Page 32 of Catch Me (Becoming Us #4)

Roman

It was my last day with the players, and that was somehow surreal. It felt like yesterday that Travis had mentioned the idea of a commission. The person I’d been that day wouldn’t believe what had happened since. Once I finished up with Matthew, I’d have everything I needed to finish this thing.

God, my name was going to be attached to the Atlanta Braves. It was freaking insane.

“Thanks, man,” I said, offering Matthew a smile. “That’s everything I need.”

“You sure?” He held up his arm and flexed. “I can do some better poses.”

“It’s not a dating profile,” Travis chimed in.

He was lying on the ground, throwing a ball in the air.

It was weird, but I couldn’t deny that I liked that he’d stayed close.

Neither of us had said anything about him coming today, but we’d fallen into step this morning and both just assumed, I guess.

Matthew blew air through his lips. “It doesn’t hurt to look good on the calendar, though.”

“You’ll look great,” I assured him. “I’m good at what I do. ”

“Alright, cool. Maybe add some definition around the arms and chest, you know.”

“Get the hell out of here,” Travis drawled. His accent came out more than usual, and it gave him an endearing quality. Not that he needed that in the slightest.

After Matthew was gone, I sat on the ground beside Travis. He covered his eyes with his bicep, still holding the ball. I took it from him and jumped to my feet.

“Ready to go?”

“Sure,” he muttered.

“Is everything okay?”

“I’m bored.”

“You didn’t have to come.”

He shrugged, which made me wonder if he didn’t actually want to be here. I’d already felt like an idiot about asking him to come the other day, but I’d thought he was fine with it. Had he just been obliging me?

Great, I was being pathetic and clingy. What grown man asked another man to hang around while he worked?

“Where are you going?” he asked when I walked away.

“Done here.”

“Why are you pissy?” His voice was closer now. I just shook my head.

Since I knew that I’d be done pretty late today, I’d planned to leave tomorrow.

That was probably a stupid idea. I could drive through the night and be back early in the morning.

That would give me time to sleep before I had to catch my flight to Seattle.

There was no longer a reason for me to be here.

It was done. Over. The three weeks had passed, and now it was time to move on.

I put my hand on the exit door, ready to push it open, but it felt too heavy. There was a ringing in my ears that made it hard to focus. When I thought about leaving, I tried to imagine what that meant.

Home. My mom’s house. School. Regular life.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I breathed.

“Hey.” Through the ringing and the sound of my heartbeat in my ears, I couldn’t tell if Travis was close or far away .

When I turned around, he was right there. The worry in his eyes froze me to the spot, leaving me helpless. Lost. Pathetic.

“Let’s just go,” I suggested before he could say anything.

“Yeah, sure.” His eyes searched my face, so I tried to force a neutral expression. “I have to drop you off, or I can get you a ride.”

“Why?”

“I have something to do tonight,” he replied.

“What?”

I knew it was none of my business, but I fought the urge to backtrack. I wanted to know, and it didn’t matter how much I tried to fight it. If he didn’t tell me, I’d probably stalk his IG, hoping for him to post about it.

Shaking my head, I turned and walked out the door before he could respond. “Sorry. I don’t know why I asked.”

“Bro, chill the fuck out,” he said with a sigh.

When I didn’t slow, he stepped in front of me. On instinct, I shoved him, making him stumble back. He looked a little surprised, but then a half-smile appeared on his lips.

Was he a maniac? I was starting to think so.

“Sorry,” I mumbled again.

“You wanna come with me?”

“No.”

“Fine, get in the car.”

Without a word, I climbed into the passenger seat. I got on my phone, absently scrolling through my news feed. Now that I had a minute to think, maybe driving home tonight was dumb. I hated that I was reacting like this just because of this fucking guy next to me.

The Jeep came to a stop, and when I looked up, I saw that we were in a parking lot.

“What are we doing?” I asked.

He didn’t respond. When he got out of the car, I grunted in annoyance.

I could sit here, of course. He was probably just grabbing something real quick. As he got farther away, I swore and opened my door. I came up beside him, shoving my hands in my pockets. He didn’t even look at me.

Damnit .

He grabbed a cart and started going down the aisles.

I looked around, realizing that this place was full of kid’s stuff.

