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Saturday evening came around a bit too slow for my liking, or maybe that was just my excitement over finally getting to watch a live baseball game again.

But it might have more to do with the fact that a certain boy was playing later.

Either way, I had spent the whole day running errands. From getting groceries to taking out the trash, I did anything I could to distract myself from how mind-numbingly slow time was moving.

Heck, I even managed to finish Bringing Down the Duke, and I was already a quarter into a new book.

Eventually, the anticipated event was starting in a few hours, and I could finally start getting ready at a reasonable time.

For a minute I thought about dressing up for that day’s game, just because it was the first and only home game that semester. No other reason. But in hindsight, I decided to prioritize comfort, if we were going to be there for at least a few hours.

Knowing how packed it was going to be, especially parking-wise, Claudia and Lily decided to meet us at our apartment before we booked an Uber to go to the stadium together.

Nina heated up some leftovers from last night, just to pan off our hunger throughout the game, since we planned on getting dinner later.

‘Everyone ready to go?’ Nina said after putting the last of the dirty plates in the dishwasher.

‘Yup!’ Claudia shouted at the same time as Lily exclaimed. ‘Ready!’

‘Me too,’ I replied. ‘Just let me grab my things, and then we can leave.’

I made my way back to my room and went to my closet to pick out a jacket. The weather wasn’t too cold thankfully, but the game was starting at 5 p.m. and would last into the early night.

I was about to reach for my denim jacket, when I noticed the one hanging beside it.

Colton’s baseball jacket.

After the not-date with Colton—as I liked to call it—I had immediately hung it inside my closet, instead of having it laid around my room.

I did so because, one, to take care of it, and two, to let myself get rid of the memory and the desire to want more.

I knew if it was placed somewhere I could see, I would just be reminded of what I couldn’t have.

But that was before I had decided to give him—give us—a chance. And maybe, there was a part of me, even back then, that just didn’t want to give it back to him just yet.

‘Clara!’ I heard Nina call out. ‘The Uber is coming in three minutes.’

‘Coming!’ Without further hesitation, I unhooked his jacket and placed it on my arm. Grabbing my tote bag from my desk chair, I joined the girls at the front door before we headed for our ride downstairs.

It might have been just an exhibition game, but when your college team is as celebrated and renowned as ours was, every game that you can catch in person is a big opportunity you shouldn’t miss.

That also pretty much meant that the shared parking lot between the baseball stadium and the track field was filled to the brim, along with all the empty parking spots that were within walkable distance to the stadium, just as we had expected.

It seemed not only the whole college, but the whole town had the same idea of how to spend their Saturday evening.

We told our Uber driver to drop us off at the library instead, so he could avoid the ongoing traffic.

As we walked along the path, talking about who we were most excited to see play today, I took my phone out to see if Colton had texted me back.

After our conversation the day before, we had both gone our separate ways. Colton had to meet up with his team, and I had to head home and start prepping dinner. I had a new recipe I wanted to try out, and thus needed extra time, in case I messed it up.

But that only meant our conversations continued through text instead, and I hadn’t realized just how much I missed talking to him. It didn’t go too late into the night, since I knew he needed his sleep for the game.

We didn’t text as much that day, other than a good morning text, and him telling me he was going to be in the stadium all day with the team and their coach to discuss the strategy for that night’s game.

My last message wished him good luck for the game, but I wasn’t sure if he had seen it, since I only texted him on the Uber ride.

Our short walk finally came to a stop, as we approached the entrance to the stadium. The game was starting in half an hour, but it seemed like all the good seats were already taken.

Luckily, we managed to find four seats between the home plate and first base, somewhere in the middle of the numerous rows. It gave us a pretty good view of the game.

I settled into the furthest seat to the right, with Nina sitting next to me. A playlist of the day’s latest hit songs blasted the speakers as we waited for the game to start.

I unlocked my phone to see if there were any new notifications.

There were none.

I couldn’t help but feel a little upset at not sending the text a bit earlier. Not that he needed it, but I’m sure he would’ve appreciated it.

‘Are you wearing what I think you’re wearing?’ I heard Nina ask next to me.

