Take My Breath Away

by Lari Smythe

  * * *

  It was raining on Saturday, but that didn't stop Coach from having us run outside. As we ran through the park behind the school, I briefly thought back to the time Izzy and I spent there, and then it came to me, Cathy. Izzy had done that mind thing with Cathy and from what Alex had said about Cathy's ranting, it hadn't completely worked. When we got back to the gym, coach gave us a water break.

  "So how's Cathy?" I said to Alex over the neck of my water bottle.

  "Better—well a little anyway, why?"

  "I know you like her. So you got to visit her at the hospital?"

  "No, she's home. Her mother thought it would be okay if I saw her."

  "So it went okay, then."

  "I guess, she looks half stoned from the meds and she gets confused easily, but she's better than she was."

  "No more crazy talk about vampires then I guess."

  "Dude," Alex's voice had an edge of anger.

  "Sorry." I shrugged. "I didn't mean anything by it."

  "Yeah, I know, it's just a sensitive topic, that's all."

  "Why? She was just mixed up, right?"

  "Yeah, yeah, of course—it's not like there are vampires running around—but the thing is, she really believes it."

  "Vampires, you serious?"

  Alex nodded.

  "So she talked to you about them?"

  "Nah, not yesterday, topic was taboo, especially with her mother around—"

  "Her mother stayed in the room?"

  "She's real protective. Guess you can't blame her, Cathy's been through a lot."

  I felt like I was pressing so I changed the subject for a minute. "So she coming back to school?"

  "Not this year, but her mom's made arrangements with a tutor so hopefully she'll be a senior with us next year."

  "That's cool, hope it works out. So what'd she actually say about—"

  "Izzy sick?" Alex cut me off. "I haven't seen her around."

  "Yeah, not exactly."

  "Ah, dude, you didn't put the moves on her, not Izzy?" Alex took another swig from his water bottle. "Guess it's not like she shouldn't have been expecting it—the way she's been dressing lately and all."

  "Nah, this one's all on me."

  "Man, that sucks. Guess you and me don't have the best luck with the ladies."

  "All right," Coach yelled. "Grab your gloves and let's see who can throw."

  It was a typical throwing drill, half of us on one side of the gym, the rest on the other side. After each set of ten throws, we took a step back and started again. For the most part the guys were decent, but there were a couple of freshmen that fired off a few wild ones. Once we finished throwing, Coach had us line up for base running drills.

  "So why did you say Cathy believes in vampires?" I asked Alex while we waited our turn.

  "Man, give it a rest, we're trying to get past all that."

  "Sorry, didn't mean to pry. So you're back together?"

  "I think so."

  "That's great, if anybody can help her, my money's on you."

  "You two care to join us?" Coach yelled.

  "Right!" Alex and I answered in unison, and that was that.

  I knew Cathy was home, so there was at least a possibility I could talk to her, but the fact that her mother hung around when Alex visited would make it impossible to ask her about her experience with Izzy. Then there was the whole problem of how was I going to keep Izzy's secret if I talked about it with Cathy, not to mention Cathy might not even be able to help. It seemed like all the pieces were there, I just couldn't fit them together.

  After we ran bases, Alex went with the guys trying out for pitching and I went with the group trying out for the outfield. We didn't hook up again until practice was over and then it was just to talk about the tryouts.