Bruised Knuckles

18. strike three

I let him continue talking anyway.

"I want to ask him to prom," Mick said while looking at me with hidden anticipation.

Big mistake.

"Oh, wow, that's kind of ambitious because I don't really know if he's gay?" I asked as a question, even though I knew the truth.

"I know he is, I can tell by the way he looks at me when we pass in the hallway. I know me and you were never really were friends or anything but I just needed an opinion on this," Mick said while tucking his hands into his front pockets, "maybe to calm my nerves, I don't know."

I pressed my balled up fingers to my mouth, looking down before I was calm enough to look back up at Mick. "I see your point, but I don't think he's gay. I'd find someone else, honestly," I told him while biting my tongue to keep from saying anything more.

"You think so? I kind of want to do it, you know? We're probably the only two gay boys in the school. We could be prom kings!" Mick went on while expressing his words with hand motions. I smirked because Mick didn't even know Axel like I did.

I could have split my tongue in half with my teeth, but I didn't. I pressed a hand against Mick's shoulder, looking him straight in the eyes. "Save yourself the humiliation."

I patted his shoulder a few times and turned my back to head inside, locking the door once I was in my home. I needed a plan, faster than Mick could say "will you go to prom with me?" Prom honestly wasn't even something I ever thought about attending, let alone asking someone to go with me. Plus, Axel was a male. Everyone would know I was gay.

I tapped my fingers against the kitchen counter and shook my head, rummaging through the fridge to find some food instead. I had a baseball game tomorrow and I knew my heart and soul had to be one hundred percent on the field.

The next day, I stood at shortstop during the first inning of my game. The team we were playing was so awful that we knew we had the win in the bag. I thought about Aspen for a little while, the thought of her being gay completely blowing my mind. That was one thing we finally had in common.

During the fifth inning, I spotted Axel, sitting alone and isolated in the stands. I couldn't tell if he was watching me or not, but the thought of him being there made me want to play harder than before. Why else would he be here if it wasn't for me?

During the seventh inning, I spotted Mick a few seats below Axel. I started to get nervous and I became obsessed with watching him instead of the game. The coach pulled me out that inning, the game tied up. I sat in the dugout and listened as closely as I could to the people in the stands above me. Mick was not asking Axel to prom during my game.

Mick was asking Axel to prom during my game.
I heard a girl scream "A promposal!" and I instantly knew it was Mick.

"Fuck!" I muttered, running to the end of the dugout, looking out the side to find nothing happening above me. I left the dugout to get a better view, running in front of the small, cement shelter to see Axel and Mick. I didn't even care if it was in the middle of the game

"No!" I shouted up at them, my arms waving and flailing as I felt my stomach drop. My coach was in an uproar now, as the game was put on halt because of my interference.

"Axel, no! Say no!" I screamed again, my hands resting on the top of my head once I got his attention. "Will you go to prom with me?" The words just rolled off my tongue, a fight or flight moment. I tried not to pull my hair out, my coach standing next to me with his arms crossed. I was intimidated but not enough to stop fighting for the boy I knew was supposed to be with me.

I saw Axel nod, and he began to stand up and run down the stands as fast as he could. Mick just stood there, abandoned on the steel steps while Axel made his way down to me. Mick looked pissed, but I didn't look at him too much because Axel was the only person I was focused on.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll go to prom with you!" Axel exclaimed, running onto the field with me as his arms looped around my waist, his hug causing me to tremble backwards on the field from the impact.

"What? You actually will?" I asked him
again, stunned at his simple answer while we hugged on the baseball field, in front of everyone and their mothers... literally.

"Yeah, I didn't want to go with Mick but since you asked me I'd go anywhere with you. Even prom," Axel let go and smiled, running his fingers through his hair which was buzzed just long enough to do so, "it should be a fun night."

Axel smiled and pointed behind me as a warning, quickly jogging back up to the stands where Mick had disappeared. I did tell him he would be humiliated, didn't I?

I turned around and saw two angry umpires, both swooping in close to my face. "You're out!" They screamed in unison and pointed to the dugout, where I began jogging, my arms surrendering into the air. They had every homophobic right to be mad at me.

I sat in the dugout and some of my teammates congratulated me, speaking to me for the first time in a long time. I felt good about myself even though I got thrown out of the next five games, according to my coach who had every single vein exposed on his face and neck.

Maybe being gay wasn't as bad as I anticipated it to be.

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Hello! Like I said last chapter, There's a contest in my reading list called "The Fiction Awards 2016," and if you're enjoying this story so far I'd love if you could go and nominate this story for the awards! You have to be on the mobile app to do it, though. Please check out the book in my reading list and consider nominating this story! :)