to live for the hope of it all.

Chapter 31

October 28th, 2023

"You're not saying you're in love with me,
But you're going to..."

Beckett

I almost kissed Bailey.

God, I'd been so close. I could feel her breath fanning my lips, and she hadn't pushed me away.

And then someone bumped into me, and I realized where we were at. Standing in the middle of my teammate's kitchen, surrounded by our classmates. But all logic flew out my brain the second Bailey told me she was accepted to Pennbrook.

Four more years with you, Bailey.

I got caught up in the excitement, and I almost kissed her in a room full of sweaty people. Where I would have had to yell into her ear everything I was feeling.

Bailey deserved better, and I wanted to give her better. Our first kiss wasn't going to be like that.

It was going to be when we were alone, when I could tell her about my feelings and she could look at me while I spoke. Because if and when it happened, I wanted her to see how serious I was about her.

Which is exactly why I apologized when I recovered from getting bumped into, and shortly after, some of the guys from the baseball team came to talk to me. I gave polite answers and engaged in conversation, and when they saw Bailey standing by me a sense of pride filled my chest, even when they greeted her and she greeted them back.

Because yeah, I finally had Bailey's attention after pining after her for years from afar.

When Paige Williams approached me shortly after, I'd tried my hardest to be polite and engage in conversation with her like the others.

It bothered me that she hadn't addressed Bailey, because I had seen them talk occasionally at school. I'd been about to bring Bailey into conversation, when Paige interrupted me with a story about our math teacher that I had missed when I was gone for a game. I'd laughed lightly, and turned to see if Bailey was laughing only to find her gone. I'd excused myself from Paige then, intent on finding Bailey.

That's what led me to now. After searching the house for 30 minutes, I found her playing beer pong with Kyle against Wren and Caleb. She was smiling wide and laughing at something Wren said, and I noticed she traded her seagrams for a red solo cup.

Jesus. She's drinking the jungle juice.

Wren was fairly drunk herself, if the way she stumbled and held on to my cousin was any distinction. By the looks of it, Bailey wasn't too far behind.

Well, this was going to be fun.

Making my way towards the table, I nodded in greeting at Kyle who saw me approaching.

"Cap! Glad you could make it," he said, gripping my shoulder. "You mind taking my place? I gotta piss."

"I got you," I told him, chuckling as he chugged the rest of his cup before stumbling to the bathroom down the hall. Turning around, I caught Bailey's eye just as she turned after taking the second shot.

"Hey, you disappeared," I frowned, watching as she took another drink from her cup. Wiping her mouth, she smiled lazily at me.

"Yeah, sorry. I went to throw my can away and then came to find Wren," she explained, pointing at the blonde across the table who was laughing at something Caleb had said.

"I would have gone with you, Bailey."

"You uh, I didn't want to interrupt you and Paige," she said, eyeing the contents of her cup.