Storm, Meet Raine

Muck.

HER.

     "Partner up!" Coach blows his whistle to grab our attention. I plant my hands on my hips, sucking in loads of air, still struggling to breathe after doing suicide drills. "Game day is tomorrow, and I need your minds focused."

     Instinctively, I search around for Vinny, only to be disappointed. I curse under my breath. Vincent isn't here because he caught the flu. Isaiah, however, doesn't seem to be sick yet, so as soon as we make eye contact, I take some steps over to him. I'm interrupted when I get dragged back by a savage.

     "How nice of you to be my partner, Carter. You're so sweet," Carson beams at me, dragging me in the opposite direction of my friend, bringing me to the dark side where he and Hunter were.

Hunter whistles at me, making me blush. "Hey," he waves excitedly.

"Hi," I give the awkward finger wiggle.

     Coach Gardner calls for us all to come back to a circle in the infield. "Get your gear and ready your mind because we're trudging it to the cages." I could've died. The field was at the very least five miles away from the school's athletic quarters, and he wanted us to walk with all of our equipment on our backs.

     I was so going to need a massage after this.

     Maybe a massage without the sex this time.

     He blows his whistle, sealing in our fate. Carson curses next to me. "Hey cheer up," Hunter nudges his friend as we walk toward the dugout to get our things. "The cross country girls are practicing right now."

     I stared at the clay breaking up beneath my cleats as they dived into a conversation about the girls' body types. I definitely hated boy talk whenever we were practicing. The guys can say some pretty filthy stuff even though they try their best to keep a filter around me. But with everyone referring to me as Carter, it's easy for them to forget I'm even there and talk their crap. Or, maybe they just want to see me cringe.

My muscles ached so badly when we reached the cages, but this was only the beginning of practice. I had to suck it up. We did some ground ball drills with partners, Carson surprisingly not being too terrible to work with. At some points, his naturally cocky nature shone through, and he gave some sharp digs to me, but I was expecting it, so I returned it full force.

I can't even count how many times he gave me a hot look after I made a witty comeback. When we weren't bantering like usual, he was extremely focused, and I appreciated it. He was serious about the game, and it made me more comfortable around him. He showed me he could be normal with me, not always saying things to make me wet or curse me out so badly I'd cry. He was just...normal.

After practice, I laid on the fake grass in the cages, catching my breath. Carson hovered over me, his hands on his knees, his upside down face contorted slightly with pain. For our coach to be so young, he really knows how to break you down before a game. "Hey," my partner pants to me, taking in a deep breath. "You wanna...you wanna go on a real date...sometime?"

I took in a deep breath, not knowing if it was out of nervousness from his question, or because I couldn't get air into my lungs properly. "Yeah. I'm...I'm down," I finally breathed. His face broke out into a grin, and he held out his hand for me. I grabbed it gratefully, allowing him to help me off of the ground.

A real date, huh? I've got to tell Bambi about this.

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     "Girl!" She screeches, showing me her nostrils as usual before pulling the phone away from her face, her jaw dropped, eyes so wide, her eyelashes were almost touching her eyebrows. "You'regoingonadatewithCarsonfuckingSperosahhhhhhh!"