Purchases safely stowed in the back of my Range Rover, we had just enough time to get to school and grab some seats before the game started. We didn’t have a chance to grab lunch, but our school’s concession stand would be selling hot dogs and chips to support the athletic department so we could eat there.
I lucked out, grabbing an open parking spot along the fence behind the bleachers. I grabbed my brothers jersey’s from the back and put Lances’ 24 on and slung Leroys’ 15 over my shoulder. “It’s so cute that they wanted you to wear their jersey’s, even if the idea sprouted from the ‘boyfriend stealer’.” Keri stated as we reached the bleachers and scoped out seats.
I had told them about the whole Becca incident my brothers overheard when they asked why their jersey’s were in the back and they flipped. They too thought I should’ve just burned it, but I hoped it would sting Blayne even more when he saw that I didn’t care about Becca wearing it.
It was probably wishful thinking on my part, but what was done is done so there’s no changing it. “Yeah, my brothers have their sweet moments once in awhile.” I said spotting some seats in the middle. I waved to my dad who was a couple rows up with Koa and Spencer’s fathers. We sat, Leah on the inside, me next to her, and Keri taking up the aisle seat. Once we were comfortable, I scanned the field and saw both teams were warming up on opposite sides, tossing base balls back and forth.
An irritating squeal from behind our dug out reached my ears and I turned to see Becca waving her arms at Blayne. He hated that, said it messed up his concentration, but she either forgot or didn’t care. As she moved, it wasn’t the flashy ‘Blaine <3 Becca’ on the front of her shirt that had me frowning, but the fact that Blayne’s jersey wasn’t covering it. I tried to lean forward in my seat to see if it was on the side of her, but couldn’t find it.
That was strange, unless my brother’s didn’t give it to him. I decided to find out before the game started or it would bug me the whole time. “Excuse me, Keri. I need to ask my butt head brothers something.”
“Oooh, I’ll come with, then we can stop at the concession stand afterwards,” she offered. “Leah, I’ll grab you something while you watch our seats.”
“No problem, It’ll give me more time to oogle all those goodie on the field,” she responded wagging her eyebrows.
Keri and I laughed as she lead the way to the bottom fence. “Psst, hey Lance, come here for a minute.” I called to him.
He motioned for Koa to hold the ball while he ran to meet me. “What’s up sis? Hey Keri.”
“Why didn’t you guys give Blayne the jersey? Leroy took it with him when he got out of the car.”
He stared at me confused, “Lee did give it to him, as soon as we got in the locker room. He didn’t understand why we were giving him a jersey, until he opened it up and saw it was his, and let me tell you sis, if shock factor is what you were going for, you hit a home run. Dude looked like his puppy died, it was fun to watch.”
I took in what he was saying and found myself in a state of shock myself. If he had the jersey, why didn’t he give it to Becca? “I gotta get back, but I have to say, you look almost as good in my jersey as I do.” he laughed before running back just in time to catch a fast ball from Koa. I moved my gaze down the line of players warming up, and stopped when it landed on Blayne. He turned toward me in that moment, and even from this distance I could tell something was bothering him. Before I could dwell anymore on it, Keri was pulling me in the direction of the concession stand, eager to get her hands on some food.
We were waiting in line with three people ahead of us, when the woman at the front of the line turned and spotted me. “Lylah?”
I froze for a minute, not sure I was ready to have this confrontation, but seeing no escape and not wanting to be disrespectful to a woman who’s only ever shown me kindness, I faced her with a strained smile on my face. “Hi Mrs. Sanders.”
“Oh honey, I’ve always told you to call me Blair, just because you’re not with Blayne anymore, doesn’t mean that’s changed.” Blayne’s mom scolded me playfully.
The line was moving so I took a step forward, “Sorry.” I got out dumbly.
“You have nothing to be sorry for, not here and certainly not concerning my son. I really thought I raised him better than that, and though I have nothing against Becca personally, I’m very unhappy with both of them for the choices they’ve made.” She said with slight anger in her words.
