If you wish to see the test of a person’s true character, take note of how they are when someone suddenly becomes famous. When Coby and I came back from New Jersey, the summer was in full swing, a time of year we normally spent in my backyard lounging in the sun or his living room watching movies. But now, every time we turned around, someone was calling Coby or stopping him on the sidewalk or ringing his doorbell. And it wasn’t the media. All those kids we’d grown up with since elementary school—the ones we’d shared classes with, the same ones who’d ignored us in the halls and let us sit alone at lunch every day for twelve years—came out of the woodwork with some daydreamed perception of their ties to Coby. It made me sick, and he didn’t have a clue what to do with the attention.

I hated that my friend recognized their advances for what they were, but at the same time, I was glad he wasn’t fooled. What should have been the best summer of our lives turned into hiding from people we didn’t care to hang out with and trying to keep the local, gold-digging hoochies from latching onto a suddenly wealthy Coby. He’d signed with the Titans not long after we were in New Jersey, and the girls lined up on his doorstep. I only had him for another few days before he had to report to training in Tuscaloosa. I couldn’t wait to get him out of this town, but I would miss him like crazy until I went to school. The girls in DeArmanville, Alabama, were bad enough; it hadn’t dawned on me how trifling women he’d never met would be.

That was, until he helped me move into my dorm at UAT. He managed to swing a day away from his new team to help me but he didn’t have a ton of time. The Titans pretty well dictated his life now. I hadn’t anticipated any of my time with him being taken up by people asking for autographs or stopping him with his arms full of boxes to chitchat. Coby Kyler was now a household name in the state of Alabama. Every high school kid believed dreams could come true if a no-namer could defy the odds and not only make the first round, but go straight to the Majors, skipping the Minors. I loved the attention he got from those people, the ones who believed in him. I hated the women who saw him as an opportunity.

“That’s the last of it, E.T.” Coby stood by the door after setting down the final box. With his hands on his hips, he assessed the situation. “Are you sure you want to stay here?”

“We’ve talked about this a hundred times. I can’t commute two hours to class every day.” I rolled my eyes and heaved my suitcase onto my bed to unload it.

“You wouldn’t have to once I buy a house. I can put you in a hotel until then. This place is like a Crackerjack box without the prize inside. The guys on this floor are creepy, and what if you hate your roomie?” He wouldn’t like it if Jesus lived next door. There was nothing wrong with the guys in the building.

The door pushed open behind him. “What about your roomie?” A bright-eyed blonde floated into the room. Her personality seemed as big as her hair. She bypassed Coby and extended her hand in greeting. “I’m Melinda.”

“Ellie Teller. And this is my best friend, Coby.”

She turned around to face the man in our doorway. “Coby Kyler. Wow. My daddy will die when he finds out I met you.”

I prayed she didn’t swoon. I didn’t want to dislike her and really hoped we’d be friends. But my mouth fell open when she whistled through her teeth like a construction worker cat-calling.

“I had no idea nerdy-chic could be so hot.” Then she looked him up and down and waved her hand to fan her face before returning her attention to me. “I’m going down to check out the clubs around campus. I’ll catch you guys later.” And as quickly as she’d come, she grabbed her purse and left.

The groan I let out was louder than intended.

“Sure I can’t change your mind?” he teased, aware of just how much this crap drove me insane.

“Coby, you haven’t even begun to look at houses. Not to mention, you have no idea when you will get time to start. Then there’s the whole closing process. It just won’t work.” He’d already done enough.

My parents were comfortable financially, but they certainly weren’t well-to-do. College tuition was a struggle, and I’d taken out a loan to help with some of my expenses the first semester. But as soon as Coby signed the contract with the Titans, the first thing he did was pay for school and pay off the money I’d borrowed. We’d argued vehemently about it, but in the end, he’d won. I didn’t care if he was dirt poor or King Titan—he was just Coby in my world. I never wanted him to question that. And he made sure I always knew family came first, and he took care of those he loved.

