Page 20 of The Perfect Play

It would be easy to lie and say I wasn’t watching the shortstop closely, thinking about the closeness we’d shared the other day in my backyard. Or about the way his lie to explain the distance that sprang up between us at thirteen had caused the curiosity to flow rather than making me angry. He’d always looked at the ground and shrugged when he was lying, and it seemed like that hadn’t changed in all this time.

I hadn’t had much time to talk to him since then, even though we’d worked the same shift at the diner the night before. The place had been so busy that it was hard to say more than “Hi” and “Excuse me.”

And then he dove, showing off his athletic ability that some would only ever dream of having, making the play look like it was no big deal. Something like that would have taken me months of practice to perfect, and I knew for sure that Jake no longer practiced outside of team practice. Definitely an advantage to not being a pitcher.

I couldn’t help but clap, and seeing him look in my direction caused my breath to hitch. As much as I wanted to know what his expression meant, I had to convince myself it meant nothing.

I’d seen him walking the halls with a different girl every week, and I was not going to be one of his conquests. But he’d been so different, so vulnerable during the moments I’d spent with him over the past few weeks.

“That was awesome!” Kate shouted above the cheers in the rest of the stands.

“Yeah, it was!” I said, matching her volume.

The audience settled down and got ready for the bottom half of the inning to begin. Logan, the third baseman, was first up to bat. He was a year or two younger than us, and I didn’t know much about his skills except that his swing always hesitated a second too long before he swung, making it difficult to connect.

Kate tapped my leg and gave me a look that I knew meant she was going to ask me a question I didn’t want to answer.

“I’m so glad you stayed to watch with me, but I have to ask. Does it have something to do with Jake White?”

I frowned, hoping to cover the sudden rush of heat to my cheeks. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, it’s just that every time we’ve talked in the past week or two, you’ve said something about him, and I was just curious if you were developing some stronger feelings for him. Didn’t you used to like him?”

Blowing out a breath, I stared out at the field, cringing as Logan stared at the third strike. I’d rather run out and play instead of sitting here with all the questions I was bound to get from her. But the great thing about Kate was that she wouldn’t make fun of me.

“It’s so complicated right now. I’ve been mad at him for years, and all of a sudden he’s been going out of his way to say hi and be nice to me again, as if he’s trying to go back to the way we used to be friends before he ditched me. I wish I could say I felt nothing for the guy, but when I see those glimmers of his former self, I go right back to being a tween crushing on the boy next door.”

Clapping her hands together, Kate looked like she was over the moon. “Yay for you finally liking someone again. I know Johnny Goodman moving was hard. I was beginning to think you’d never be interested in anything but dead men from history again.”

I laughed at that. I had a few historic heroes and might have talked about them more than most over the past few years. “Thanks for that, Kate.”

“It’s true. And I’ve seen Jake glance up here more than once. What if he has feelings for you too?” The joy on Kate’s face made me pause for a moment. I’d focused on my future for so long that to actually enjoy the moment suddenly scared me.

“Let’s be honest, Kate. We know his reputation. I refuse to be one of the girls on his long list of conquests. He’ll get bored and move on anyway.” The words ripped at my chest as I said them, but that was the reality of liking the bad boy. There was no happily ever after when it came to guys like him.

But could he go back to being the guy from before my mom left? The consoling one who cared about how things were going in my life and who I could talk to about anything, even the harder stuff?

He acted like I’d built a wall to keep him out, but he was the one who refused to open up about why he’d suddenly ditched me to drink and party with his friends. And with the car accident and then Nate’s face going through the window at the diner, I was better off steering clear of him. Not to mention his apparent willingness to stay in town forever. There would be plenty of time to find someone when I got to college.

Even as I thought it, I watched him pick up a bat and slide on a batting helmet before taking a few swings in the on-deck circle. Gosh, why did he have to look so attractive doing that?

Chapter 17

Jake

Isaw Penny walking through the halls after lunch that Friday, but before I could say anything, two of her friends joined her, Kate and a tall blonde. Kate was in one of my classes and had been extra nice to me, even more so since the baseball game on Tuesday. I hoped I wasn’t attracting her attention, because that would just mean more awkwardness between me and Penny.

“Come on, Pen. You’ve got to get out once in a while. This is a low-key party at the Jeffersons’ tonight.” Kate was pleading, and I chuckled. As I thought about it, I’d never seen Penny at any party. Not that it meant a whole lot, but it was probably why it’d been easy to avoid her for such a long time. Once I stopped talking to her, we didn’t hang out in the same places. Until now with the diner.

“Do it for me, Penny,” the tall blonde girl said, her voice an exaggerated whine.

Shaking her head, Penny’s long ponytail bounced again, captivating my attention for several seconds. I almost reached out to touch it but knew that would be overstepping.

“Can’t we do something other than a party? We could rent a movie and just hang out at someone’s house.” Penny’s right hand held her left shoulder, something she’d always done when we were younger to signal she was uncomfortable with something.

Kate stopped in front of her, and I turned my head, trying to look like I wasn’t aware they were there. “What if we go for a little bit, and if you want to leave, I’ll head out with you?”

“Ugh, you two. You know how I feel about loud music and crazy drunk people.”

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