I couldn’t respond even if I wanted to. I was speechless.
“This really isn’t the place to have this conversation, but I wanted you to know that much. I hope one day we can sit down and talk, just the two of us. Blayne may be an idiot, and of course I love him because he’s my son, but what he did was wrong. He may have been stupid enough to let you go, but that doesn’t mean I have to. If you want and it won’t be too awkward for you, I’d love to have lunch with you one day when you’re off.”
I felt tears spring to my eyes. This woman was everything I knew my mother would be if she was still here. I missed her this past week, and I was so happy she was willing to still have a relationship with me even if I wasn’t in one with her son. “I’d like that, a lot.”
She smiled before giving me a quick hug, “Good, call me when you’re free. The number’s still the same. Whenever it is, no matter what I’m doing, I’ll drop it.” She said a fast ‘hi’ and ‘bye’ to Keri before making her way back to her seat.
“That was pretty cool.” Keri said nonchalantly.
Smiling at Blair’s retreating back I agreed, “Yeah, it was.”
We made it to the front and ordered three number two’s with ketchup and mustard. It contained a hot dog, bag of chips, and soft drink. Keri grabbed a bag of cracker jacks, and me a box of peanut M&M’s, then we paid and were ready to go to our seats and dig in. Before we could, there was a tug on my shirt and I looked down into the adorable face of Theo.
“Hey buddy! How are you?” I asked, dropping down to his level, making sure no butt cheeks escaped when I did.
“Good, I saw you over here and asked my mommy if I could say hi. Hi!” he said with a smile so much like his brothers. I turned in the direction he pointed and waved to his mother.
“You excited for the game?”
“Yup! Caleb is gonna strike them all out.” he said with confidence.
“Oh really, well my brothers are pretty good, they might just hit a home run.”
“Nu-uh. Caleb’s the best, no one can hit his fast ball.” His hero worship was adorable. “You wanna say hi to him? He’s right over there.” he asked pointing to the Sharks side where their players were warming up, Caleb by himself throwing some practice pitches into the net.
I rose up from my position, eye’s never leaving his form until I felt my box of food being pulled from my hands. “Go on, Jerry over here, who I just met, is willing to help me to our seats. I think there’s a new pitcher you want standing at your mound.” Keri said with a smirk bringing my attention back to her and a cute guy sporting a Sharks hat. She made eye’s in Caleb’s direction before locking gazes with me, “Just remember, you have some explaining to do when you get back.” With that said she flirted with her new ‘friend’ and headed back to our seats.
I made a motion to his mom where we were going and Theo and I started to walk in Caleb’s direction, “Why did she say you had a mound? You’re not covered in dirt.” Theo asked. It was a good thing Keri had taken my box of food, because had she not, that question would have had me dropping it on the ground.
“Um…well…she was talking about…ah…” I stuttered trying to find an explanation just as Caleb caught sight of us saving me.
“Hey mini me, what’re you doing over here?” Caleb asked Theo, while his eyes were on me, or more precisely, my legs and then me.
“I brought Lylah so she could say hi and wish you luck.” Theo answered.
Caleb smiled, placing an arm on the top bar of the chain link fence, glove on one hand ball in the other. He was in the same uniform as the one he was wearing Monday, only minus the dirt stains. I did a quick scan of his body and knew my memory was correct, he was just as hot as I remembered.
“Is that so, you think I need luck?” he asked cheekily, all the while staring at me appreciatively sending sparks through my every limb.
Needing to fight my body’s reaction to him, I replied, “Of course, you’re playing my brother’s, you need all the help you can get.”
Any other male would be offended by that statement, calling their ability into question. I know Blayne didn’t always like it when I pointed out how good my brother’s were at certain things that he wasn’t, but not Caleb. “Really? Well that’s good to hear because I like a challenge.”
I couldn’t help but think he wasn’t only referring to the game. “You’ll definitely get one then, the James brother’s play to win.”