“But you’ll move when I do buy one?” The question hung in the air like a promise waiting to be fulfilled.

I walked up and put my arms around his waist. Nothing about our relationship changed after the night we gave our virginity to each other, except that we were now far more comfortable with physical exchanges than we ever had been. “Let’s see how this year goes, okay? Neither one of us has a clue what our lives will look like in the next month, much less nine.”

Disappointment shone in his eyes even though he offered me a plastic smile. “Yeah, all right.”

I worried about Coby’s transition into the baseball life. My path was traditional; I took the route most American kids do. Life in the dorm was the midway point between high school and adult freedom. While I was terrified of making new friends and not having my crutch to depend on, it kind of excited me, too. I wanted nothing more for Coby than to experience that in his path. He’d never had solid guy friends, and this was his chance to build relationships without me as his shadow.

Nothing could ever tear us apart. It wouldn’t matter who came into our lives or what career paths we took—Coby and Ellie couldn’t be broken.

He squeezed me tightly, pressing my face to his chest. I missed his scent so much I’d switched to Lever 2000 soap just to pretend he was around. He pulled back but didn’t break away. “Am I really nerdy-chic?”

I giggled. I wouldn’t lie to him. “Maybe.” A grin spread across my cheeks as I stared into his honey-colored eyes.

“We need to remedy that immediately. I have the money to change people’s perception, and I’ll be thrilled if I’m never referred to as a nerd again.”

“Coby, don’t feel obligated to change who you are to please the public. Just be yourself.”

He kissed my forehead and let me go. “I will, just a more refined version. Promise me you’ll help?”

“Anything for you, but I don’t think it’s necessary.”

“You’re absolutely right. If my goal is to never get laid again, my current style is perfect to ensure that.”

I wasn’t in love with Coby, and he wasn’t with me, but referring to our virginity in such a blasé manner rubbed me the wrong way. I didn’t have any desire to be with my best friend, but I didn’t care to be his last “lay,” either. It had been a connection, the final piece of ourselves we’d never shared with anyone else and could never give to another human being. While I didn’t expect a ring—ever—it would be nice if he’d considered it the same gift I had.

Men.

“Just tell me when. I’ll do what I can to help.”

He patted me on the butt like one of the players on his team and backed out the door. I laughed my ass off when he tripped over the Sam Hunt look-a-like behind him who’d been reaching up to knock. Coby landed in the arms of another man and scowled when I snorted at his predicament.

The laughter died a slow death when his rescuer turned out to be a rabid fan. Well, maybe he wasn’t overzealous, but I still thought it was funny.

“Are you Coby Kyler?” The rugged country boy had an award-winning smile and drenched my panties with the first word out of his Southern mouth. I didn’t even care that he fawned over Coby.

“Shit. This is awkward. Sorry, man.” Coby straightened his clothes and stood. “What’s your name?”

“Ryan McNally.”

“Oh shit, you play first base for UAT. You’re a sophomore walk-on, right?”

“Yeah, it’s awesome to meet you. I’m sure you hate people coming up to introduce themselves.”

“Nah, I’m glad you did. This is my best friend, Ellie Teller. I’m just helping her move in. Maybe you could keep an eye on her for me.”

Ryan offered me a genuine smile, and his eyes fixated on mine. He didn’t look away when he responded with, “Absolutely.”

As pretty as he was, I didn’t need one of Coby’s groupies tracking my movements. Thankfully, there hadn’t been any phone numbers exchanged, and as soon as Coby disappeared, so had his fan club.

* * *

I’d be lying if I said the first few months of my college career were all that enjoyable. My roommate seemed obsessed with my best friend. And every guy I met recognized me as the girl with Coby Kyler from the draft. I just wanted to enjoy my freshman year the way every other eighteen-year-old did, but my relationship with America’s Golden Boy sent that journey off the track at every curve.

The rap on my door knocked me out of my thought-induced irritation. “Come in.”

“Hey, Ellie. Want to go grab some lunch?” Ryan had been on a crusade to befriend me since the day he’d promised Coby he’d look after me.

