The Thread Between Danny and Me

Chapter 9: Wanna come?

Danny passed his test.

That spring he became a regular fixture in our house when he wasn't busy with baseball or his other friends. The more he came over, the more comfortable he became.

Danny started showing up unannounced on the weekends and once I walked in the door after being at Anna's to find him cooking with my mother. Hector also loved hanging around Danny and took up skateboarding to spend time with him.

It seemed like all of our lives shifted because of his presence.

Summer was duller. Danny became the main pitcher of the traveling baseball team he tried out for, and I was busy with architecture camp, math camp, and other school prep activities. We only saw each other a handful of times that summer, but when we did, it felt like I'd never had a better friend.

When we went back to school, everyone was buzzing. Danny was going to a national baseball championship with his traveling team and best of all, it would be held in Boston.

He had gone from the guy who was "probably" going to end up in the major leagues, to the guy who was "definitely" going to be in the major leagues. This made him extremely popular with all the high school students, not just our class. The girls were interested in him too. Older girls. Beautiful girls.

I groaned.

"What is it, MJ?" Danny asked as we hung out in front of School and waited for our rides.

"All these girls keep pestering me about you. They want me to hook them up with you and it's annoying. It's only the first week of school for heaven's sake!"

Danny laughed. "They only want to date me because they think I'm gonna be a major league baseball player."

"At least you know it." I side-eyed him. "But if there's ever a girl you want to go out with, let me know. They'll probably say yes."

"Not all the girls want to date me."

"Most," I said.

"Just tell them we're dating. That oughta' get them to stop."

"Either that or they'll have me tarred and feathered."

Danny looked at me with his ocean eyes. They swirled with warmth and a soft smile fell across my lips.

He was the best.

"Oh, MJ. I almost forgot. Do you wanna come to one of my championship games this weekend? We'll have one on Friday, two on Saturday, and one on Sunday. Well, two if we need a tiebreaker game."

"I'd love to. I'm not sure if I can, though. My brother has a soccer thing all weekend."

"I guess you'll want to go to your brother's games."

"No, I'd much rather watch you play. My brother's tournament is just the local league, but both my parents will want to be there. I won't have a ride."

"Hmmm..." Danny clasped his hands as he thought. "How would you feel about driving down with my mom?"

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "I've never actually met your mom."

"Yeah, normally she has work on Fridays, but she got it off. I know she'd be cool with driving you down one of the days."

"Is she going to stay overnight in Boston?"

"No. She, uh, has to come back up after Friday's game."

"That sucks. Hmmm...Friday's game might be hard to make with school stuff so I think Saturday would work better. I'll have to ask my parents though."

"Would it help if my mom called your mom?"

"Yeah! That would help a lot."

"Okay," Danny said softly. "I hope you can make it."