Page 51 of Don't Go Faking My Heart

In the stands, the moms flock around me.

"Are you and Rusty actually dating?" Ava D's mom asks.

"I've been trying to get that man to notice me since my divorce," Noah's mom says. "How did you do it?"

"And is your ex really here to get you back?" Ava D's mom asks.

Is it getting hotter out? The sun really needs to set already.

"Hey, did y'all hear that Jake Rodgers asked Lucy Jane out on her socials?" Millie says. Jake Rodgers is one of the best baseball players in the country. Millie’s talking to our friends, but Ava D and Noah's moms both turn to look at her.

Lou's eyes tighten just shy of a glare.

"Yes!" I say, biting back a smile. "But did you see that Connor Nash then commented on Cam's post and said he was throwing his name in the ring and asked her out, too?"

"I would kill to get tickets to their concert," Noah's mom says. Lucy Jane's "Southern States" tour starts at the end of summer and will go for months, ending in a concert with Connor Nash at Memphis’ famous Hot Strings Hall.

"Can you imagine what Lucy Jane's life must be like?" I say in a dreamy way, resting my head on Lou's shoulder.

"I'm not even sure she's a real person," Lou says, and I choke on a laugh.

"Of course she's a real person," Ava D's mom says, like she thinks Lou is taking crazy pills. "You know, my cousin says she went to college with her."

We each still. "Really?" I ask. "Where did your cousin go to school?"

"NC State."

We breathe a collective sigh of relief, because Lou attended the University of Chicago. It's where we all met.

I'm not sure why Lou insists on keeping up the disguise, given that she'll be outing herself when her tour finally starts. She kept her face off the cover of her album, so each single she releases keeps fueling the fire of speculation. She's only ever shown her profile on her YouTube channel, and she strategically lets her long blonde hair obscure her face. You never get more than a glimpse of her nose in her videos. She uses lighting to make her pale blonde hair seem like it's a different shade than it really is, too.

It's clever, but I wonder how she's going to handle it when the cloak and dagger finally comes to an end.

"I love her new song," Noah's mom says. "It's so angsty."

"The title is lame," Jane says from the other side of Millie.

"The title is awesome," Lou says.

"'Strawberry Fields for Never?'" Jane asks, her eyes twinkling. "Really?"

Lou is in full legal mode now. "Yes, really. It's a fabulous title. It immediately evokes the enemies to lovers vibe of the song."

"Lucy Jane is a tortured poet," Jane says.

"You're just jealous," Lou says.

"Jealous of what?"

"That she's a natural blonde."

Jane gasps and grabs her own naturally blonde hair … hair that gets a bit mousey in the winter and is no stranger to Sun-In. "How dare you?"

Millie, Parker, and I are laughing too hard for any of this to make sense to anyone outside of us.

But the good news is that Noah and Ava D's moms have turned away and are caught up in their own conversation. Probably about how bizarre we are.

The T-ball game continues in all its delightfully unathletic glory. Lottie is the only kid on the field who seems to take it seriously, much to her own dismay. She keeps trying to steal bases, which isn't allowed, and it hurts her feelings when the adults in the stands laugh at the kid shenanigans, like when her teammate is chasing a butterfly instead of the ball or when another teammate has a dirt fight with the first baseman when he should be running to second.

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