AS SOON AS I WALKED into my room and found a very groggy Aurora just rousing from sleep, I asked if she would do me a favor and come with me. Her sleepy eyes flew open and she squealed like an excited school girl. Giddily clapping her hands together, she hopped up and down, “Oh my gosh, I don’t know what I’m supposed to wear.”

“Uh, what do you mean?” I tossed my bag on the floor and plopped onto my bed.

“I mean, do you have any idea how many attractive guys could be there? We should make our best impression.”

Her excitement was a total buzzkill. “Aurora, I’m not looking to impress anyone. There’s no need to be all dolled up for a bunch of sweaty, smelly males, that I promise you aren’t bothering to look at who is in the stands.”

She twisted to look down at me. She cocked her hip out and put her hand on it. “Yes they do. I dated a football player in high school, and they definitely watch who is there.”

I swallowed. Well, that didn’t make me feel any better, but Wrigley already knew I was coming, so it’s not like he had to look for me. “I think a tank top and shorts will suffice.”

Aurora scowled. “I mean sure, if the tank is cropped, and there’s lace on the shorts. Then it would be a really cute outfit.”

I laughed. “Baseball isn’t meant to be glamourous. It’s just a game that goes on while it’s hotter than Hades outside and people eat peanuts and drink beer. You know, America’s favorite past time and all that.”

“I’m surprised anyone still says that. We all know football is America’s favorite sport.”

I laughed at her very blonde comment, but decided it wasn’t worth explaining further. “Well, you can get as dressed up or down as you want to. I’m happiest, and most comfortable, in plain clothes. I have no reason to dress up. No matter how many attractive guys are playing.” Or the one that I was going there to watch.

She ignored me as she dug through her closet searching while I pulled out my political science book and cracked open the first chapter. Then, just like that, the hours slipped by...

I covered my eyes from the glaring sun as I searched the field for Wrigley. Four o’clock the next day had come too fast and Aurora hadn’t given me the chance to escape the dreaded event. This was the worst idea ever. I mean, hands down, the worst possible thing I could’ve said yes to and I still don’t know why I said yes. But I did and here I was, sitting in the middle of the bleachers, with my new roommate bouncing her knee beside me, as a field full of guys tossed and caught baseballs.

“Do you see him?” she asked.

“See who?” I wasn’t sure if she was asking about Wrigley, or the guy she’d shouldered a week ago.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “The one from your town.”

“His name is Wrigley.”

“Okay then, have you seen Wrigley?”

I laughed at her over excitement. “Yes, he’s in the dugout.”

What I wasn’t going to tell her was that the moment we stepped onto the bleachers, my eyes scanned every square inch of field searching for him. When I’d found him, I hadn’t taken my eyes off of him. I wondered, as I stared at him, if he had even noticed that I was here. It’s not like he continuously looked up here to check. Wrigley had only invited me out of kindness, and, even then, I should have declined. I already felt ridiculous for being here.

Aurora had wanted to sit on the front row so we would be seen, but I had other plans. I continued marching up the steps and decided somewhere in the middle to top of the bleachers was the perfect place to plop my butt down and hope like hell this went by quickly so I could get back to my room.

Her eyes scanned the dugout, looking for him. He was currently sitting on the bench, grinning at something one of his teammates was showing him on his phone. My mind automatically assumed the worst—it was probably a girl. I’d seen him doing it plenty of times before. Looking at girls on Instagram or Facebook. I always thought they were stupid for seeking out random females and drooling over photographs of people they didn’t know. Those sites are all about lighting and perfect angles.

I brushed aside the feeling of jealousy and sat while Aurora started gabbing on about one of her classes. She was majoring in art, and was excited about all of her classes. In her one class, they were going to be sketching a live model. I laughed as she spoke. She was always so animated, her arms swinging around, facial expressions galore. The more I got to know my new roommate, the more I liked her. She was the furthest thing from shy that could be as it turned out. Aurora was more of an eccentric person. She was a young girl at heart, hence the child-like bedroom. But her playful flirtiness and laughter was contagious and she drew attention to her like a moth to a flame. I’d noticed a few times that guys paid attention to her.

“Eeek! I see him.”

I laughed. “You know, Wrigley is just a guy.”

