Tea For Two

6

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

Thanks. Enjoy.

~~~

"It's going to be a good day. I just know it."

Emily and I are sitting on the counter in my kitchen, surrounded by brewing tea and her sugar packets. We've only just woken up a dozen or so minutes ago in my tent, and she has baseball practice in an hour. We would have stayed at her house for breakfast, but I have tea and bagels. I know now to never underestimate what Emily will do for a blueberry bagel.

"Why's that?" I ask, carefully pulling my bagel out of our toaster oven.

"Well, it started off with a bagel," she says.

"Uh huh. You are bagel-crazy."

"It's true."

I'm still curious though. I mean, I like bagels as much as the average girl, but I don't exactly believe that they're part of the formula for a great day. Maybe they are, I just haven't paid attention.

"Besides the bagel, why is this going to be a good day?" I blow on my bagel to cool it down.

"I don't know, I just... I feel like it is," she shrugs.

"Ah, this is a 'power of the will' sort of thing," I say.

It must be interesting to be Emily- she just thinks 'it's going to be a good day', and goes with it.

She puts her bagel down and looks seriously at me.

"No, August, it's a 'I've got a feeling' sort of thing," she says. "I have no power over this."

I don't really do the whole 'destiny' and 'fate' thing. It just doesn't fit for me. I don't know what to say, so I just take a bite of my bagel in incredulous silence.

She mirrors me with a serious look on her face. Then she makes a face like Tommy Lee Jones- the permanent, blank frown he's so famous for- and crosses her eyes while she chews.

I can't help it- in my attempt not to laugh chewed-up bagel crumbs all over her, I accidentally inhale some of them, and spend the next minute or so hacking like a cat.

When I'm finished with that, she addresses me like nothing's happened at all.

"My practice starts at noon."

I nod, blinking away the tears that formed during my coughing fit. "I know."

"And I should get done around five."

"I'll be there to get you, no worries."

"Good."

~~~

We show up at her practice five minutes early, and Emily goes immediately to stretch and warm up. They stretch each other during team warm-up, but she slept on the floor last night, so she needs to limber up.

As usual, I stick around until Coach Van calls attention to the whole team. I lean up against the bleachers, casting a glance around the diamond and the parking lot, looking at all the teammates.

A whole bunch of them pull up in a pickup truck, three or so in the bed. When the truck comes to a stop, they pile out, one after another. Kyle Johnson is the last to get out, throwing his duffel bag out with a thud first.

I should have seen it coming- he vaulted himself over the side with one arm, heading toward the ground at an angle. His right foot, closer to the ground, found the unstable surface of the duffel bag before leading his other foot to search for it as well. He slammed, right knee first, into the gravel-covered parking lot.