Give me your thoughts.
___
HER.
"Carter," Coach calls me over, effectively stopping my running. I heave a deep breath before turning around and jogging back to him.
"What's up?" I breathe out harshly, placing my hands on my hips.
"It's our last game tomorrow." He flips through his clipboard. "I need more from you."
"More what?" I lean my weight on one side while simultaneously swiping the sweat from my brow.
"More everything, but specifically, hits." He shows me the clipboard after he stopped turning pages, and pointed to my name with a pen. "Look at your stats and tell me a trend you see."
Looking at my name, it has markings of my batting percentage, runs batted in, home runs, on base and slugging percentages. Really, the only thing that stood out was in my three years of playing college baseball, I have yet to hit a home run, and when I hit, majority of the time, I reach second base.
When I voice that, he grins, "See, I knew you were smart."
I give him a pointed look.
"Look, Carter. We've won the College World Series three years in the row, thanks to me when I was here, and Storm when he came in." The pen travels up to Carson's stats that are close to impeccable. The dick.
"So what does he have to do with me?" I frown, taking my eyes away from the clipboard, and focusing on Gardner.
"Aye Carter!" Hunter, who is running side by side with the dick himself whistles to me, "You should wear those shorts more often!"
He made it clear that he was staring at my ass. Carson pushes him forward, and slaps him on the back of the head, giving him a look I couldn't see because he had turned around quickly. But I did notice when he looked back at me.
"Three more laps for you two, Storm and Hunter!" Coach blows his whistle, and I'm sure the entire team heard Hunter's cries of pain from Carson clocking him. I didn't see where, though.
"I want you to pay close attention to Storm, Raine." He uses my first name to let me know he's serious about his words. "Watch him. On the field and off the field. If I don't see improvement by our first game back home, you're benched."
You know that feeling when you forget your food in the oven because you were binge watching some series?
Yeah, that's how hard his words hit my heart. I lost my breath just like you'd lose your breath by high tailing it out of the living room and into the kitchen.
And my heart clenched like your heart would clench when you open the oven and see your food a crispy charcoal color.
"You're kidding." I managed to choke out, looking back to see the guys finished with their laps except for Hunter and Carson.
"I'm not, Raine. I hate to sound sexist, but understand where I'm coming from. You know I love you." He tosses his clipboard to the ground. "You have to play at same level that the rest of the guys are playing. This is a college men's baseball team. You have to learn how to play like a man, but maintain your femininity.
"You should keep your eyes on him—not during workouts because you finish faster than him. He should be looking at you during those; I'll talk to him. But when we bat, you need to focus on him—his form is insane. It's better than mine, and that's saying something."
"Cocky much, Coach?" The words slip out from my mouth subconsciously. I hold my breath, awaiting his next words.
He chuckles, "Did you just ask for another mile?"
"No sir, I-I was just—"
"Make that two, your ass should've been high tailing it around the field." He blows his whistle twice, effectively ending the one-sided conversation.
I grumble under my breath as run countless of miles, and I found myself leaning on Hunter's shoulder as I caught my breath.
"Poor baby," he wraps his arms around me, and rubs my arm soothingly. "I think the three of us have the best endurance out of the entire team." He nods his head toward Carson.
"Why does he do that?" I groan, wrapping my arms around him to push all my weight on him and off of myself in a way.
"He sees the most potential out of us, other than Vinny. He's a pitcher, so running isn't that important for him." He whispers as Gardner comes, looking mean.
"Tomorrow is our last game of the tournament," he places his hands behind his back as he walks down the line of the team. "We will win, or you will suffer greatly.
"But before we go into tomorrow, we have to make it through today, and today will be Hell."
All the guys cheer. Meanwhile, I'm forcing a smile that looks like constipation at its finest. "You will feel like death on legs. I will destroy your abdominal muscles. I will obliterate your biceps and triceps; and I will fucking annihilate every muscle in your legs.
"You will sweat tears, sweat blood, and sweat saliva. You will breathe the sweat of your teammates.
"You will feel like shit. You will cry like little bitches. If you have to throw up," he pauses for dramatic effect, "go to a trash bin, I don't want to see that. People have pissed and shat their pants before. You are grown ass men and woman, don't—for the love of God. Keep that crap in, pun intended.
"I will count for you. If we're doing pushups, I will say 'down, up, one'. Failure to stay in sync with your teammates and my voice will add more pushups to the workout—this goes for every workout. If it has to do with running, I will set a time, and everyone will have to be finished by that time.
