Page 17 of The Plan

Hazel and I just stare between Sage and August, and then I finally speak up. “This is probably such a dumb question, but are you two…” Sage starts nodding her head.

“Yes, we’re twins. He’s the uglier one, and it’s okay to bully him about it. We can't all be hot.” I chuckle between them, and Hazel only cracks the smallest smile, but I notice the way her eyes light up. She isn’t usually all lovey-dovey, but seeing her fall for August is cute.

The three of them start talking about something when I pull Sire to the side. He's looking down at me, and I can’t put my finger on it, but he still seems upset about something.

“Are you okay?” He just nods and then forces a smile. Hmm… I decide to brush it off, not forcing him to talk about whatever it is. “I got you something.” I smile up at him, hoping to lighten his mood, and it does a bit.

“You didn’t have to get me anything,” he says softly, but of course I did. I take his gift out of my bag and hand it to him. It’s a baseball signed by his favorite baseball player.

My mom is the coach for the Tampa Bay Rays, so I had her ask him to sign it and write, “I’m proud of you, Sire.” He turns theball in his hand in utter shock. Does he like it? Shit, I hope he doesn’t think I told anyone about his addiction.

“Don't worry, I didn’t tell him anything you told me. I promise I would never do that. I wasn’t sure if you wanted him to know what today was, so I just asked him to write that.” Wait. That just sounds like him being proud is meaningless. “I’m sure he still means it. I just meant—”

He cuts me off before I can finish and pulls me in for a hug. I freeze for a second, then wrap my arms around him. We’ve hugged before, but something about this one feels different. More special. It feels like he really needed this hug. I look up at him as he stares into my eyes. “I’m proud of you, Sire.”

He leans in a bit to softly plant a kiss on my forehead. I smile to myself, and he pulls me in again before he whispers into my hair. “Thank you, Vidia.” I guess I do know him well enough to get him a meaningful gift. We stay holding on to each other, and after about a minute, we pull away.

He leans against the gate of the field, and he’s looking at me like I’m the only person in this park. He lightly shakes his head at whatever he’s thinking and looks past me, but he seems distant again.

His new thoughts don’t seem as pleasant as the ones he just had, and I really hope this isn’t pushing it, but I want to know what’s wrong, so I ask. “What are you thinking about?”

He zones back in and just shakes his head. “Nothing,” he mumbles and looks past me again.

“It’s clearly not nothing. If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine, but say that,” I say as softly as possible because I don’t want him to think I’m upset at him for not telling me, but I really do hate when people say they’re fine when they're not. I get not wanting to talk, but don’t lie to me.

Ever since our aquarium date—he’s calling it a date, not me—I've kind of let my guard down. Just a few bits, and only becausehe seems to be making an effort to get to know me, and a part of me wants to do the same.

“I’m sorry.”

I nod that it’s okay, but before I can say anything, the others make their way over to us.

“Holy shit, is your ball signed by the God himself?” August goes to reach for the ball, but Sire shoves it into his pocket, and they fight for it.

Sage looks between the ball and me, and I can see her connecting the dots. “Wait, you're the one with that famous baseball coach mom, right?” I honestly hate when people recognize who my mom is because they ask for favors, not that I mind, but they just find a way to become friends with me for the simple fact of who my mom is. Sage and the boys don't seem like the type to do that, so I don’t hide it and confirm with a nod.

“How was it growing up? She's sort of a celebrity, right?” I laugh at Sage, but she isn't wrong. My mom is pretty well known, especially in the baseball community, but even people who don’t know baseball know her. She trained a lot of the people who are going to be in the Hall of Fame someday. Some already are.

“Sage,you’resort of a celebrity.” Sage waves August off but goes on to explain how social media is her job, and she’s getting into modeling. She has Hazel and I follow all of her platforms, and August was right. With her hundreds of thousands of followers, she may as well be a celebrity. Plus, she’s literally verified.

Most of her posts are of her in the cutest outfits ever. A few of them are brands that sponsor her and talk videos about different topics that she uses her platform to spread awareness on.

“So, what are y'all doing today?” I close out Sage's profile, and she’s the first to answer me. I've only known her for a couple of minutes, but something tells me she’s the most talkative andenergetic one of the three of them, although her twin is definitely a close second for sunshiney.

“We were supposed to go out to celebrate, but Sire is very against it, like always.” She looks at Sire accusingly and crosses her arms.

When I look over at him, he’s rolling his eyes at Sage. “I already told you I’m tired, Sage. Sorry you had to drive down here, but maybe you should call in advance next time.” Is this what he was upset about? He and Sage seemed close, so I’m doubting it.

“You never care when I come unannounced, so don’t be like that.” Sire doesn’t say anything, and Sage nudges his arm with a smile like she’s trying to make him feel better but fails.

“Are you going to at least do something with our bonus sister? Because it’s okay if you just don’t want to hang out with us.” She says it like she’s trying not to feel bad, but obviously does. I didn’t know Sire had another sister, so I turn to him, a bit confused. Then again, I didn’t know he and August were brothers until last week and that August had a twin until a few minutes ago.

August decides to chime in. “I’m going to be highly offended if you say you’re going to hang out with Lisette because I get that you knew her first, and you two are closer, but—” He stops talking because Sire is walking away to his car. Sage calls out to him, letting him know they’ll go out without him, but he doesn’t seem to care as he waves her off.

I make sure Hazel will be okay alone with the twins, and when she says she will, I say goodbye to them and follow after Sire.

He throws his game bag into the trunk of his gray Audi and leans against it as I walk up to him. “I really am tired, Vid. Please don’t try to convince me to go out with them.” Okay, plan A goes out the window.

“I wasn’t.” I play it off. “Are you going home?” He nods, so I just nod back and then turn to walk away. I kind of wanted to hang out with him today, but if he doesn’t want to, then whatever.

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