Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
02 ; "Let's play ball."
SUMMER CAME FASTER THAN they thought it would and Avery couldn't be more happy than she was when the first day of summer came; she obviously went to the sandlot with the rest of the gang.
This is how it went in the summer, her and the guys would go to the sandlot just about everyday—but this year, on the days she wasn't there, she was at the community pool as a lifeguard with her big sister, Wendy.
Avery stood on the pitcher's mound and waited for the ball to be thrown to her. When they played like this, Benny would have the ball and throw it up and hit it to someone—whoever caught it would throw it to the person closest to their left, it was an endless cycle.
They never kept score, they never chose sides, they never really stopped playing the game. It just went on forever. Everyday they would pick up from where they left off. It was an endless dream game.
Avery caught the ball that DeNunez threw at her with ease and threw it at Ham, who held onto the ball for a second, "You should hit a homer."
Benny nodded his head as Ham threw the ball back to Avery, the blonde bit her lip. She patted the ball in her glove a couple times as she heard the boys cheering for Benny to hit a home run.
Avery sent Benny a quick wink which almost made him loose his focus, because right after she winked she threw the ball towards him and he hit it.
"Wow."
"Woah."
Avery followed the ball as she noticed it was about to hit a kid, that she soon realized was the one who moved in across the street from Benny, "Watch out!"
The boy slowly looked up and saw that the ball was heading straight towards him, he tried to shield himself with his plastic baseball mitt but it ended up hitting him and making him fall.
Laughs filled the quiet air, Avery eyes were wide as she watched the boy get up and rub his head, she hoped he was okay. The blonde mentally hit all the boys for laughing, the only guy who wasn't laughing was Benny.
"Okay, I'll get it!" The boy called back as he went towards the ball slowly.
"Throw the ball back! C'mon on!"
"Yeah, throw the ball back!"
The boy picked up the ball and let out a small scream as the fence next to him shook, he stumbled as he jogged away from the green metal fence.
"We are waiting!" Squints called out throwing his arms up in frustration.
Avery looked back and shared a worried glance with Benny who was chewing on his bottom lip anxiously, she walked towards him, "This isn't gonna be good.."
Benny nodded, fixed his hat, and then licked his lips; Avery knew he did those two things when he was anxious, worried, or flustered. The boy got into a weird position and moved his arm back, he threw the ball which landed about six feet in front of him.
"Oh, god." Avery whispered and rested his forehead on Benny's shoulder, she felt him shaking his head.
All the boys laughed harder than before and fell to the ground, Avery glared at them. She could tell the boy was upset by the tears that seemed to show up in his eyes; he ran off and muttered something incoherent.
Benny quickly put his hand over his ears as he knew that Avery was about to whistle and when she whistled—it was loud. The only times she would do that was when they had pissed her off or they did something wrong.
The loud, high-pitched noise covered the boys' laughter, they all covered their ears and ran towards Avery. It was a short whistle that easily caught their attention, they all took their hands off of their ears.
"What the hell is wrong with you guys!?" Avery exclaimed throwing her hands up, "You can't just laugh at someone just because they messed up a little bit."
The boys looked down at their feet and let out a chorus of 'I'm sorry'. Avery was like a mom sometimes, she would scold them if they were bad, Benny was the same way. Ham liked to refer to them as the 'King and Queen of baseball', due to them being the best players in the town and the fact that they were stuck together like glue.
"You guys gotta be nicer, okay?" Benny stepped in and grabbed Avery's hand in attempt to calm her down, all the boys nodded their heads and ran off to their spots on the field.
"Let's play ball." Benny whispered to Avery and kissed her cheek, Avery smiled in return and ran to the pitcher's mound, all the angry started to wash away as they began to play once again.
•••
Avery sat next to Benny on her front porch, they were trying to figure out what to do about the boy who lived across the street from Benny, they felt bad about what happened earlier that day and wanted to befriend him.
"You should talk to him. Maybe invite him to come play some ball, we could use an extra player." Avery suggested, her head was on Benny's shoulder.
Benny nodded, he taught Avery how to bat, so he believed it wouldn't be too hard to teach the boy how to play baseball in general, "Yeah. I'll give him my extra glove since I noticed he had a plastic one."
Avery sighed, she still couldn't get her min off of the events that happened at the sandlot, "I still can't believe they laughed at him. Imagine how horrible that must've been."
"You know how the guys are, princess." Benny stated, he glanced down at the blonde who was looking at the sky.
"I wish they were more like you." Avery didn't move her eyes from the pink and orange sky, "You seem to understand more than they do, I know you're the oldest, but still."
Benny had a small grin on his face and chuckled, "Why would you want them to be more like me?"
"Because you're kind, loyal, courageous, brave. God, Benny, you're just a great person, I could go on forever." Avery's eyes were now looking into Benny's brown orbs, seeing all the emotions swirl around in them.
Benny had a huge grin on his face and then pressed his lips to Avery's forehead, "Don't get me started on how great you are, princess."
"I would love to hear about how great I am, Benjamin."
