"Eli? What the hell are you doing here?" I yelled in a whisper. I cupped my hands so that he could hear me from all the way down there.
"Just come down here. I'll explain everything later." Was all he said.
"What? You want me to go somewhere with you?" I asked, throwing my arms up in exaggeration.
"Why not? Just live a little."
"I should be sleeping right now." I argued and he rolled his eyes.
"Just get down here. I promise I'll bring you back so that you can go to sleep." He grinned. "And stop being a baby while you're at it."
I stuck my tongue out at him, which caused him to chuckle lightly. I tried contemplating about ways of getting out without getting caught.
"I can't go out the front door, because it makes an alarm sound whenever people leave."
"What about the garage?" He asked.
"It's too loud. I'm guaranteed dead."
"Back door?" He asked again.
"I could do that. The sliding door doesn't have an alarm on it. I could climb through the fence. There's no gate because it's all woods in the back."
"Okay, I'll wait for you behind the garage." He gave me a salute before walking to the left.
I slid my window down, closing my curtain in the process. I looked down at my clothes.
Aw man.
I was wearing black running shorts and a mint green T-shirt. It was definitely not something I could wear out, but I didn't have time. I had to high-tail it out of there before the twins caught me or worse Aunt Alex.
I quickly put my hair up in a messy bun, and threw my black Nike sneakers on with a pair of white short socks to go on underneath. I gave myself a thumbs up before racing out the door, well more like tiptoeing.
The sliding door was extra squeaky to my luck. So, it took me about a thousand years to open it up with out being caught red-handed. Mason would definitely be pissed off at me. Lina, I have a feeling she would understand, but in a weird and perverted way. Alex would just ground me.
"Lia! Lia! Over here!" I scanned the backyard for Eli's voice, and noticed a pair of hands waving on the right side.
"Okay, this fence is too tall for me to climb over. I might have to use something to help me." I looked for possibilities.
"Well, hurry up!" He whispered, and I shushed him so that he would shut up. I didn't entirely agree to this, and I didn't want to get my clothes all dirty.
I used a patio chair, which I had to drag all the way across the yard without making a single sound. I climbed on top of it, feeling unsteady as it wobbled from left to right. I put my hands on the top part of the fence, and pushed off swinging one leg in front, then the next.
Being the clumsy person I am, my hands slipped off the fence, and I fell. But I didn't touch the ground. My body smacked against Eli's as he attempted to catch me, but ultimately resulted in us being on the ground. I accidentally squealed a little bit, and Eli covered my mouth. He was in the middle of a silent laugh, and I snorted from he way he was making fun of me.
"God, Lia, how much do you weigh?" He asked.
"Apparently a lot, considering you didn't have to decency to prevent me from falling on my ass." I retorted and climbed off his chest.
"Uh, Lia?" He pointed to the window on the top floor, where the light had just switched on.
"Shoot! Go! Go!" I shooed him, and he started to run. I came close behind him, as we quietly got into his car, and drove away at a moderate speed.
The room that the light was on was Mason's room. And if he caught us? I would be sitting in a boiling cauldron right about now.
"We almost got caught, you idiot!" I smacked his arm, as he tried flicking me away.
"Hey! You're the one who screamed like a monkey on steroids."
"You're the one who screamed like a monkey on steroids." I mocked, and he gave me a side-eye. I slumped in my seat, giving a quick exhale.
"What were you even doing outside the house, anyway?" I asked, rolling my eyes in the process.
"I wanted to hang out with you, without Andrew trying to make you pull your hair out, or Mason slitting my throat." He answered bluntly, and I nodded.
"You couldn't find time during the day to hang out with me?" I crossed my arms in amusement.
"I was...busy." He started whistling, and avoiding eye contact with me. He just stared at the lonely road.
"Oh, yeah? Doing what?" I asked sarcastically.
"Well, it involves a girl, and a guy, where the guy is on top of-"
"Okay! Okay! You can stop now, I get it." I put my hands up in surrender as he chuckled lightly.