“And what about the James sister? Does she play to win too?” he asked with the smile that was quickly becoming my kryptonite.
Shaking my head slightly to rid it of the lustful thoughts creeping in, I started to respond no and that I didn’t even play but what came out was, “Depends on what I’m playing for.”
He studied me for a moment, and I swear I saw a flash of heat in his eyes as he did, then he shocked me by saying, “Same here, and when it’s something worth playing for, I play for keeps.”
I may not be an expert at reading between the lines, but there was no way I could mistake what he was implying. Not giving me a chance to reply, which I doubt I could with my tongue practically hanging out of my mouth and my body charged with an arousal so unexpected, he gave me one last look over before saying good bye and telling Theo to cheer him on. Then he ran out to join his team for the National Anthem.
I would have stayed rooted to that spot, drool dripping from my mouth, if it wasn’t for Theo’s hand in mine pulling me back to our seats. I dropped him off with his mom, promising to say good bye when the game was over and carefully walked up to my seat.
Keri and Leah were standing as the last lines of the Anthem were sung, and as soon as we sat they began to grill me. I filled them in on everything that happened on Monday, and just now leaving out Caleb’s parting words, not wanting to dive into that, then told them we’d talk more about it later while we got ready for the party.
I munched on my food, without tasting anything, while my eyes constantly wandered over to one Shark in particular. What was surprising is that every time they did, he was staring right back at me. The game was an intense one, no one had scored yet and we were 3 minutes into the last inning. I made sure to switch jersey’s after the fourth inning, so I was now sporting Leroy’s.
Caleb had been pitching like a pro, rarely allowing a hit. Blayne was doing okay, but most of the game winning plays were stopped by the basemen and outfielders, his head just didn’t seem to be in the game. He was currently up to bat and hadn’t had a hit all game. This would probably be his last run at it. I watched intently as Caleb struck him out once, then twice. He needed one good hit to bring Lance, who was currently holding second, home. The crowd held their breath as Caleb wound up for the pitch. He released it with expertise, and I watched as if in slow motion as the ball soared towards Blayne’s bat just as he swung. A loud ‘splat’ was heard. It wasn’t from the bat connecting with the ball, but of the ball landing nice and safe in the catcher’s mitt.
Blayne had struck out again.
He hung his head in defeat while Becca shouted, “It’s okay baby, better luck next time!” from her seat. I felt bad for him, but everyone knew, if you didn’t have your head in the game, odds weren’t in your favor. A flicker of movement caught my eye and I returned my gaze to the pitcher’s mound. Caleb was looking directly at me and he put the ball in his glove, balling his now free pitching hand into a fist with his middle and pointer finger sticking out and together, before bringing it to his lips for a kiss, then pointing it in my direction.
“OH MY GOD! Did you see that?” Leah whispered in awe.
“Hell yeah I did, he basically just told Lylah that strike out was for her.” Keri answered, while I remained silent, still processing what he just did. Why would he do that? There could be only one answer, he knew all about my break up with Blayne, why wouldn’t he? News travels fast and when something personal happens in a player’s life, it travels even faster.
I didn’t know whether to be embarrassed that he knew I was practically side lined for someone else, or flattered that knowing that, he took it into his own hands to dedicate my ex’s strike out to me.
Seeing the smile on Caleb’s face even from this distance, I went with the latter and returned his smile, pretending to catch his kiss and hold it close to my chest. Cheesy, but can you blame me? What Caleb just did was almost as rewarding as watching one of my brother’s knock Blayne out.
Koa was up to bat next, and his first two swings followed the same pattern as Blayne, but on the third swing he got right under the ball, letting it connect with the bats sweet spot and hit it directly toward the hole in left field. It was exactly the hit Lance needed as he sprinted to third base. The left fielder quickly picked up the ball flying it to the third baseman who missed lance by a few hairs. Then just like in the movies, my brother ran with all his might as the third baseman threw the ball to home. Dirt was kicked up and it was hard to see what was happening. Then, as the dust cleared and the players came into view, the crowd cheered as the umpire signaled it a home run. We all went crazy because this meant our team was going to the playoffs.
