The Ninth Inning (The Boys of Baseball #1) - J. Sterling Page 0,6

going to get kidnapped because she “doesn’t pay attention to anything! Ever! She’s always on her phone, staring down at it instead of looking at her surroundings!”

I remembered laughing at what she’d said because most teenagers were like that, but Lauren had been deadly serious. I stopped laughing and started nodding furiously, promising that I’d pay more attention whenever I walked alone. She seemed satisfied with my answer and declared us friends. We’d been inseparable ever since.

So, here she had been tonight, pushing for me to go see Cole in person, when I’d been doing so well at avoiding him for months.

I grimaced and shook my head, proclaiming that it was a really bad idea, but she still insisted we go. She told me it was a test.

“I hate tests,” I whined.

“But this one’s important.” She jutted out her hip and placed her hand there.

“Please tell me why I’d willingly put myself in this position? I’ve been doing so well,” I asked, waiting to hear her logic.

If I wanted to see Cole in real life, I’d go to a baseball game. And I hadn’t done that so far this season even though I knew it was his last one.

Like I’d said, I was done making a fool of myself for him.

“To prove to yourself that you’re over him. Once and for all. Cole Anders cannot have this effect on your life forever. And I’ve got twenty bucks that says you’ll see him and feel nothing, but we won’t know until we try.” She pulled out a twenty and waved it around in the air like a maniac. “It’s been seven months. We need to see.”

She sounded so convincing in her argument that she actually had me believing I needed to know how it felt to look at him in real life, too, instead of just on the baseball website. Which I didn’t look at … often.

And that was how I’d found myself here, at the baseball house, where Cole lived, dreading the moment I’d finally see him. A part of me reveling in whatever his reaction would be to seeing me in person, too, considering the fact that I’d dressed the part. If I was going to prove that I was over him, I was going to do it looking as hot as possible.

Please don’t be with a girl. Please don’t be with a girl, I repeated the mantra, irritated that I even cared in the first place, as I walked through the house in search of beer.

Someone pointed out the keg in the backyard, and I made a beeline for it. If I was going to run into Cole tonight, I needed a little liquid courage running through my veins.

I stepped into the yard, and my skin suddenly prickled with awareness. He was close by; I just knew it. My eyes searched and quickly spotted him. He looked different, bigger, more muscular. Was he taller? Did guys still grow after twenty-one? It felt like I was seeing him for the first time. One look at Cole’s brown hair peeking through his backward hat, and I knew that I had failed Lauren’s test.

He affected me. Looking at him affected me.

No matter how much time had passed, whatever it was between us still existed. At least, it did for me. And that was why I should have turned around and walked right out the same way I’d come in instead of heading straight toward the keg where he stood with another unattainable ballplayer.

Seven months of work down the drain with just one look. I was a fool for coming to this party, and now, I officially knew it.

Girls Versus Baseball

Cole

“Christina seems like a cool girl,” Chance said as we both watched her walk away.

She looked fucking gorgeous, and I was kicking myself for being such an idiot.

I shot him a look. “Yeah, she’s great. You interested or something?” My tone came out bitter, jealous, and possessive. All things I definitely was whenever it came to her even though I had no right.

Chance threw his hands in the air and made a sour face. “Not even remotely, bro. But you clearly are.”

I palmed the side of my head, moving my hat up and down, thankful that no one else was hanging around the keg where we were; otherwise, I would have kept my mouth shut.

“I don’t know what it is about that girl,” I groaned before bending over at the waist like I was struggling to catch my breath. All I wanted