Zach and I had finished running and sat under the Owl Tree drinking water.

“Will you be at practice today?” I asked as I set the water bottle in the grass. I rested my back against the tree.

“No.” He took another drink. “Elliot will be there. I have to handle some business shit.”

“Oh.” I started picking at blades of grass. “Zach... What are we doing?”

“Sitting here hydrating.” He looked over at me and smiled. He laughed when I raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m guessing that’s not what you were asking?”

“I wish it were that simple of a question.”

He looked out at the garden as he took a drink. “And I wish I had a simple answer for you.”

“Am I just an easy make-out session?”

He didn’t look at me. “No.”

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I do know my parents can’t find out... or the school.” I frowned. “Will you please look at me? You’re making me nervous.”

He turned his head to look at me. “I know no one can find out.” He tucked a piece of hair that had fallen out of my ponytail behind my ear. “I don’t know what to tell you, Hales.”

It was my turn to not look at him. I stared at the grass by my feet. “O-kay.”

He grabbed my chin to make me look at him. He ran his thumb across my bottom lip. “I’m sorry.”

I flinched away and stood. “I’m gonna head home.” I wiped grass off my shorts.

Zach stood. “What do you want me to say, Hales? Would you rather I lie to you?”

“No, but is it okay that it bothers me that you can’t give me an answer? I don’t feel like being hurt. If this is a waste of our time, let’s just stop now. We go from almost having sex to asking questions about favorite colors. I’m just so confused, and you not being able to tell me what this is, it doesn’t help.”

I was being so snappy, but what was I supposed to do? There was a huge age gap, and I knew this was a bad idea for many reasons. But when Zach looked at me with those stupid perfect eyes and smiled his stupid perfect grin, I had hope that maybe something great could happen between us. I didn’t think I was the type of girl to be stuck on labels, but I needed to know where he and I stood. I could make-out with anyone. But I was getting emotionally invested, and I was scared. I needed some sort of response to let me know I wasn’t crazy thinking this could actually work.

I went to walk off while Zach remained quiet. I felt him grab my hand.

“Hales, can you... Can you give me some time? I’m good at one-night stands, not relationships.”

I turned to look at him. “Maybe.” I shrugged. “I’ll try.” I let go of his hand. “I guess I’ll see you whenever. “

He looked lost. “Yeah. I guess so.”

I walked to the fence and climbed over.

I stopped, thinking about saying something else, but I decided against it. I picked up a steady pace and jogged home.

I SAW DANE walking over to me after practice. Coach kept us busy so we had little time to say hi.

“Hey. So, guess what?” I put my backpack over my shoulders.

“What?”

“Since you couldn’t eat with us, my parents invited Coach, Millie, and Zach over.”

“I bet that was interesting.” He tried hard not to laugh or smile.

“Yeah...”

“How’d it go?”

“Fine. But this morning, not so much.” We walked to our vehicles. I smiled when I saw Sadie and Trevor.

“What happened this morning?” Dane put his bag in the back of his truck, and I saw him wince.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I ran into the edge of our bar last night. Think I bruised my ribs a little. So what happened?”

He leaned against the truck and looked at me, skating over his injury.

“Let me see.”

“I’m fine. Now tell me, what happened this morning?”

I looked around at the guys getting in their vehicles. “Not here.”

He moved and opened my door for me. “We can ride around.”

“Sounds good.” I got in and buckled.

I watched him as he drove. He was hiding something from me. It was obvious he wasn’t going to tell me about it.

“Zach is going to be a mistake, and I know it.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I asked him what was going on between us, and he couldn’t answer me. It was a struggle for him to even make eye contact with me. I won’t be just some girl he fools around with. That’s not me.”

Dane thought for a moment. “Did he say anything?”

“He asked for time.” I rolled my eyes.

“He didn’t say you were just a good time?”

“No. He didn’t say anything. That’s the problem.”

Dane chewed on his lip, getting lost in his thoughts.

“Don’t be silent too. Please.”

“He’s never been in any form of relationship, Hales. He has no problem telling a girl she’s just a good time. Maybe he didn’t know what to say because he doesn’t know what’s going on.”

“Then he could tell me that.”

“He could have, but knowing Zach, he’s just really confused and won’t say anything ‘till he has everything figured out.”

“It’s not a big deal. I’ll just see what happens and be careful.”

He nodded. “Good idea. I love Zach like a brother, but I think if he hurts you, I’ll have to kick his ass.”

I laughed. “So do you need to talk to me about anything?”

“Maybe this will be good practice for you,” he said, ignoring the question. “Older men can teach ya things,” he said teasingly.

I shoved his shoulder. “Ew!”

He laughed and rubbed his ribs after he stopped.

“You must’ve hit the corner really hard.”

“Yeah.”

I grabbed his shirt and lifted it before he could stop me. His skin was blotchy and purple. “How did you do this?”

“I told ya. I ran into the corner of the bar in my house.” He turned the wheel and headed down a road that circled back to the school.

I stared at him, gauging his expression. I’d just have to go along with the lie. For now, anyway.

I looked at the road and smiled a little. “I guess you’re right. I could just use the time with Zach as a good lesson. You never know, maybe it’ll come in handy. If baseball doesn’t work out for me, I could sell sex one day.” We both burst out laughing, knowing that would never happen.

“Okay, joking aside. Give Zach a little time.”

“I will try. But I can’t shake this feeling that somehow I’m making a deal with the devil with him. I have to stay focused. I have goals, and I really don’t have time to put myself out there just to get played. Do you know what I mean? I’m not even allowed to date, so I’m risking a lot by sneaking around with this guy.”

“Yeah, I get it.” He turned into the school parking lot. “But I also know if Zach ever commits, he’s not going to play you, but I could be wrong.”

I shrugged. “Don’t get involved with this, Dane. It’s not your problem.” I smiled at him. “Want to hang out later?”

“Yeah. I’m going to Coach’s for dinner. I can hang out before then, or you can come eat with us. We could go to the cabin and go swimming again.”

I groaned. “I’m not sure I can face Zach so soon after this morning.” I sighed in defeat, knowing I couldn’t avoid him forever, and swimming and Coach’s cooking did sound good.

“He won’t be at the cabin. He was doing interviews all day today. He even texted me and said he wouldn’t be home for dinner. So tonight will be Zach-free.” He grinned at me.

“Alright.”

I pulled out my phone and texted my parents to let them know the plans and to make sure it was okay. After I got their approval, I got out of Dane’s truck.

I walked to his window, and when he rolled it down, I climbed onto the step rail and hugged his neck. “Thanks for listening to me whine. After I get cleaned up, I’ll be over to Coach’s.”

“See you later.” He smiled.

I got into my car and headed home.