“No, thanks.” I had midterms to study for and hoped to get out of here as quickly as possible for the holidays afterward. Coby and I had plans to look at houses while he had a few days away from the team before we went home to see our parents.

“Are you ever going to cut me any slack, Teller?” He hung on the doorframe wearing that same panty-dropping smile he gave me every time I saw him. But he didn’t reserve it for me, so therefore, it was meaningless.

“Depends. Will your interest in me ever go beyond my connection to Coby?” It was rude and totally out of character for me.

“Whoa, what?” He came in and closed the door behind him. “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing, Ryan.” I tried to dismiss him the way I had since the start of school, but today seemed to be the time he decided to figure out why.

“No, don’t nothing me. You think the reason I come to your room every day has something to do with Coby? I don’t even know the guy.”

“Neither does anyone else on this campus, but it doesn’t stop them from asking me about him.” I turned my attention back to my books. “Or some other dumb guy on his team,” I muttered under my breath.

Ryan moved closer to me, invading my space. I hadn’t invited him in, not this far anyway, yet here he came just the same. My heart raced the moment I caught a whiff of his cologne. I’d refused to acknowledge how attractive he was or the way the tattoo that peeked out from under his sleeve called to me or just what his smile did to my lady bits, but one whiff of his cologne and I was a goner.

He sat on the edge of my bed and put his hand around my ankle. No one other than Coby had ever touched me. Where I expected it to feel strange, I found comfort. “I think it’s cool you’re close to a Major League player, but if I never saw Coby again, it wouldn’t change the fact I’d like to be your friend.”

“Why? You don’t know anything about me.”

That smile I tried to avoid graced his lips again. “You study more than you do anything else. You’re overly cautious about who you befriend. You don’t eat pork. You have an obsession with Converse shoes and must own a pair in every color of the rainbow. And I can see a sadness in your eyes that wasn’t there the day we met.”

“How do you know I don’t eat pork?” Probably the least relevant of all his observations.

“Do you?” He quirked his eyebrow at me in question.

“You’re insufferable.”

“And you want to be my friend, too, but you’re scared. True?”

“Absolutely not.” Lie.

“Not even a little?” The right side of his mouth twitched as he fought a grin.

“Not even a smidge.” My ability to maintain a straight face waned, and the smile won over my grumpy disposition. As much as I didn’t care to admit it, Ryan was right. Instead of continuing the charade, I conceded to the truth. “I’m clueless when it comes to making friends. I’m not outgoing and wasn’t popular in high school. I’ve always been more of a homebody, and that isn’t conducive to college life.”

“Okay, here’s your opportunity to change that. I have a ton of friends on campus. I’m outgoing enough for the both of us. You just have to trust me with a little bit of your time. Come on, let’s go eat lunch and learn a few things about each other.”

Something in the way he looked at me told me his offer was genuine. “Fine. Lunch only.”

I had no idea how that one concession would begin to shape college for me. Ryan introduced me to people as we walked through the quad, and a couple of guys from the baseball team joined us while we ate. They all brought up Coby, but their interest in him was casual, and as soon as they acknowledged their admiration, they moved on to other topics. Maybe I wasn’t giving people a fair shot. After two hours of cutting up with Ryan’s friends in the dining hall, he walked me back to my room. We exchanged numbers, because apparently, he didn’t live in my building and had to make trips across campus from the athletic dorms to get his daily dose of rejection from me.

After handing back his cell phone with my number stored in his contacts, I turned to open my door. Melinda sat at her desk, but I hadn’t seen her when I came in.

“You’re all about the hot baseball players, huh?” She scared the snot out of me.

“It’s not like that.” We hadn’t spent much time together. Every chance we got to hang out, just the two of us in our dorm, she brought up Coby or another player on his team.

“Oh come on, Ellie. I hear you talking to Coby all the time, and now Ryan McNally? It’s okay to have a thing for guys in uniforms. Any chance you might get some time with Mark Dawson?” She wasn’t condescending; she truly seemed to believe ballplayers were my type. I assumed Mark was another player for the Titans, but I couldn’t be sure.

