Page 90 of Switch Pitching

Wow. This is a major step, but it’s one I need to take.

“I’m in.”

James beams at me, his face lighting up the entire room. “Sweet. Time to book us some flights.”

32

JAMES

DECEMBER

“Hey, don’t fall asleep on me.”

Well, I can try, but I’m not making any promises. Not when I have nothing else to do but stare pointlessly at a moving gray conveyor belt. Ethan is playfully shaking me, and I pretend to chomp at his fingers to make him stop. We’ve been stuck at baggage claim for almost half an hour, and my bag is nowhere to be seen.

“Your sister’s coming to pick us up, right?” asks Ethan, snapping me fully awake.

“Yeah, Sofia’s waiting for us at arrivals. You’ll like her. She’s quieter.” That’s kind of true, but I don’t know if anyone else I know is as quiet as Ethan. Sofia is quiet relative to the rest of my family, but Ethan is gonna give her a run for her money.

Ethan nods, and we go back to fixing our eyes on the conveyor belt. My eyes widen when I spot my black roller bag lazily trundling toward us, and I run over to scoop it up. I make a mad dash for the exit, hand my customs slip to one of the borderagents, and almost stumble over myself as I spill into the waiting area.

Scanning the room, I spot Sofia waiting on one of the hard metal benches, wearing her trusty black jean jacket. As soon as she sees me, she gets up and runs over.

“Look who finally made it, James Dickhead the Third himself, only an hour late,” Sofia says with a smile.

“Great to see you too, Sofia.”

She slaps my arm to brush a piece of lint off my jacket. “Where’s Ethan?”

I look behind me. No Ethan. “He should be right behind me.”

Sofia proceeds to punch me again, for real this time. “James, you’re an asshole! Don’t tell me you abandoned your boyfriend at customs!”

Ethan saves me from further ridicule by emerging from baggage claim at just the right time.

“That’s him,” I say, pointing in his direction.

“Sheesh. He’stall,” says Sofia. “You snagged a cutie.”

My cheeks heat up, something I think I picked up from Ethan. Wait. Is it even possible to start blushing all the time just by dating someone?

Ethan makes his way over and stretches out his hand. “Hi, you must be Sofia. I’m Ethan.”

Sofia ignores his hand and wraps Ethan in a hug. “Ethan! It’s so great to finally meet you! Welcome to the Hernandez tribe!”

“It’s good to meet you too, thanks.” Ethan’s voice is strained, and he’s suffocated by Sofia’s embrace.

“You didn’t greetmewith a hug,” I complain as Sofia lets Ethan go.

“That’s because you’re a baseball player so you smell like ass.”

“He’s also an athlete. We’re literally teammates,” I point out, but I realize there’s no point in arguing.

“Anyway, let’s go home. I used the free pickup parking and that’s gonna run out in five minutes.” At that, Sofia turns on her heel and marches toward the exit.

“You told me she was quiet,” says Ethan.

“Yeah, compared to the rest of us,” I reply.

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