Page 45 of The Perfect Steal

“You like her, don’t you?” Colt said as I watched Brynn walk through the commons a couple days after the game.

I paused, trying to decide if I should deflect the question. “Yeah, she’s not perfect, just as flawed as I am, but I like that about her. And she’s never tried to be someone else, which is unusual for me. But is she dating Garrett Park?”

Colt slapped me on the back. “She’s an awesome person. Hazel is always raving about her. But I don’t know if Brynn likes Garrett. I overheard Kate asking him to participate, something spicing up the competition with you.”

“Are you serious? Kate asked Garrett to irritate me?”

With a chuckle, Colt nodded. “I think she wanted you to participate and didn’t think you would if you weren’t forced to.”

Well, she was right there. Getting sticky wasn’t my favorite thing. I struggled with being dirty, usually having to block that out after games. Sliding into the bases usually left me with dirt everywhere, and a dive in the outfield drove grass stains through my white baseball pants.

That still didn’t tell me for sure that Brynn wasn’t dating Garrett, though. It was something I’d have to ask her.

“Well, if you can get Hazel to go out with you, maybe we could double date some time.” I turned and grinned at him, to which he scowled.

“Hazel doesn’t like me like that,” he said, staring at the backs of his hands.

“Who knows, Colt? Maybe she’ll realize she can’t be without you at some point.”

The hope that sparked in his eyes reminded me of my own. I liked a girl with a complicated family life who was just as determined as I was to leave this small town behind once graduation was over. But as I thought about that, maybe what we were running from was ourselves, our ability to cope with the things that kept popping up in our life.

The bell rang, sending us to class. Brynn was already in her seat, her long brown hair hanging down over her shoulder as she bent over a notebook, writing something.

“Hey,” I said, dropping my backpack next to the seat and then sitting down.

Brynn used her arm to cover up whatever she’d been writing and said, “Hey.” She looked half-flustered, the other part mischievous. “How’s your day going?”

It was said with a light tone, and from the brightness of her smile, I wondered if she’d finally spoken to her mother. I needed to do the same with my father, but mentally, I wasn’t quite ready for that discussion.

“It’s going. How about yours?”

She grinned. “It’s going well. Really well. We found out we’re now ranked in the top ten in all of Texas for women’s high school basketball.”

I nodded and raised my hand, waiting for her to give me a high five. “That’s awesome and quite a feat.”

She gave me a high five, her smile wide and eyes filled with excitement. “I was thinking we should figure out a time when we can get that assignment done. Are you free this weekend?”

“Let me check my overwhelming schedule.” I said it with some sarcasm, paused a second, and replied, “Yep, I’m free.”

She laughed, loosening something in my chest as I watched her. She was so strong, and yet she was still working to overcome things she couldn’t exactly control. I looked up to her more than I thought. And yet, I wanted to hang out with her more than ever.

“I can meet on Saturday after two. I have to ref some junior basketball games. Where should we meet?”

“How about my house?” I couldn’t help thinking that for the most part, my house was quiet, and hopefully, we’d be able to hang out and talk more this time.

She nodded. “Perfect.”

“Welcome, class,” Mrs. Rhodes began.

I didn’t hear much, just the fact that I’d need to prepare for Brynn to come to my house this weekend. The girl I was crushing on at my house. I just hoped she liked me as much as I liked her.

29

Nate

Saturday dawned, and I was up way earlier than normal, the anticipation of Brynn coming over causing me to actually clean my room. My mom and sister had driven a couple hours away to help one of my aunts with something. I think it was decorating her house, not my area of expertise.

My father had said something about taking advantage of a quiet day in the office to get his to-do list done, leaving me to find something to do for hours. What I did was go over all my feelings about him as I scrubbed toilets and cleaned the first floor. I could probably use another running session at the field to get rid of some of the frustration.

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