Since the truth had worked with Ryan, I decided to try it with her. I plopped down on my bed, and the books I’d left there before lunch bounced with my weight. “Honestly, Melinda, I’m not good at making friends. I’m terribly shy and have always been a bit of an outcast. But I refuse to be defined by my relationship with Coby.”

“Seriously?” The expression on her face would have been comical had she not been so confused.

I nodded and cast my gaze to the blanket beneath my folded legs. Picking at a stray string that had pulled out of the seam, I offered her more. “Coby’s not just my best friend. He’s my only friend. We weren’t picked on in school, just ignored. I don’t have a lot of experience with relationships and zero when it comes to dating.”

“Wait. You mean to tell me that you and Coby never dated?”

I shook my head without facing her.

“And you’ve never dated anyone else?”

“Nope.”

She hesitated before saying anything else. “Me either.”

I jerked my head up in surprise.

“I was a total dork in high school. I had this hideous nose. Couple that with my height and big hair, and my nickname for four years was Big Bird. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for male callers. My parents paid for rhinoplasty as a graduation present, and I tried to reinvent who I was before arriving on campus. It’s been a failure of epic proportion.” She sighed and her shoulders slumped.

“Why would you want to be someone different?” I could’ve answered that question myself. I’d wished the same thing…sort of.

“I don’t care to be a wallflower my entire life, but I have no idea how to be anything else, and it comes off as fake and awkward.”

We spent the afternoon getting to know each other, the real versions no one else here saw. For the first time since I’d stepped foot on this campus as a student, I’d spent the day interacting with people other than my professors, and I didn’t miss home or Coby quite as much. If only I’d realized that not everyone tried to use me to get to Coby—and rather had used Coby to reach me—the first half of the semester might have gone far differently.

The next couple of days flew by with midterms. Ryan had started texting me regularly, and Melinda and I hung out between classes. I tried to avoid spending time in Ryan’s presence but found him waiting outside my lecture halls or lingering around my dorm more often than not. I should never have pieced together my schedule for him. Being friends with Ryan was like being granted a backstage pass to the biggest show on campus. Students acted like he was famous, his personality was as large as Melinda’s hair, and he garnered attention everywhere he went. And somehow, in just a few short days, he’d pulled me into that niche and didn’t show any signs of letting go.

* * *

I’d gone back to our room to get my things and had just pulled the door closed behind me when Ryan poked me in the side, nearly causing my heart to stop. The campus was rather quiet, considering most everyone had left for the Thanksgiving holiday. I hadn’t expected to run into anyone.

“Jesus, Ryan. You scared the snot out of me. What are you still doing here? I thought you were leaving before lunch.”

“I got held up and then realized you were probably still here.”

“Are you stalking me again? You never did tell me how you knew I didn’t like pork.” I pushed the strap of my bag up farther onto my shoulder and started to walk toward the stairs.

“You don’t like pork, so what difference does it make? And no, I wasn’t stalking you. I saw you across campus.”

“And you thought you’d run all the way over here in hopes of catching me before I left?”

He pushed the heavy, metal door open and held it for me to pass through. “Can’t a guy just wish his friend a happy Thanksgiving without getting the third degree?”

Ryan had something up his sleeve, but he hadn’t spilled the details of what. With my luck, he’d try to use me to pull off some historic prank no one would suspect me of. And when we reached my car, he had that devious look in his eyes. I opened the trunk and tossed in my bag, but before I could further question his motivation, my phone rang.

I held up a finger to Ryan while I answered the ringtone I never ignored. “Hey, Coby.”

Ryan stood inches from my face and twirled strands of my long hair while I tried to have a conversation. I batted his hand away, only for him to pull on my sweater and then kick at my shoe. He was acting like a two-year-old who sought his mother’s attention. I couldn’t help but laugh at his immaturity.

