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“I LIKE WHAT YOU’VE done to the place,” I said as I sat down at the kitchen table, beer bottle in hand.
“You mean... nothing?” Lily looked over her shoulder from the fridge, eyebrow raised in question. “I’ve been busy.”
“Hey, I’m not complaining. Your grandmother had good taste so what’s the point in trying to fix something if it’s not broken.”
“Because, first of all, this wallpaper is hideous,” she pointed out. “It feels like I’m stuck in the 70s.”
“The disco era was a great time for American culture.”
Lily rolled her eyes and joined me at the table. She popped off the cap to her bottle against the edge of the table. It was satisfying to watch her do it. I don’t particularly know why. Maybe it was the fact that it made her seem more human. Being a major league baseball player, I’ve seen my fair share of fakes. Hell, half the girls I see now have a mask of makeup instead of a legitimate face. Lily, on the other hand, she’s always a breath of fresh air. I could talk to her all day and all night and never grow tired of it.
“So, how’s the season looking?” She asked. Lily wasn’t big on baseball but seeing as she was neighbor, she really had no choice in the matter. I had indoctrinated her into the sport. She could give most commentators a run for their money.
“Well, we have a few guys that came up from the farm system. Of course, they’re rookies. It’s always a gamble because we don’t know how they’ll adjust to playing at the major league level. Then there are a few guys we traded for. They’re pretty decent at getting on base and —”
“That’s the name of the game,” she finished for me.
I chuckled. “You’re learning.”
“Kind of hard not to when you’ve hammered this stuff into my head.”
“You’ll thank me for it someday.”
Lily took a sip from her beer. “I doubt it. So far, it’s done little to impress the guys I’ve tried to date.”
“Obviously you aren’t trying to date the right kind of guys because —”
“If they don’t know baseball they aren’t worth my time.”
“You took the words right out of my mouth.” I finished off my drink and got myself another.
“Just make yourself at home why don’t you?”
“You know that come baseball season, I practically live here.”
“I’m going to have to charge you rent.”
“My company is payment enough.”
“Hasn’t anyone told you that modesty is a virtue?”
“Is it?” I asked. “I had absolutely no idea.”
She shook her head. “You haven’t changed a bit.”
“Did you expect me to?”
“I figured sooner or later that fame and fortune would get to that big head of yours.”
“Big head?” I repeated as if her words had offended me. “Take that back.”
“Make me.”
“Oh, you’re going to eat your words, missy.” In the blink of an eye, I got out of my seat and lunged toward her. She tried to make her escape but she wasn’t nearly fast enough. I snatched her up by the wrist and spun her straight into my chest. My lips were incredibly close to the side of her neck as I whispered against her ear. “Gotcha,” I said.
“Don’t you dare.”
“You asked for it.”
“Gayle, I’m warning you.”
“You only have yourself to blame, Lily.” She tried to wiggle herself from my hold but I kept my grasp firm. And then came the attack. I targeted her most vulnerable areas until her giggles echoed through every inch of the house. She doubled over, trying to protect herself from my fingers but her efforts were futile. I continued to tickle her because the sound of her laugh was completely intoxicating. It made my heart swell with happiness.
The truth was, I liked Lily. I liked her a lot. In my mind, she was much more than a friend but I had kept those thoughts to myself for fear that acting upon them might ruin our current relationship. I would never forgive myself if something I did were to force a wedge between us.
“Please...” she begged. “I can’t breathe...”
I relented.
Lily immediately crumpled to the ground. “I hate you,” she scowled. “And you better sleep with one eye open tonight because I’m going to get you back for this.”
“Oh yeah? I’ll be waiting,” I said with an air of challenge to my voice. Seeing as she was still on the ground, I offered her my hand. She took it, allowing me to pull her back onto her feet. I used a bit too much force in my tug because her body came crashing into mine. We both would have fallen to the ground if I hadn’t steadied her by the hips. My fingers dug into her soft, supple flesh.
Our hips locked together like a couple of puzzle pieces coming to a match. Then, there was her face. It was so close to mine that I could feel the warmth of her breath against her lips. Oh, how I wanted to kiss those lips and make them mine. They were just so pink and tantalizing. How on Earth was I supposed to resist them?
I found myself gravitating forward like a moth to the flame. Our foreheads came into contact. The space between our lips was nearly none existent.
“Gayle...” She whispered and hearing my name on her lips was perhaps the sweetest thing I had ever heard. All I wanted to do was make it say it over and over again, preferably in the throes of passion.
I was about to kiss her but there was uncertainty in her eyes.
She didn’t want this.
I was just a friend to her and nothing more.