We passed a section with Nerf guns, and I unashamedly checked them out.

There was one out of the box, so I picked it up and aimed at the back of Travis’ head.

The light thunk when it hit him was more satisfying than it should have been.

Slowly, he turned around. He eyed the gun, and even though he was trying to keep a straight face, I could see that he was close to breaking.

“If I suggest we buy two of these, what will you say?” I asked.

He walked up to me and stopped a couple of feet away. I waited, but when I couldn’t stand it anymore, I casually added another bullet. He watched me with narrowed eyes. When I raised the gun, he put his palm on the front and curled his fingers over it.

His silence was killing me. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him this quiet except when I refused to talk to him. Was he throwing an Uno Reverse at me?

“Please say something.”

A single brow rose.

“Did I piss you off?” I ventured.

He grabbed two of the guns from the shelf and put them in the cart, then continued. My anger was starting to bubble up again, and I had to consciously push it down.

“I don’t know how to do this,” I went on as I walked beside him. “To be real with someone.”

“Hm.”

I stood straighter, bolstered by the meager response.

“I guess, maybe I’ve been playing a game my whole life.

Each move is deliberate, meant to steer me toward something specific.

With you, there are things that just come out of my mouth, and then I don’t know what to do with them.

So, yeah, that’s what happened earlier, I think. ”

I chewed on my lip, knowing I should shut up but also knowing that it wouldn’t get him to talk to me. And I needed him to do that.

“If it’s cool, I do want to come with you. I mean, I don’t know where you’re off to. If it’s just a you thing, that’s fine. A date or something.”

He stopped, and I pursed my lips when he hung his head. His shoulders shook with a laugh .

“Nevermind,” I muttered.

He grabbed my forearm in a tight grip. “Don’t walk off.”

“I wasn’t going to,” I lied.

Releasing me, he turned. The unfeeling mask was no longer on his face, which was reassuring.

“Why would I be here, buying a bunch of kid’s toys, if I was going on a date?”

I glanced at the cart. “I don’t know. Maybe he’s a single dad.”

“I know you’re an artist, but your imagination needs some brakes. There’s a toy drive where I volunteer. I’m going there tonight to serve dinner.”

“Oh. Another team thing?”

“No, just me. And you, if you’re still into it.”

“Yeah.”

“Really?” He looked genuinely surprised by my response.

“You don’t think I’m capable of volunteering for the less fortunate?”

“I didn’t say that.”

With a glare meant to show my offense, I marched ahead and started adding more things to the cart. It was for charity, and if he minded how much it was all gonna cost, he didn’t say it.

“Why’d you give me the silent treatment?” I asked.

“Know how parents teach babies to self soothe so they learn to work through their unruly emotions all on their own?”

I had no idea how to respond to that, so I chose not to. It was worse that his little stunt had somehow worked.

I watched him study a silver, metal bat. He ran his fingers along it, then twirled it in his hand. After setting it on top of everything else, we headed to the front of the store.

Everything cost an ungodly amount, and he didn’t bat an eye. Once we had it all loaded up in the Jeep, we headed down the road. He turned up the radio, and I found myself wrinkling my nose.

“Of course you’re into country.”

He glanced over at me. “You’re not?”

“No.”

When he turned it up more, I hung my head. I’d brought it upon myself by saying something about it.

He started to sing, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. His head swung back and forth, making his hair fly into his face. The Texan really came out when he was like this. Never in a million years would I think there’d be something attractive about it, but here we were.

I snorted a laugh, and when he got louder, I was torn between watching him sing or jumping out of the car.

He pulled up to a brick building and put it in park, but he didn’t stop singing until the song was over. Realizing I’d just been listening to him, I stepped outside and headed around to the back. When he joined me, he was smiling.

“It’s a good thing you don’t have a date,” I noted.

He leaned his shoulder against the car. “Yeah? Why’s that?”

“Because they’d ghost you as soon as they realized how crazy you are.”

“You stuck around.”

My cheeks heated. Thankfully, he opened the back door and started hauling things inside. I grabbed as much as I could, grateful for the distraction.

When we got in the building, there were already people everywhere. He apologized to an older woman for being late, and she waved him off. There was warmth in her eyes as she watched him set the boxes down on a table. She looked at me and cocked her head.

