Head over Heels || brance

XIII

Bruce's relationship with his father was decreasing each day. He was still the same Bruce, but to his father, he was a different person, someone he didn't know. It drove Bruce crazy every single day and he could feel his energy melt away whenever they were in the same room together.

It was the same thing always, no matter how many times they've talked about it, if they were in the same room, his father would practically beg for him to leave Vance.

Bruce had even overheard his father begging Vance to leave his son. It was getting to the point where Bruce didn't want to go home anymore.

It was his last week of baseball and Bruce had been spending basically everyday after school practicing for his big tournament out of town. Finney had been going to his house everyday as well to help Bruce practice.

Finney had quit the team but he still agreed to help Bruce.

Thankfully, Finney never stayed at his house too long. He only stayed for a few hours before Robin showed up to get him around 5:00. Since it was almost summer, Bruce's father had started picking up later shifts, so he was never home when Finney and Robin were there.

They were in his backyard, sitting on the porch steps, taking a break while the sun beat onto them. Finney had picked up grape soda before going to Bruce's. Finney loved grape soda.

"Where is the tournament this year?" Finney asked, leaning his forearms on the cool cement of the stairs.

"Um... it's like an hour from here, some town, I don't remember." Bruce shrugged. His forehead was sweating and he felt like he was melting.

Finney took a drink from his soda. "Maybe I should've stayed in baseball. We only had a week left." Bruce looked over at him as if he hadn't been telling Finney that all last week.

"Maybe I can come to your tournament." Finney looked over at him. They had two games in their town but their main game that meant the most to the league was out of town an hour away. Bruce nodded, smiling.

"Yeah, definitely come. I'd like to see you there." Finney smiled before taking another drink of his soda, Bruce following his actions.

The back door opened and Mrs. Yamada peaked her head out. She looked around the yard before smiling at her son and Finney.

"Hello Finney."

"Hi." Finney smiled awkwardly back.

"Is Vance not here?" She asked. Bruce tensed up, looking over at Finney before quickly looking toward his mother. "I bought him some of those chips he said he likes, I also have some left over change I thought I'd give him."

Finney looked at them confused as Bruce's face reddened but he could blame that on the heat.

"O-Oh, um, no. He's not coming over today." Bruce quickly said. His mother nodded.

"You boys hungry?" They shook their heads as they watched Mrs. Yamada head back inside the house.

Finney looked at Bruce and Bruce wouldn't look over at him, instead, he looked down at his soda bottle.

"Has Pinball Vance been coming over a lot?" Bruce knew that if he looked over, he'd seen that amused expression on Finney's face, the same one that Billy had whenever he caught Bruce staring in Vance's direction.

"Um... yeah, I was helping him study for a test in math, remember?" He reminded Finney. "He needs a lot of help."

Finney laughed and said something along the lines of 'seems about right' but Bruce was already standing up to go back to practicing.