Home Run Kiss

Thirteen

The only sound I heard was our footfalls on the concrete and my squeaky tennis shoes. Noah was running next to me, breathing heavily. I was deciding on whether or not to tell him about what Taylor said the other day. I told Granger and Xian not to say anything to him yet, and they agreed with me that I should be the one to tell him. I wished that they didn't agree with me, but it was better that I was the one telling Noah and not someone else. 

"Here's another fun fact about me," I said, hoping my nervousness wouldn't show. I didn't want him to be nervous about what I was going to tell him. "I used to have a crush on Taylor."

"Taylor Harris?"

"That's the only Taylor I know."

Noah was silent as we rounded a corner. A stoplight appeared in front of us, so I began slowing down. The pedestrian crossing had the hand, so we need to stop before continuing on our running path. 

"You used past tense when talking about your crush on him," Noah slowly said. "Do you not like him anymore?"

"Yeah, I don't like him anymore." He glanced over at me with a frown on his face. "I always thought he was a nice guy, but then I started working with him and saw the other side to him. Rudeness isn't very attractive."

"I agree."

Sucking in a deep breath, I stopped next to the road. I pressed the button on the pole and then turned my full attention on Noah. He had his airpods out and was staring at me. "When you were gone the other day, I noticed that it was about to storm, so I told Taylor. He shot me down and said that I was just afraid of storms and that my boyfriend wasn't there to protect me."

The sign changed for us, and we picked up our pace again in silence. I should have waited until we were closer to the bakery to tell him. Now I had to be stuck with a sulking boy while we ran. I could feel the change in Noah as we jogged forward, and it wasn't a nice feeling. The thing I told him was only the tip of the iceberg, and I wasn't about to tell him more things that I had heard Taylor say. It would be cruel to do so. 

And that was when two other people joined us. I heard a different set of footfalls behind us, so I glanced back and frowned. Two of the baseball boys were running after us, and one of them locked eyes with me. He flashed a white smile, pulling out a water gun from behind his back. 

"Noah?" I said, my voice tight. "Why are there two boys running after us with water guns?"

"Oh, did I forget to tell you that the second round of the game happens anywhere?" He glanced behind us and then grabbed onto my arm. He pulled us around the corner of a building, crouching down behind another set of freaking garbage cans. This time, these cans reeked of old fish. "Thank goodness I attached this to my body." Noah produced his water gun from underneath his shirt with a smile on his face, though the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. 

"How could you forget to tell me?" My voice bounced around the little area, making my eyes go wide. Lowering my voice to a whisper, I said, "Do you know who our targets are?" Unfortunately for me, that morning I was running late and I forgot my phone at home.

"Coincidentally, it's those two." 

I let out a sigh. It would suck to get out in the second round, and it was going to be harder to only use one water gun. Noah had a great aim, so maybe he could take over for us. 

"Those two like to deviate from their partners, so that means it's a good thing that they're together," Noah whispered, peering around the smelly garbage can. His eyes lit up and he shot out from our hiding spot, disappearing. I scooted toward the edge and grinned when I saw him shoot one of the boys. "It's a good thing that you can get one partner out at a time if you need to."

Standing up, I quickly checked the area around us. There was something sticking out from another pair of garbage cans, and it looked like a foot. I motioned for Noah and stole the water gun out of his hands. I quietly made my way toward the foot, hopping out in front of him. He didn't have enough time to raise his gun because I shot him with mine. 

The boy groaned angrily and Noah snapped a picture of him. There was something bothering me, so I said, "How did you guys know where we were?"

"We shouldn't really say," the guy that I got said, mischief playing behind his eyes, "but a little birdy told us where to find you."

"Taylor." 

Noah and I glanced at each other, reminding both of us about our previous conversation. I opened my mouth to say something but Noah shook his head. Right. He didn't want to talk about it anymore, and I should have been happy about it, but I wasn't. He needed to talk about his feelings and how Taylor was hurting him, not hold it in. But I went along with it anyway, just so that I wouldn't hurt him anymore.