"So, typical." I muttered, but he heard me anyway.
"What, me? Having sex? First of all, I'm a guy, guys have needs and wants. If we don't fulfill them, we will be guaranteed to turn into The Hulk. Or we'd have a bad case of blue balls." I snorted as he finished his sentence.
"It's just typical. Everyone at this school, even girls, they only care about the other gender. It's so annoying." I said, quietly.
"It's not all we care about." He defended, and I couldn't help but give him the I know you're lying look.
"Tell me, then. What else do you like to do, other than hump and dump girls?"
"Well...never mind." He but his lip.
"What? Is it a secret?" I asked.
"No, but you won't believe me if I tell you." He answered, and I couldn't help but scoff.
"Fine. Don't tell me." I shook my head. He'll tell me when he's ready. Maybe.
"We're here." He said a few minutes after our conversation that we just had.
We were at a park. The same park all of the guys took me to before my first day of school. The one where you could see the school from a distance. Except we weren't parked at a football field, it was a baseball field.
"What are we doing here?" I got out off the car, walking over to Eli's side.
"Well, someone told me that you have a tryout on Thursday. I thought I could help you, give you a few pointers." He walked over to his trunk, opening it up.
"You do realize I play softball, right? Not baseball. They're different." He rolled his eyes at my comment, and shoved the bag of baseballs in my arms. He grabbed a couple bats.
"There's softballs in there. Here, dump them all out." I dumped out the bag on the field and saw mostly white balls, but occasionally I would see the neon yellow softballs that I've become accustomed to throughout my life.
"Here's what we're going to do. I'm going to take a softball, hit it with with the bat, and you have to catch it." He instructed and I nodded my head.
"Grounders or flies?"
"Both. You just have to be ready."
"Got it." I said, before backing up a little. He stood at home base, while I was standing at short stop. That's where I usually played, and I was comfortable with that position, but I always wished to be a pitcher. My Dad said that I didn't have a good enough arm to be a pitcher. Sometimes I wanted to prove him wrong.
The first ball came, it was a grounder. It rolled rapidly my way, and I placed my glove on the ground, preparing my stance. I grabbed it quickly, and threw it back to him.
"Wow! You have a good arm." He complimented and I bowed.
"Thank you very much."
The next one he hit, went way farther then both of us expected. I ran all the way to the back field, feeling exhausted from lack of sleep. I reached my glove up, hoping it was enough to catch the ball, but it wasn't.
I knew I had to jump, and I felt so tired and sleep-deprived, I didn't think I had enough energy to do it. But I did.
I jumped up, feeling then all hit my glove, but my feet didn't hit the ground. My back did. I coughed up my lungs, from almost having the wind knocked out of me.
Eli ran up to me, who was currently doubled over in pain, moaning.
"You're such a wimp." He offered his hand. I accepted it, and yanked it, which had him smacking himself on the ground as well. I couldn't help but laugh.
"You're so funny." He said sarcastically.
"What the fuck?" I heard a voice say in the distance. Our vision was impaired, because we couldn't see ten feet away from us. Eli was only able to turn one light on, which was good enough for what we were just practicing.
The person was standing in the shadows, and his eyes looked angry. But then I spotted multiple faces, as they walked closer.
It was Andrew. And 1 other guy. A guy that belonged with their group, but never had the decency to talk.
"Lookie here, if it isn't Twiddle-Dee and Twiddle-Dum." I narrowed my eyes, when they walked from the darkness.
"Eli? You didn't tell me you had a girlfriend?" He mocked, and I rolled my eyes at his arrogance.
"Andrew, come on." He said, tiredly. He must be sick of Andrew and his dumb antics.
"What? What's your problem, man? What did we just talk about?" He crossed his arms.
"Just because we talked, doesn't mean I would listen." He said, in an annoyed tone. Andrew's jaw ticked, slightly.
