The next two weeks fly by in a blur.

Baseball. Practice. Scouting reports. Sex. Kelsey. Partying until we can’t take anymore.

Because after this week, we’re done. College is over. All of us are moving on, foregoing senior year. This championship is our last hurrah. We have the house until September, but after that? We are out in the real world. Adults. In essence…fucked.

I spend every moment I can with Kelsey. Fucking. Talking. Eating takeout. Watching hours upon hours of Netflix marathons.

And surprisingly, she hasn’t freaked yet. I haven’t brought up the fact that we are acting like boyfriend and girlfriend. That I come home almost every other night with her favorite wine and vegan pad thai. That more often than not, we cuddled and talked after we had fucking out of this world orgasms together. That when we went to parties or out to Sammy’s, we never left each other sides, eye fucking each other until we couldn’t take it anymore and had to get each other naked.

And fuck did we ever get each other naked in a lot of places. A bathroom at Travers’s house. In my car in the Sammy’s parking lot. In the woods against a tree at one of the summer frat parties. And finally, in the alleyway where everything had first started.

Kelsey had taught me the standing position. Cowboy. Reverse cowboy. Road head. And she kept talking about anal and something she called “butt stuff.” Which was meant for me. I didn’t think I was quite ready for that. But the rest of it? Shit. I had never felt so good in my life. And half of feeling so good was the fact that it was with her, the bossiest, craziest, sexiest most amazing girl I’d ever laid my eyes on.

But of course, we couldn’t keep going on this way. Eventually, something would get in the way. And that thing? It was the College World Series.

I was leaving tomorrow for Omaha, where I’d spend a week with my team battling to win the one thing we’d been striving for four years to win. All the sweat, all the tears and losses. The blood, the injuries. It all came down to this. And we were ready.

Of course I had asked Kelsey to come out with us. She didn’t have a real job, not that she wasn’t a workaholic at the preserve, but she could pick up whenever she wanted. She worked because she liked it, not because anyone was forcing her to or keeping her on a schedule. Even Minka was coming out, taking a precious week off from studying for her summer nursing courses.

But, in typical Kelsey fashion, she’d said, “Um…no. That’s girlfriend shit. I’m not a girlfriend. And also, ew Omaha? Boring!”

I tried not to let the hurt show in my eyes. We weren’t dating, she was right. No matter how hard I’d been trying or how much I wanted her to be mine and only mine. I wasn’t going to admit just how much that killed. I thought I’d been making headway with her, easing her into this thing that I thought deep down she wanted.

So why did I come home from downtown that day, where I’d picked up my brand new chest protector from the special store I’d ordered it from, with a purring orange and white furball?

Who the fuck knows? Because I’m a sucker. Because I’ve been in love with my best friend for two years and will hopelessly follow her off a cliff? Because I saw the kitten and imagined the look on her face when I presented it to her?

Yeah, all of the above. I was such a goner.

The tiny ball of fluff purrs loudly as I pull her little travel crate out of the passenger seat of my car. I’d seen the small crate in the window of the pet store with a sign, “$50 per kitten.” And I knew as soon as I neared the window and saw the little orange baby cat that I’d be bringing her home.

Kelsey went to see her animals every single day at the preserve. She would love to have one at home. And I should basically hand her my balls with this kitten.

As I walked into the house, my hands began to sweat. What if she thought this was some overly grand gesture? If she decided to end what we had because I was getting too clingy. Kelsey had been spooked by much less. I was still trying to figure out what happened with her parents that day she almost fled the country.

Parker, Owen and Minka littered the couch as I opened the door. Great. I really didn’t need to face them yet with the kitten. I hadn’t even come up with a full story to tell Kelsey, much less sell this off to everyone else.

“Um, what is that?” Minka’s high pitched squeal interrupted my tip toeing through the living room. Busted.

“What is what?” Really, Clint? She already saw it!

“That tiny baby in a cage that is just mewling to be let out!” Minka is off the couch in two seconds flat, babbling baby talk at the cage in my hand.

“Dude, you got a cat!?” Owen moves next to her, watching his girlfriend in awe. “Wait a minute? Is my girl a total softie for baby animals? Who would have known? The tough girl has a weakness. I should have thought of this years ago, thanks buddy!”

Minka shoots him a look that could literally freeze ice, and then goes back to cooing at the orange puff.

