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Their favorite?
A screwball.
And that’s exactly what Aaron throws. Masterfully. All of our dads are losing it when they see the pitch.
I swear time is moving in slow motion as we watch the pitch cross the plate.
Strike. Three.
WE WIN!!!
We go storming onto the field. My eyes are on Aaron. I make a beeline for him. He sees me coming and pushes away from the crowd so he can catch me as I jump into his arms. He squeezes me tight.
“Nice screwball, Ace!”
His smile is vibrant and filled with joy. As he sets me down, I look into his eyes, watching as they darken with intensity. The look on his face right now could only be described as a smolder… and I think it’s for me.
Smolder is definitely the right word because he is melting certain places right now. Damn.
Just as quickly, his eyes lighten with excitement again as he focuses on everyone else congratulating him.
I hug Joel, Miles, Nick, and Trevor. I even high five Davey.
The excitement on the field is palpable. I see the joy in the seniors’ eyes and the wistful feeling. Excited it happened, sad it’s over, will remember it for the rest of their lives. Actually, I think everyone on the field will remember this forever.
After one more hug for each of our boys, they head off to the locker room. After this, we’re all heading back to the school, where the parking lot and soccer field will become a giant tailgate-style party.
I’m walking along the outside of the stadium with Jesse, Sarah, and Mackie, when I hear a voice call after me.
“Rae!”
I spin around and am shocked to see Davey. I give Jesse, Sarah, and Mackie a nod to let them know I’ll catch up. Jesse lingers for a second, but I give him a look telling him I can handle it.
“Hey,” I say, turning back to Davey, “that was a great game. Congratulations. I’m really happy for you guys.”
“Thanks, uh, listen, I need to—I need to apologize,” he says as my eyes widen. “I thought about calling you. Hell, I almost texted you about a thousand times, but you deserve this to be face to face.” He sighs and runs his hand through his hair. “Shit, Rae, it’s never easy with you. I’m sorry. You were right. All the times you said I was pushing you away, you were right. I felt amazing when I was with you, but I felt like you had this power to hurt me. It never scared me until I saw you and Aaron together. But I should’ve trusted you. You chose me, and I pushed you away. I hurt you, and I’m sorry for that. I hope—I hope you don’t hate me. And I hope you can still call me a friend.” He looks at me tentatively.
I smile softly and shake my head. “Well, I was totally not expecting that.” I smirk at him. “Honestly, I was ready to write you off as a dick and ban your name from ever being spoken in my presence again.”
He rolls his eyes a little. This part was always easy with us.
“It means something that you apologized. I don’t hate you. And I know—I played my part too, because I didn’t reassure you enough with the Aaron stuff.”
He nods. “Because you couldn’t.”
My mouth drops open as I look up at him. “I—I—” I sputter.
But I can’t deny it. I can’t deny there’s a fire burning somewhere deep inside me, and it’s only for Aaron.
“You should tell him,” Davey says.
“There’s nothing to tell.” Which is half-true. I mean, there are things to tell, but I have not figured out exactly what those things are yet.
“Please, Rae. I want you to think about something. If we were still together…”
“Yeah?”
“And we won this game in the exact same way…”
