The Pitcher's Act

11

OLIVIA

I'm drunk. We played a drinking game, and somehow I had to take a shot every fucking turn. Everyone around was wasted as well. They've all disappeared and headed back inside now that the air was chilly. It felt nice to look at the stars. I rarely paid attention to them.

Colby jolted from the seat across me. He had closed his eyes a few minutes ago after he said he wasn't going to sleep. He rubs his eyes and sits up, looking around. "I thought I said not to let me fall asleep," he says.

"I was busy looking at the stars, not at you," I say, looking back at the lights in the sky.

He says nothing but looks up at the stars with me. "Do you think there's life in the stars? Like in another universe."

"I think it'd be silly to say we were the only humans existing in life."

"I like to think my wishes come true in another life. Someone out there is living the life I've always dreamed of."

"Colby, you can live any dream if you work hard enough," I tell him. I get up from my chair and lean over the railing to get a better look.

Colby follows and stands beside me, "Some dreams are meant not to come true. It's the possibility of them coming true. It gives you hope and makes you want to dream harder."

I want to laugh at the fact he has turned into a philosopher. "I think you took one too many hits."

"Maybe," he says, staring off into the sky.

We say nothing for a while, but only one thing itches in the back of my mind. I don't know how to bring it up, but we should discuss it. We need to. "Colby?"

"Olivia," he says hazily, turning towards me.

I wet my lips, trying to figure out how to say it. "I'm sorry for everything. About how I treated you that night." It feels nice to get it off my chest.

The ends of his lips curve up, "No need to apologize, Angel. I deserved every bit of it."

"No, you didn't, and twenty-one-year-old me has realized it. It was immature and childish. I'm glad you yelled at me that night. Who knows where I would have ended up if you didn't?"

"I'm sure you would have turned out fine. Just a little fucked up in the head."

I smile, pushing him gently, "Shut up." I say nothing for a minute. "The truth is about that night. I wanted to run and tell you I'm sorry immediately, but my feet rooted me to the ground. My ego wouldn't let me."

"Your ego?"

"Yeah. Something about me didn't want to tell you that you were right and I was wrong."

"And you're just admitting this now?" He says with a playful smile.

"I didn't want to leave here with beef with someone over something silly. I probably would have never apologized if we hadn't been partnered up. I didn't even know you were in that class. The only time I hear about you is when the school posts about how they gave you a blowjob for winning a game."

He laughs, "I hate to admit it, but you're funny, Olivia Olsen."

I grin back at him, "Look at us. Telling each other the truth. It makes me feel like I can fly. I feel free." Like a bird. Like an angel.