Our boys went wild on the field, throwing their hats and putting Lance and Koa on their shoulders. You would think they won the whole damn season with the way they were acting, but it was understandable because The Sharks were a hard team to beat. My eyes found Caleb off to the side, many of his team mates patting his back, not at all upset with that last pitch. I think the guy taking it the hardest was the left fielder that missed the catch.
The bleachers slowly emptied out and once it was clear we followed everyone down to congratulate our boys. I saw Becca trying to congratulate Blayne but it seemed as if he was searching the crowd for someone. Not wanting it to be me, I rushed down the last remaining steps and stood on the outside of the crowd, closer to The Sharks dug out, while I waited for one of my brother’s, Spencer, or Koa to spot me.
“So, you here to tell me better luck next time like promised.” Caleb’s warm and velvety voice asked in my ear. He smelled earthy, and regardless of his sweaty appearance, it was a good smell.
“That, and to tell you that was some of the best pitching I’d ever seen.” I said honestly.
His face shone with pride at my compliment, “Thanks, that means a lot coming from a James triplet.”
Damn it, they really need to invent a drug to eliminate blushes from happening! “You’re welcome, and I’m nobody special. My brother’s are the ones with all the athletic talent.”
“Maybe, but trust me, you are still special. More so than your brothers.” He said almost causing my knees to buckle.
“Hey Lylah, come over here!” Koa shouted as Leah slapped him in the back of the head causing him to look at her confused.
“Be right there.” I yelled back ready to say good bye to Caleb, even though I didn’t want to. “Bye Ca-”
“Hold up for a minute.” he cut me off, taking my hand in his slightly callused one. I never knew a single touch could almost cause a full body melt down. “Seeing as we lost, and I’m a bit down,” he started, trying to play the defeated pitcher but we both knew I could see the makings of a smirk at the corners of his oh so luscious lips, “it would really make my night if you come to the party my friend is throwing and save me a dance.” The last part came off a little unsure.
As if I would deny this God of a guy in front of me anything after he not only started a fire within me but basically handed Blayne his ass on the field. I wanted to shout “YES, YES, YES!” but I knew I had to play it cool. “Maybe.”
His smirk made it’s appearance. He knew exactly what I was doing, but you could tell he didn’t mind one bit, “That’s better than a ‘no’ and half way to a ‘yes’ so I’ll take it!” he said with a smile, then shocked me and a few people around us by shouting, “YES!” with a fist pump.
I couldn’t help but giggle at his reaction, but held my breath as he suddenly pulled me closer to him while placing his lips centimeters away from my ear and whispering, “It’s going to be the best dance you’ve ever had, and I promise to wipe any memory of previous pitchers from your mind, just like I wiped the field of them today.” Then he kissed my cheek, so close to the corner of my mouth, and sauntered off leaving me with a giddy smile on my face.
So it wasn’t just my hopeful thinking, he really did strike Blayne out all game long just for me. I better watch myself around this guy. I’d known him for less than a week, and he was already having twice the effect Blayne ever had on me. Shaking myself from those thoughts, I walked towards my friends but stopped in my tracks when I met the piercing green eyed stare of Blayne reaching me from across the crowd. Becca was plastered to his side, chatting with some girls in our grade, but she could have been a pole based on the lack of attention Blayne was showing her. His gaze left me for a minute to follow the path Caleb had taken, and when it returned to me it was as if he was screaming out in pain, that’s how distraught he looked.
I realized that from where he and Becca were standing, he had a clear view of Caleb and I, so he must’ve saw everything. He looked at me for what felt like minutes but was only a few seconds before Becca pulled his attention away. It was in that last second before he turned that I saw something I’d rather not think about.
Regret.
Shoving my worry for him aside, reminding myself that I was no longer living my life to please Blayne, I continued on towards my friends, so ready to celebrate their win and maybe think of recruiting a new pitcher to stand at my mound.