The One Underneath

|| Its a long, annoying story ||

"I don't mind a little smoke gettin' in my eyes. Baby take you hands, take your lies, and lay 'em on me." - Say You Do, Dierks Bentley

"Addilynn!" Jace Peterson hugged me tightly.

"How are you?" I smiled at him. I hadn't talked to Jace in forever and we were pretty close at one point.

"I'm awesome, how are you? How's softball?" He asked sweetly.

"I'm doing good. And softball, well it's a wait-and-see game right now. Whenever I get a call though, I'll be flying out to Oklahoma City." I tell him.

"So what are you doing in here by yourself?" He asked me. This was the first time that I noticed I was sitting in the kitchen by myself since Alex freaked out on me. I came inside and went to the kitchen. I had figured that Alex had gone home since I couldn't find him.

"It's a long, annoying story." I laugh a little.

"Lay it on me. I've got all day." He decided. That's what I loved about Jace; he would always help you however he could and always had time to listen.

"Well, I saw Alex and all his tattoos, right?" He nodded, listening intently.

"Anyways, I told him that I'd get in the pool with him if he told me what they meant. He told me no then like freaked out after I asked again." I told him.

"What happened after he freaked out?" He asked, taking a drink of his water.

"He went through the back door and came in here. I don't know where he is know, though." I sighed.

"I'm sorry. He's a little iffy sometimes. He means well but just doesn't know how to be nice, I guess. Just take it in strides." He laughed, his eyes lighting up.

"Thanks, Jace. You're so sweet." I hugged him tightly as we both stood up.

"It's no problem. Just call me up if you need anything, alright?" He questioned, raising one of his eyebrows.

"I will." I hugged him again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I saw you and Peterson hugging in the kitchen today." AJ told me. It was currently just him and I sitting on the back porch.

"Yeah,"

"He was just being friendly."

"What happened to you and Alex earlier?" He questioned.

"Nothing. He's just being a jerk." I shrugged.

"Well I know that. Tell me more, though." He stated.

"I saw all those tattoos he has, then y'all called me over to come get in the pool with you guys," I start.

"Then, I told him that I'd get in if he told me what the tattoo on his ribcage meant. Then he freaked out on me and came in here. I guess he went home after that."

"He's, just, I don't know." AJ started. You know it's bad when AJ Pierzynski, All-American catcher, the man who isn't afraid to scream at you or punch you in the face, is at a loss for words.

"Do you think I should try and talk to him?" I asked sincerely.

"You should," He states simply

"But I'm not afraid to beat him up if he hurts you."

"Nah, we're good uncle J." I stand up, hugging his neck.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I pulled in slowly to Alex's apartment complex. It was really nice and few of the other players lived here as well. I knew where Alex's apartment was and made my way up to it, knocking on the door a few times. The door opened, revealing Alex. He had his glasses on and his hair was every-which-way, wearing nothing but a pair of Nike sweats.

"Hey, earth to Addilynn." He waved his hands in front of my face, causing me to snap out of my trance.

"Oh, hey. Can I come in?" I tried to hide my blush.

"What do you need?" He asked, cocking his hip.

"I just wanna talk to you." I stated, aggregation now clear in my voice.

"About what?" He ran his fingers through his hair.

"About... This," I motioned to the air between us.

"And why do you ask so many questions anyways?"

"Because I can. But yeah, come in." He moved out of the way as I walked in.

"Why are you a jerk?" I said bluntly as I sat down.

"I'm not a jerk." He told me.

"Yeah, you are. I mean you freaked out on me just because I asked what your tattoos meant. That sounds like a jerk to me." I shrugged.

"Okay, listen," he started.

"Just because the Pierzynski's think that they're entitled to know everything doesn't mean that they actually are. So if I don't wanna tell you what they mean, then I won't."

"But why? Like, what is the big deal? I have one and if you want to know what it means, I'll tell you." I couldn't believe I was doing this over a stupid tattoo.

"But how does that make me a jerk?" He eyed me.

"Because you're just really rude and it's driving me insane because I can't figure out why you're like that." I sighed.

"Is that the only reason you're here?" He put his right arm on the back of the couch, revealing another tattoo I hadn't seen at the party. It says 'love never lasts alone' in cursive.

"Yeah, I guess." I admitted.

"Well, you wasted your gas and I've gotta be up early for our flight tomorrow. Have a good night." He opened the front door which was pretty much him telling me to leave.

"Whatever. See ya later, Wood." I said, then slammed the door behind me. Tears were flooding my eyes and streaming down my cheeks before I even reached the car.

I got in and sat there for about ten minutes crying, until my phone rang. I picked it up, AJ being on the other line.

"Hello?" I sniffed, trying to not sound like I was crying.

"Adds? Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I tried to sound happy.

"No, you're not," He decided.

"Come straight home, Addilynn." He tell me, then hung up. He never hardly calls me Addilynn, so I knew he was either mad or worried.

When I got home, AJ was sitting on the couch and going through a notebook, but looked up when he heard me come in.

"Adds, what's wrong?" He asked as I started up the stairs.

"Nothing." I stated.

"Wrong answer. Come tell me what happened." He patted the spot on the couch to his left.

I sighed and sat down,

"I went over to Alex's and we basically had the same conversation there as we did here. It got nowhere."

"What did he say?" He asks.

"He pretty much told me that we, as in the Pierzynski's, had to have whatever we wanted," he scoffed at this, causing me to laugh.

"Anyways he said that I wasted my gas going over there and basically kicked me out." I shrugged.

"Well, we have a whole flight for us to talk tomorrow so don't worry." He told me. At this point, I was too tired and fed up to try and argue with him and tell him not to.