Page 69 of The Hearts We've Broken
“Man, my team is ass this year,” Jake grumbled.
“Who’s your team?” I asked. I wasn’t a baseball fan, so I didn’t even know the teams that were playing right now.
“The Wranglers.”
“Ah.”
Well, he wasn’t wrong. The Warden Wranglers were currently losing eight to one in the seventh inning.
“I mean, that’s what you get for rooting for a team like Warden, Wyoming.” Mikey leaned his weight onto Jake to nudge him.
“It’s called team loyalty. You should try it sometime.” Jake nudged him back. “At least I don’t switch teams every season based on who’s winning. I’ve been a Wranglers fan since they were good.”
“Yeah, and that was, what? Fifteen years ago?” Reid piped up from the kitchen.
“They’ll make a comeback.”
“Yeah, and hell will freeze over.” Hayden chuckled.
“Aye, well you guys were saying that about Mikey finding a girlfriend, too, and look what happened there,” Jake rebutted, pointing at me with his thumb. “Hey, I guess you won the?—”
“Shut up about it.” Mikey glared at Jake as though he didn’t want him to finish his sentence.
“Won what?” I asked out of curiosity, even though I probably didn’t want to know.
“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it. Jake’s just mad because his team is ass and hasn’t had a winning season since he was in middle school.”
I hummed, not quite believing what Mikey was saying, but before I could say anything, something happened on the TV that had Jake jumping up from his seat and yelling.
“Let’s goooo!” He fist pumped in the air. “Home run, baby!”
“Are you a big sports fan?” Hayden asked me.
I wrinkled my nose. “Not really.”
They all laughed.
“Well, that’s going to change if you keep hanging out with us,” Colter stated, a bit too confidently.
“Yeah, we’ll see about that.” I gritted my teeth at the thought.
“Y’all ready for dinner yet?” Ellison called. “My stomach feels like it’s going to eat itself.”
“We’d better go, then.” Colter laughed. “Come on, guys, we all know Warden’s not going to win.”
“They could make a comeback!” Jake protested right as the team the Wranglers were playing hit a home run with a player on every base, scoring four more points. He clamped his mouth shut, snapping off the TV. “Uh, never mind, that’s enough of that for today.”
Mikey patted him on the back before standing and extending a hand. “It’s okay, Jakey. Maybe one day when pigs fly the Wranglers will have a winning season.”
Jake grumbled as we all found our seats at the table. Having a potluck dinner was the right move, because there was plenty of food for all seven of us.
Colter had grilled burgers and hot dogs, someone brought a few bags of chips, Reid—I think—brought some kind of baked mac and cheese, and we also had an assortment of fruit and vegetables. Oh, and several cases of beer.
Around the table, cans of beer were cracked open and plates were passed around. I grabbed a hamburger bun and patty, loading it up with lettuce, pickles, tomato, ketchup, and mustard.
“We doing the horse racing again this year?” Jake grinned from ear to ear.
“What do you meanwe? Andagain? If I remember correctly, you didn’t do shit last year.” Colter gave him a pointed look.
