“I told you, I don’t want to sit,” Lily says, beet red in the face, as she’s already sitting down on the seat next to me.

Callum’s there a moment later, sliding into the seat on the other side of her, effectively sandwiching her between the two of us. Which, coincidentally, is exactly what I’d like to do to her.

“Hey, how about this,” I say, graciously accepting the beer that she’s steadily been trying to pander off to me since she actually realized she was holding it. “You try to relax a little, and we’ll promise to be on our best behavior. How does that sound?”

She gives a tentative look to first me and then Callum, before sinking low into her seat and pulling her cap over her face. It’s like she’s trying to disappear completely. Callum and I share a worried look. For some reason, she’s completely enraptured both of us and by the looks of it, neither one of us likes that she’s feeling down, or vulnerable in any way.

“Okay,” she says with a sigh, and the three of us relax into our seats.

I’ve taken a sip of the beer when she speaks up again. Her voice is soothing, soft like honey. I can imagine myself listening to her for a lifetime, and then some.

“How long is this anyway?” she asks.

Her arms are pale, which I can now see because she’s not wearing the jersey anymore. Her auburn hair contrasts nicely with it, but her paleness in the middle of summer also tells me that she doesn’t get out much. I can only assume it’s on purpose. She looks like the type of woman who’d willingly impose solitude on herself in the form of drowning herself in work.

“What do you mean ‘how long’?” Callum asks incredulously. “I thought you were a Mets fan!”

She peeks out from underneath the bill of her cap and sits up straighter, kicking a thumb in the general direction of the row behind us.

“I’m not,” she starts. “My overly helpful friend is. She dragged me along.”

“Did she think you needed to get out more?” Callum asks with a hint of amusement, receiving a look that I can’t quite pinpoint from Lily for it.

She looks a little bit taken aback.

“It’s that obvious?” she asks, her voice softer.

“What? The fact that you’re white as a sheet in the middle of one of the hottest summers we’ve had, and you’re trying to disappear from sight while half the stadium is staring at you, wishing they could take you out on a date? Hell, yes,” I tell her, taking another sip of my beer.

My phone buzzes in my pocket but I opt to ignore it. This is supposed to be my time away from work, away from the insanity of my family, and I damn well intend to take advantage of it.

“You don’t mean that,” she argues, the blush that was beginning to die down a little back in full force.

It looks good on her. I think I’d like to see what she’d look like when I really gave her something to blush about.

“He sure as fuck does,” Callum mutters, before a roar of cheering interrupts us.

We’re on our feet, Lily following tentatively, as the Padres hit a homerun. There’s about as much cheering, as there is jeering on the stadium. I don’t hesitate in joining in. When the crowd settles down again and we take our seats, Lily looks damn near mortified.

“What?” I ask, glancing at Callum with confusion written on my expression. “Did I say something wrong?”

“I’m not sure whether it’s the cursing, or the whole date thing that’s gotten her tongue-tied,” Callum says, clearing the field a little.

“Oh,” I say flatly. “That. You don’t think you’re datable?”

“You’re very datable,” Callum adds.

“Fuckable, even,” I round out, and if Lily could disappear into the ether, I think that’s exactly what she’d do right now.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a woman look so shell-shocked.

“I thought you two promised to behave,” she mutters, pulling the bill of her cap down a little again.

“We are behaving!” I protest with Callum at the same time.

He’s gotten a beer off of a vendor and we clink the plastic cups together over Lily’s head, careful not to spill anything. Not that I wouldn’t mind seeing her doused again, with the thin tee sticking to her skin… Goddammit, I think I’m going to need more than a quick jerking off session to get over meeting this woman.

She laughs at that and it’s the first time I’ve heard that sound. It’s mesmerizing and I immediately want to hear more.

“I’m horrified to think what you two would be like if you weren’t behaving, then,” she says, grinning.

“We’re more than happy to give you a private tour,” Callum quips, adding in a wink for good measure.

“Yeah, I’m sure you are,” she says with a sigh, shaking her head.

Okay, so we’re like partway there. She’s unwinding a little. Baby steps.

“So what are you doing after this?” Callum asks, nudging Lily slightly. “You know, so we could show you.”

“I’m working,” she says flatly, though I can still spot a hint of a smile.

“Yeah? What do you do?”

I’m eager to keep her talking, sure that she’d clam back up if there’s too much of a lull. And I don’t want that to happen.

“I’m a lawyer.”

The sound Callum and I make has her sitting up straight, staring from one to another rapidly.

“What?”

“I mean, it’s not surprising,” Callum says tentatively.

“Why?”

Her eyes are narrowing. Not a good sign.

“Well, with the overworking and the lack of sun and all that,” I jump in, smoothing some feathers.

She doesn’t need to know that our view on lawyers is comparable with the nuclear holocaust. Considering that we’ve been surrounded by lawyers for most of our lives thanks to dad’s constant divorces, we’re not exactly… favorable towards them, one might say.

“Uh-huh,” she says, still not convinced. “And you guys? What do you do when you’re not spilling beers on people and making them enjoy sports competitions?”

“A-ha, so you admit you’re enjoying yourself,” Callum says victoriously.

“I won’t testify to it in court,” she says dryly, drawing a chuckle from the both of us.

“We’re in sports casting now,” I say, leaving it open-ended just like she did.

“Wait,” Lily starts, realization dawning on her sweet, heart-shaped face. “Sports casting… you’re not… you’re not the Stephenson twins, are you?”

I guess one or the other of us isn’t fast enough with hiding the guilty look, because a second later, Lily’s on her feet and pushing past Callum.

“Lily!” I start, and Callum’s already after her.

“No, I’m sorry, I need to go,” she says, showing better running game than I did for my first season.

Damn, that girl’s fast on her feet when she needs to be. She’s halfway up the stairs when Callum catches up to her, but I never hear what she says and Callum lets her go.

“What the fuck, man?” I ask, lowering my voice as my eyes track Lily bouncing up the stairs and out of sight.

I was fully intending on looking at that ass far longer today, but now I feel… well, I don’t like it, whatever it is. I don’t like thinking that we really did something to make her feel uncomfortable around us.

“Leave it,” Callum says grimly, motioning me back towards the seat.

I frown and as I turn around to trot down, I catch Christine’s questioning look.

“If you two-” she starts, half-standing from her chair.

“We’ll take care of it,” Callum bites back, hushing her before she could continue with whatever she was about to say.

I think the look we give Callum’s retreating back with Christine is about the same.