"We will do these workouts over and over and over again until we are all one unit. And with that being said, get up," he brings his whistle up to his lips as we all stand up. "Drop."
We hit our knees, getting into push up position.
|||
"Raine!" Bambi smiles through the screen of my phone.
"Hey Bambi," I grin, crossing my legs and leaning back into the bus seat to attempt to get more comfortable.
"How's the tournament!" She screeches, bringing her phone closer to her face and giving me a great shot of her nostrils.
"Great, I guess. We're heading to the stadium for our last one, and then we're heading home." I shrug, leaning to the right—which was a mistake because I accidentally bumped into Carson.
Yes, I'm sitting next to him.
Again.
It wasn't my plan. I'm convinced Vinny got in on this deal with Isaiah.
I had packed my things early—well, late last night so I could rush out of our room and make it on the bus, but when I woke up, all my things were scattered across the room.
And Vinny and Isaiah's things were cleared out. Completely.
They're sitting together, and I made sure to give them the world's worst glare ever created as I stomped past them to the backseat of the bus, next to him.
He's sleep, though, so he didn't notice me bumping into him. Thank God.
Bambi scoffs, and pulls the phone backwards a little so that her eyebrows are visible. "I can't believe you call that place home."
"Well, I've been here for three years."
"But you grew up here. In Alabama," she pouts. "I miss you."
"I miss you too, Bam." I smile at her. She pulls the phone back a little more. She was laying down, I see. "You're still in bed?"
"Yeah, it's not even eight in the morning." She yawns, "Are you excited?"
"Yes, but apparently, I have to make a home run before our first game back in Florida, or I'm benched." I roll my eyes, sinking further into the seat, showing her my double chin.
Her eyes widen as she attempts to lift up, but she's yanked back down. I narrow my eyes at her. "What?" She continues as if she didn't just hit her pillows rather harshly. "Who said that?"
"Coach."
"That's bullshit!"
"Shut up, Bambi."
I jump at the sound of the deep voice, but my brows draw together when a arm slips around her, and a hand makes its way into my view and cups her right breast. I arch a brow when Bambi quickly brings the screen up to her face, showing me her nose again.
"Nah uh. You've been caught," I giggle when a faint blush tints the areas around her nose.
"What do you mean? That was my hand..."
There's an awkward pause before we both start laughing, her laughter filling my ears through my earphones. "Okay, now that we both know you're lying. Who the heck is that?"
"Noah," She winces when I screech, causing some of the guys to look back at me weirdly. "Don't judge me!"
"I'm not judging you! I'm just—how?" I bring the phone up to my face, trying to peek at Noah again. "How?"
"Carter, shut your fucking mouth before I do it for you." Carson's voice had my body shivering from the unexpected raggedness in it. Must be a sleep thing.
"Make me." I narrow my eyes at him, but it's not like he saw. His eyes were closed.
"Is that Storm?" Bambi whispers excitedly over the phone. "Oh, please tell me you guys finally had sex and got rid of the bad tension!"
"Yes, it's Carson," I correct her, "And no we will never have sesh—" My words were jumbled when he grabbed my jaw and squeezed my cheeks together, making my lips smoosh together.
He hastily turns my head to face him, and his grey eyes bore into mine, causing my eyelids to snap shut. "Tell him I say hi!" She squeals before her mouth is covered by Noah's hand.
I turn my phone to face him (he still is holding my jaw) and he glances at her. Noah takes his hand off her mouth, and she says hi very loudly in my ear. He must've read her lips because he grunted out a greeting before looking back at me.
My eyes find the bridge of his nose.
"Read my lips, Carter." He then jerks my head back before bringing me closer to his face. Our noses brush. Bambi squeals. "Hang up the phone."
"Don't you dare hang up on me." Bambi's voice deepens as she becomes serious. I try and look at the phone, but Carson grips my jaw tighter, and his voice deepens, giving me goosebumps all over.
"Read my lips." His eyes find mine, and I drop my gaze like he asks, ignoring Bambi's empty threats. And I sucked in a breath. A deep one as stared at his sexy, full, pink lips.
My mind was tempted to roll into the gutter. Thinking about all the things he's probably done with those lips. They're full, so I know he can devour you—dominate the heck out of a kiss.
Brush over your collarbones so delicately, but eat you to oblivion once he passes your naval.
I was tempted to breathe in when he exhaled just so I could taste the spice from his mouth, but I quickly shook my head internally.
It's Carson.
Carson.
It's...
Carson.
Pretty.
Hella pretty...
Carson.
He jolts me from the daydream that I was on the brink of falling into by chuckling, and he repeats his previous words: Read his lips.
