Home Run Kiss

Ten

I lost my water gun. How could I lose it? It was the first day of the game, and I lost my freaking water gun. Noah was going to hate me; he obviously wanted to win this game (he told me so many times the other day when we were discussing our game plan) and now I was going to let us lose because I misplaced the water gun. 

It had to be at the bakery. After getting the water gun, I went to the bakery right after, so I had to have lost it there. Thank goodness I was already here. 

Racing toward the backroom, my eyes searched the whole office. Dad was in there, looking at me over the top of his reading glasses. "Are you alright, Lola?"

"I lost something and I need to find it." Checking the time on my phone, a strangled noise left my lips. Noah was going to be here in about ten minutes to bring us to Taylor's house, and I needed to have my water gun by then. "Have you seen a blue water gun, by chance?"

Dad stared at me, his hands resting on the messy desk he was sitting at. "Of course not. Why would you have a water gun, anyway?"

"Because the baseball boys, their girlfriends, and I are playing a game that involves water guns."

"Right." Dad glanced around the room, his greying hair glinting in the bright light. He looked back at me, shaking his head. I groaned, placing my hands on my head. "Dios mío, Lola. I've never seen you like this before. Is it really that important?"

"If it wasn't that important, why would I be acting like that?" I asked, throwing my hands out to the side. I knocked into one of his many stacks of papers, and my dad cursed in Portuguese. "Sorry, sorry. I'll leave now."

"That'd be a good idea." Dad sounded a little miffed, so I backed out of the room. His voice carried out into the lobby, "Be careful! Have fun, too!"

"Thanks!"

Since it was a Sunday afternoon, there wasn't anyone in the bakery. We were closed on Sunday's, and that was when Dad did all the finances and things like that. He also baked a lot for the incoming week, and sometimes I helped him with it. Today, not so much. 

There was a knock on the door, and I almost let out a scream. Noah was here and I hadn't found my water gun. Running over to the door, I threw it open and said, "I'm sorry, Noah! I lost my water gun and now we can't win the game!"

Noah walked into the store, holding his hands behind his back. He didn't look as worried as I thought he would be, which made me frown. Leaning against the counter, he said, "And where did you last see it?"

"I thought it was here, but I haven't been able to find it."

With a grin, he produced my water gun from behind his back. A gasp escaped my lips, and I snatched the water gun out of his hands. "You left it on the ground next to your car the first day we got it," he said, laughing. "I saw it right as you were driving away, but I obviously couldn't make you stop since you were leaving."

"Gosh, that's terrible," I said, sighing. "I'm usually not like that."

"It's alright." He checked his watch and then pushed off of the counter. "We should probably go. I don't want to be late for the first round of the game."

"Same." 

I followed him out of the bakery, locking the door behind me. Turning back around, I frowned when I saw the same red car that nearly hit me a while ago. I hurried after Noah and nearly screamed again when I saw him get into that car. Did he nearly hit me that one time? 

Sliding into the passenger seat, I quickly said, "Is this your car?"

"Um, yeah," he said, sounding weirded out. "I wouldn't have gotten into this car if I didn't drive it."

"Oh, yeah." He started the car, pulling out of the parking spot. He waited at the exit of the bakery before pulling out onto the road, heading towards Taylor's house. "I think you almost hit me two weeks ago."

"That was you?" His head jerked to the side, disbelief in his eyes. "Well, I guess you got me back when you nearly killed me with the peanut cookies."

"Why do we always try to kill each other?" I asked him with a laugh. 

"I don't know." He laughed, too. "But it created this awesome friendship, so I'm not too mad about it."

I was surprised that he already considered me a friend. Sure, we had been hanging out a lot together, planning for the game as well as being together during practice. And yes, we had talked a lot while we were together. But I didn't think he considered me a friend that quickly. It felt good to hear that coming from him.

The rest of the ride was filled with awesome music and singing from the two of us. We had the same taste in music, which was so cool. I never met anyone who listened to the same music as me. 

Noah slowed down once we made it to Taylor's house. It was huge, towering over us as we pulled into his long driveway. The other baseball boys were there already, so we hurriedly got out of his car and stood with the other teams. 

"Good, everyone is here," Taylor said loudly. "I'll tell Soph to text the targets, and then we'll have ten minutes to scatter."

Noah and I pulled out our phones. I placed my water gun under my arm, asking him, "Did you fill it up with water?"

"What kind of teammate wouldn't do that?"

Before I could say anything else, my phone buzzed. Sophie had texted Noah and I with out targets. My eyes widened when I saw who we had to get. It was Granger and Xian. I looked over at Noah and saw a determined look on his face. "We're going to get them," he said, nodding. "They won't know what hit them!"