"What is with you, and this girl?" He gestured from him to me.
"I should be asking you the same question." I spat. "What the hell were you doing showing up at a party you weren't invited to?"
"It's called crashing. You know, you might enjoy it if you weren't so uptight." I mumbled some words that I shouldn't have, and was ready to pounce on him, but Eli held me back.
"Dude, just leave." Eli said politely, and Andrew chuckled.
"Why don't we stay? Have a little game?" He grabbed one of the bats, swinging it aimlessly.
"Go to hell." I said, and he looked at me like anything I said didn't affect him.
"I'm not leaving." He stood there, staring us down with his dark brown eyes.
"Fine. You can stay. Just one game, and then I have to take Lia home." Eli walked over to them, grabbing my arm as I tried resisting.
"First one to..."
"Six. Let's make this game real quick for them." I said, and he gritted his teeth.
"Six. Then."
"Alright, heads or tails?" He asked, and I gave him a confused look.
"Heads or tails? For what?"
"To see who's going first. Whoever picks heads and it lands on heads, they go first and are allowed to keep their shirts on. If someone picks heads and it lands on tails, they are in the outfield, and have to take their shirts off."
"This is insane." I mumbled.
"What? Are you afraid to show a little skin? It's just me?" He winked, and I pointed my finger to my throat, making a throw up sound.
"What'll it be?" Andrew asked us.
"Heads." We both said, and he proceeded to flip the coin.
"And it's...tails. Welp, guess you have to take that shirt off." He looked at me hungrily.
I thought to myself how I was so incredibly lucky I decided to wear a sports bra to bed tonight instead of going commando. I would have been in a very sticky situation.
I took off my mint green T-shirt, while Eli took off his black one. And damn, Eli's got quite the pair of abs. What is with these guys and having impeccable abs? I was left clad in a purple sports bra with my black shorts, and I heard a cat whistle coming from the guy that hasn't even talked yet.
"Oh! He speaks! Now, do me a favor, and shove it." I said bluntly, and he gave me a taken aback look.
"Feisty. I like it." Andrew stepped closer to me and I put a hand on his chest, preventing him from moving closer.
A tight smile was all I delivered back before walking to the outfield, with Eli pitching. This was going to be one easy game considering I don't think Andrew or his friend had even touched a baseball in their lifetime. Lucky for me, it's all I've been surrounded with.
I was ready, glove in hand, as Eli swung his arm at a fast pace. Andrew was batting first, and he took his stance, narrowing his eyes at Eli, who didn't seem fazed by it.
Andrew hit the ball up, in a pop fly towards first base. I sprinted with all the energy I had left, and jumped up to catch it, while Andrew had ran to the base. I caught it before he even touched it with his foot.
"All night, Andy-bob. All night." I teased, and he scoffed while walking away.
The game lasted for what felt like hours. But when I looked down at my watch--well, Fitbit--I noticed only an hour and a half is passed. Nothing really happened that was worth sharing. We were beating the crap out of them. It was 3-0, us. But they started coming back. One home run after another, they just kept coming. Until the score reached 5-3. We were up to bat. If one of us makes it to home plate, we would leave and I could finally get the sleep I've been longing to get for the past hour. If we don't, I'm almost guaranteed to pass out on the grass, and just sleep there for the rest of the night.
Andrew was pitching while the other guy was standing absentmindedly in the out field. I saw him run in a circle, scared, probably from a bug or something.
What a wimp.
Eli struck out, from Andrews impressive fastballs. I was really surprised that he hand an arm. Maybe he played baseball when he was a kid? Honestly, I didn't even care.
I walked up to the batters box, swinging my bat carefully, staring Andrew down. Maybe I could intimidate him to the point where he flakes and gives me an easy pitch. My blue eyes bored into his brown ones. We stood there for a solid minute before he leaned forward, ready to give me his best.