Bambi voices her threats again.
"Hang the fuck up, or I'll have you regretting it for the rest of this bus ride—do you understand me, Carter?" I watched his lips the entire time, before I looked into his eyes and rolled mine.
"Seriously, Carson? You think you scare me?" I slap his hand away from my face, shocking him, "You're going to have to come harder than that if you want me to obey you."
He was quiet, his eyes roaming my body pensively before his lips lifted up into a smirk. Then, it turns into a smile. Deep dimples filled both his cheeks as the smile widened.
"What?" My eyes narrowed as he shrugged, reaching into his hoodie pocket and taking out his phone. It was early in the morning, and we were already about to have an argument. I could still see the tiredness in his eyes from waking up so early, but that was outshined by the spark in his eyes that told me he was looking forward to messing with me later.
It caused my spine to straighten because it's the first time I've seen this look—seeing that the longest I've looked into his chilly grey eyes was for about five seconds. That look had me on edge, and I knew this year was going to be the year in which he irked me to my breaking point.
And I don't think I was ready for his little game.
"I'll call you back, Bam. And we'll discuss this situation with you and Noah," I grin cheekily when he lifts his head up, looking at me through the camera, and his face was shocked as if he had saw a ghost. "Missed you, Baby Noah."
He cursed under his breath, pink undeniably tinting his cheeks as he scratches his head, and fumbles around with his words, "Uh...Hey—good morning, Carter."
"So you finally got her to crack?" I shake my head, but I cut the both of them off when they try to explain simultaneously; the both of them were flushed as I teased them. "Nope. We'll speak when I get back to Florida. Call you later. Love you guys."
And with that, I hung up, and glanced at Carson from the corner of my eyes, but he wasn't paying attention to me. He was bobbing his head to the beat of whatever music he was playing through his headphones, his thick fingers were drumming against his legs as he looked out the window.
Huffing, I went to Spotify and turned on my music before turning away from him and falling asleep.
|||
HIM.
"When am I going to see you again?"
Turning around on the field, the female's voice makes me smile, welcoming her into my side as she wraps her little self around me. It was a cheerleader from another college in Texas.
This is the championship of the tournament, and there's a shit ton of people here to watch. The only problem is that everyone is rooting for Texas. Not Florida.
So it's going to be one hell of a tough crowd.
I look down at her brown eyes while my fingers trail over her hip bone. "Lolli," I sigh sadly, causing her thin, glossy lips to pout. Don't let them fool you because they surely can work amazingly despite the lack of fullness to them. "I'm a senior. This is my last year playing baseball, so I won't have to be back for a tournament."
"So I'm not worth more than a tournament? You wouldn't come back for me?" Her voice was playful, but her eyes told me everything, and to be honest, I was wincing on the inside. I didn't plan for her to be so strung up within two weeks time.
Not at all.
I wanted to lie to her, to tell her that I would make an effort to be back, but let's face it. The last relationship I was in ended with a suicide, a brother beaten to a pulp, and I had a black eye.
I'll be damned if I get with someone else any time soon without knowing them like the back of my hand. Because if there's one thing I learned in life, it's this:
Women are insane.
So lying wasn't an option, for my conscience would haunt me, and it's pointless to lie when I'll never see her again. "No, I wouldn't."
She immediately pulls back, but I gently bring her back to me. This time, however, I lock my arms around her waist, and I arch a brow. "Don't be like that."
"Why shouldn't I? You just blatantly rejected me." She bats her false lashes dejectedly before looking up at me through them.
"I'm sorry, would you have liked me to lie to you?" I grin when she continues to act sad, but she wrapped her arms around me anyway. "That wasn't an answer."
"Speros!" Hunter calls for me as makes his way out of the dugout, along with the rest of the guys, and Carter.
"Give me a sec!" I yell back before turning to...I forgot her name. "Find a response yet?"
"I wouldn't have wanted you to lie to me. Thank you for being honest," she stands on her toes to kiss my cheek. "It's been fun."
"Hell yeah it has," I grumble in approval before smacking her ass that was barely covered in the shorts she was wearing, and gave her a swift kiss to the lips. "See you around."
"Bye, Storm." She giggles, walking off like a dazed school girl. I turn back to the guys who were acting stupid with their obnoxious 'oohs' and 'ahhs'. They were being nosy.
Carter wasn't, though. She was too busy giggling and shit with Vincent. I roll my eyes before joining the circle and calling her over.
"I think I might cry while doing this," she skips over to me, wiping an invisible tear from under her eye. "It's the last one of the tournament."
