“My first kiss was at a beginning-of-school party during freshman year on a dare. Actually my first two were dares. And then number three was James last winter, who I found kissing someone else a week later. All the other guys I dated were just guys I talked to in my classes. I’d be interested in them for a week or two, and then they’d just stop talking to me.” I finally looked in his direction, curious how he was taking all the information. He looked thoughtful but not like he was ready to run away. “What about you? How many girls have you kissed?”
His eyes went wide, and he let out a nervous laugh. “Umm, you’re my first kiss.”
“Wait, what? When I kissed you in the car, that was your first kiss?”
He nodded, looking more terrified than I’d ever seen him.
“Well, for the record, you’re a pretty great kisser.” I giggled as his neck, face, and ears all turned bright red. I glanced down at his lips but was surprised when he leaned forward, kissing me gently. After a few seconds, I pulled back, laughing. “What was that for?”
He grinned. “Just trying to block out those other kisses from your mind.” We laughed together and he said, “How about we watch a movie?” He slid his hand around mine, interlocking our fingers.
“Sounds like a great plan.” I leaned into him, unable to wipe the grin off my face. Things were going well, I just hoped we’d continue like this for longer than a couple of weeks.
Twenty-Six
Ben
It was the end of day two of the Texas Elite Baseball Camp, and I’d never been as exhausted as I was dropping onto the bed in the dorms we were all assigned to. I’d thought I was in decent shape before I arrived yesterday morning, but my legs were jelly and so was my brain. After being assigned to the group of pitchers, I realized how much I’d been lacking in my abilities.
The coach in charge of us had pointed out several times that as a pitcher, we had to be better than just throwing pitches. We had to think through scenarios, look for weaknesses in the hitter’s swing, and know what we could throw to strike them out. I was a baby while the other guys were toddlers or even young kids when it came to this kind of stuff. There were times I thought it would’ve been better had Coach Maddox recommended someone else to fill the spot.
There had been moments when I heard my father’s voice telling me it wasn’t worth it and my baseball career wouldn’t pan out, but then I’d remember Serena’s words, along with my mom’s and Daniel’s encouragement that I could actually make it through this.
Most of the other guys had stayed out tonight, playing some games in one of the other dorms. I lay down on the top bunk, opening my phone to see a few messages.
One was from Serena.
Good luck tomorrow! You’re amazing, and you’ll do great. Know I’m thinking about you.
My chest swelled with pride as I thought of her. It was funny to think about how prickly she’d been when we first sat by each other in the theater almost three months before. But from the message she’d sent, it was like she’d just needed someone to listen to her and she’d started to come alive.
I clicked out to the next message, knowing I’d want to spend some more time on the words I’d send her. The next message was from Penny. From my screen, I could see we’d only messaged once before, and I was curious as to what she could need right now.
Call me when you’re done with your camp for the day.
I glanced at the time stamp, seeing it had come in only a few minutes ago, an hour after Serena had sent her text. Something hadn’t happened to Serena in that time, right?
I dialed the number, hoping to ease the panic surging.
“Ben.” Penny sounded out of breath. “I’m glad you called me back. I needed to talk to you about something really important.”
“Is everyone okay?” I’d originally thought of Serena, but maybe Jake had been in an accident. With how easily he’d broken the window at the diner, I wouldn’t be surprised if something like that happened to him again.
Penny chuckled. “Yeah, as far as I know. Why? Are you worried?”
I blew out a breath, grateful to hear that. “I just don’t get texts from you very often, so I figured you had some news about something.”
“Well, I’ll know to add ‘emergency’ next time. Okay, so Serena’s birthday is this Friday, and we’re planning a little surprise party for her.”
“That would be fun.” Should I have been the one to plan it? I was probably the worst boyfriend on earth at the moment. But at least Penny had called me about it.
“Yep. She’s never had one. We’re going to have it at Kate’s house, and the guys are all going to be there too. You’ll be able to make it, right? I mean, the camp ends that afternoon?”
I pulled the phone away from my ear to clear my throat and returned it there, hearing Penny’s light breathing through the line. “As far as I know. I think we get done at about four.”
“Okay, you’re about ninety miles away,” she said, her voice going soft like she was talking to herself. “Friday afternoon traffic on the highways home. Let’s have you plan to pick Serena up at her house around seven thirty. We can figure out an excuse for why you’re stopping over at Kate’s house, and then we’ll surprise her.”
“What if I get stuck in traffic?”
Penny groaned. “Don’t be sending those vibes out, Ben. Positivity. Okay, never mind. We’ll come up with another plan. Either Brynn or I will get her to the party, but you need to show up as soon as you’re back in town. She’s never had a surprise party, just like she’s never been to a school dance, and as much as she won’t admit it, she wants both things to happen at some point.”
“Wait, are we talking about the party or are you talking about a dance? We haven’t even started school yet for the year.”
“Focus on the party. That’s goal number one right now.” She paused a moment, her voice dropping in volume. “Do you want me to pick up a gift from you?”
