Anything But Mine

\\Chapter Seven//

"You ready for the game, Mr. Julio?" I ask Julio laughing a little as I supervise his stretches.

"Yep! Nervous, but ready." He says cheerily.

"Good." I reply.

"Bailey!" I hear a familiar voice call me.

"Freeman." I say turning around.

"Did you do something different with your hair? It looks nice." He plays with the tips of it, then puts it behind my shoulder.

"You saw me yesterday," I laugh.

"But no, I haven't. What do you need?" I ask.

"Nothing. Can't I just talk to my favorite girl?" He asks.

"Whatever, flirt." I laugh as I walk towards the dugout.

"Hey, Miss Ryder!" Coach Gonzales greets me. He's in one of his rare happy moods.

"Hi, coach!" I smile as I make my way down the dugout stairs.

"Can I tell you something?" He asks.

"Yes sir." I reply, grabbing my equipment bag.

"You're doing super good with this team and you've fit in very well," he starts.

"And I'm pretty sure Freeman wants to date you." He says, causing my heart and stomach to become all butterfly-ish at his words about Freddie.

"Thank you, sir." I laugh lightly.

"You're welcome. Now go out there and try to flirt back with Freeman." He winks, causing me to laugh.

I sling my bag over my shoulder, heading back out to the boys. I took my time walking over to them, watching Freddie. He's laughing at something AJ just said, making his eyes twinkle and the skin beside them crinkle up ever so slightly in joy. Wow, I should write poetry.

"AJ, how are you knees feeling?" I ask him as he does his toe touches, Freddie beside him doing the same.

"They're okay, just a little sore." He smiles up at me.

"Are you not gonna ask about my knees?" Freddie asks, looking at me.

I laugh,

"Your knees are fine, attention seeker."

"So are you." He replies, causing me to blush and the guys around us to go "ooo!"

"Not as fine as you, though." I smirk.

"Guys, can you stop before I puke?" Andrelton questions jokingly.

"Okay, I'll stop." I kiss Freddie on the cheek, then sprint off as he as chases me, eventually catching me and spinning us around.

"Okay, I have a question," Freddie tells me, putting me back on the ground.

"Okay, ask away." I smile up at him.

"Freeman, Bailey, game time!" Coach calls us over, Freddie sighing loudly.

"Tell me later, okay?" I smile sweetly and hug him, then watch him run towards his position at first.

"Shelb," I sigh, sitting down beside him.

"What's wrong, B?" He questions, using my nickname.

"Freddie. He's confusing the heck out of me." I reply.

"He really likes you." He tells me as we watch Nick catch a pop up.

"How do you know?" I ask.

"He's told me."

"Well that's good, because I like him too. But that's not my problem, I just wanna know why he's acting so weird." I looked over him. I watched his eyes scan the field before he replied.

"Freddie's really scared of loosing people, especially the one's he's close to. He really does care about you, but be doesn't want to loose you,"

"So just give him time, he'll come around." He smiles at me.

"Good talk." I hug him as the other defensive players come in.

"Are you pitching this game?" I ask him.

"I hope so!" He smiles, then walks to AJ.

I hand Freddie a cup of water as he sits down, watching him drink it in less than two seconds, then throw the cup to the ground.

"Hey, don't litter my dugout." I joke.

"Sorry." He lightly laughs.

"What were you going to ask me earlier?" I carefully question him.

"Homer for Nick!" Jonny Gomes jumps up excitedly, interrupting our conversation.

"I'll tell you later!" He yells over the excited screams.

"Okay...." I quietly reply.

"Alright Freeman, you're on deck!" Someone tells him.

I watch him smiling at something he's just been told, placing his helmet on his head and then grabbing his bat.

The rest of the night was pretty amazing, we won by a good amount of runs, but I was still kind of sad about the whole ordeal with Freddie wanting to tell me something and not being able to. I didn't want to ask though because he was enjoying his night and I was afraid I would ruin it. Even though I was eager to find out, I just decided to leave it be. Time will tell all.

A/n: more time?? It appears so. Wonder what he's dying to ask? We'll find out in the next chapter! Also, thank you guys for the reads and votes and your liking for this story, it means a heck of a lot !! :-)