*JENNA*
“Dana, he won’t answer my phone calls.” Tina rushed behind Dana en route to the baseball diamond after school. The entire baseball team huddled around their coach for important team business. I assumed it was about their game next week before Thanksgiving. I could be wrong though.
“Anna, check out the show.” I nudged Miss Annabelle Simms, interrupting serious cell phone business.
She glanced up with a creased forehead and scowled down the bleachers where Dana had just arrived. “Who cares about those girls, they’re totally not worth the time or the effort.”
I snorted. “Oh, I can’t help but watch, it’s about to be a disaster scene down there. I know I said I’d stay out of the drama, but I never said anything about spectating. Three cheers for innocent bystanders enjoying the chaos that is our high school life, mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
“Whoop, whoop, whoop!” Annabelle semi cheered with a half-assed fist pump. Her attention went back to her cell phone screen, her body position keeping me from peeking. Which was totally rude of her. But whatever.
My attention returned to Tina, who’d been missing since practice this morning. She paced the small plot of green by the diamond, frantically texting and dialing. My guess? What Coach told Gabe and her this morning, some home truths, really brought Gabe back down to Earth.
Tina, not so much.
“Baby, I love you so much. Don’t listen to Coach, she’s just trying to ruin what we have. She’s old and alone. She’s jealous too, I’m sure of it. Gabey, please. Couples don’t have what we have! Please, answer my phone calls. You’ve been avoiding me all day. I need you! Nobody loves you like I do. Your priority should be me… ME!”
“Wow… Tina’s lost her damn mind,” I muttered, in awe at her performance. “Dear God, if I ever, ever… EVER act like that, please throw me off a cliff somewhere… amen.”
Light chuckles came from Annabelle. “Ditto.”
I switched back to Dana, who stood behind that huge metal fence thing behind the catcher’s mound… is that what you called it?
“Roy!” she yelled, clasping her hands over the metal rings, pressing herself against the fence. “Roy, please!”
Roy stepped away from the huddle, his face the definition of annoyed. “Stop it, Dana. Go home.”
Stepping out of the huddle, their coach marched angrily to Dana, who wisely unclasped her hands from the fence and took timid steps back.
Dana, what are you doing?
“Young lady, you’re disturbing baseball practice. What is it?” he roared.
“I need to speak with Roy Davidson, it’s really, really, really important,” Dana vowed with all her might, like it was a matter of life or death.
I shifted in my seat and glanced at Annabelle. “Totally not getting involved.”
“No, we ain’t,” Annabelle piped in, still obsessed with her cell phone.
“What are you doing with your phone, girl?” I tried peering over her shoulder again, but she huddled over it… again.
“Nothing you’d be interested in,”
“Not cool, Anna.” I groaned in annoyance. “Fine, whatever. Totally minding my business.”
I glanced back at the field and the baseball team’s coach marched to Roy. “You need to do this now, Davidson?”
“No, Coach Michaels, it’s not important. Just some girlfriend drama,” Roy stated, eyeing Dana angrily. She was making him look bad. No bueno.
Coach Michaels faced Dana. “You heard him, now off my field. You’ve disrupted my practice enough.”
“Roy!” Dana screeched, sidestepping slowly away from the field. “Roy, why won’t you talk to me? You’re cheating again, aren’t you? That’s why you won’t talk to me. Why won’t you tell me who you were texting this morning? Fine, don’t. See if I care. But I’m never talking to you again!”
“Kill me, please,” I muttered, watching Hurricane Dana combust in a fit of tears and tantrums, moving like a turtle away from baseball practice, and thus stalling practice from proceeding in all its ball-throwing, bases-stealing, home-run-hitting potential.
This time Annabelle was looking too. “Was that me… last month?”
Exhaling deeply, I had to think about that one. “Not really… kind of… like 20 percent similar… but your fight was for important reasons. Dude, I told you before, this is like Dana and Roy’s fiftieth breakup fight. I mean, come on, take a hint, the universe doesn’t want you together. Ugh… totally moving past spectator into somewhat involvement. Stopping now.”
“Only 20 percent drama, 80 percent legitimate. I’ll take it.” Annabelle grinned, satisfied as evident by her tone.
“Jenna Sabini, your one-stop shop for awesome advice.” Sighing, feeling content, I leaned back and made eye contact with Tom as the huddle dispersed. The smile he sent my way stirred butterflies in my stomach. I smiled back, hoping he felt butterflies too.
*~*~*
*JENNA*
“I don’t care what you say, spicy mustard sauce is disgusting.”
Pitiful.
Embarrassing.
Disgraceful?
Maybe.
