For the love of the game

Chapter 15

I hated going out to clubs I wasn't and am still not old enough to get in, but because of his connections he got them to turn their heads and let me in.

We got drunk, danced and when other guys would try to put their hands on me Jackson wouldn't care. He'd be hooking up with some random chick.

He'd tell me the next day that I was too drunk and that's not what happened. I knew he was lying but I didn't want to fight with him so I let it go. If I tried to argue his friends would call me uptight and would call me a slut because random guys kept putting their hands on me. I'd push them away or try to tell them to back off, usually it worked.

"Hey you alright?" Cody says softly and looks down at me.

"Maddy invited me to go out with her and the rest of the girls, sometime." I say and look down at my hands

"That's a good thing...right? He asks unsurely.

"Yeah it is, it's just my history with parties and clubbing. It's not good."

"Well i can go with you if you want." He says

I smile and look down. "Well that would ruin the whole point of a girls night now wouldn't it."

"Yeah it would." He laughs

"But um I was going to ask you if maybe you could watch Jason and Jordan. I don't know how long we are going to be out but if you can't then that's totally fine I ca-" my rambling is cut off my cody

"They can come over after a game. It's no problem, as long as they like video games." Cody jokes

"They love video games, trust me." I laugh

"Well I'm free after our games. I don't really go out unless it's to drink."  Cody jokes.

He flashes me one of his famous smiles. The corner of his eyes crinkle and he looks adorable.

" thank you Bellinger" I pause  "for everything."

Cody just stares at me and I see his eyes traveling towards my lips and mine do the same. But I can't I can't let myself catch feelings for another guy. I don't need my heart broken again.

I snap out of the trance and look down at my hands playing with my ring.

"Uh I should probably get going I have to pick up Jordan from school."  I turn to get out of the pool but cody grabs my hand.

"Wait don't you need a ride to go and get your car?" Cody looks at me confused

"Oh yeah I totally forgot about that." Truthfully I did. The only thing that was on my mind was the way cody's looking at me.

"I can just call an Uber to come and get me go enjoy your off day you deserve it." I give him a small smile and go past him to get out of the water.

" I was enjoying my day off, Here I'll drive you it's not a problem at all."  Cody grabs my hand and leads us out the pool.

"Are you sure this is your only day off for awhile you should relax."  I feel bad about him driving me everywhere. He's been doing good this season and deserves his day off.

" yes I'm not doing anything for the rest of the day. I'll probably play some video games and pack for the road trip." 

" oh yeah you guys go to New York to play the Mets." I try to sound happy for him but truthfully I'm a little disappointed he'll be gone for a couple of series.

"Yeah I'll be gone for a little over a week." He says looking at any where but me with a disappointed look on his face.

"Well um did you want to get going."  I say through the awkwardness that surrounds us.

"Yeah let's go." Cody puts his hand on the middle of my back and leads me out of the pool. I no longer feel the need to flinch whenever he touches me.  His touch makes me feel safe.

I exchange numbers and goodbyes with the girlfriends and wives and say goodbyes to the ball players who seem to enjoy making fun of cody.

I change back into my dry clothes and then cody does and we get into his car and leave.

There is still an awkward silence between us and I hate it. I play with my hands in my lap trying to avoid looking up and accidentally catching cody's dye

" you should come with us." Cody breaks the silence.

Go with him where. Home? Out? I give his words a second to process in my mind. He wants me to go to New York with him?

"Where?" I ask having no idea what he meant by that.

He looks over at me with a smile.
" to New York."

I look back down knowing that I can't go. I can't just leave my siblings at home. I have school. And so do they.

I actually have enough credits to graduate early but I wanted to be the first person in our family to graduate high school and accept a deploma on a stage.

My dad had dropped out of highschool when he was 16 to join his fathers gang and when he met my mom he found a sketchy company that allowed him to be a truck driver.

My mother dropped out because she got pregnant with me. Apparently it's my fault she had to drop out. If it wasn't for me she would've gone far in life.

"I-I can't I have to take care of my siblings I can't just ditch them plus I have school can't miss that."  I ramble finally looking at cody.

"maybe next time." Cody Says giving me a small smile.

"We'll see." I say playfully giving him a smile.

We get to the restaurant and find my car still sitting in the parking lot. Cody parks next to my car and for a minute we just sit there neither one of us wanting to move.

" thanks bellinger. Good luck in New York. I'll be watching."  I give him a small smile and start to open the door to get out of the car

"Wait" cody says and just looks at me. His eyes travel to my lips and for a second I think we are going to kiss, but cody does what no guy has ever done.

He puts his hands on either side of my face and places a sweet kiss on my forehead.  I'm frozen in my seat and we just stare at each other. 

Cody is the first one to pull away and I continue to get out of the car. We don't say anything and just give each other a small smile.

I get into my car and start to drive towards Jordan's school with a huge smile on my face.