The Best Hit

Chapter 15

Emma had been in Rosewood for a little over a month now. It was the first week of August and by this time Benny and Emma had gotten close and became best friends. They did many things together such as going to each other's houses almost everyday, Emma going to his games every Saturday and she had gotten know Benny's parents and his brother Michael. His parents really liked her and her parents really liked Benny. Emma had told her parents how she felt about Benny. She didn't share every detail with them but just that she liked him. They promised not to say a word about it. In fact her mom thought it was cute and her dad respected it. Benny wasn't ready to tell his parents how he felt about Emma mostly because Michael had a big mouth. Sometimes Benny was more mature than him. Emma never got sick of being with Benny and even though she was secretly in love with him she also loved being one of his best friends. She had only known him for a little over a month and he was one of the closest people that she had met in Rosewood but quality over rules quantity. You do not have to know somebody long to be close to them. It's how you spend your time with the person and what you like about their qualities. What you share interests in and what is different. Just like that it doesn't matter where you are, it's who you're with.

After another long day at the sandlot they all went home. "Another good day wasn't it?" Benny said. "Yeah, I kicked your ass!" Emma said. She had played that day which was rare. "No you didn't! You barely made it home!" He said. "But I did." Emma said playfully shoving him. "Yeah you're pretty good not gonna lie." Benny smiled squeezing her shoulder.  They rounded another corner and got on their street.
"Oh my god... I left my hat in the sandlot." Emma said rolling her eyes. "Can you come with me to get it?Please?"
"Why are you too scared to go alone to get it?" Benny teased. "No! Well...yeah maybe, but it's dark out! You'd probably be scared shitless to get it your self!"
"Okay fine." He said laughing with her as they went back. A few of them were still there. Harry, Joe, Lucy, Hailee and Audrey were still there but we're about to leave. Lucy had Emma's hat in her hand and gave it to Emma. "Lucy you read my mind." Emma said smiling. "You always leave something behind." Lucy said laughing. It was true. Lucy always found her things for her. "Are you staying?" Audrey asked Benny. "No we're not." Emma answered for him. "Oh you're leaving so early." She said looking at Benny ignoring Emma. "Nope it's late we're leaving now." Emma interrupted again grabbing Benny by the arm pulling him away before he could even say anything.

The rest of them left. Benny was slightly confused as to what was going on but didn't catch on one bit. As Benny and Emma were just about to walk out of the area Benny stopped. "Hey Emma, do you mind if we stay here a bit?" He asked.
"Are you crazy? It's almost eleven and it's dark out. The mosquitos are coming out."
"Just a bit please?!"
"What for?! We were here all day." Emma laughed. "I could help you with your swinging. You said wanted to be better at it anyway and I'm not tired yet." He was so cute and Emma couldn't say no to him.
"Fine. For a bit. Twenty minutes tops." They walked back up to the sandlot. It wasn't a big deal they hadn't left the area yet. The sandlot was lit up with white lights. Emma hadn't stayed at the sandlot this late before and not with Benny alone. She walked up to home plate with the bat. "Ya ready?" He said with a smile on his face that made Emma smile even bigger. "Only if you are." She said taking a swing. Emma was pretty good at hitting but wasn't good with following through the swing. She had a habit of stopping her swing when she came half way across the plate. "Ugh I can't do it! I don't know why!" She said annoyed with herself. "It's cuz your thinking too much! Just hit it like your mad or something. Just think of something ore someone that pisses you off." He said. Audrey was the perfect person for her to think of when hitting the ball. "Okay I'll try again." She said and it worked better this time but she really needed his help. "Here this is how you do it." He said jogging over to her. He stood behind her and put his arms around her waist and held onto the bat with her in front of him. Emma's heart was beating crazily and her stomach was doing flips. He guided her through the motion of hitting then let go and walked back to the mound. "Okay ready?" He said. "Yeah last time Benny." She said nodding. Again she had hit it better. It went farther this time. "I told you, you could do it!" He said. "I know thanks Rodriguez but can we go home now?" She said. "You bet." He smiled and put his arm around her and they walked back home.

She blushed every time he touched her or looked at her a certain way. She was so happy living across the street from him. They said good night to each other and then they both went inside.

That night Emma talked her Toronto friend, Kailey on skype. She told her about her night with Benny. "Yeah we've gotten really close. We're really close friends right now and he has no idea how I feel about him. The thing that sucks is that I don't think he feels the same about me. I mean he really likes me as a friend but and I've thought sometimes that maybe he does more than that but I don't think so. He's Benny Rodriguez. Girls hit on him at like every game and I hate it. They are pretty good looking girls too. I'm not like those girls."
"Emma don't say that! When the time is right you can tell him what you feel."
"I know but if he doesn't feel the same way then it's gonna be awkward. I don't want that for us. I don't want him to think of me like that."
"Okay, well when you feel comfortable just drop little hints and see if he can figure it out and see what happens from there." Kailey said.
"Yeah eventually I will but remember that Audrey bitch I was telling you about that I was friends with for literally only a week?"
"Yeah the one that likes Benny too?!"
"Yeah her. I'm afraid she'll get in the way some how. She's still annoying she always tries starting conversations with him."
"Does he talk to her to? Does he know you don't like her?!"
"Yeah he does but he talks to me more and no he doesn't. I want to tell him so bad but if I tell him I would have to tell him the main reason why I don't like her which is because she likes him and flirts with him and obviously I'd be exposing myself. I mean, he may have an idea because I've walked out on the group before when we were all together because she had said some things to piss me off." Emma said. "Yeah just keep avoiding her. Your way better than her anyway." Kailey said. "Yeah and the only reason she goes to the games is because of Benny! She doesn't even care about baseball! She plays soccer, she's into soccer! It pisses me off so much holy shit like can't she just go flirt with some soccer boys?! UGH she's so annoying! I'm sorry I'm ranting so much." Both Emma and Kailey laughed. "It's okay! You're too funny! She sounds annoying as hell! How do your other friends feel about Audrey?"
"Well the guys don't talk to her that much, really only Benny does. Hailee is still one of her best friends so she doesn't really know we can't stand her but she's noticed we don't talk to her as much. Lucy is not really Audrey's friend anymore but still talks to her a bit and will be around her but only if Hailee is. Shay is not friends with her anymore but is friendly with her and will talk to her a little bit. Ashley is completely done with her and doesn't talk to her at all. She is actually just as annoyed with her as I am."
"Holy shit this bitch needs to wake up and realize she's loosing her friends. Good for them for not putting up with her bullshit anymore though." Kailey said. "Honestly but I don't really care about her. She has friends from soccer too and she has Hailee. Ashley was kind of getting sick of her before I moved here too."
"Why?! Did she try stealing one of her men too?!"
"I wouldn't be surprised." Emma laughed. "She just was really full of herself about soccer and shit and Ashley got annoyed. It's weird though Audrey seemed really nice when I first met her when we went to the movies and I had even had her over at my house when I told them all about Benny. But that was night she started getting pissy."
"She's a fake bitch. So don't trust her. Keep ignoring her and you'll be fine don't worry." Emma listened to Kailey. Soon they ended the skype call and went to bed.

Emma thought about what Kailey said and she remembered that Audrey did not have a big chance with him because he talked to Emma more. She just needed to make sure she was out of the way and that was something challenging.