My boyfriend had so much to learn about life, so much so, the sigh that left me was at least a minute long. Tom was making some ridiculous statements concerning my beloved.
“Bro, you don’t know what you’re talking about. This stuff is liquid gold.” I scooped a nugget in my yummy-in-my-tummy delectable condiment and stuffed the entire 10 percent chicken, 90 percent mysterious substance concoction in my mouth. “Too good. You don’t know what you’re missing, bro.”
“Thanks, but I’ll stick with the clear crowd favorite… barbeque sauce,” Tom declared a bit too loudly, gathering the attention of our fellow dinner patrons at Brucey’s.
“Darling, sweetie, just don’t, okay?” I picked up a still sealed barbeque sauce cup and shook it at him. “This isn’t groundbreaking, nor is it a culinary diamond. It’s a regular sauce, and you saying it’s anything but a regular… sauce, kind of makes me fear for your sanity. Sacrilege, bro. Make it stop. Stat!”
Instead of conceding like a smart boyfriend would have—because hello, I was clearly right—Tom decided to do something else. “Attention Brucey’s, attention Brucey’s. Jenna Sabini hates your barbeque sauce and has threatened my life if I keep requesting your condiment. But I don’t care, I like what I like, gosh darn it!” he sang that last part.
Since we happened to be seated side by side, I used it to my advantage and hastily covered his mouth with my hand. “You’re crazy, you know that?” I whispered, hoping we weren’t tonight’s entertainment for everyone in the restaurant.
His lips brushed against my palm, sending shivers down my spine. I slowly dropped my hand off his face.
“I know I am,” he murmured. His blue eyes blazed, sending messages that I’d have to wait till later to decipher… preferably under my bedcovers.
I straightened in my seat and grabbed another nugget, dipping it in spicy mustard sauce. “You like what you like, huh?”
He grabbed the last nugget and dipped it in barbeque sauce. “You’re what I like.”
Breathe, Jenna!
We dumped our trash and headed out of the restaurant. We stood under the awning as it rained hard outside. Tom wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me to his body.
“I want to tell you something.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“About what happened last Saturday, why I ran out.” He exhaled and continued. “Before my dad left, he promised to teach me how to swim like him. In an Olympic-sized pool too. He was so fast, and I wanted to be like him so bad, that when he disappeared, afterwards I couldn’t step foot in a pool. I swim at the beach and only at the beach. The reminder of what could have been… it scarred me from going anywhere near a pool. I know it makes me sound like a wussy boy, and trust me it bothers me that I just can’t get over it. Ugh… I don’t know. I’m a joke.”
“No, you’re not. I’m sorry you didn’t get a chance to learn from your dad,” I said, finally understanding. “To be honest, I thought it was something I did. You left so quickly, we didn’t even get a chance to eat the bacon.”
“Oh, yeah, the bacon!” Tom’s eyes widened.
“I was so angry that I threw it all out.” I chuckled. “My dad got mad though.”
“I’d be mad too, it’s bacon.” Tom smirked, pulling me closer to his body. My arms went around him and we hugged for a minute as I rested my face against his chest.
“Don’t worry about the pool thing,” I mumbled against his white shirt that smelt like fresh linen.
His hands sandwiched my face, tilting it up to face him. “But that’s the thing, I don’t want be like that anymore. I want to swim with you, and in a pool. That’s why I bought those suits with you last Saturday.”
I suppressed my happy smile. “You wanna train with me?”
He nodded sweetly. “Yeah.”
“Well, you’re in luck. I need a new training partner.” I sighed, feeling all kinds of emotion. Stretching on my tippy toes, I leaned up and pressed my lips softly against his. It was a short kiss because we were at a family restaurant and hello, kids and easily disturbed parents were walking in and out. We separated and I looped my arm through his as we crossed the parking lot in a rush. Rain drenched us from head to toe, but this was Florida and in five minutes the storm would pass and the heat would dry us in a flash.
Tom started his car and drove us out of the parking lot. We arrived at my house a few minutes later, and this time, he parked by my driveway instead of by my neighbor’s. I unbuckled and got out of the car. Tom joined me on the driveway.
He grinned nervously, smoothing his light brown hair in place and straightening his shirt. “So, what are you going to tell your parents when we meet them in five seconds?”
There was a huge chance that what I was about to do could go very wrong. But it was the right decision, no matter what. So I took his hand in my own and squeezed it, hoping our pulses drummed along the same beat. “That the unthinkable happened. I met someone special.”
Thank you for reading this book!
The next book in the Young Annabelle Series is…. DON’T STOP HOLDING ME (Y.A Series Book 5), where the drama between Annabelle and James continues….