My stomach tightened, and I was sure something was squeezing my lungs. “Umm…good question. What do you think she would like?” Heat rose to the tips of my ears as I thought about it. I was probably the worst gift giver ever, and it seemed like a birthday gift to my first girlfriend was almost as much pressure as being called to pitch in a tight spot.
“You like her, right?” The fact that one of Serena’s good friends had just asked me if I liked Serena or not meant I was doing an awful job in the boyfriend department. I wasn’t sure if Penny was this blunt with everyone else in the world, but she had a way of getting information out of me that even I didn’t know.
“Of course I like her.” I liked her smile, her sarcasm, and the way she snuck Daniel treats every time she came over to my house. She loved volleyball about as much as I loved baseball, and she’d been through a lot in the past few years, even though most people assumed she had the perfect life. But what to get her that conveyed all that wasn’t coming to mind. “Let me get back to you on that.”
“Okay, then. Well, I have to run, but good luck at your camp, and we’ll see you on Friday. I’ll text you Kate’s address so you have it.” She hung up, and I stared at the phone, wondering what I’d just gotten myself into.
I wracked my brain to come up with something that would be unique and show her how much I cared about her. The disappointment on her face when I showed up late to the movie night still twisted my stomach as I remembered it. I didn’t know much about the future, but I did know I needed Serena in my life. My feelings for her had gone from major crush to stronger feelings than like. But was there a physical representation of that I could give her?
I had three more days of baseball. Plenty of time to figure that out. And staying away from her like my dad had advised before I left for this trip wasn’t an option. I wanted her by my side, walking through the halls of the school and cheering for me in the stands during a game. And I would be there doing the same thing for her games. We both deserved the support of the people who loved us, and I was pretty sure I w
as there.
Twenty-Seven
Serena
“Girl, why are you dressed so somber?” Brynn asked, sitting in my room.
I looked down at the jean shorts and black blouse. It had been a while since we’d actually gone out anywhere, and maybe Penny’s more subtle style was rubbing off on me.
She stood and walked into my closet, grabbing several hangers and spreading the clothing out on my four-poster bed. As I scanned the pieces, I realized she’d pulled out several items I’d never seen before. I stood from the chair next to my desk and walked over, pulling out a tag so I could see the brand.
RG. My mom had designed these? I held up the white lace shirt with a second layer underneath all but the sleeves. The second had ruffled sleeves and just a few pieces of bling along the front of the shirt.
“Why don’t you ever wear any of these? I might have to borrow one or two of them.” Brynn held another shirt up to her, turning several ways in the mirror and making faces.
“I didn’t even know I had them.” These definitely didn’t fit in the old-woman category, and I hoped she was planning to sell more things like this in her shop. This was way better than what we’d modeled at the fashion show, and if Brynn and I were both excited about them, it was a good sign.
I pulled on the lace shirt and changed to a navy-blue circle skirt, adding some heels when Brynn insisted.
“Since when has it been like pulling teeth to get you to dress up?” Brynn said, admiring herself again in the mirror, this time with the shirt on.
With a quick shrug, I sat down and applied some mascara and eyeshadow. “It helps to know where I’m going. I get that you want it to be a surprise, but just tell me already.”
Brynn pulled on her upper lip with her teeth. “Um, no. Then no one would ever tell me a secret again. You’ll just have to wait a little bit longer.” She curled her eyelashes and then coated them with mascara before saying, “Have you heard from Ben today?”
I glanced toward my phone as if it would suddenly produce a bunch of messages from him. I’d barely heard anything from him over the past few days, but I could only imagine what the coaches were putting him through.
“No.” I gave a forced smile. I hadn’t heard from him since Tuesday when he’d called. He’d sounded so tired but also like something was off. That was just the start of my defenses rising in response to a lukewarm boy. But then at the end of the conversation, he’d sounded like he wanted to say something more serious but had held back. Since he hung up, it had been radio silence.
Brynn looked as if she’d just smelled something disgusting. “Really? He better make up for it tonight.”
Pointing my finger at her, I asked, “So you’re saying he’s going to be wherever we are tonight?” I grinned, hoping to coax any tidbit of information out of her. I hoped she was right because the strongest feeling I had right then was missing Ben, his awkwardness and his quirky sense of humor.
She used her thumb and pointer finger to pull an imaginary zipper over her lips. “My lips are sealed.”
“Not anymore.”
“Whatever. It’s seven fifteen. Let’s go. We’ve got to meet the girls in a few minutes.”
Twenty minutes later, we pulled into Kate’s driveway. I didn’t see Penny’s car and still had no idea what was going on. Brynn stalked up the steps and opened the door, walking right into the house.
“What are you doing? You don’t live—”
“SURPRISE!”
I jumped back, almost falling off the small step into the front door, barely catching myself on the handle.
I glanced around, surprised to see not only Kate and Penny, but several of the baseball guys. Even most of my volleyball team had shown up. But as I scanned the room, there was no sign of my tall pitcher boyfriend.
