Page 107 of Fake Love

“He is pitching pretty great, right? Look at all those Ks he has on the board.” I say, like the proud girlfriend that I am.

“It’s not great, it’s fucking amazing. Everyone is watching that scoreboard and the umpires like a fucking hawk.” Hunter says to me.

“Why? The Miners are winning five to zero and nobody from the other team has been able to make it onto the bases.”

There have been so many fly balls and plays at first, that I kind of feel back for the other team.

“Exactly.” Hunter says, point a finger at me.

“Exactly, what?” I ask him, narrowing my eyes at him.

“We can’t talk about it.” He spits out, and I swear if my best friend was about to marry him, I would kick his ass for talking nonsense.

“We can’t talk about what? You’re not making any sense, Hunty. Maybe your football helmet is a little tight.”

Hunter narrows his eyes at me and looks like he’s about to say something but Selena stops him.

“You’re just going to confuse her more.” she says, elbowing him in the stomach.

Selena steps out from under his arm and pulls out her phone.

“So far, this is what Maddox is pitching,” She says, holding out her phone for me to see.

She has it open to her search engine and has searched perfect game in baseball.

“What the hell is that?” I ask out loud, confused even more.

“The type of game where a pitcher pitches that doesn’t allow anyone on base. No line drives, no bunts, no walks, nobody on base. Nothing from the other team’s end. He has to do all that throughout the whole game in order to get the P word. This is a big thing for a pitcher.” Selena explains.

“The P word?” Now she’s talking in riddles.

Selena waves her phone. P for perfect. “You can’t say it or you jinx it.”

I give Selena a look before looking out onto the field and then the scoreboard.

Huh. I just thought that Maddox was pitching a good game, but it’s a lot more than that apparently. So much more.

“So Maddox is pitching a P word?” I ask my two companions.

Selena nods. “So far, yes. It can change though.”

It can change.

That’s something that I’ve learned throughout the season. Baseball can change so quickly. One single play can mess up a team's lead.

Which is why for the rest of the sixth and seventh season, I watch the game with so much more concentration. I don’t want to miss a single thing.

Every single pitch he throws I’m on the edge. My nails get bitten to the nubs and my legs keep bouncing up and down.

When the seventh inning stretch comes along, I’m slightly calmer but the second that the eight starts and Maddox walks up to the mound, I’m a chaotic mess.

“Six more batters,” Selena says, turning to me and giving me a smile.

Six batters seems like a small amount but six can turn to more very quickly.

Thankfully though, the eighth inning comes with two more strikeouts for Maddox and a ball that was popped up into right field and caught by Aaron.

First half of the eighth inning is done and now we wait for the ninth.

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