My distraction irritated Coby. “I’m listening. I’m getting in my car now. I’ll be there in like twenty minutes, tops.”

I hung up the phone with my best friend agitated by my tardiness on one end, and Ryan acting like a jilted toddler on the other.

“You spending the holiday with Coby?”

I smirked at the hint of jealousy behind his question. “I spend every holiday with Coby…and his dad…and my parents. I’ve told you, they’re an extension of my family. But this isn’t about Thanksgiving. I promised him I’d go house hunting with him this afternoon before we go home.”

“You and Coby are looking at houses together?”

I swatted playfully at his chest. “Not like that, silly. Coby just prefers to have a second opinion before he buys anything. He’s actually narrowed it down to four or five places and asked me to weigh in before he makes an offer.”

“You’re the final decision maker in his home purchase? Are you moving in with him?”

The shrug I offered apparently wasn’t the response he’d hoped for, and the words I uttered next seemed to hit him harder than they should a friend. “I wouldn’t say final, but my guess is he’ll buy the one I like best out of those he’s chosen. And no, I don’t plan to move in with him until this summer…if I do.”

“But you two aren’t dating?”

“Uh-uh. Why?”

Ryan leaned in to kiss my cheek, and my face flushed with heat. “No reason. Just curious. You two have fun. Text me when you get home, okay?” He took my hand and squeezed it quickly before dropping it and backing away with a smile. “I’ll see you next week, but I better hear from you while you’re gone, Teller.”

I returned his grin and placated his requests. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll talk to you later, Ryan.”

Thankfully, I’d exaggerated how long it would take me to meet Coby. I hadn’t planned on Ryan’s question-and-answer session, but I had allowed myself a few minutes’ cushion. By the time I arrived at the address Coby had given me, he and the real estate agent were already inside.

I tried to keep an open mind. Coby and I hadn’t had a chance to talk about what he wanted in a home, but I couldn’t imagine it would be this. From the outside, it was enormous, and once inside, I got lost in the vastness of it all.

“Coby?” My voice ricocheted in the empty space. I’d never seen a house this big in real life, much less been inside one. I instantly hated it.

“Hey, E.T. This is Marissa. She’s the team’s real estate agent.”

“It’s nice to meet you. Feel free to look around. I’ll step away so the two of you can talk.” And as quickly as she had appeared, she was gone.

“So what do you think?” His question didn’t reveal a clue as to what he thought.

“It’s…overwhelming. Do you really need this much space?”

He breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God you agree with me. I fought tooth and nail against these huge houses. I hate them. Can you imagine living here alone? Hell, even with another person, I could go days and never see them.”

“Have you told your agent that?”

“Yeah, but I guess most players end up spending a sizeable chunk of their signing bonus on their first house. And she makes a commission based on the price, so it’s in her best interest to sell me on larger and more expensive homes.” He continued talking as we walked through one empty room after another.

I couldn’t even imagine what all would occupy this space if Coby had decided to buy it. “If the rest of the houses we’re going to look at are a repeat of this one, then I think we’re wasting our time. Do you need me to tell her?”

Coby tended to let people railroad him to keep from hurting their feelings. When he didn’t object, I took that as a green light to speak up. I wasn’t typically assertive, but I didn’t have a problem telling someone the truth.

“Hey, Marissa?” I called out into the air, waiting to hear her response or the click of her heels on the hard floors around us.

We finally found her in the kitchen. “So, Ellie, what do you think of the house?”

“Honestly, I think it’s ostentatious.”

“Your friend’s lifestyle has changed completely since he left DeArmanville.”

“Yeah, but his personality hasn’t. So before we waste any more of our time or yours, why don’t we have a heart-to-heart about what Coby wants and see what you can find what fits his needs?”

She plastered on a fake smile and gritted her teeth when she nodded. “What did you have in mind, Coby?”

He raked his hand through his hair the way I’d seen him do a thousand times. Coby didn’t know how to narrow this down—at eighteen, houses weren’t on his radar. She intentionally hadn’t asked specific questions, and that irritated me.

