would just be something minor, not an entire structural beam blocking your way.”
“It’s fine,” Elle comments happily, kicking her feet up on the concrete cylinder. She’s chomping away on nachos, an ear-to-ear grin on her face. “I am just happy for a break. I can’t tell you the last time I went out kid-free.”
Laughing, I pop open my takeout container and look down at the tacos I ordered. The stadium collaborated with a popular Mexican food restaurant to have pop-up stations all around, and the savory scent of carne asada makes my mouth water. Rosie peels back the top of her own container, revealing loaded French fries so decadent the aroma wafts around us.
The hot sun blazes against our backs as we eat, watching the Jumbotron project interviews with the Bears players. I don’t know who hired these guys, but they have great taste. Every single one of the men on the team is handsome to a fault, including the coach.
Butterflies ricochet in my stomach when Gareth appears on the screen, the man I have been obsessed with since I was a teenage girl broadcasted across the stadium.
“Oh damn, that’shim?” Rosie asks, French fry mid-air as she stops and turns to me.
I feel her looking at me for confirmation, but I don’t take my eyes off the screen.
“He’s a cutie,” Elle says in between bites.
There’s a lump in my throat I swallow down before nodding. “Yeah, that’s him.”
The Jumbotron announcer refers to Gareth as the best batter the Bears have seen in two decades, and the crowd erupts.
My cheeks heat at the attention he’s getting, even though it has nothing to do with me. Just knowing how adored he is fills me with a pride I have no right to feel, given how little support I’ve shown him throughout his career.
This is the first game I’ve ever been to, and he doesn’t even know I’m here.
The stadium is electric as the Jumbotron cycles through highlights of each player, building anticipation until the final name flashes across the screen and the team pours onto the field. Roars of excitement ripple through the twenty-thousand fans packed into Coit Stadium—a sea of red, with a few scattered fans wearing black for the Rocky Mountain Raptors since the two teams share the same colors.
It’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. Even Rosie and Elle get to their feet, clapping and cheering with excitement. Somewhere across the stadium, a wave starts, and we explode with laughter, throwing our arms in the air when it finally reaches us.
I get it now. The game hasn’t even started, but I can see the appeal.
I understand why Gareth has immersed himself in this atmosphere for most of his life.
“I have to say, Punk Princess, I always thought I was the most stubborn woman on the planet, but you’re giving me a run for my money. How long has Gareth been asking you to come to one of these? The damn game hasn’t even started, and we’re already having a blast.”
“Iknow.”
I know,I repeat in my head, annoyed with myself on so many levels.
Leaning forward on the edge of my seat, I watch as the game starts, barely able to see a thing from where we’re at, but still unwilling to look away from the field.