“Uh, thank you all. I had no idea you’d planned all this.” I glanced at my friends, smiling wide. This was my first surprise party, and it was just as amazing as I’d always pictured. After thanking a bunch of people, I stared at Penny, hoping she’d be able to communicate the reason my boyfriend was missing across a room full of people.
She gave me a sad smile and a shake of the head like she didn’t know what had happened with him.
Kate ushered everyone to the upstairs bonus room where music was playing and a bunch of food and games were set out in the large space.
Brynn, Kate, and Penny surrounded me. “You look amazing, Serena,” Kate said. “I need to borrow that shirt for school.”
I leaned closer to Penny and whispered in her ear, “Where’s Ben?”
“I don’t know,” she said, her voice a little louder. “I told him we were doing this tonight, and he said he’d be here.”
I turned to survey the room, wondering if anyone could hear her over the loud music blaring from the speaker system overhead.
“I talked to him on Tuesday night about the party. I told him I’d pick you up a gift for him to give you since he wouldn’t have much time coming back from camp, but I never heard from him after that.
“Okay, let me call him.” I pulled out my phone, walking down a hallway in the hopes of finding a quieter spot to be able to hear. I dialed the number on my main screen, listening to it ring several times before going to voicemail. I texted him, worried he’d gotten into an accident or had some other injury.
Brynn hooked her arm through mine. “Let’s just enjoy tonight. I’m sure he has an explanation.”
I stared down at the black screen on my phone, wishing it would light up and have his name as the caller. “I hope so.”
I liked him way more than I wanted to admit, and each time I thought about it, the worries increased. My feelings for him were lightyears beyond what I’d felt for the other guys I’d dated, which had been more of just a physical attraction than anything else. Ben was relatable and funny, and when he wasn’t too stressed about baseball, he treated me like I was the only girl in the world.
I hoped he was all right and there was a good reason for him not being there, because I didn’t think I could bear it if he fit into the same category as my parents.
Twenty-Eight
Ben
I swatted at a mosquito near my face and leaned forward, squinting to see the catcher’s signals behind the plate. It was the last day of the camp, and I’d learned so much in the few days I’d been there. The lights shone down on the field, making the navy-blue sky look black. The stands were filled with over thirty different college coaches, armed with radar guns, tablets, and notebooks.
I had to focus on the next pitch and not let my mind panic over what they might be writing down. It wasn’t necessarily all about me, with thirty-nine other players at the camp.
The catcher flashed me the sign for a fastball on the outside corner. I glanced at the batter, taking in his stride, how far away his feet were from the plate, where his hands rested on his shoulder.
I nodded, bringing the ball into my glove. I strode forward, throwing the ball to where the catcher didn’t even have to move. I made a small fist pump, not wanting to show too much emotion with the batter still at the plate.
The next pitch was a slider, moving out of range of a strike. The next one was another fastball, this time on the inside corner. As soon as I let go of the ball, I wanted it back, knowing my shoulder had rotated farther than it was supposed to and the ball was headed right for the middle of the plate.
The ping of the ball hitting the bat caused my heart to sink, and I turned to watch it sail over the fence. The batter rounded the bases with his arms high, and I was just ready to go home. I glanced up into the stands where most of the coaches had their heads buried, writing whatever it was they needed to remember.
The kid playing catcher jogged out to me with a new ball from the umpire. “Hey, you’re good. Just settle down. Hit your spots. We’ll win them with offense.” He tossed the ball into my glove and looked at me until I nodded.
“Yeah,” I mumbled. I needed to keep my focus. Hit those spots I’d sp
ent so much time throwing to so I could get out of this inning.
“Just throw like you’ve been throwing this whole week. There’s no surprise here.” He jogged backward a few steps and turned around to sprint behind the plate.
The word “surprise” triggered Penny’s voice from her call the other night. “We’re throwing Serena a surprise party on Friday.”
I closed my eyes, shame washing over me. I was missing the surprise party, and I hadn’t even contacted her today to tell her happy birthday. With the camp beginning around seven in the morning and not finishing until after nine for the last four days, I’d been exhausted and hadn’t even called my mom, just sending her a text that I was still alive.
The schedule had said we’d be done with the camp by four, but some of the guys who’d been there before said there was always a big scrimmage the last day, and that was the best chance to be looked at by college coaches.
Blinking a few times, I saw the signal and threw the next pitch, the ball landing in the dirt a few feet in front of the plate. The catcher moved enough to block it with his chest protector, but I knew that things were already spiraling out of control.
Three pitches later, the guy who was in charge of the pitchers walked over and pulled me out, trying to tell me good job. I tuned it out, feeling the failure in every part of my body. I’d not only failed at getting attention from scouts, but I’d failed my girlfriend by not showing up when she needed it.
The moment the game ended, I pulled out my phone and sent her a text.
Happy Birthday! I’m so sorry I didn’t make it for the surprise party. I’m driving home now.
The Perfect Game: A Young Adult Romance (Rosemont High Baseball Book 2) Page 14