“How many bedrooms do you want?” I rolled my eyes away from her to address him and ask the thing his real estate agent should have before dragging him out to neighborhoods.

“I think four or five would give me room to grow if I ever got married or had kids.”

I’d never heard Coby mention either, but now wasn’t the time to address that. “What about a pool?”

“It would be nice, but it’s not a deal breaker. I wouldn’t have time to deal with one, but if you would like to have one, then I can pay someone to come out to take care of it.” The conversation drifted away from Marissa and into one the two of us were comfortable with.

“One story or two?” I asked.

“One. Definitely one.”

“In your opinion, what’s the most important thing the house has to have for you to consider purchasing it?”

He thought for a minute before finally answering. “Quality construction. Not a fixer-upper. I’m going to be gone too much and won’t be around to do anything.” He turned toward Marissa. “Ellie doesn’t need to deal with things breaking when I’m on the road. I’d rather have high-end construction than square footage.”

To my surprise, Marissa had decided to take notes on her client’s preferences instead of what she wanted to sell him. “So you’re looking for a one-story with four or five bedrooms, a pool, and quality construction? That’s all you have on your wish list?”

“Yeah. Anything else that comes up, I can have someone install them.”

“You two hang tight for a minute and let me run out to my car and see what I can find that we might be able to see this afternoon.” And with that, she pivoted on her heel and disappeared.

Three hours later, Coby made an offer on his first house. I couldn’t have been happier with his selection, but I’d tried to keep my feelings under wraps until he’d made his decision. And it was perfectly Coby.

After he had filled out the paperwork, I followed him back to drop off his car at the apartment he shared with another rookie. And the two of us made our way to Podunk, USA, for Thanksgiving.

Four days with my parents, Mr. Kyler, and Coby weren’t enough. I knew when we pulled out of the driveway to go back to Tuscaloosa, things would go back to the way they’d been since August. Mine and Coby’s schedules never lined up, and we’d be dependent on FaceTime, phone calls, and text messages. But even the FaceTime had become scarce the closer he got to his teammates. I wanted all that for him, just like I wanted the friendships I’d started to build with Ryan and Melinda. It was just an adjustment building them separately.

The drive had been relatively silent, but I couldn’t tell if he was thinking or daydreaming. My phone dinged in the cup holder, drawing Coby out of his trance.

“Who is it?” I asked Coby while handing him the phone. Texting while driving was a dangerous sport I didn’t play.

“Ryan.” There was confusion in his voice while he studied the screen. “He’s asking why he hasn’t heard from you and if you’re okay.”

“Crap. I haven’t returned any of his calls. Will you respond and tell him I’m sorry, I’m on my way back, and to come by tonight?”

He typed at my request and questioned me simultaneously. “Who’s Ryan? And why does he think he’s your father?”

“Maybe because you asked him to act like it.”

“Aww. That’s sweet. Ry-Guy followed through on his commitment?”

“Ry-Guy?”

He shrugged, but the smirk on his lips told me he was rather proud of his ability to put down the guy who he’d asked to fill in for him.

“You should be nicer, Coby. He could end up being your best-friend-in-law.”

“Why, do you hear wedding bells?”

“Hardly. The gold diggers are chasing you. But he figured out I don’t like pork.”

“What the hell does that have to do with you marrying him?”

“How many years did it take for you to figure it out?”

“That’s hardly fair. Your mom cooked every meal we ate, and she obviously never cooked what you didn’t like. So it would be difficult for me to be aware you didn’t like it when it was never served. And I didn’t find out about the whole pig incident until months after it had happened.”

“He never saw it served to me either, but he knew.”

“So, is he vying for the role of chef in your life, or boyfriend?”

“Neither that I’m aware of. But I’d consider his sausage.”

“You’re so full of shit, E.T. You’d never eat sausage.”

I died laughing when he realized what he’d said. But he didn’t see the humor in my joking about another man’s penis. “Oh, lighten up. I’ve never even seen another guy’s sausage, much less tasted it.”