She shook her head. “No, not Wrigley, I’m talking about the blond one from the other day.” She shifted forward and squinted her eyes as if to see him better. “I mean, really, that butt looks fantastic in baseball pants.”

This time I really did laugh out loud. “Aurora, all guys look good in baseball pants.” I glanced away from Wrigley to see what she was looking at.

Some of the boy’s attention shifted towards us, my laugh too boisterous. I turned bright red under the already hot sun. Damn it. Hopefully nobody heard my comment. That was when Wrigley came out of the dugout and lifted his hand to his forehead to block the sun from his eyes. He was looking right at me. His mouth tipped up into a cute goofy grin. When he waved, I barely raised my hand enough to wave back one time. I could tell he was chuckling as he shook his head.

Practice for them consisted of running sprints around the field, throwing ground balls, swinging the bats, and catching. Typical, if you asked me. Then again, I was raised around the game. My dad loved it and had actually attended a few games with Wrigley’s dad, Paul. Aurora didn’t seem as interested as I was. It became evident to me that her sport of choice was boy watching. The comments coming out her mouth over the hour’s time had my stomach hurting from laughing. It was a nice change of pace to really hang out with someone...to have someone talk to me like a normal person...like a friend. It was almost soothing, if that was the best way to describe it. This was how life should have been for me the last ten years. Boys, shopping, clothes, text messages, and hanging out. Too bad it hadn’t been.

I hadn’t realized till halfway through the practice that three girls had come to sit on the bleachers toward the front corner. They were whispering amongst each other and I got the impression they had been listening to Aurora and everything she had been saying. Not that my roommate would honestly care who’d heard her. But it bothered me that they seemed to be laughing at her expense.

All three of them were very pretty. Like triplets with their brown hair falling in cascades to the middle of their backs. They wore similar clothing, the type that begs for attention and looked perfect on their tan bodies. I instantly didn’t care for them. I should have felt ashamed for judging them, but I couldn’t help it. They reminded me of some of the girls in high school.

Every once in a while, the trio would glance back at us and say something to one another before laughing. My hands balled into fists at my side as frustration bit into me like a sore thumb. I did notice one of them had a large bag next to her that looked like it was carrying bats, and there was a mitt lying next to it. I wondered if she was a girlfriend to one of the players, or simply there because they were invited.

“Hey.” Aurora nudged me. “What’s the matter?”

I didn’t look at her; I just kept staring at them. “I think those girls are talking about us.”

“So.”

She was indifferent. I glanced at her. “So. So I don’t like it.”

Aurora grinned at me. “Hadley, if I had a nickel for every person who has ever had something to say about me, I’d be living it up shopping in Dubai with some pool boy named Raul following me around kissing my feet.” She shrugged. “Who cares?”

I blinked. She acted like it wasn’t a big deal. And maybe it wasn’t, especially because these girls were strangers. I shook my head, trying to force her logic into it. Maybe because I’d dealt with this most of my life, it wasn’t something I simply ignored or brushed off my shoulder. And I highly doubted Aurora had ever had to deal with the level of bullying I had. However, if she didn’t want to draw any attention to it, then who was I to make anything of it. Maybe I should attempt ignoring and not let it bother me so much.

The practice on the field, completely unaware of the frustration I was feeling. I had no clue how they all had the stamina to play in this heat. I felt so bad for them that I almost wanted to go get them bunch of ice water, and popsicles or something. That seemed a bit t-ball mom of me, so I kept right where I was. Aurora proceeded with her boy talk and checking out every member of the team, stating what she liked about each one. There was only one or two she didn’t have much to say about. Wrigley had been playing first base for the first half of practice, then he was moved to third. I had to admit, it was kind of fun watching him. He had an ease about the way he played the game. From what I remember as a kid, all four Brooks brothers played baseball really well but Wrigley was the most natural. He was the one that played like the diamond and ball were in his very DNA. There was no way he wouldn’t end up with the major league.

As if my mind summoned him, Wrigley came strutting over, and waved. “Hey you.”

I blushed. “Hey back.”

His white teeth gleamed in the sun as he smiled. “How’s it going?”

“Great!” Aurora answered for both of us. “Lovin’ the tight pants from up here.”

“What!” I exclaimed.

He was leaning against the fence and laughed. “That’s a good thing, right?”

