Page 32 of The Way We Swing Back

“I ran through your stop sign, or we would’ve won.”

“Yeah, well, if you ever do that again, I’m benching you.”

I peeked up; Coach had a small smile on his face. “I’m sorry.”

“Easton. Stop. That game is in the past. A month from now, the doctor will clear you, and we can get back on the grind.”

I nodded. Trying to convince myself, I said, “I’m going to get you that title next year.”

“No faith in the team this year?”

I snorted, knowing what we both did—this year was a wash. But maybe next year we could actually get it done.

After the conversation ended, I made my way out of the school, the sound of my shoes echoing in the empty halls. When the heat of the spring air hit my face, I saw Gavin sitting with his back against a tree, his red Crocs next to him and nothing on his feet but the team-issued black socks.

“What’s up, Gav?” I said. “Where’s Zach?”

“I sent him home with our bags. I told him we’d walk,” he said as he stood, putting his shoes back on.

“Why would you tell him that? It’s over a mile.”

“Because it’s only a mile, and I wanted to talk with you.”

“Gavin, we don’t have school tomorrow, so I was coming over, anyway. We could have just talked at your house.”

“Oh yeah,” he said, starting to walk across the blacktop of the parking lot. Everybody had cleared out, leaving only empty parking spots.

I sighed and followed him, never knowing what I’d be getting into with Gavin. “So, what did you want to talk about?” I asked as we got stride for stride.

“I suck right now,” he said, sounding more chipper than he should have based on his words.

“We went over this last summer. You don’t even turn fifteen until next month, and you’re playing a bunch of eighteen-year-olds. Just focus on your defense and hit as well as you can.”

“Yeah,” Gavin said, his arms swinging, “that’s fine and good. But I need more muscle by next year. Because this is depressingly awful.”

“Yeah, it is. But why did we need to talk about this?”

“We’re going to need to get back into working out like Tanner used to have us do.”

“Sure.”

“But let’s put Tanner back in charge in the summer. You can ask him to do it. Get us good again.”

“Why can’t you ask him?”

“Because he said he hasn’t heard from you in two weeks, and I figured this would be the excuse to get you to text him back.”

I shook my head. There wasn’t a person in the world who wanted me and Tanner together more than Gavin.

“Fine,” I said, knowing he wouldn’t stop asking until I agreed.

“Oh,” he said, “I’ve also got good news. I think I’m about to start to grow soon.”

I rolled my eyes. “And why’s that?”

“I finally got my first pubes.” He looked at me as if waiting for me to congratulate him, the smile spreading across his face.

“Proud of you,” I said, trying not to laugh at him. “But some things you don’t need to go around telling everybody.”