Page 9 of The Perfect Hit

When Colt continued to frown at his menu, I asked, “What's wrong? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you get this mad before.”

“Scott Daniels just drives me crazy,” he said, shaking his head.

I laughed out loud and then had to cover my mouth with my hands.“I'm sorry,” I said when I'd gained a little more control of myself. “He can be an arrogant jerk, but he has his moments of being a decent human being. Why are you so irritated with him now?”

“He thinks he's the greatest of all time,” Colt said, fingering the edge of the menu.

He wouldn't look up at me, and a mixture of irritation and curiosity hit me.

“He had no right to talk to you that way. Besides, it bugs me how every girl in the school tends to fawn all over him,” he said, finally lifting his head to look at me with hooded eyes.

“Really? Are you worried none of the girls look your way?” I asked, trying to keep my smile under wraps. “Because I’m pretty sure Marcy Johnson would go out with you in a heartbeat.”

That thought would usually make me smile, as I loved seeing my friends get together with people they liked, but picturing the two of them together did something to jar my brain, and a bit of jealousy peeked through. It seemed like the comment hadn’t sat well for him either.

He frowned. “I’m not sure who she is. And it's not like I'm trying to date the world. I just don’t like arrogant people.”

I tipped my head back and laughed, one of the deep, hearty laughs.

“What’s so funny?” Colt asked, leaning forward to take a sip of water.

“You don’t like arrogant people? Nate is, like, the definition of arrogant, until you get to know him.”

Colt thought about that for a few seconds and then gave me a partial smile. “Yeah, you’re right about that.”

He relaxed a bit, and at that moment, I wished I had a story narrator for my life like in some of the plays to help me read his thoughts. The idea that he would be envious of Scott Daniels made me laugh internally. The two were completely different, and it would be really hard to compare them.

Where Scott was tall and lanky, Colt was average size and built. Scott had brown eyes, but Colt’s were a mix of blue and green, one color appearing more depending on what color shirt he wore. Colt’s sandy-brown hair was longer now, but he usually kept it neatly trimmed. Then again, knowing his mom, she was probably the reason for his clean-cut appearance most of the time. My eyes flicked down to his arms, and I noticed how strong they looked now. Not that he'd ever been super skinny, but he was starting to fill out.

Wait a minute, why was I checking him out? Colt was my best friend and the best guy I’d known since I'd moved here from Buffalo. We'd had so many adventures, and it seemed like the betrayal I'd gone through with my ex-boyfriend was slowly starting to heal.

But there was always a difference between friendship and being in a relationship. Ever since I’d broken up with Seth, it seemed like being friends was the safest option.

“What are you thinking about?” Colt asked.

I shook my head, returning to the present. “Just that I'm grateful for you, and for our friendship.” Telling Colt about my ex-boyfriend had been something on my to-do list, but part of me worried that it would push Colt away. That if he realized the same things Seth had, he’d go running for the fields and leave me to fend for myself. Which I was not equipped to do just yet.

But the word friendship suddenly tasted bitter as I said it, and I knew maybe spending so much time on this play had done a number on my feelings. The play was about teens conquering a lot of obstacles to be together. Now that I was looking at my bestie through a new lens, I realized there were little things throughout the script that were kind of like Colt and me.

Colt gave me a thin-lipped smile, and it seemed like there was a strange wall between us suddenly.

“I hope you know I'm being serious,” I said, reaching over and touching the back of his hand with my palm. “I went through a lot of crap a few months before coming here, and as much as I love New York City, it was nice to have a fresh start from Buffalo.”

Colt perked up and leaned forward. “What did you go through?”

I bit down on my bottom lip for a few seconds, debating whether or not I should or was ready to talk about this.

“I mean,” Colt continued when I hadn't said anything, “you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. To be honest, I've always worried that you are going to up and leave back to New York one day.”

Laughing, I said, “There isn't much left in Buffalo for me. My ex-boyfriend kinda ruined it.”

Colt nodded. “I didn’t know you had an ex there.” He looked like he wanted to ask more but didn't want to pry. Just another reason being around him kept me grounded. I knew he wouldn’t force me to share anything I didn’t want to, even though those instances were few and far between.

“I didn't want to talk about him because he really hurt me. He didn't support the things I loved, even though I was at every one of his basketball games.” There. That was at least something. Vague enough that Colt wouldn’t know exactly what Seth had critiqued during our breakup.

I thought back on those times. I'd been in several productions throughout the years my family had lived there. In the year we dated, he'd shown up for one choir concert and left after about ten minutes.

“I can understand that,” Colt said. “It's hard not to want someone to reciprocate your feelings.” Why did it sound like he struggled to say that?

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