Page 16 of Switch Pitching

A line of girls? That doesn’t register. I only remember two of James’s new friends who immediately clocked me as gay.

“Yeah, well, that’s normal for me,” I say.

James looks genuinely curious. “Oh? How do you keep your head straight?”

Hesitating for a moment, I think carefully about what to say. I could give him the normal platitude of keeping myself focused, but finding the right words for that is way harder when I have a splitting headache.

It’s probably better to be upfront and tell him the truth. “I keep my head on straight by not being straight. I’m gay.”

Wow, Ethan. That was so smooth. Not.

James’s eyebrows shoot up, but he recovers. “Huh.” He pauses before another one of his wide smiles spreads across his face. “Damn, the women of Boston are gonna be pissed. The trashy sports magazines are already writing about you.”

“What?”

The bed starts shaking with James’s laughter. “Oh man, you haven’t seen?”

“Seen what?”

James reaches over and grabs his phone before typing something, still chuckling to himself. After an excruciating wait, James turns his phone to me.

“Drink it in, Ethan.”

My eyes tense up as I scan the article that James loaded. There’s a collage of pictures. Of me. And my arms. And my ass in baseball pants. And a thirsty headline that I immediately purge from my memory.

Ethan Sullivan: This New Heartbreaking Outfielder Will Pop Your Fly!

“Oh my god, who wrote that headline?” I groan. Ignoring the fact that “outfield” and “pop fly” don’t belong in the same sentence, I don’t need gossip magazines blasting my face everywhere and declaring that I have “outfield appeal”, whatever that is. I turn the phone back to James.

“I’m guessing you don’t want me to read you the comments?” James asks, with fake innocence.

“Please don’t.”

Putting his phone back down, James turns to face me. “I’m not kidding about you breaking hearts because you’re off limits.”

“It won’t matter anyway. I’m planning to keep my old apartment in Portland and commute.”

James doesn’t even try to hide his confused expression. “You’re planning to stay in Portland?”

I look away sheepishly. “Yeah, it’s not that far and I got a good deal.”

It doesn’t look like James believes anything I’m saying. I’ll admit, I wasn’t looking forward to the drive, but it’s doable. Besides, I’m not invincible, and I want to save as much as I can during my first season in case I get injured.

I snap out of my thoughts to stare straight at James, and it’s obvious that gears are turning in his head.

“Here’s the deal,” James starts, “I don’t have a place yet, but I have an idea. We should look for a place together before the season starts.”

“You don’t have a place? Opening day is in a week.”

Letting out a massive sigh, James flops back onto his bed.

“Nope, haven’t started looking. I was planning on staying in a hotel until I found an apartment, but if you’re on board to live with me, that’ll give me motivation to get my ass in gear.”

“I don’t know, man, I’m not opposed, but?—”

James’s eyes are bright with excitement as he sits back up. “Come on, it’ll be fun! We can split rent, have a bigger place, and we’ll keep each other on track during the season. Also, I’m easy to live with.”

I glance at the room around us. I nudge James, gesturing at the floor that’s littered with clothes, towels, and protein bars. “You sure about that?”

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