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Do the people on the paper have nothing better to do than randomly stalk social media accounts trying to find a possible story?
“This true?” Coach asks.
Joel shrugs. “That he’s my brother? Yeah. But there’s no rivalry.”
“Maybe not between the two of you, but there’s always rivalry between schools. With your brother on the team, we can use that.”
Joel blinks a couple of times. “What do you mean?”
“You must know something about how he plays. Any weaknesses about his game or his team that we can exploit?”
Joel looks horrified. Yeah, it doesn’t feel good, but it’s a part of the game. You use what you have. I guarantee Jesse’s coach is doing the same. But I also know the Wilkinson brothers, and they believe in loyalty. There’s not a chance in hell either of them will give anything up about the other.
“All due respect, Coach, he’s my brother first. I’m not going to undermine his game, and I can say with complete confidence, he won’t try to undermine mine either.”
Coach sets his eyes on Joel, then smiles softly. “I respect your loyalty.”
He doesn’t say what he’s thinking, which is…but that’s bullshit.It’s another clear sign that none of us would ever be comfortable in the majors. We aren’t willing to push the bounds of loyalty or throw anyone under the bus.Mostly.Because Joel and Jesse are brothers. And while Jesse is my friend, I don’t think it’s wrong for me to tell them what I know about his game. It’s nothing that couldn’t be figured out from watching tapes of his games. That would be a little above effort for a D3 school, but I don’t feel uncomfortable talking about it.
“Go on, get ready. Cooper, stay. I want to talk to you.”
I nod at Joel, and in a silent conversation with our eyes, he lets me know he’s okay with me giving Coach some info.
Once Joel is gone, Coach looks at me. “And how about you? Do you have some loyalty to Wilkinson’s brother?”
I smirk at him. “Jesse is a great friend. But he also likes to flirt with my girl.” Okay, that’s pushing it. She’s notmine. Not right now. And as she pointed out, she’ll never belong to me. But he does have a habit of inserting himself in our relationship. And while I care about Jesse, that shit still gets on my nerves.
Coach smiles widely. “Sit down and start talking.”
After a conversation touching on Jesse’s hitting and play style and what our pitchers should be looking for, I head back out to the locker room.
I yank my phone out and do what he’d do for me.
Me: Heads up, I gave our head coach a run down of your hitting and play style. Don’t worry, your brother wouldn’t have any part in it.
Jesse: I’d expect nothing less. I might’ve told my coach a bit about you and how you coach. None of it matters anyway. We’ll still kick your ass.
Me: Whatever you need to tell yourself. Oh, in serious things, we got a ticket for Carrie in our blocked seats. Rae will have it so she won’t have to pick it up at the box.
Jesse: Cool. See ya this weekend.
I look down at my phone. There’s no way he didn’t give me more crap than that. I wonder for a moment if there’s something bugging him, but I don’t have time to think about it before Coach yells for us to hit the field.
I tuck my phone in my bag and get my head in the game, focusing on how we can win this weekend.
Rae
Aaron told me that Jesse knows I have a ticket for Carrie. But I also know she might not want to sit with the opposing team. I wouldn’t. Even if they were friends. I’d want to be on my boy’s side.
“Hey,” Sarah says, sitting down in the seat next to me.
“Hey. Anyone else coming?”
“Mackie and Miles, but they’re running late. Mands has a group project, but she’s gonna meet us after.”
“Nice.”
“So, we haven’t had much of a chance to talk. Are you excited about Charleston?”
