Behind the Plate (The Boys of Baseball #2) - J. Sterling Page 0,26
its own.
I let out a frustrated groan as I moved back to my chair and sat. “Let’s get this over with.”
Chance stared at me before he slowly moved toward his own chair and pulled off his hat. He ran his fingers through his dark hair before tossing his hat on top of the table. “I don’t know how to be friends with you. I’m really not trying to be an asshole, Danika.”
“Well, you could have fooled me.” I reached for my book and opened it to some problems we needed to cover.
Then, I went to work, attempting to teach Chance Carter math that he would never in a million years even use. Not only because he was going to get drafted and play professional baseball, but also because no one used this crap in the real world and we both knew it.
I slammed the front door of my apartment as soon as I walked in and made an annoyed screaming sound. “I hate him, I hate him, I hate him!” I shouted, not knowing or caring if Sunny was home or not.
“Who do we hate?” Sunny appeared, a concerned look on her face.
That answered that question.
“Chance Carter. That’s who!” I tossed my backpack on the table and dramatically flopped onto the couch, covering my eyes with the backs of my hands.
“Why? What did Señor Thick Thighs do?”
Pulling my hands away, I gave her a snarl, “Señor Thick Thighs? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“What?” she said innocently. “The guy’s a catcher. He has delicious thighs. It’s not my fault. I didn’t make him.”
“Please stop talking about Chance’s thighs. I’m trying to be mad at him here.”
She sat on the couch next to me and folded her legs up underneath her body. “What happened?”
“He’s infuriating! Said that we couldn’t be friends anymore.”
“Were you friends in the first place?”
“We were! We made a deal. And he took it back,” I said before realizing how stupid and juvenile I sounded. Great. Now, I was the immature one.
Sunny started laughing. “It’s not funny. It just sounds funny. You’re mad because Chance doesn’t want to be your friend. So what? It’s not in your tutor job description to be his buddy. Why do you care so much?”
That really was the million-dollar question. Why the hell did I care so much? “I don’t know.”
“Liar.”
My eyes flew to meet hers. “Why would I lie?”
“Because you don’t want to admit that you’re attracted to him.”
“Who isn’t attracted to him?” I rolled my eyes and tried to play it off, avoiding the accusation.
“Exactly. But you think it makes you a bad person to be attracted to someone other than your boyfriend. News flash: it doesn’t. It makes you human.”
“That’s not it. I mean, it’s not like Chance is the only hot guy on campus,” I said before I started searching my mind for other hot guys to add to my imaginary list. I came up empty and hoped Sunny didn’t ask me to elaborate or start naming names.
“Then”—Sunny tilted her head—“why are you so mad that he doesn’t want to be friends?”
“I already told you, I don’t know!” I shouted, my temper flaring at Sunny for all the wrong reasons. I wasn’t mad at her. I was mad at myself.
“I think you do know.”
My teeth ground together with her accusation, and I tried not to think about why I was so worked up by Chance’s flip-flopping behavior.
“Danika.” Sunny’s voice was soft, and I breathed out an exaggerated sigh before facing her.
“I really don’t know why I’m so upset. I shouldn’t care at all,” I started to say before Sunny cut me off.
“But you do.”
“But I do. I don’t want to. But I do,” I admitted before looking away and staring a hole in the carpet. It wasn’t judging me the way I currently was. “And I really don’t know why.”
“Have you ever considered the fact that you might actually like him?”
I vehemently shook my head. “I don’t even really know him. I can’t like someone I don’t know,” I started to explain before adding, “I mean, I can’t like someone at all. I have a boyfriend.”
Sunny rolled her eyes and groaned at the same time. “Your boyfriend sucks, Danika.”
“I don’t know why you hate Jared so much,” I said with a small shrug and watched as her entire body tensed.
“I just do,” she said, and I wondered for the first time if she was hiding something from me. “I don’t think he’s the right guy for you, but it’s