you work through it on your own, but from the sound of it, you’re not getting better. How can I help?”
A small huff mixed with a laugh escaped from deep in my throat. “Make sure someone picks me up this season, so I don’t have to go work for my old man.”
Chance blew out a loud breath. “Ah, fuuuck. I forgot all about Dick. How could I forget about your dad? No wonder you’re so stressed out.”
“Yeah,” I said, agreeing with nothing in particular. “I’ll figure it out. Not everyone gets drafted, right?”
“Don’t talk like that,” he snapped. “It’s not over yet. Hell, it hasn’t even started. Don’t forget about Cole and every other guy who got picked up his senior year. It doesn’t mean anything that you didn’t get signed last year. You know that.”
Cole Anders. I always circled back to him in my mind as well since he had been in the same situation as I currently was—worried that this dream would end when senior season did.
“I know,” I said, hoping to placate Chance, but the nagging feeling in the back of my mind wouldn’t go away. What if I wasn’t good enough? A lot of guys weren’t, and that wasn’t me being a whiny little bitch; it was me being realistic. “And hey, I’ll apologize to Sunny, okay?”
“Yeah, all right. But don’t play with her feelings. Only apologize if you mean it. Let her in, Mac. I think she might be exactly what you need.”
I heard Danika’s voice in the background saying something I couldn’t quite make out, and I realized how much I missed having them around.
“Trust me, I know. Why the hell do you think I keep trying to stay away from her?”
Sunny wasn’t the kind of girl you dated and then let go of when the semester ended. She was the bring her home to Mom type. The kind of girl you fought to hold on to, not the one you let go. Sunny Jamison was the girl you married.
“I know exactly why,” he said with a laugh. “You’re a pussy.”
“You are what you eat,” I fired back without thinking, and I swore I could see him rolling his eyes from here.
“Mac,” Chance said, his voice turning serious, “one last thing.”
“Yeah?” I kicked at the dirt while I waited for him to say whatever was coming next.
“What happened freshman year was fucked up, but it wasn’t your fault. And not all girls are like that. Hell, most girls aren’t. Sunny would never do something like that to you.”
“I know she wouldn’t,” I practically whispered, feeling a little caught off guard.
Even though Sunny was a good girl, what if I wasn’t enough for her? What if she looked at me and only saw a guy worthy of being a fling? I wasn’t sure I could handle the rejection. Believe me, I noticed the hypocrisy.
“You deserve to be happy. And you deserve a good girl. Even if you don’t think you do.”
“Jeez, Carter, you’re the last person I ever expected to get all this lady advice from, Mr. I’m Never Falling in Love.”
“Yeah, yeah. What can I say? I was an idiot. Danika’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” He sounded so confident.
“Better than baseball?” I asked even though I was only teasing.
“A hundred times over.”
I gasped. “Only a hundred?”
“If there were a choice, I’d pick Danika every time,” he said without taking a breath. My best friend had fallen head over heels in love. “Hey, I gotta get to the field. Call me if you need anything, but fix it, Mac. FIX. IT,” he repeated sternly, emphasizing the words as if I needed the additional reminder before Danika yelled from somewhere in the background, “Fix it, Maaac!”
I laughed. “Tell your girl I will. You know where to send the bill.” I tried to joke about him being my therapist, but I was honestly grateful for the talk as we ended the call.
I knew what I needed to do, but I had no idea how to go about doing it.
You’ve Got to be Kidding Me
Sunny
D
anika video-called me when I was in the hallway of my apartment, following behind a girl I’d never seen before with crazy green-and-black hair that I sort of loved. It was almost like Danika sensed that I was this close to making a new friend. Granted, I hadn’t said two words to the girl yet, but I had just been about to introduce myself when my phone rang.
“What’s up, cockblock?”