Tea For Two

7

Disclaimer: This is part of an original work of fiction. These characters belong to me, as well as their lives. Do not steal them from me. Thanks. Enjoy.

~~~

After I took Jonathon's car back to the diamond, explained to the whole team what was wrong with Kyle and what the doctors were doing about it, finally escaped them and got home, I was brewing some orange spice tea.

My house is empty and qiet, and after the past two hours, I'm glad. I've never really been fond of hospitals- the ratio between able-bodied people and those who are not is just off.

My parents will be coming back tomorrow, so I'll be over at Emily's house again tonight. My mind wanders again to what her stepdad said about her leaving. That's just my luck, of course. When I get a friend next door, they leave again soon. I shake my head, not wanting to think about it.

~~~

I walk up to the diamond. Practice has just finished, and the team is all sitting around, drinking Gator Aid and talking. Emily is stuffing things into her bag, getting ready to go.

In the three seconds it takes her to toss her ponytail out of her eyes, I get punched in the stomach by some huge, imaginary fist. I feel like Mike Myers in Wayne's World.

She will be mine. Oh, yes. She will be mine.

It occurs to me that I don't treat anyone like her- there is no one else I would walk everyday to pick up from a sports practice. There is no one else I would stay the night with- in a tent indoors, no less. There is no one else I can drink tea with and never run out of things to say. And she's the only person I have ever made tea for without being asked.

It's really unfair to her for me to treat her like this and not express the romantic interest I have in her.

I resolve to fix that soon.

I walk up to her, hoping to surprise her.

"Boo."

"Hi, Aug."

"Aw, how did you know it was me?"

"Shoes. No one else wears such dirty vans."

She straightens up and smiles at me.

"Hi."

"Guess what I brought you?" I say eagerly.

"What?" She smiles.

"Orange Spice Tea." I hold out the cool bottle.

"Ah! You're the best!" She squeals, pulling me into a hug.

God only knows why, but we are attracting glances from some of her teammates.

"Em," I whisper into her ear. "Is there any particular reason they're all staring at us?"

"Oh, they think we're going out. No big deal." She whispers back.

I break the hug, smiling awkwardly. "Yeah, no big deal."

Her smile falters, and I can see that she's hurt.

Wow. I'm a jerk.

If I'm changing our relationship later, why does it matter what the baseball boys think? I grab her head and kiss her quickly on the forehead.

"I'm just messing with you, Amazon."

She smiles again, not sure, but willing to go with it. "Okay."

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah." She picks up her bag and waves goodbye to the team.

As we walk down the first street that takes us home, I slip my arm through hers and ask  "So? Do you want to tell me about your first day as a full-time pitcher on this team, or what?"