"Don't push my buttons today." I warn her about her cheeriness that I don't need around me. I hate that during games, I could actually see myself being friends with her. Like the rest of the guys are.
But then I'm constantly reminded of all the shit she's put me through since her freshman year.
"You sure I can't push this button?" She drags her baby blue colored finger nails down my chest and fingers the waistband of my pants, pulling the fabric.
Strength.
It took a hell of a lot of strength not to snatch her up and show her the real reason why people call me Storm.
Who the fuck does she think she is, trying me like this? I arch a brow, and she fucking giggles, turning around and wiggling her ass. "Come on. Last game of the tourney. Let's make it count!" She whoops, throwing her fist in the air like a little kid.
"Why are you so perky?"
She turns around with a smile, shrugging at me. "We go home after this. I have things to do and people to see, if you know what I mean." She winks. My sort of concerned expression turns to annoyance after her comment.
"Assume the fucking position, bitch."
"You got it, dick." She smirks before dropping to her knees.
We did our ritual, and after a while, I found myself next to Coach Gardner right before Carter batted. The guys cheered her on out there, telling her to kick ass and all that, and she seemed pretty confident.
"What's up?" I ask him once I reach him.
He puts a hand on my shoulder, and nods toward the field. "Look at Carter and tell me what you see."
"Nothing that interests me," I answer monotonously before taking a step in the opposite direction of Gardner. He pulls me back.
"That's not what I meant."
"Oh, you're talking about the game?"
"We're at a baseball game, Storm, what the fuck do you think?" He asks sarcastically before huffing, "Watch and tell me what you see."
Training my eyes on Carter, I narrow them when her body jolts within a second of me looking at her. "Well that was weird," I mumble to myself.
The pitcher says some nasty words, attempting to throw her off her game, but she just spits comments right back. I was going to walk away, and just earn extra laps for disrespecting coach before she got into position to swing.
"See something yet?"
"She's favoring the wrong side, for one." I tilt my head to the side as she leans in on her left leg. "I can tell you exactly how she's going to hit it. It's not going to fly, it'll touch the ground within two seconds."
"That's true," Gardner tilts his head as well as we watch her strike, and a string of curses leaves her mouth.
"There's actually a lot wrong with her form alone. How the hell did Coach pick her up?" I ask, referring to our previous coach who 'retired' as of two years ago.
"He didn't."
"So how is she on the team?"
"She tried out like any other person does when they don't come to college for an athletic scholarship." He shrugs.
"Her form is shit. How did she make cuts?" I truly wonder, dragging my eyes down her body. I caught myself lingering on her ass, and I quickly looked away, pretending to search for my water bottle.
"She's got a body." Gardner chuckles, slapping me on the back because he clearly caught me. "You know Coach was a perv, " his eyes still on Carter as she strikes again.
"Carter, use your fucking body!" I shout out to her, and she turns around, giving me the middle finger. I roll my eyes. "You're going to get us our third out."
"Don't down her while she's batting, Storm. You dig them into the mud after," he smiles, winking at me. That's exactly what he did to me when we were teammates. I could've played a perfect game and he'd still find a way to ruin my mood.
"She needs to stop playing like a little bitch."
"Hmm, maybe she needs some extra practice." He puts his finger on his chin, "I told her I'd bench her if she didn't step it up by our actual season."
That shocked me so much, I took a step back. "You're fucking with me..." He shakes his head, waiting for my response, but all I could do was blink. "Why?"
"She needs to play to her full potential. All of our heavy hitters are leaving after this season." He states truthfully, and I look around at our team, blowing out a huge breath as Carter hits a foul ball. This is looking like a middle school exhibition game, not a college tournament.
Thinking on his words, I run through the names of people that'll be leaving after this season and I wince. Just about everyone carrying the team will be graduating this year, so Carter does have to step it up.
"Exactly." Gardner notices when I figured it out, but curses when Carter fouls out, and our team gets up, to run to the outfield.
I didn't even get to bat.
I frown.
And it works itself into a glare as I pass Carter, "Who's team are you playing for? Because that sure as hell didn't seem like ours." My cleat clips her leg as she passes, and she hisses, catching herself before she fell.
"I'm having an off day. Don't be a dick." She spits before biting her lip, and glancing up at my eyes. I look back into her hazel ones so coldly, she shivered.
"If we lose," I look at her bottom lip that's suffering under the wrath of her teeth, "Your ass is mine." I struggled with my mind to keep from venturing into the double meaning of my words.
"We won't," she mumbles doubtfully before turning off to the left field.
___