My phone dinged again.

“Your boytoy is asking what time he should come by, and if you’d like to go out to dinner.”

Coby didn’t wait for my response before hacking out a text to Ryan. Before I knew it, the two of them were chatting back and forth, and Ryan had no idea he wasn’t talking to me. When I tried to grab the cell, Coby continued the virtual conversation while holding the phone slightly out of my reach. My only option was to let it go and face the consequences later…

Or pull over and beat the hell out of him.

“Coby, what are you saying to him?” I shrieked across the car.

“Just finding out if his intentions are honorable.”

There was no point in fighting it. This had been years in the making. Coby was having fun at my expense, and I could only hope I’d take it this well if he ever showed interest in a female I didn’t know.

“While you’re at it, can you ask how he figured out I didn’t like pork?”

“Enough with the sausage talk already. I’m not sexting the guy.”

“I wasn’t referring to sex, you pervert.”

“Ellie, lift up your shirt and let me send him a pic.”

I swatted his chest, and he feigned pain.

“I’m wounded. When did you become so violent? Did they teach you that in college?” Coby tossed the phone back into the cup holder.

“What did you say to him?”

“He’ll pick you up at seven. And he’s aware there better not be any sausage on the menu.”

“Please tell me he doesn’t think this is a date, Coby. We’re just friends.”

He smirked. “Don’t worry. He’s clear on that point.”

* * *

When we pulled into the complex and up to his building an hour or so later, there was a crowd of guys standing on the sidewalk. I didn’t recognize them, but Coby clearly did. He rolled down the window and hollered at them in some odd battle cry that sounded like the swoosh of a ball, which they all returned in unison.

I wasn’t sure if I should be mortified or laugh at the idiocy of it all. “What was that?” A chuckle filled my words.

“The Titan trill.” He stated this as though it was obvious and I should’ve figured it out. “Come on. You can meet some of the other players.”

No part of me wanted to get out of the car, but this was where our friendship became more important than my comfort level. This was Coby’s life now, and I had to embrace it the way he was trying to do with Ryan. I unbuckled my seatbelt after parking the car and followed Coby into a life I knew little about.

“Hey, guys. This is Ellie.”

“E.T.,” a younger guy in the group echoed my nickname. He was cute and clearly a playboy. Where it would normally bother me that anyone other than Coby had used the term of endearment, those two letters made my heart swell. If he’d heard my nickname, then Coby had talked about me.

“Ellie, this is Mark, Henry, Cason, and Brian.” Coby pointed at each guy as he spoke their name. “Catcher, first base, outfielder…and we aren’t sure what the hell Brian’s position is.”

“Shut the fuck up, Kyler. You’re just jealous I can actually see the ball.”

I’d never heard anyone make fun of Coby’s vision issues, and I sucked in a breath to wait for the fallout, my eyes scanning the group in front of me.

“Is that what you call all the catches you missed that got you benched? Seeing the ball…?” Mark came to Coby’s defense in a backhanded way, but I realized none of their teasing was malicious.

Cason tipped his head in Coby’s direction as the chatter continued, none of which I followed. “Dude, she’s cute as hell. Why haven’t you brought her around?”

All emotion—and I assume color—drained from my face. I had no clue what to do with this attention or how to flirt back. Where most girls would eat this up, I was lost in a sea of social immaturity.

“He’s smarter than you dumbasses give him credit for. Would any of you bring a girl like that around the likes of any of us?” Henry winked in my direction, but Coby stepped in front of me protectively.

“Down, Fido. They’re just playing.” I prayed to God they were before some savage beast tore through Coby’s chest and ate them all for lunch. “It was really nice to meet you all.” I turned my best friend back to face me. “I’ve got to get to school, Coby. Thanks to you, I have dinner plans and don’t want to be late.”

He stuck his finger out, and before I realized it, I’d met his with my own. I wasn’t sure when I’d get to see him again, and it sucked not to be able to hug his neck before I left, but there was always the guarantee of Christmas. And it was only a few weeks away.