Page 38

‘Oooof. And that’s another strike for Colton,’ voiced the commentator.

‘Damn it,’ I grumbled.

The crowd was once again filled with agitation, with everyone sitting at the edge of their seat as we were left with one last strike, before we had to switch the batting team. The effort of having all bases filled was going to be wasted.

Colton readjusted his gloves once again, as he let his eyes wander around the stadium. When they landed in my direction, I signed to him, counting on the off chance that he might see me, ‘You got this, partner.’

And it seemed like he did see me, if the nod he sent my way was any indication.

Stepping up to the plate once again, Colton prepared his stance.

The ball was hurled out of the pitcher’s glove and another fastball headed towards Colton.

He swung.

And this time, the sound of the ball hitting the bat filled the stadium, as the ball continued to fly right into left field and flew over the fence.

Everyone in the stand was already up on their feet. Wild cheers echoed throughout the stadium as the four players made their way to home base.

He did it.

He hit a home run.

‘What a beautiful hit from the Dust Devils’ finest player!’ cheered the commentator. ‘The star player not only added another home run to his list of accomplishments, but also a grand slam for the whole team! With four points added to their score, the Dust Devils are once again in the lead tonight.’

After completing his run of the infield, the other players immediately attacked Colton with a group hug and pats on the back as he made his way back to the dugout. Once they finally let him go, Colton turned his way to my side of the seats and signed, ‘ That was for you .’

I couldn’t help the grin on my face, and it only grew bigger when he added, ‘ partner .’

The game lasted for another hour. As Jack managed to strike out the third batter of the other team, the match came to an early end, with a score of ten points for the Dust Devils and seven points for the Raptors, giving our baseball team a victory to celebrate that night.

‘And that marks the end of tonight’s game as well as the last game with the Dust Devils this off-season,’ the commentator announced. ‘Hope to see you folks again next year, as our team goes into battle to defend their Men’s College World Series champion title. Goodnight, everyone!’

With his bid of farewell, the crowd started to make their way to the nearest exit.

‘You guys okay with waiting for everyone else to go first?’ Nina asked as the people around us were getting out of their seats.

‘I don’t mind,’ I answered.

‘Sure,’ Lily said.

‘Fine by me.’ Claudia shrugged, settling back into her seat. There were still a lot of people in the stadium, so we could have been there for a while. ‘I forgot how fun it was to watch live baseball again.’

‘Right? I can’t wait for the world series to start again next semester,’ Lily agreed enthusiastically, just as her stomach let out a growl. ‘Ugh, I’m starving. What are we having for dinner?’

‘I was thinking we could go to that Chinese restaurant. We can take an Uber and go there straight away or—’ Nina’s suggestion was cut off, when her phone started vibrating with notifications.

‘What is it?’ I furrowed my eyebrows.

‘Miles texted me,’ she said, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks at her admission. ‘They’re throwing a celebratory party tonight at the baseball team’s house. And he invited us.’

‘I mean, I’m not saying no to free booze,’ Claudia said.

‘I’m down but I think we should head for dinner first before we go,’ Lily suggested. ‘What about you, Clara?’

I thought about it for a second. I mean, I would have loved to go and hopefully hang out with Colton there. But at the same time, I wasn’t really looking forward to being in another tightly packed space filled with people that soon.

‘I don’t think I’m in the mood for it,’ I admitted. ‘But ask me again after dinner.’

The crowd had finally started to decrease to a smaller amount, giving us enough space to leave the stadium without having to squeeze through.

‘I’m gonna head to the bathroom first before we leave,’ Lily announced once we reached the entrance.

‘Oh wait, I wanna go with,’ Claudia replied, hooking her arm with Lily’s.

‘We’ll just wait for you two out here,’ I told them.

Lily gave me a nod while Claudia said, ‘Got it.’ Turning her head to Lily, she added, ‘Let’s go.’ And off they went.

The crowd might have lessened, but that didn’t mean the cars had too. Honks sounded everywhere in the parking lot, as everyone was impatient to leave and go back home. The noise eventually died down once the cars started moving again.

We ran into some of Nina’s friends from her class, and I stood on the side while she talked to them, enjoying the quieted noise on my own.

But the clamour of sounds was only replaced by the racket of the college baseball team that was high on the adrenaline of winning that night’s game.

I automatically looked down at the ground to avoid eye contact with any of them, until I heard his voice, and my head tilted up immediately hearing it get louder. My eyes finally found him among the other players, with Miles walking right beside him, talking animatedly.

Colton was laughing at what Miles just said, with a massive smile plastered on his face. As if he could sense my eyes on him, his head turned to where I was standing.

His eyes immediately lit up when he saw me.

I’m pretty sure mine did too.

His tall frame started making its way to me, stopping just a few steps in front of me.

‘Hey,’ he breathed out.

‘Hi,’ I greeted him back, my voice soft. ‘Congratulations on winning! You guys were great out there.’

‘Thanks,’ he answered sheepishly, a bit shy from the compliment.

His hair was still slightly wet from the shower he had after the game, I presumed. Whatever parts that were already dry were a mess—just like during those brief moments I saw him without a cap or a helmet on, when he was on the field.

