𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒊𝒙𝒕𝒚-𝑻𝒘𝒐 | b. rodriguez

the hottest day

"It's so.." Scott panted. "It's so hot."

"I know. Benny'll be set on playing, though."

As crazy as that boy was, I admired him so much. His passion was adorable, and something I had been missing in my life. The past few years, I haven't cared about anything in particular very much at all. Benny's passion was contagious though; his determination was a fire that i couldn't help but be close too close to. The satisfaction he got when not only he, but all of us played well was so pure.

You couldn't help but smile when he smiled, or look to him for guidance when you needed it. I wasn't the only one who constantly adored him – the boys, they all looked up to him, too.

He was like the perfect big brother none of us had, even for Repeat, who already had one. Benny was someone who he spoke his own sentences to.

Benny waved to Scotty and I as we came into view from the Sandlot dugout. "Hey," I called, trying to pick up the pace despite the heat.

It was hard, though. So hard.

Feet away from the dugout my vision flickered white, and my balance spun. And somehow I made it blindly to the bench where I let myself crumble down between the guys.

DeNunez was wringing the sweat out of his tee-shirt, and Tommy was leaning against his brother. Timmy stared ahead, mesmerized by the waves of heat.

Next to me, Ham held a coke bottle to his face, and then stood after realizing it was no use.

It was hopeless. As much as I didn't want Benny to be upset, I couldn't take it. Someone could've gotten a heat stroke, or something.

"You okay, Shaye," Scotty asked me in concern.

Benny looked at me, and I tried to stop staring at him but the beads of sweat that glided down his face made him inexplicably hot.

"Yeah," I muttered, looking out at the dry grass of the Sandlot. "What are we waiting for?"

Cue Song: There Goes My Baby, by Ben E. King

"Get off me!"

"You already saw her."

The banter caught everyone's attention, and our eyes settled on Yeah-Yeah dragging Squints towards the dugout, new baseball in hand.

"Let go!" Squints argued, struggling to escape. "I'm sweating like a pig!"

"Let's go," Yeah-Yeah muttered after being elbowed in the chest by Squints flailing arms. "Come on."

Finally they reached us and Yeah-Yeah released Squints, who stumbled in the sand.

"Where you guys been? We've been waiting here forever already."

"Aw, Squints was pervin' a dish," Yeah-Yeah explained, dramatically placing the new baseball in Benny's anticipating hand.

Huh?

"Shut up," Squints started. "I wasn't." He stepped lazily into the shade of the dugout.

"Yeah-Yeah you were!" Alan yelled, pointing a finger at Squint's back. "Your tongue was hangin' outta your head, and you was swoonin'!"