Page 22 of Left on Base

I shrug, trying not to get excited because yeah, it might not be going well, but it doesn’t mean Jaxon will come back to me.

Brynn leaves with Inez, and Callie and I stand in front of the arena waiting for our Uber. The crowd disperses, voices and footsteps mixing with traffic and rain.

“What did you think of her?” I ask Callie as she scrolls through the million pics she took of the hockey player who winked at her.

“She’s nice-ish.” She looks up and tucks her dark hair behind her ear, raindrops making it curl slightly.

At some point tonight, she bought a Kraken jersey and now she’s wearing it. It looks like a nightgown on her, the blue fabric practically glowing under the streetlights.

“But she’s not you,” she adds.

“What do you mean?” I point at her jersey. “When did you get that?”

She looks down and smiles. “When you were busy watching Inez’s every move.”

“I was not.” I groan. “But what do you mean she’s not me?”

“Well, you’re fun, you know. Sarcastic, like, I don’t know. You’re fun. She seemed uncomfortable being around us.”

“Yeah.” I shake my head, laughing. “Might’ve been because you were asking her all kinds of shit.”

Her brow squishes and she looks offended. “I was trying to get details for you.”

I glance up at the street when my phone dings with the Uber notification. “Yeah? What did you find out?” I grab her hand. “Uber is here.”

She walks with me, our shoes splashing through puddles. “He hasn’t texted her all day, and they went to Gas Works Park, and he barely said anything to her that night. She said he was looking at his phone all night, checking the score of a game.”

“When?”

“I don’t know. I think a few nights ago.”

Okay, well, that’s interesting. Guess who was playing two nights ago in Clearwater?

Yeah, meeee.

My heart starts beating louder. I think about our summer runs through Gas Works Park and Jaxon running behind me because he wanted to watch my booty, as he said.

I saw Inez tonight. Ain’t no way he’s watching her booty. She’s flat as fuck on the top and bottom, if you know what I mean.

“She’s awkward in class too. She, like, never talks to anyone.”

“Unlike you,” I tease. Callie is a social butterfly; she can’t go even five minutes without talking.

“Don’t be mad,” Callie says as we’re walking to the Uber, arms locked together.

“What now? I’m not letting you go home with a hockey player.”

“Uh, it’s not that. I kinda said some shit to Jaxon.”

“Callie!” I shove her shoulder and she slips off the sidewalk and into the street, water splashing up her legs. “Damn you. I told you to stay out of it.”

She steps back onto the sidewalk with me, only to trip over a crack and practically faceplant into a stop sign. Sometimes it’s hard to believe she’s a point guard on the basketball team with her lack of coordination while walking. “I know,” she argues. “But I can’t stand seeing you so sad.”

“What did he say?”

“Hear me out. He knows he’s hurting you and he’s not trying to. He doesn’t want to but he also doesn’t know what to do. Maybe that’s why it’s not going well with Inez? Maybe he realized he doesn’t want to let you go?”

I don’t think he does want to let me go.

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