Page 147 of Left on Base

i think ima go back to sleep now and maybe hope you just laugh and think to yourself, omg she’s crazy but I miss her crazy

Also, bees are just spicy flies??

Anyway, that’s all????????????????????????

I’m going to sound insane if I send that.

Guess what? I push send.

CHAPTER 28

WALK

CAMDYN

The result of four balls at a plate appearance.

Why did you let me do that?

Oh my God. I shouldn’t be allowed to have my phone. Like, ever. Take it away from me.

I’m in Survey of Human Anatomy, pretending to care about the difference between cuboidal and squamous epithelial cells while my brain replays every mortifying text I sent Jaxon last night. I don’t give a damn about anything right now—except why the fuck I sent those messages.

The lecture hall reeks of coffee, highlighter, and stress sweat. Dr. Yu’s trying to keep us awake, pacing with a plastic kidney like it’s an Oscar.

Jameson slides into the seat beside me, his hair still damp from a last-minute shower. He flicks his eyes to my phone and grins. “You look like someone who failed a pop quiz. Or texted the guy you swore last week you’d never text again.”

I groan. “Oh my God… I sent himsixtymessages.”

“Someone needs to take your phone.” Jameson snatches it and scrolls, his eyebrows climbing higher with every swipe. “You texted him a bee emoji twelve times.”

I bury my face in my hands. “I know, right? Do you think he read them?”

He tilts the screen so I can see. “Pretty sure. See? Read receipts. He was definitely awake for the ‘bees are just spicy flies’ part.”

Fuck my life. Seriously.

Dr. Yu clicks over to the lymphatic system slide. “If you’ll look here, the body’s response to venom is actually a fascinating cascade of histamine release?—”

Jameson leans in and whispers, “Maybe you should volunteer to talk about your allergic reaction. Full-body experiential learning.”

“Hard pass,” I mutter, still staring at the ‘READ’ under my last message. No matter what we’ve put each other through, I still crave the power he has over me. I fight the urge to call him. I text and delete before I can hit send.

Jameson’s already off on another tangent. “My dad used to stare at my bat.”

Conversation whiplash. “Uh… what?”

He laughs. “Not like that. That was random, huh?”

I snort. “Little bit. Why’d he stare at your bat?” The words come out weird but I push through, curious.

He fiddles with his pen. “Before me and my sisters were born, my mom dated this dude—abusive asshole, they broke up, but something happened… I don’t know all of it, but this guy Shane and some other dudes took a bat to my dad’s head.”

I twist in my seat, mouth open. “Wait. You’re serious?”

He nods, suddenly somber. “Yeah, it was wild. He had a brain bleed, tons of surgeries. Lost his hearing in his left ear, gets dizzy and killer headaches.” Jameson shrugs. “He survived, though.”

“That’s good.”

---