Before I could get myself into trouble and land a slap to the face, I pulled back.
“Uh... are you hungry? I’ve got some deli meats in the fridge. I can whip us up a couple of sandwiches.” There was no denying the awkwardness that had settled between us. I felt like I had crossed some kind of unspoken line and now Lily refused to look at me.
“Sure,” I said. “That sounds good.”
I watched as she moved. Even the few steps it took to get from the fridge to the counter had her hips swinging. Man, this was torture. And every year I suffered through it because to lose her as a friend was something I rather not think about. But eventually, I was bound to hit a breaking point because there was only so much self-control I could muster in one lifetime and I swear, Lily was getting sexier and sexier every time I looked at her.
She turned around, plates in hand. “Here you are. Turkey and mayo for you. Ham and cheese for me.”
“You even took off the crust.”
“I know you aren’t very fond of it.”
“Don’t tell any of the guys. They would never let me live it down.”
She grinned with a mischievous sort of glint in her eyes. “Does that I mean I have some blackmail on my hands?”
“Hey! Don’t you dare use that against me.”
“Then don’t give me a reason to and you’ll be fine.” She leaned back and rocked her chair. It was a habit of hers that I hated because I always feared that one day she would fall and crack her skull on the ground. “Which means if you tickle me again, you’re going to regret it.”
“Oh, come on, you secretly like it.”
“I beg to differ.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll stop with the tickling,” I conceded.
We both enjoyed our sandwiches for a while. Particularly, I was enjoying my time spent with Lily. There was just something about her that instantly put me in a state of calm. More than anything, seeing her beautiful face was like coming home. Here, beside her, was where I belonged. But how was I supposed to tell her that without ruining what we already had?
“Hey,” I said, breaking the silence that had settled between us. “What are you doing on Thursday?”
“Thursday?” She repeated. “Let me check.” She fished out her phone. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I suppose I should continue my search for a job but that’s so depressing that I’ve been dragging my feet through the mud and prolonging it.”
“Oh?”
“I’m between jobs,” she explained. “I signed up at a temp agency but they haven’t found anything for me yet. I have a feeling they never will.”
“I didn’t know that. How are you making out?”
“I have a bit of money squirreled away so I should be fine for now. So, don’t worry about me just yet.”
“Are you sure because —”
“I’m positive.”
That was the thing about Lily — she liked to stand on her own two feet. Even when life dealt her a bad hand, she would just roll with it and try to make the best of the situation. It was something that I admired about her. She was resilient and strong — a truly independent woman.
“Alright.” I held out both my hands to prove that I wouldn’t push the envelope any further. “I can respect that.”
“Good because you didn’t have much choice in the matter.”
I chuckled. “Anyway, if you have nothing on the agenda for Thursday, how about you come to opening day and watch me play.”
“Hmm.” She thought it over. “Watch you play baseball or stay here and stuff my face with ice cream while enjoying a rom-com marathon. I don’t know, Gayle, this is a really hard decision to make...”
“Oh, come on. This’ll be the first year where you aren’t curled up in bed with the flu.”
“We still have five more days until then. Anything could happen.”
“Please don’t jinx yourself.”
“I’m just saying.”
“Stay away from little kids.”
“So, go volunteer at the local daycare center.”
“Lily.”
“Gayle.”
We had a stare off until her composure cracked and she ended up laughing.
“Sure, I’ll go,” she said at last. “The fact that I’m not sick this year must mean something, right?”
“Right.” I smiled. “It’s going to be my best year to date.”
“Why’s that?” She asked.
“Because you’re going to be my good luck charm.”
“Am I?”
“Mhm. But only if you scream my name louder than anyone else in that stadium.”
She got up and grabbed a bag of chips from the pantry. “I don’t know about that. You have some pretty wild fangirls that would have my head on a silver platter if they saw me as a threat.”
“Don’t worry about them.” I snatched the bag of chips right out of her hands. “So, it’s a date then?”
“I wouldn’t call it a date but sure.”
“You’ll be riding with me.”
“Don’t you get into the stadium mad early?”
“About six hours before the game.”
“Six hours?” She repeated, eyes nearly bugging out of her skull. “What the heck am I supposed to do at a baseball stadium for six hours.”
“They sell books at some of the concession stands.”
“You want me to read? Have you forgotten that I hate to read?”
I shrugged. “You can always hang out in the clubhouse with the team. I’m sure you’ll find something of interest in there.”
She grinned. “You mean all your hot teammates.”
“For the record, I’m the hottest one in there.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” she said.
And all of a sudden, I regretted inviting her into the clubhouse because jealousy is a green-eyed monster and I could already feel him creeping up on me.