Meet Me at the Mound

Chapter One

I pushed my sunglasses up on my nose, sweat was trickling down my neck, pooling at the top of my shirt. I grabbed the water bottle next to me and gulped down half of it. I loved baseball, and I loved watching my brother play, but it was days like this that I would much rather be at home, relaxing in a nice, air conditioned room.

My brother was up to bat.

Strike one.

Strike two.

Come on. Hit!

“Yes, go Riley!”

A few batters later, he was sliding into home plate. I saw him search the crowd for me; I gave him a thumbs up and a big smile.

“Is that your brother?” The girl next to me asked.

“Yeah, it is,” I replied, glancing over at her. She was dressed in shorts and a tee shirt, just like me. It was too hot to be wearing anything else.

“I’ve seen you at all the games.”

“Yeah, I try to be supportive and come to as many as I can. Do you have a brother on the team?” I looked back out to the field, seeing Riley in the outfield.

“No, my boyfriend is number 3, Ashton Walkers,” she told me, pointing to where he was standing at shortstop.

“He’s pretty good, one of the star players.” I stood up as the game ended, excited to get back home where it was air conditioned.

“He is. Riley is the star player though, everyone knows him.”

I chuckled and nodded. “I’m Olivia by the way.”

“I’m Rachel. It was nice meeting you.” We walked off the bleachers and started our separate ways. “I’ll see you at the next game then!”

“See you!” I said with a slight wave in her direction.

I headed to the nearest water fountain to fill my water bottle back up.

Riley was the star player on the team, also the popular jock at school and could get any girl he wanted. I was his nerdy sister who had only ever been on a few dates.

“Excuse me? Olivia?” I heard a deep voice rumble behind me, I recognized it, but couldn’t place a finger on it.

I turned around and came face to face with an olive-skinned, green-eyed wonder who I recognized as my brother’s best friend, Josh Hamilton.

“Oh hey Josh. Are you looking for Riley because he still hasn’t come out from the dugout.” I took in his appearance, he was dressed in the baseball uniform, red and white striped pants with a red shirt.

“No, actually I was looking for you. I wanted to see if you would go on a date with me? I like you. I have for years.” He flashed me a white smile and my mouth almost dropped open.

He wanted to go on a date with me? He had liked me for years?

“Is this a joke?”

An expression of hurt flashed across his face and his eyebrows scrunched together. “What? No! Why would this be a joke? Who would ask someone on a date as a joke?”

“I’ve had it happen before.” Just because I was Riley’s twin didn’t mean I was good looking. I had been bullied quite a lot throughout my school years so I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was another stupid joke to embarrass me.

“How about this, you go on a date with me every day this week. If you still don’t like me next Monday, then I’ll let you go, but if you do end up liking me, then you’ll be my girlfriend.”