Parker looks over, a flicker of interest in his eyes for two seconds, and then he meets mine. Worry and judgement flash across his expression. He knows why I brought this home, and he’s not happy. As much as I love my friend, he will give it to you straight, no matter if you want to hear it or not. At this moment in time, I don’t. Even if she’s going to break my heart in time, I don’t want to hear it. Because right now, it all feels too good.

Kelsey walks in, her beautiful hair just sweeping over her shoulder. She looks like a ravishing sprite, or a fairy, sent into this world to cause just a little more mischief. “What is that?”

She points to the cage, where Minka’s face is literally plastered to the bars. I set it on the floor and open the latch, pulling out the baby cat that is almost fits the size of my palm.

“I saw this little girl in the window downtown and couldn’t say no.” Hey, it wasn’t completely untrue.

And then I get the look I’ve been waiting for since I made this purchase. Kelsey’s face lights up like one of those overly done Christmas displays. Her cheeks fill with a pinkish flush, those amber eyes flash and sparkle, and she’s clapping her hands and jumping up and down.

“Oh my god! She’s precious! What should we name her? Can she sleep with me? Oh my god!”

The kitten is out of my hands in two seconds, Kelsey grabbing her gently and going to sit with Minka on the floor between the couch and the TV to play with her.

“I like the name Lucy!” Minka puts in.

“Too common. And you’re only saying that because she has orange fur. Let me think…” Kelsey puts her fingers to her chin and bites her lip. I want to take her back to my room so bad. “I got it! Marnie!”

“Perfect.” I say this too quickly, and Parker and Owen turn to look at me with funny expressions on their faces.

After about half an hour of playing with the new kitten, Owen puts an end to it by telling Minka they need to get to bed. She doesn’t live here, but she might as well.

“We have an early flight in the morning. We should all be getting to bed. We have a trophy to bring home!” Parker is in a more chipper mood.

They all trek to their rooms, and when I hear both of their doors latch, I turn to Kelsey.

“Come to my room?”

She stares at Marine, enthralled by the little creature. “Can we bring her?”

I smile at her love for animals, the way she hasn’t taken her eyes off the cat since I brought it through the door. “Sure.”

We’ve done nothing but watch the kitten pounce around between us on my bed for half an hour. No kissing, no touching, just her and I watching the adorable kitten I brought home sleep.

“She’s adorable. Thank you for bringing her home! She’s just a kickass addition to our rowdy band of misfits.”

As if she could ever be called a misfit.

“Of course…” I didn’t know if I should let on that I got Marnie for her. But I needed to push my luck if I was ever going to get anywhere with her. “I saw her and instantly thought you would love her.”

Kelsey’s eyes float to mine, but she stays silent. I can’t get into that impenetrable brain.

I try a different tactic. “You sure you don’t want to come tomorrow?”

This time she grins. “Nah. I’ll only be a bore the whole week. You’ll do much better without my unathletic, know-nothing ass.”

“I always do better with your ass. Every time.”

This gets a high pitched laugh from Kelsey. “Don’t I know it.”

But I can’t help pressing her more on us. “What do you think you’ll do when we have to get out of the house?”

I want to know if she has any plans to stay with me. To give us some sort of shot in her own way.

“Oh, who knows? Probably another country, maybe South America? Wherever the animals call me, I’ll go.”

She holds her hand up like she’s committed to some faithful mission. I chuckle at her quirkiness. “Not Africa?”

Her usually bright face turns dark, extremely so. A cloud of gloom crosses her hazel eyes, and I can tell I’ve hit some horrible memory.

“No. I don’t think I’ll be going back there anytime soon.”

“How come?”

She shrugs, trying to throw me off of the subject. “Just don’t want to.”

I think back to the day she had a near mental breakdown in her room. “Does it have something to do with your parents?”

Kelsey gasps and stares straight into my eyes. “How do you…?”

Her questions hangs in the air. “I just remember the day you came home in a panic. No one, no one told me a thing.”

She’s shaking now, and I reach out to put my hand on her face. It’s all I can think to do. I want to comfort her so bad. I want to see my sassy, biting girl come back. “What happened?”

Kelsey shakes her head, and whether she’s trying to erase some thought from her mind or if she’s trying to avoid me, I’m not sure. Her eyes look haunted, like someone who has lived through something horrific that they can never, ever forget.

“Talk to me. You can trust me Kels.”

Cautiously, she raises those beautiful, round eyes to me. And I see hope mixed in with all of that pain and fear. Then, in a low, slowly-paced voice, Kelsey starts to talk.