And it looked so soft . Without even thinking about it, my hand went up to his hair, my fingers slowly untangling it.

My unexpected intrusion caused Colton to freeze for a beat, and my eyes widened in horror as my brain finally realized what I was doing.

I was about to pull my hand away when he reached up his hand and gently wrapped it around my wrist.

For a second, I thought he was going to drop it at my side. But, instead, he slid my hand lightly across his cheek, before giving a soft kiss in the middle of my palm.

My stomach instantly erupted with butterflies at his sweet gesture. It continued as he slid his hand the rest of the way and intertwined it with mine, his thumb softly brushing the back of my hand.

‘Is this okay?’ he asked nervously.

‘It’s perfect,’ I replied.

He gave me a small smile in return, continuing the gentle strokes. A look of confusion appeared on his face as his eyes started to wander up the sleeve of my arm.

‘What’s wrong?’

He shook his head. ‘Nothing. Just that … is that my jacket?’ His eyes were laser-focused on my outerwear.

A blush rose to my cheeks at his question. I definitely had not thought this through.

‘Yeah,’ I answered sheepishly, my eyes darting everywhere that wasn’t his face. ‘I forgot I still have it with me. I’ll give it back once I—’

‘Keep it.’

My eyes snapped up to his. ‘What?’

‘Keep it,’ he repeated, his voice just as confident. ‘I like seeing you wear it.’

I was pretty sure my cheeks couldn’t get any more scarlet than they were right then. ‘Are you sure?’

‘100 per cent,’ he reassured me. ‘Plus, we’re getting new ones for the new season. And I don’t need two jackets,’ he then added, his tone light. But I knew what he was trying to say, even if he wasn’t saying it out loud.

‘Well, thank you,’ I answered, grateful for his unexpected gift. ‘It is really comfortable though.’

He let out a small laugh. ‘I’m glad it is.’

‘Yo, Colton!’

Both of our heads turned to the sound of the voice, seeing Miles coming toward us. When his eyes landed on me, he gave me a nod of acknowledgment. ‘Ah, Clara. Good to see you.’

‘It’s good to see you too, Miles,’ I said, mimicking his nod. ‘Congratulations on winning by the way.’

‘Thanks. It’s all thanks to this one hitting that homerun and giving us a lead,’ he said, while nudging his arm at Colton’s side. ‘Anyway, just want to let you know that we were about to leave. Are you coming to the party?’ Miles asked, his attention on me.

‘Umm, probably not,’ I replied. ‘One social event is enough for me today.’

‘You’re not coming?’

My head turned towards Colton at his question, a disappointed look on his face at the indication that I wasn’t going later.

‘I’ll give you two a minute.’ I heard Miles say, before he walked away to give us some space.

My eyes followed him as he left, and once I was confident he was out of earshot, I turned my head back to Colton. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t be,’ he said softly. ‘I mean, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to. It’s just …’ His voice trailed off near the end.

I scrunched my eyebrows at him. ‘It’s just what?’

‘I wanted to spend time with you,’ he admitted, his voice nervous. ‘I don’t know … I miss talking to you, so I thought we could hang out for a bit.’

There it was again, that squeeze in my heart that seemed to only happen with Colton.

‘I would love to hang out with you too,’ I told him truthfully. ‘I just would rather not do it while I’m in a place with a hundred different people tonight.’

Colton was quiet for a moment, his eyes narrowed as if he was mulling over something.

‘But if you want me to go—’ I started.

Colton was quick to cut me off. ‘Then, we don’t have to go to the party, we can go somewhere else. Just be with me tonight. What do you say?’

Yes. Yes. Yes.

But the words I voiced out were: ‘You don’t want to celebrate with your teammates?’

He shook his head. ‘There’s only one person I want to celebrate with,’ he said, his gaze locked on mine. ‘So, hang out with me tonight?’

A beaming smile spread across my face when I answered, ‘I’d like that.’

‘Colton, you ready to go?’ I heard Miles shout from behind me.

‘You guys have fun without me,’ Colton announced, just as I turned around to look at Miles. I was greeted by the sight of him having his arm swung around Nina, both of them wearing the same smug look on their faces.

‘I thought so,’ Miles said.

Nina gently pulled away from Miles and gave me a hug. ‘I’ll text you when I get back. He’s a good one, Clara. Don’t let him slip away.’

I gave her a squeeze in return before letting her go.

‘Call me if you need a ride home,’ Colton said to Miles.

‘You got it.’ He gave a mocking salute and joined the other baseball players.

I was so stuck in my little bubble with Colton that I didn’t even realize Claudia and Lily were already back.

Just as I was about to make my apology, Claudia interrupted me. ‘I guess I’ll see you when I see you then,’ she said with a knowing smile on her face.

‘I guess so.’ I gave a light laugh, internally grateful that they weren’t mad I was ditching them. ‘You girls have fun tonight.’

‘Oh, we definitely will,’ Lily said.

We hugged each other goodbye, before they joined the rest of the baseball players.

‘Where do you want to go?’ Colton asked me once the rest of the team had left.

‘Honestly, I just want to grab some dinner and head back home,’ I told him. ‘We can hang out in my apartment if that’s okay with you?’

Giving me a small smile, he answered, ‘That sounds perfect to me.’