Love and Game

Chapter Three

*Autumn*

Two weeks had passed until I saw him again. I couldn't stop thinking about him, his hair. His body. I'd never even seen the boys eyes, or knew his name. And yet I was in love with him. He filled my dreams and the constant thought of him made me smile. So when I saw him that day. I was overly joyed.

I was jogging to my car to get my brother his sunflower seeds he'd forgot. He was up to bat so I was in a hurry, he couldn't bat without sucking on some sunflower seeds. I unlocked the car then opened the door. But as I did my Moms purse fell out. Her things scattered everywhere. I cussed under my breathe then hurriedly bent down to try and pick it up. "Strike three! Your out!" I heard the ump yell. Brycen, my brother, struck out. I still hurried to get all my Moms things. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder, I thought it was my Mom.

"I'm sorry Mom, I opened the door and it fell out."

"No. It's not your Mom." Said a scratchy voice. Sorta high pitched but just a perfect combination between Justin Beiber and Bane's from Batman. My head quickly looked up. And there he stood, blonde hair and blue eyes. He smiled down at me, teeth brighter than the sun above his head. I stood up in complete awe. I didn't even notice Greg's team had a practice today.

"Hello." I said trying with all my might not to stutter. And act stupid.

He smiled down at me(he was still like 4 inches taller than me)

"Do you need some help with that?" He asked. I slowly nodded, biting my lower lip. He just smiled and bent down. I did also to help him help me.

"So what's your name?" He asked. Looking straight into my eyes.

"Autumn. Autumn Adkins." I blushed which made him blush.

"Nice to meet you Autumn, I'm Ryan. Ryan Jackson." He took out his hand, I shook it. I wasn't concentrated on how firm to shake it or what not, all that ran thru my mind was "Damn what soft hands." I laughed, which made him laugh. Neither one of us was paying attention and we both reached out to get my Moms gum. Our hands touched. When they did we both stopped laughing and looked at each other.

"I- um. He- here you go." He stammered and lifted his hand. I grabbed the gum and put it in the purse all without taking my eyes off him. We stared at each other for the longest time. Un-blinking. Once we pulled our heads. I smiled and giggled. He just blushed.

"Autumn come on!" Screamed my ungrateful mother from the baseball field.

"Oh crap." I stuffed the remaining items in the purse, threw it into the car. Grabbed the sunflower seeds the me and Ryan started walking back.

"Thank you for helping." I smiled and looked at him. Come to find out his eyes were already on me.

"No problem. I'm just the fields friendly-neighborhood hero around here!" He laughed as he stopped walking. He puffed out his chest then got in a super hero pose. I tried not to laugh too hard. His sense of humor might actually equal to mine.

"Okay, how old are you?" I asked still laughing.

"Soon-to-be 9th grader." he was still laughing too.

"I'm a soon-to-be 8th grader."

"Well shoot that's a shame. I'd hoped me and you would hang out next year. You seem pretty cool." He smiled then continued walking with me.

"I'm sorry. I have to stay at Barboursville Middle. Which sucks. What about you? Huntington High or Cabell Midland?"

"Midland. Which means two years from now, I'll be in 10th grade and you'll be in 9th grade...then we can hang out!!" We both laughed. Wow. I didn't know how funny he was while he was helping me pick up my Mom's stuff. He's a combination of everything perfect.

Before Ryan's practice began. Brycen's game had ended. And I had to leave him.

"Autumn come on!" yelled my Mom.

Me and him both turned around. I sighed.

"Crap. I gotta go." I said.

"That's okay. I had fun, your a really fun person Autumn." Said Ryan smiling at me.

"Thank you," I blushed, "your hilarious. I wish I knew more people like you."

He smiled. My Mom kept calling in the background, I turned my head to mouth the words 'ok'. When I turned back around I was completely cover. Ryan wrapped his arms around my waist, pulled me in tight and whispered in my ear.

"You know, just for the record I was playing how this moment would go over and over in my head the whole time we hung out today. And also. I'm very attracted to you. Your very beautiful, nice, and funny. Here's my number."

He grabbed my hand, still in the hug thing. And slid in a small piece of paper thru my fingers. I held on to it tight. Not knowing what else to say or do. He let go of me and backed up. Smiling. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Greg((Ryan's coach)) and Ryan's teammates making fun of us. They stood on the pitchers mount hugging and making kissing faces at each other. Ryan also saw it because he said:

"Gggguuyyys! Guys stop!" He ran after them and they all scattered. Even Greg, the 50 some year old man. Before he continued he turned back at me and winked. Then went on to punish his friends for ruining the moment.

I couldn't feel my body by the time I got to the car. I felt cold and numb. This is how I got when I was in, what I called, a non-hospitalization required shock. All that ran thru my mind was the warmth of him, his baseball/axe cologne smell. His blue eyes. Beautiful eyes.

"Autumn!?" Snapped Brycen's finger in front of my face.

"You okay Autumn?" I woke up from my daze and realized I was just standing there beside the car. We still hadn't left the ball field. Ryan was still chasing after his friends.

"Oh. Yea, sorry." I climbed in and I rolled down my window. As we passed the field Ryan was passing ball in((they'd finally stopped chasing each other)). He saw me. He held up his hand and waved. All the boys on his team started laughing at him. I smiled then waved back. I was defiantly in love.