Slugger

15: A Colour Makes You Happy

So it turns out having someone to make out with at almost all times is the best stress reliever a girl could wish for. What makes it better is when the other person (Dante in this case) is more than willing to comply, even when he's supposed to be rallying up his team and discussing baseball strategy. Now I understand why Nicole uses so much lip gloss.

"Could the two of you not for like... three seconds?" Someone says from the behind of us. We stop kissing for long enough to see who it is.

"Sawyer, what do you want?" Dante asks, keeping his hand wrapped around my waist.

Sawyer sighs. "Coach wanted to discuss tactics before we start playing and sent me to find you,"

"Okay, I'll be two minutes," He turns back to me and leans in again but Sawyer is not having it at all.

"Everyone's waiting for you, you were supposed to be there two minutes ago," He says and folds his arms. Dante swears under his breath then kisses me on the forehead before letting me go.

"Slugger, I'll see you after the game, okay?" He says. I nod, feeling loved and then watch him jog away.

For a few moments, I wait and gather my bearing so that it doesn't look completely obvious to Nicole and Stacy that I just made out with Dante for ten minutes because he wanted some 'good luck' before the game. They'll probably see right through my façade straight away but it doesn't hurt to try. Especially since they will tease the hell out of me for it.

Stacy barely acknowledges me when I sit down next to her, instead looking at her phone with a frown on her face. I prod her arm a few times with my finger to get her attention and eventually, she turns to me looking very irritated.

"What is it?" She asks.

"Who are you texting? Is it that Brennan dude?"

She peers at me as if she did not understand a word I just said. "Who's Brennan?"

Did I get his name wrong? Surely I got his name wrong because she was literally just talking about how cute he looks a week ago. "Brennan... the Trekkie?"

Her eyes flash with recognition. "Oh him. Turns out he's got a boyfriend so," She shrugs. "I'm texting my mom about college stuff,"

I nod, trying to be understanding. "So what's she messaging you about?"

"She wants to buy pink paint to paint my dorm room but I don't know which pink to go for. Here, you choose the colour," Stacy shows me her phone. On the screen is a picture of her mom and their dog holding two almost identical samples of paint in her hands.

I give her a blank look. "Stacy,"

"What?"

"You can't paint your dorm room walls a different colour..."

She eyeballs me for what must be two minutes before she can bring herself to answer. "How do you know that?"

"You – oh come on, why would they – Nicole." Nicole comes and sits down next to me. "Tell Stacy that she can't paint her dorm room walls pink,"

She turns to an annoyed looking Stacy with obvious disapproval in her eyes. "Stacy, you cannot paint your dorm room walls pink,"

"Thank you!" I say loudly. A guy sitting in front of us turns to stare, and I can tell he's become emotionally invested in our conversation.

"You gotta paint it a pastel colour, like violet," Nicole adds. "Pink won't do,"

My God. "No – she can't paint it any colour, she doesn't own the room so she –"