Jamie raised a brow. “You do?”
I sat at the counter next to Cammie. “We’re going to finish out summer ball strong, then go back to school next month and put in the work every day we should have already been doing. No shortcuts.”
Jamie nodded. “That sounds great.”
Cammie hopped off the stool and grabbed a cookie from the batch I’d somehow missed earlier. “Now she can stop texting Dad every five minutes to make sure you weren’t spiraling.”
“Cammie,” she warned.
“What? It’s true.” She grinned around a bite of what looked like my favorite peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie.
Jamie ignored her and went back to mixing whatever she’d been preparing when we arrived. “Well, you know I’ll always be there to cheer you on.”
Knowing we had our parents’ support meant everything to me, and I genuinely believed things would work out as they should.
Four MonthsLater
Music pumped through the speakers,and the smell of cheap beer and too much body spray overwhelmed me. It was the weekend before Thanksgiving break, and we’d been invited to a party at a frat house that a couple of our teammates belonged to.
Jase and I had stuck to the plan we’d made back in Portland. Every day since then, we’d been focused and working hard—no longer getting by on skill alone. I could confidently say it had paid off too. I was stronger, faster, and sharper than ever. More than that, I wasn’t the same guy who used to live for nights like this.
Someone shoved a red plastic cup into my hand before I even took two steps inside.
“Drink up, Statler! You’ve been MIA since school started,” one of the juniors on the team yelled over the music, then handed another cup to Jase.
What he said wasn’t exactly true. Jase and I had gone to a couple of parties, but we always left before things got too wild.
I smiled at him and lifted the drink in thanks. I still enjoyed the occasional beer, but the days of downing as many shots as possible were long behind me.
“Dude, this stuff tastes like shit.” Jase wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Who actually wants to drink warm beer?”
“It’s a frat house, not a brewery. You get what you pay for.”
“I didn’t pay for shit,” he grumbled.
“Exactly.” I chuckled.
Across the room, some of our teammates had started a beer pong tournament. At one point, I’d been the reigning champion, but I was more than willing to let someone else take the crown.
Jase elbowed me. “You realize we used to think this was the highlight of every weekend?”
I smirked. “Now it’s a good meal and eight hours of sleep.”
“Damn, we’re boring.”
“Probably.” I shrugged. “But if everything goes according to plan, it will all have been worth it.”
Just then, a couple of ladies from the volleyball team wandered over. One of them—Katie, maybe—stood next to me and trailed her hand down my arm.
“You two finally decided to hang out again?” she wondered. “We were starting to think you’d joined a monastery or something.”
Jase barked out a laugh. “Nah, just been busy with baseball.”
“Gotta stay focused,” I added.
She leaned in a little closer. “Well, don’t you think you need a little reward for all that hard work?”
I flashed her a grin, not wanting to embarrass her by turning her down. “Tempting offer, but I’ve got an early morning tomorrow.”