I tucked my phone into the jacket. ‘What?’

‘It’s Colton’s jacket, isn’t it?’

I was yet to update Nina on what had happened with Colton the day before, only because I didn’t want to have her hopes up just yet, since Colton had a condition to fulfil to earn his chance of a date with me.

‘Yeah, it’s his jacket,’ I told her and left it at that. But the smile on my face pretty much told her everything she needed to know.

She gave me a smile of her own. ‘You’ll tell me when you’re ready?’

‘Always,’ I said, putting an arm around her and giving her a side hug, silently letting her know how grateful I was for her.

The song that was currently playing through the speakers slowly faded out. It was replaced with the sound of trumpets, followed by our college’s own sports commentator announcing the game was about to begin.

‘Welcome folks to another exhibition game during this off-season! And this time, we’ll be playing in the home of last year’s Men’s College World Series champion, our very own Dust Devils!’

The crowd gave a massive cheer for our beloved team, while they waved around for us as they got ready in the dugout.

‘Today’s game will be against another one of college baseball favourites, the Raptors!’

Applause sounded all over the stadium for the away team.

As the crowd started to settle down, our college baseball players started making their way to the field and got into position. It seemed that the away team was batting first.

My heart couldn’t help but speed up seeing Colton taking his place right in front of our stand at first base.

His eyes started to dart across the stadium—from his right side, before coming over to the left.

My side.

For a moment, I gave in to the temptation of the fantasy that he was looking for me.

But it seemed my fantasy wasn’t far off, when he went a little over from where I was sitting, before bringing his eyes back to me.

Remembering that he might not have read my text, I thought of the next best thing I could do, while I still had his attention.

‘Good luck!’ I signed to him.

A massive grin instantly appeared on his face. He tipped his hat at me before signing a little ‘thank you ’ back, not wanting to alert anyone who might have perceived it as Colton giving a flying kiss to someone in the stands.

He turned his attention back to the game as the first batter from the opposing team stepped up to home plate.

And so, it began.

The game kicked off to a good start with our team leading, managing a score of 2-0 in the first inning. But the other team was starting to catch up to us, which led to a tie score of 4-4.

A slight strain of worry filled the air in the crowd at the score, though it didn’t last too long as Jack, our team’s pitcher, managed to pull three strikeouts in a row.

Soon, we were back to being the batting team.

As each player managed to swing a good shot, we now had all three bases loaded.

While that didn’t necessarily bring in points, it did mean things were starting to look up for us.

But as the next couple of batters got struck out, the tension was back in the atmosphere.

Everyone started to feel nervous again, since we were only left with one last player to bat, if we wanted to take advantage of the loaded bases.

The nervousness instantly switched to excitement, when we heard the name of the next batter being called out.

‘And next up to bat is the star player himself, Colton Reed!’

I immediately leaned forward in my seat. I’m pretty sure I heard Nina chuckling at my actions, but I wasn’t sure. My mind was solely focused on Colton.

‘Colton has managed to hit a home run at every single exhibition game the team has had so far this off-season. Let’s see what he can do for them tonight!’ the commentator announced enthusiastically.

My right knee started bouncing as Colton prepared himself to bat. ‘Come on, come on,’ I muttered to myself.

Once Colton was in his stance, the rival’s team pitcher let out an exhale, demonstrated by the rise and fall of his shoulders, before throwing a fastball that was within the strike zone.

Colton swung.

And he missed.

‘Strike one for Colton,’ the commentator declared.

Stepping away from home plate, Colton rolled his shoulders and readjusted his gloves. When the ball was back in the pitcher’s glove, he stepped up, his hands gripping the bat handle as he got back into position.

The pitcher threw another fastball, only this time it was towards first base in hopes of eliminating another player. Thankfully, Miles managed to get back just in time and was saved.

The voice of the commentator filled the speakers. ‘I see the pitcher decided to pull a little trick, but it seems Thompson saw right through it and is still in the game.’

Colton prepared himself once again as the pitcher did the same.

And the ball was tossed.

Colton swung again.

Missing once more.