“You’re not one of the players,” she said.

“I’m a friend of Travis’.” After setting everything down, I held out my hand. She shook it firmly, which I thought was a good thing.

“We appreciate all the help we can get, of course. And if you’re Travis’ friend, I’m sure you’re good.”

“That’s subjective.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Everyone kinda sucks in comparison to him, I think.”

When she laughed, I relaxed a little. “That’s why you should never compare yourself, hon. We’re all perfectly unique.”

“For sure.”

I went and grabbed the last of the toys, then stood around awkwardly. Travis was talking to some people in the kitchen who all seemed to know him. I wondered how often he volunteered here. The guy really never stopped doing shit.

It looked like they had everything covered, even while they served the food.

I didn’t feel as weird about it as I observed, though.

It was nice to watch him with everybody, and I found it nearly imposs ible to look away.

There was something about the way he moved, the way he talked and interacted with the world around him, that was uniquely fascinating.

Pulling out my tablet, I started to sketch the room. It was random and wouldn’t be interesting, but it was something to do. At least this time, I could pretend it wasn’t about him.

“Don’t stare,” a man said in a hushed voice. “It’s rude.”

I looked over at him. There was a kid by his side, and I realized that he was watching Travis. As if he felt my stare, he shifted his gaze to me. His eyes fell to the floor, and he inched backward.

He looked so unsure of himself that I found it hard not to say something. Chewing on my lip, I went over to the two of them.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“Sure,” the guy said. “He’s just impatient.”

I glanced back at Travis. “If he’s waiting for him, I’m sure he’ll be free soon. He probably wouldn’t mind if you went and talked to him now, even.”

“It’s okay.”

I looked at the kid again, noticing that he was wearing a baseball mitt. With a soft smile, I tapped on the tablet and pulled up one of the drawings I had of Travis on the field. When I flipped it around, his mouth dropped open.

“Did you make that?”

“I sure did,” I replied. “He’s a friend of mine.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Do you want me to introduce you?”

He looked at the ground, then at the glove. “This is his.”

“Oh. You met already.” Suddenly, I remembered a picture he’d posted on Instagram for a fundraiser. Now, I realized it was for this place. “Yeah, I remember seeing you on his page. He gave you that, huh?”

The kid nodded. When I held my hand out, he shakily passed me the ball. I tossed it in the air a few times, then motioned for him to be ready for it. He caught it, which made him loosen up and smile.

“Could you draw me too?” he asked.

My brows rose, and I looked at his dad. “Sure, if you want.”

“With Travis.”

With a laugh, I shrugged. “I bet he’d be cool with it. ”

“Carl!” I heard Travis bellow. The kid shrunk a little, but his eyes had lit up.

I looked to the side when I saw Travis. He was holding the silver bat, which rested against his shoulder. He looked contemplative as he stared at Carl, and I was able to detect the mischief on his face.

“I was thinking.” He crouched and tapped the boy’s shoulder gently with the bat. “You can’t have a baseball player that only knows how to catch. That’s just a glorified Labrador. You know when I first felt like a real baseball player?”

“When?” Carl asked excitedly.

“When I hit my first home run.” He demonstrated swinging the bat in slow motion, then put his hand above his forehead like a visor as he watched the imaginary ball soar into the distance. “And the crowd goes wild.”

Carl’s eyes were locked on the bat. “Is it for me?”

“You betcha. I picked it out myself. I dare say it’ll make you better than me, but I’ve got a good decade before I have to worry about you leaving me in the dust.”

As I watched him show Carl how to hold it, I started to sketch them together.

I’d never really understood how some women acted all weird and swooned over a guy who was good with kids.

Now, I thought I did. There was something about the person he’d morphed into right before my eyes.

It made me see him in a whole different light.

He peered over the screen, unashamedly taking in what I was drawing. “I’m telling you, Carl, it’s your lucky day. You’re being drawn by a guy whose name is going to be all over the world pretty soon. This is going to be worth millions someday.”

I snorted. “Yeah, because you’re in it.”

“Teamwork makes the dream work, buddy.” He draped his arm over my shoulders casually, continuing to watch as I formed seemingly senseless lines into a memory.

I found myself relaxing as I stood there, listening to him talk to Carl’s dad while the weight of his arm remained perfectly settled.