I'm at bat the next day and holding an impressive amount of focus while Ham is "insulting" me.
Thought I told the kid to work on that. Oh, well.
I give Kenny the 'do it' look and he gets into his own position before pitching the ball in my direction.
I hit the ball with no struggle and send it to Tommy in center field, running off towards Timmy at first base soon after.
I make contact with the first 3 bases but am stopped before I can make forth so I'm stuck at third until the next batter hits the ball with the person I wish I didn't have to stand next to while they all figure out who's batting next.
"I can't do it, I'm pitching!"
"Well I'm a baseman so I can't leave!"
"We could just have someone else from the outfield come in!"
"Or one of them could bat!"
I do my best to focus on their conversation and not the one I'll bet Benny's gonna try and bring up.
"Hey." I hear him greet me.
I don't react out of my own stubbornness.
The situation's bad enough without us actually having to interact.
"Oh, I'll do it!" Squints groans. "Somebody has to take my position though!"
"I got it!" Smalls responds, jogging towards fourth.
Squints walks up to the home plate and picks up the bat I discarded not 10 minutes ago.
"I jus-"
Benny's cut off by Squints hitting the ball and I take off running as soon as I notice it.
I make it to home base with ease and do the slide-stand-up just because I haven't done it since I got back.
"Nice..." Ham drags out.
I knew he all of people would get a kick out of that.
Squints did get caught in a pickle between first base and second but made it home with little difficultly after that.
Everyone goes over to the dugout to get all their stuff before they leave and I'm about to do the same when some grabs my arm gently.
"Can we talk right quick?" I hear Benny ask without me turning around.
Without looking at him, I walk towards the other side of the field and out of earshot of everyone else.
"You better make it quick. I don't think your girlfriend will take this lightly." I say when we stop walking.
"She can suck it up." he replies, sounding slightly annoyed at the mention of her. "Anyway... I just wanted to know what that whole thing was about yesterday."
"What do you mean?" I ask, looking at him with no particular expression.
"It's just- you know... you went threw the whole thing of racing her and didn't end up kissing me." he explains his curiosity.
"If I didn't know what you were talking about, I'd say you were a bit self involved."
"No, I just-"
"But, I do know so you're safe." I cut him off, directing my gaze to the ground before looking back up at him. "You make it sound like you wanted me to. Doesn't exactly display your boyfriend material but I'm not too surprised at this point."
I know it's a bit risky taking a subtle dig at him like that but he deserves it so I don't feel all that bad.
"What?" he asks, missing the offended tone I expected him to have.
"Nothing." I brush it off. "Why do you want to know why I didn't help you cheat?"
"Because, I thought you would." he answers honestly.
"Excuse me?" I ask, now being offended.
"I thought you would kiss me." he clarifies. "Based off what's happened between us..."
"Okay, stop." I tell him. "Like actually shut up. I'll be civil and tolerate being around you because there's really no way to avoid it but don't think that just because I'm fine being around you means that I still have feelings for you or that I want to be around you."
His face drops at my words.
"You don't have feelings for me?" he asks sounding... scared? Maybe worried?
"You of all people shouldn't care whether or not I do." I raise my voice slightly.
"But... you... you said..."
"Said what? What did I say that made you think I still had feelings for you?"
Is this actually happening?
"What about everything that has happened between us?" he asks with a new found determination to get the answer he wants. Whatever that is. "What about all the things we told each other?"
"I could ask you the same thing." I retort. "I come back here to find you not only dating someone else, but dating the person I thought we both hated. The one you continually denied for fucking years. What happened there?"
"That was for you!"
I have to hold my laughter back after he says that.
"For me?! What, was that supposed to be my welcome home gift?! Oh wait, I get it. "Welcome back, Lily. It's good to have you back. You remember this bitch I used to hate with a fire hotter than those found in the deeps of hell? Well, we're fucking now. Surprise!"" I mock his response.
"It's not like that." he says quieter than either of us have been in a hot minute.
"Oh, so you're not fucking? Well, at least I have that." I remark with a calm sarcasm.
I decide to walk away before anything else is said.
I make my way to the group of everyone else who gathered near the exit.
"What was all that about?" Kenny asks me in a hushed voice.
"I'll tell you later but let's just go." I respond and we all start walking again.
Me and Kenny are both gonna be going to my house since dad invited both Kenny and his mom as well as Ivy and her parents for dinner tonight. It's gonna be some barbeque thing I think.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When we walk in the house, our presence doesn't exactly go unnoticed.
"Hey!" Darren greets us on his way to the back porch with uncooked hot dogs on a plate.
"Hey!" I reply with the same energy.
"How was the game?" Kenny's mom, Taliya, asks us as we approach the island in the kitchen.
"Good til we were leaving." Kenny tells her, referencing the tiny fight between me and Benny.
I smack his harm with the back of my hand.
"Why? What happened?" Ivy asks from her seat at the island.
I sigh before grabbing her arm to drag her and push Kenny towards my bedroom.
"This'll just take a second!" I call out to the adults as we walk away.
When we're all in I close the door behind me.
"Seriously, what happened?" Ivy asks Kenny.
"I only know a little more than you do." he tells her.
"Well, what do you know?"
"Her and Benny got in a fight before we left the sandlot."
"WHAT?!"
"Yeah, what was all that about?" Kenny turns to me.
"Okay, okay, okay." I rush out in a calm tone. "We did get in a fight. He had asked me why I didn't kiss him yesterday and it just escalated from there."
"Oh, yeah. I remember that." Ivy says.
"Why didn't you?" Kenny asks.
"Yeah." Ivy backs up Kenny's question.
"Cause his girlfriend was present." I defend.
"And you care about her feelings soooo much." Kenny remarks sarcastically.
"It's not like I would've done it anyway." I tell them. "Things are different now. I don't know why everyone keeps expecting stuff like that. First Timmy and Tommy, now the two of you..."
"Because we all know you and Benny are bound to get back together." Ivy says.
"What?" I ask confused.
"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous." Kenny says with a teasing look.
"Then it's a good thing you know as much as you do." I retort.
"Oh, come on." Ivy groans. "You have to admit that you're still in love with Benny and are jealous of his "girlfriend"."
"Okay, what is it with the air quotes around girlfriend?" I ask.
"What do you mean?" they ask in unison.
"Timmy used them yesterday when telling me how he didn't buy their relationship and you guys are now. Is there something else going on?" I ask in suspicion.
"No." they say in unison.
"So, there is something going on." I accuse them.
"Should we tell her?" Kenny asks Ivy.
"I'll handle this." she tells him quietly. "Yes. There is something going on but we can't tell you what it is."
"Why not?"
"Because there's too much going on and we want to wait til everything happens naturally before we tell you." she explains.
"What's "everything"? What has to happen?"
"Nothing has to happen but you won't find out if it doesn't." Kenny says. "I take that back. You might still find out but telling you now would ruin the whole thing."
I can't help but look at them both with a deadpan expression.
"Fine." I accept whatever the hell is going on here. "Just promise me you won't lie about anything. Whether or not it has to do with whatever you're talking about."
"Promise." they agree in unison.