"Bring it." I whispered under my breath. I've played with cocky players like him when I played baseball as a kid. I've dealt with them, and I've shut them down. I'm ready to shut him down.
He swung his best pitch, and I missed it by an inch. I bit my lip in aggravation. I couldn't let him win and never hear the end of it.
He pitched again, and this time, I stood there about to run but it rolled off out of bounds. I cursed under my breath. The third pitch. I'm doomed.
I take a deep inhale and exhale. I always used to hold my breath in a stressful situation, even in baseball or softball. It was my way to cope and take my stress levels down a bit.
I swung at his last pitch, hearing the beautiful sound of the bat connecting with the ball. I started to run towards first base, seeing it roll deep into the outfield. The guy was running after it.
I hit second base, and heard Andrew screaming for him to pass it to him. Once he did, I hit third base. From hear on out, I knew it was now or nothing. I sprinted as fast as I can, and he did the same.
I was so close, so fricking close. But he was coming in faster than I was. How was that even possible? Sure, he was buff and looked like he was strong, but it didn't seem like he played a single sport.
Everyone in baseball knows that if it looks like a player is coming on to you fast, you're gonna have to slide. It's a better chance than sprinting. I'm so determined to make it to home base because Andrew is the type of person to call me a loser, and say how I'm not good enough to play softball. And I'm tired of people telling me what I can and can't do, especially when it's people I don't particularly like.
But the thing is, Andrew didn't exactly predict that I was going to slide, so when I did, he tripped over my feet. And landed straight on top of me. Face to face, eye to eye, chest to chest.
But that wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was that we made some serious eye contact. The moment I looked from my left side to him on top of me, I felt something inside me stir. I wasn't particularly sure if it was my body telling me to get sleep before I conk out, or if my body's telling me that this guy on top of me, isn't actually so bad.
Whatever it was, I put it aside. I couldn't help but look into his eyes. People always used to tell me that people with brown eyes were boring, but they couldn't be more wrong. Looking into Andrew's chocolate brown eyes, I noticed little spots of green and a little bit of yellow with them. It was something I've never seen before.
Now I know what the girls were talking about when they said Andrew was easy to look at. I could look into those...gorgeous...eyes every day and I wouldn't mind it. I could even stare at his chest. Wait, what? What the hell Lia?
It must've been a solid minute and a half of us eye googling at each other before I heard the outside voices. Well, specifically, Eli's voice repeatedly saying our names.
"Lia? Andrew? Come on. Get off of her."
But I couldn't help but think about this moment. I know Andrew didn't like me, and the feeling was mutual, but I couldn't help but wonder why he didn't get off of me, and why he continued to stare, just as I did. Maybe he was feeling the same way I was? Oh come on, Lia, get your mind out of the gutter.
I was comfortable, despite being on the dirt, and my clothes practically stained with grass form me sliding. The rapid rise and fall of his chest, and the way it pressed on mine was comforting. Like all my initial thoughts about him just vanished, and all I could think about was him, and how his amazing eyes were just staring at me.
"Good game, Lee. You're not such a bad ball player." He told me, and I shook my head from the trance.
Andrew got off of me, pulling out a hand to help me up.
"Wait, what?" I asked, still completely in a daze.
"We won, Lia." Eli said. "We won."
"How?"
"The ball rolled off Andrew's glove when he tripped over your feet, which was hilarious by the way." Eli laughed.
"Fucking idiot." I heard Andrew mumble, and I giggled quietly. His eyes shot to mine just as I did.
Eli punched Andrew in the arm, still laughing. "Come on, Lia. Let's get you home. I think we're done here."
~*~
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Well, well. Did you like this chapter? I certainly did. I felt it was time to get a move on with things, since I felt the plot line drag on for a bit. Oh, well. Hope you enjoyed!
Leave a comment if you loved it, or even hated it. Also let me know you're predictions! I pretty much have this story planned out already in my head, and I know it's going to be a whirlwind. Y'all aren't ready.
Much love.
XOXO