Why was he watching me like that? If he was expecting me to answer, I certainly wasn’t going to. My lips were sealed. He’d have to bark up another tree if he wanted anything out of me on the subject. Sweat trickled down the back of my neck. The hazel of his eyes were absolutely piercing and he was making me warmer than the sun was.

“Brooks!” The coach yelled. “Get your ass back over here and stop trying to hit on girls.”

Now that was something I could laugh at. “Better get back or he will make you run suicides.”

His eyes got huge. “I’d die in this heat.”

“Go.”

He took a few steps backwards. “I’ll catch up after practice.” Wrigley didn’t wait for me to respond, he turned and ran back to the dugout where the coach seemed to be grumbling at him.

Aurora giggled next to me. “You are so easy to embarrass.”

I put my face in my hands. “I can’t believe you said that. Well, actually I can.”

“He’s flirting with you. You know that right?”

I looked at her, flabbergasted. “No he wasn’t. Wrigley is just being nice.”

“You’re blinder than a bat. And even those suckers have good senses, which you don’t.”

I didn’t know if I should be offended by her comment or curious if she was actually right. My brain said, nope not in a million years would Wrigley flirt with me. She was seeing it all wrong. While my heart wished he would flirt. Even though I wouldn’t have the slightest clue what to do with myself if he did.

“How long have you had a crush on him?” Her abrupt, forward question left me with my mouth hanging open.

“What makes you think I have a crush on him?”

She chortled. “Don’t even start with me, woman. I asked you the other day, and you lied about it, but don’t treat me like I’m stupid.” I blinked at her. “Hadley, you may think you hide yourself in plain sight, but you’re completely visible to me. Maybe I’m just learning to pick up on your cues and things you do, but you definitely like that boy.”

I suppose I probably wasn’t being very aloof about it when I’d been around her, and truly, I was learning to drop my guard. I was wanting to trust her, but I wasn’t so certain it would backfire. It’s happened to me before. “My whole life.” I whispered.

“What’s that? I couldn’t hear you.”

I looked down at my feet. “Since forever.”

“That long? Has he ever known?”

I shook my head.

“Why not?” She quieted her voice, and it was clear she was being more gentle in her approach.

Shrugging, I responded, “There’s never been any reason to tell him. There’s never been any interest.”

“What makes you think he wouldn’t be interested?” she asked with sincerity.

I wasn’t going there with her. She was becoming my friend and I wasn’t tainting it with memories from grade school. It was a time in my life that was better off left in the past. I was moving on. Wrigley made it a little harder to do that since he was a part of that past, but I’d deal with him being my present and eventually move on.

“If he had interest, he would have shown it by now.”

Her head jerked back. “Hadley, do you have any idea how dense guys are?” Her voice grew a little louder. Loud enough that I knew the three girls were listening. I sank a little in my seat. “A man could have his future wife standing right next to him and he may not even realize it till she snaps her fingers in his face demanding his attention.”

“I’m not marrying Wrigley Brooks,” I said vehemently.

“And I’m not saying that you are. I’m trying to make a metaphor here,” she said, clearly exasperated. “I don’t think Wrigley even knows that he could even want you because maybe you’ve never shown him what he was missing.”

I sat silently as I pondered her words. The guy had been my neighbor for as long as I could remember. We’d been on the same sports teams together, gone to school together, our families hung out. You’d think that if Wrigley wanted to notice me, he would have by now. Her reasoning may be great for someone else, but, for me, this wasn’t the case.

“I’m going to have to agree to disagree. He’s a friend, and we will leave it at that.”

She sighed and then looked out at the field. “I’ll crack you sooner or later.” She peered at me briefly then looked back to watch the guys. “We aren’t as different as you think we are.”

I wish I understood what she meant by that. I didn’t get a chance to think on it more before the girl sitting in the middle of the three twisted almost all the way around and spoke.

“How do you know Wrigley?”

Her question completely took me off guard. “I’m sorry?”

The way she repeated herself, she sounded as if she was put out doing so. “I said, how do you know him?”

Uhhh… I wasn’t even sure how to answer because I didn’t know why she even cared to know. This girl was a complete stranger. There was no preamble of hello’s or what’s your name. It was straight to the thick of it. She just went to wanting to know what my relation to Wrigley was and I didn’t like how she’d asked. My body tensed and I tilted my head to the side. She was watching me like I was an idiot preparing to give her an idiot response.

