Ted possibly got confused about what we were talking about. “I’m pretty sure Ahmad and I are going to lose touch after high school—”
“Ouch,” Zach spoke, putting a hand over his heart. “Are you trying to hurt me now?”
“Let’s say we don’t make Luke captain,” Ted said. “We aren’t motivated enough to put in the work and we lose.” Some of the guys who weren’t sure they wanted me to be captain still frowned as Ted laid out that scenario. “If that happens,” Ted gestured to Zach and said, “Ahmad would be friends with me right until I was on mydeathbed.Right there to the end being smug and reminding me of the time we almost won, but I was too afraid of the big bad queers.”
We all thought about that for a moment.
Greg opened his mouth. Great, I thought, but he only quietly said, “Zach might enjoy that more than winning.”
“I really enjoy winning,” Zach said. “But I’m so used to it.” Arrogant asshole. “Eternal spite?” He made a thoughtful noise as he considered it. “Does sound interesting.”
No one seemed thrilled at the prospect of an even smugger Zach haunting them the rest of their lives. Well, except for Zach. Could you haunt someone while you were still alive? Maybe Zach could.
“Also, I would beat you all up,” Joey added.
“Yeah, they’re your friends,” replied Sam, trying to brush him off.
“I don’t give a shit about spite or friendship,” the catcher replied.
“Real nice,” I muttered quietly.
“I want to win,” Joey continued. “We have the best chance with them and with Luke being captain. Like, why are we even doing all this talking about it? EvenIknow it. It’s an object fact.”
“Objective,” Zach corrected quietly.
“Luke should be our captain and if even I get that, then all of you do too. You’re just wasting time making a big deal out of something you don’t even have a right to be annoyed about in the first place.”
“Wow, Joey,” I said. Even Zach looked proud. That was the most supportive thing he’d ever said concerning me. Like,ever.
“I’m around Luke and Ryan all the time and they’re theworst,” Joey kept going. Never mind about being supportive. “And it’s not even because they’re two guys. It’s because they’re bothactuallygiantgirls.”He imitated either Ryan or me, or maybe a combination of both of us as his voice got higher and overly sweet.“I love you more, no I love you the most, you hang up, no you hang up.” Joey gave me a disgusted look. “It’s a verbal conversation.”
Was he mad at me for his impression? That didn’t actually happen.
“Spot on,” Zach murmured. Jerk. J. E. R. K.
“I’m the one who should complain and I don’t,” Joey said. He gestured to the team. “You all can just freaking deal with it.”
There was silence.
“The sentiment there was still pretty supportive,” Zach noted.
“Aside from him calling me and Ryan the worst,” I argued.
“He’s not wrong,” arrogant asshole jerk said. I glared at him. I’m terrible at picking my friends. These were the people on my side. “Half the time, you act gooey and gross just to annoy us.”
Oh. “You know about that?”
Zach gave me a smart look. “When I think of subtle, I think of everyone else in the entire world, including animals, before I think of your boyfriend.”
“Okay, we’re getting off topic,” I said. Because we were and that was better than saying Zach was right.
“Also, Ryan does have his uses,” Joey told the team importantly. “Maybe we can get him to bake stuff again.”
“His lemon bars weren’t great,” offered a junior like it was relevant.
I glared at him. “He’s not actually a baker and they were free, so really don’t think you should complain.”
“And Luke will willingly watch scary movies if Ryan’s there,” Joey added. “Thought he was going to cry duringThe Ring, it’s awesome.”
