Chapter 15

Icaught my reflection in the passenger window as I stepped out of Gina's car. I was unrecognizable in my pink wig with sharp bangs.

"Ready?" Gina asked, stepping out of the car in her long blonde wig, a Sharks T-shirt, and cutoffs.

"I never thought I'd see the day when your sundress was replaced by cutoffs and a T-shirt."

We found a spot in the right field bleachers near a team of little league baseball players who were shouting at the players on the field to give them a ball. To survive the game, I'd brought a cocktail in a large tumbler and was having more fun than I expected. It was freeing to be someone else.

"Do you think Cody recognized you yet?" I asked Gina in the bottom of the second.

She shook her head. "He's not even looking out here."

"Well, you told him you'd be here. So, he knows you're here somewhere."

"I might go say hi during the seventh inning stretch," she said.

"Wig and all?" I asked.

"Who knows. He might like me as a blonde."

I laughed and took a sip of my drink. "He'd like you with any color hair. The guy spends every free minute with you."

She blushed, and I knew she needed to hear that—even though it was blatantly obvious to anyone who saw the two of them together. "So, you never told me what happened last night with you and Crew," she said, swiftly changing the subject.

"And here I was thinking that you hadn't brought it up on the drive here, so maybe you'd forgotten."

"I forget nothing," she assured me as something happened on the field and everyone cheered.

I looked to see what it was. Crew dove and stopped a grounder. He got to his knees and fired the ball to first base, getting the runner out with no time to spare.

"I told him about my father," I admitted.

"Oh," she said.

"Yeah. Stupid. I know."

"No, it's just…you keep that one so close to the vest. I'm surprised you felt comfortable opening up to him."

I shrugged. Same.

"But, Peyton," she continued. "It never should've been your secret to keep. Your dad did it. He needs to deal with the aftermath. Not you."

She was right. Why did I hide what he'd done? If he was so worried about his image, he wouldn't have cheated on my mother in the first place. "Yeah, well, so much for opening up to someone. He turned around and kissed some girl in front of me."

"Seriously?"

I sipped my drink. "So I had Sam bring me home."

"God, I hate baseball players," she said. "Except Cody of course."

"Of course," I agreed.

"Have you spoken to him since?"

"Yeah. Of course he said it meant nothing. But I told him I didn't care."

"Do you?"

"Why would I?"

"Because there's something going on between you two. I think you need to figure out what it is."

"There's nothing going on."

"Excuse me," one of the little leaguers interrupted, pulling our attention to him standing in front of us. "The shortstop asked me to give the girl with pink hair this ball." He held a baseball out to me. It read Go Out With Me in black marker.

I looked out at the field. Crew was staring my way. I looked back at the little kid. "You can tell him he can save it for someone who wants it."

The little boy scrunched his nose. "O-kay."

I looked to Gina who knowingly stared at me with a raised brow.

The little leaguer turned and ran off. But he returned during the next inning still clutching the baseball. "He said you didn't answer his question."

"No," I said.

"He thought you'd say that. That's why he's gonna hit a homer right over here, so you better be ready to catch it since it's for you."

My teeth clenched together as I looked back out at the field. Crew was looking my way again. I hoped the batter hit one right off the side of his face.

"You two are hysterical," Gina said.

I glared at her. "You think this is funny?"

"Isn't it?" she asked, snatching the baseball away from the kid and examining the message on it.

"Do you need my glove?" the little kid asked me.

"What for?" I asked.

"To catch his homer," he explained.

I balked. "You really think he knows where he's hitting that ball?"

"Oh yeah. He's awesome," the kid assured me.

"If you only knew," I mumbled.

The inning ended, and Gina handed me the ball she'd taken from the kid. Did Crew really think sending a kid to ask me out would work? He probably wasn't even serious. He probably just wanted to get a rise out of me.

The Sharks were up to bat at the top of the sixth, and Crew stepped up to the plate. That son of a bitch hit the first pitch—a home run to the right field bleachers. Luckily, the little leaguers had gloves, and one of them caught the ball. As Crew rounded first base, his eyes were on us. I wanted to stand up and remind him about his coach's speech. How he appreciated Crew not prancing around the bases when he hit a home run. Because, at the moment, he was very much gloating as he stared my way and trotted around the bases.

"Can you even believe the nerve of him?" I asked Gina as we drove home after the game.

"It was pretty ballsy," she laughed. "He clearly likes you."

"Likes annoying me," I said, drinking my newly-filled cocktail in my tumbler.

"It wouldn't be the worst thing if you two went out."

"Yes, it would."

"Peyton, no one said you had to marry him."

"I'm definitely not manifesting that like you."

"Shut up," she laughed. "Just hear me out. Summer's going to end. He's gonna head back to school and so are you."

"The same school," I reminded her.

"It's a big school," she reminded me. "You never have to see him again if you don't want to."

"I don't want to see him now."

"You're such a liar."

I grunted.

"He's hot, and I bet he knows what he's doing under the sheets," Gina said.

"Did you seriously just say under the sheets?"

She laughed. "I did."

"It's not like it wouldn't be the first time we've slept in the same bed," I said.

All of a sudden, Gina lurched the car to the right and we swerved off the road. I grasped for something to hold onto as Gina slammed the gear into park, then twisted to look at me. "What?"

I shrugged, not really sure what else to say now that my heart was lodged in my throat and my anxiety had shot through the roof.

"Why is this the first I'm hearing of this?" she nearly cried.

"It didn't mean anything."

"Bullshit," she said. "Peyton. Why haven't you told me?"

"It was stupid. Neither of us would budge from leaving my room. It started as a challenge…"

"It started as a challenge? What is it now?" she asked.

"It's not every night. I slept alone last night."

"Jesus Christ, Peyton. Has anything happened?"

"Define happened," I said.

"Oh my God," she said. "You're in deep."

"Am not."

"Fine. Sleep with him and get it out of your system. Then move on."

I drew back, shocked by her words.

"It's inevitable. And once it happens, you can either go your separate ways or…"

"Or what?"

"Keep doing it."