“I’m sorry, do I know you?” I knew damn well I didn’t, but all three of them were now looking at me.

“No.” The one on the end by the bag said. “We are on the softball team, and stopped to watch them play. We saw him come say hi, and overheard you all mention his name so we just wanted to know how you knew him.”

“They grew up in the same town.” Aurora casually mentioned.

The one who asked me the question tilted her head to the side. Her dark eyes were measuring me up. I didn’t know what she was looking for, but I stared right back.

“Softball you said?” I asked, attempting to make conversation.

“Yep.”

From the back they looked like triplets. From the front, they were nothing alike. In fact, the only attractive one was in the middle and she was refusing to look away. It was beginning to feel like a battle of wills.

“That’s nice.” It may have come out a little snootier than I planned. Middle girl curled her lip.

“So,” she spoke again, “You’re practically brother and sister then?”

Aurora bristled and I cleared my throat. “Erm, no.” No idea where she surmised that one.

I was vaguely aware of the guys all gathered around the pitcher’s mound as practice was coming to an end. Good, I was ready to get back to my dorm. I had a feeling Wrigley may have messed around with this one. Girls, in my experience, don’t come off as rude or catty right off the bat unless they are trying to ‘mark territory’, so to speak. She could have him. Never in a million years would I fight over that man, or try to say that he was mine. The word ‘friendship’ with him is one I’d use very loosely.

The one who hadn’t spoken yet tapped on the shoulder of the girl in the middle. She indicated that the practice was over. Standing in synchronization, middle girl looked back at me. “Not sure we will see you here again.” The way she said it made it sound like a threat. “Hope you enjoyed watching.” Of course she didn’t mean it.

My old enemies in Athens wouldn’t stand a chance against a girl like her. What amazed me even more was, if she was interested in Wrigley, why would she concern herself with the likes of me? She was prettier, apparently had the baseball thing in common, and had confidence coming out of her ears. I was just me. There was no reason to make me feel like I had no business being here. Even if it was Wrigley, or hell, one of the other guys playing.

“Oh, I’m sure you will.” Aurora commented. I twisted in my seat to look at her. Her agitation was evident with her flaring nostrils. “I’m sorry; we didn’t catch your name?”

Her lip curled slightly as she said, “Livi.”

“Well, I’m Aurora, and this is Hadley,” she said with sweetness dripping from her voice.

There was a brief moment where no one said a thing. I had no idea what was going on, but I wished Aurora wouldn’t have done that. Picking up their bag, they walked down the steps to the grass and toward the team members, who were still mingling on the field. I didn’t scan for Wrigley. I didn’t care to know where he was. I simply wanted to leave.

“What was that?” I ground out.

“What was what?”

“That.” I pointed to their backs. “You practically just called her out, and placed a target on my back.”

She scoffed. “You’re being dramatic, Hadley. That girl is harmless.”

I blinked at her like she was stupid. “That wasn’t harmless. That was nails fully extended and I’m going to slice your throat open if you come back here. I don’t do girls like that.”

Aurora started to step down from where we were sitting and I followed. “Girls like that are literally a dime a dozen,” she said as she climbed down. “Do you think she thinks her shit stinks? No, of course she doesn’t. She thinks she’s God’s gift to men and anybody that encounters her.” She paused to turn around to look at me. “And I’m the girl that lets her know she’s not.” She shrugged and smiled.

I gaped at her. That wasn’t real life, didn’t she know that? Girls like Livi were God’s gift. Men saw her walking by and they’d bow down to her feet if she asked.

“Aurora, girls like that, eat girls like me for breakfast.”

She barked a laugh. “You’re silly. Come on, let’s go say hi.”

I sighed. She didn’t get it and, frankly, it didn’t matter to me that she didn’t. “Nah, I think I’m going to head back to the room. I already have two chapters to read and I want to make sure I’m taking notes on everything just in case we are quizzed or something.” It was weak but it was the best excuse I could come up with.

Her shoulders sagged. “Come on. Just a quick hello, then we can head back.”

“Honestly, after all of that I think it’s best that I don’t. But you can go say hi to them if you want.”

“Are you really going to let them scare you away?”

