Back to Square One - Benny Rodriguez - Book 2

Booty Shorts

We're all in our positions and bored out of our minds.

Evelyn had insisted she go up to bat but didn't think to mention the fact that she'd take half an hour to "warm up".

"Hurry up!"

"I'll be able to drink before this girl is ready!"

"What's taking so long?!"

They guys weren't taking it too well.

Her being involved would mean that we'd have to create positions for Benny and Ivy.

Ivy doesn't usually play but she's gotten kinda into it the past few times. She'll usually just take up space in the out field and catch the ball with my spare glove when she can.

Since Benny is usually at bat, he had do something similar and is near me and Smalls on the left side of the field. Ivy's doing the same on the right side near Bertram and Yeah-Yeah.

I feel my legs start to get tired from just standing here so I wordlessly take a seat on top of the third base.

"I like what you're thinking!" Timmy yells at me from first before taking a seat himself.

This seems to catch everyone's attention and one by one they all sit down as well.

"Hey, Lil!" Ivy yells. "Catch!"

She throws a ball of air my way and I pretend to catch it before throwing it back to her.

"You got one hell of an arm, dude!" I shout.

"I'd better!"

"She could work on her aim a bit." Benny tells me from his spot about 10-15 feet away from me at a volume only I could hear.

"I was just thinking that but I didn't want to be too mean." I say respond.

"That's fair." he agrees while smiling at me.

"I'm ready now!" Evelyn screams.

"Oh, thank god." Bertram groans sarcastically before standing up.

Everyone gets up from their seat on the ground except for myself.

"You need help?" Benny asks me after he stands up himself.

"When the time comes, sure." I tell him.

"Now isn't the time?" he questions my answer.

"No. I don't believe it is." I tell him and look over to the batter.

She's in an unnecessarily deep squat and the bat is close to touch her shoulder on the opposite side of her body by the way she's holding it.

I look back over to Benny.

"See what I mean." I ask.

"Yep."

I nod before looking back to find Kenny looking at me.

He gives me a 'how should I play this?' look and give him one that tells him to do whatever he wants.

It's not likely she'll hit the ball so well that she'll start running but you never know.

Kenny pitches the ball and the ball ends up in Ham's glove since she didn't even try swing the bat.

"Strike one!" he calls out before he throws the ball back to Kenny.

"Stick!" Squints calls out and the five of us start laughing.

He makes another pitch and she misses this one as well but she actually tried to hit it this time.

Baby steps, baby steps.

"Strike two!"

Kenny makes the effort to pitch it one last time and she hits it but it barely makes it past him.

Kenny picks up the ball and throws it to Timmy and he's ready to tag her out.

She must've thought there was still something she could do after this cause she attempts to slide to first like that'll do something but she's in short-shorts which wasn't a good decision in the first place.

She does end up sliding a little but starts to yell in pain soon after and I sigh before turning to Benny and make grabbing motions with my hands.

He gets the message and comes over to help me stand up. Mind you, I'm perfectly capable but it's hot outside and I don't need to be emitting extra sweat by trying to stand. Benny on the other hand, offered to do it in the first place.

We all walk over to the dug out and when we do, Evelyn's scraped up thigh is hard not to notice.

It's not terrible but there are a few rug-burn like scratches.

"Do we have a first-aid kit or something?" she asks, looking down at her leg.

"We do but nothing in there is gonna be any help." I answer.

"What'd you mean it won't help?" she asks me frustrated.

"All the bandages are for tiny cuts and the small bottle of rubbing alcohol won't be able to disinfect your whole leg." Smalls answers for me. Out of all the people here, he's probably the one I treat the most often so it's not surprising he knows all that.

"Why not?" she continues to question things.

"Cause I'm not dumb enough to slide in booty shorts." I retort.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The game ended after not much longer.

Me and Benny walk up to my porch after he insisted.

"I'm sorry about Evelyn." he apologizes when we get to my front door.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Just in general." he answers. "I know it was... big when you came home and found out that we were dating. And she's kinda been a bitch to you."

"Yeah, well. That part wasn't too big of a shocker." I say.

He doesn't say anything after a minute and just looks at me.

"You know..." I say to stop whatever was going on, "I never read the diary you gave me."

"Really?"

"I told you I wouldn't do it until you were comfortable with it and I didn't bother asking since I got back cause I could guess what kind of stuff you wrote." I tell him.

"You also said you would read it before you die." he says.

"I don't plan on kicking the bucket quite yet believe it or not." I retort jokingly.

"I just meant that after you moved, we didn't know when the next time we would talk or see each other so I thought you'd do it anyway." he explains.

"I know what you meant." I say.

It goes back to being quiet and him looking at me.

I decide to make eye contact but he begins to get closer and lean in so I look away and step closer to the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow." I tell him before going inside and closing the door.

At least break up with you fake girlfriend first, man.