The Greatest in the League

Two

Mama's boy - Dominic Fike

Blake Matthews

I got home at around six in the morning. It would have been at five, but I didn't have a ride and had to take the hour long walk home, while being damn near blacked out drunk. And of course, just my luck, I get home to see my mom's car pulled into the driveway. Fuck.

My mom is usually never home. She's a nurse at this hospital across town, and spends the majority of her hours at work or she's sleeping. A nervous feeling creeps up my spine, and I feel my fists tighten, digging my nails into my palms in hopes of calming myself. It's a weird habit i've developed over the years whenever I get anxious.

My best bet is that mom fell asleep on the couch; if not, then I'm screwed. I could always pretend to be sober and play it off as tiredness, but I have a bad habit of being really honest when I drink. It's how I ruined my relationship with my first girlfriend, actually. I remember it like it was yesterday.

I was fourteen and it was my first time ever doing anything considered 'wrong' in my life. It was the middle of summer, and I had lied to my mom about spending the night with my cousins just so I could meet up with my friends to hang out with girls and get drunk. My buddies and I were sitting around a campfire, each at an assigned seat with the girl they were dating at that time in my friend, Ethan's, backyard.

It was late, probably like two in the morning, and he had gotten his hands on his dad's case of beer, which was like winning the lottery as teenage boys trying to impress their girlfriends. Jake had chugged two cans of the bitter liquid as an attempt to make his girlfriend, Lilly, find him super cool. She didn't, however, and his plan backfired as she kept yelling at him to quit drinking it.

My girlfriend, Jessica, had leaned her head on my shoulder and intertwined her long, slim fingers with mine.

"Ooo, y'all getting close over there," Ethan teased, wiggling his eyebrows. I felt the tips of my ears heat up, and nervousness build in my stomach.

Jessica giggled, nuzzling her head farther against me. The alcohol was starting to have its effects on me, clouding my vision and making it hard to actually comprehend anything that was happening. And just like that, Leah suggested playing truth or dare.

We went around in a circle, asking each other stupid questions and even making us do even stupider dares. And suddenly, it finally came around to my turn.

"Truth or dare, Blake?" Thomas asked, lifting his head up from where he laid on the grass to 'stargaze' with Leah cuddling against him.

"Mmm, truth," I slurred, somehow accidentally saying it in an Australian accent. Everyone burst into hysterics, Jessica putting a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter. It wasn't even that it was funny; we were all just too high on the feeling of being intoxicated for the first time to care.

"Who was your first crush?" Leah asked, and everyone exchanged smug glares. Jessica grinned, taking this opportunity to put on her fake 'jealous girlfriend' role. She took her head off my shoulder, giving me a playful, mean stare. Her deep brown eyes with sharp, winged eyeliner stared at me, and I felt chills go down my body. "Yeah, bee, who was it?" she asked, and everyone started laughing.

I didn't want to tell them who it was, but I found myself grinning and opening my mouth to speak against my own will.

"Do you guys know that kid on the baseball team? Samuel Wheeler?" I asked, looking around as Jake and Lilly chuckled. "You had a crush on his girlfriend?" Lilly asked, making a roar of laughter start up again.