Yes. “No. I just don’t see the point in hanging around where I’m not welcome, nor am I interested in keep up false pretenses with someone I was never great friends with.”

She took a few steps, then stopped. “Okay. I think I’m going to go get the name of the blonde we saw the other day. Are you sure you don’t want to come?”

“Mhmm. Go, have fun. Let me know how it goes.”

I could feel her frustration with me rolling off of her but I wasn’t budging. I think she was picking up on the fact that there was a deeper story to me and what I’d gone through, but I was hoping like hell she wouldn’t ever ask me about it. I was done with that life—one that beat me down and made me feel like I wasn’t worthy of anyone’s time.

“I won’t be gone long,” Aurora said as her gaze searched my face, clearly concerned about me.

“Okay,” I said as breezily as I could muster

She nodded before heading off in the direction of the tall blond. Aurora had a spring in her step the closer she drew to the crowd and it made me smile. I hadn’t meant to dampen her happy, I really hadn’t. I was glad she was the type that didn’t need me glued to her side to do the things she wanted. I, on the other hand, wouldn’t have been comfortable marching off to a group of males and being the center of attention. I envied people who had confidence and knew who they were.

Turning, I started off toward my dorm. The walk was probably about a quarter of a mile. And with the sun shining high still, my clothing was sticking to my skin. I couldn’t wait to get into the air conditioning, kick off my shoes, and change into my ratty boxer shorts. This long hair of mine was going straight up into a messy bun and I was crossing my fingers and toes that my Ben and Jerry’s was still in our freezer.

“Hey!”

I vaguely heard someone behind me, but I thought it was someone driving in their car yelling out of their window. When I heard it again, I looked behind me. Wrigley was jogging up the sidewalk, trying to catch up. I stopped walking. His feet hitting the pavement at the same pace my heart was beating. His dark hair was glistening with sweat. Why was he coming this way instead of hanging out with his friends? Better yet, with that girl Livi.

When he got to me, he was panting. “Geez, I thought they were keeping you in shape.” I tried with a halfhearted laugh.

He rolled his eyes. “It’s hotter than balls out here. You try running and see if you’re not winded in this humidity.” He had a point. “How come you just left?”

Ack, not really the greatest question to ask. Let me rephrase, not one I wanted to respond to. I lied. “Yeah, about that. Sorry, I didn’t mean to just ditch you and stuff, but I have a load of reading already from my psychology class and I think there’s going to be a pop quiz or something.”

He turned his head to the side, and his chest was still moving up and down at a rapid pace. “Your friend Aurora said you’d left and I didn’t get why you didn’t say bye.”

“I didn’t want to bother you.”

“If I told you I’d catch up with you after practice, that’s kind of your sign that you’re not bothering me.”

Touché. There was a pebble by my toe and I kicked it. “You just seemed busy was all. I figured you’d want to hang out with the guys and that Livi girl when you were done.”

He gave me a small grin. “I’ve been hanging around those guys since the day I stepped on campus. A break with a familiar face would’ve been nice. And Livi is cool and all, but she’s a bit narcissistic.”

That cracked my nervous frown, and I laughed. “That’s funny.”

He smiled broadly. “What is?”

“That’s a pretty big, in-depth word.”

He raised his brow, his tongue came out and swept across his lips. “Are you insinuating I don’t know what it means?”

“No, I’m just impressed you do.”

He shook his head. “Well, what are you doing right now?”

“Right now?” I repeated. “I’m standing here talking to you.”

“No, I know that. I mean what are you doing in the next half hour? That burger place is still open and we can grab a bite to eat, or I can walk you the rest of the way to your dorm if you want.”

All of that required him spending time with him. Time that would be spent talking. Talking about stuff I probably had no interest in but would do it just to pacify him and make myself not feel so much like a loser. There was something seriously wrong with this situation. Wrigley Brooks had never gone out of his way to hang out with me. Was he home sick? I swallowed hard. If I said yes, I’d be spending time alone with him. I felt so conflicted because of my own frazzled nerves. I can count on one hand the amount of times it had been just Wrigley and myself. Being alone was simply not something he sought to be with me.

Instead of going with my gut, I did what I sought out to do by living here. I chose to be me. “Let’s grab a bite to eat then.”

Smiling, he held his hand out in front of him. “Lead the way.”

Lord, don’t let this be something I added to my long list of regrets.