Out of His League → Reggie Mantle [1]

five

OUT OF HIS LEAGUE

【CHAPTER FIVE】
【HOW INTERESTING】

"Does this say will you be mine?" Mara asked, a small smile on her face. She'd never gotten anything like this before in her life.

The boy in front of Mara nodded, a blush on his cheeks. He was so shy, yet he couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you, Will. Of course I'll be yours," Mara laughed softly. "Forever and always." She hugged Will, her cheek brushing against his blond curly hair. It was such a cute gesture - how could she say no?

The small toddler gave Mara a huge smile as they both pulled away. His cute face wouldn't be deemed cute by the media, due to Down Syndrome. He was an absolute delight, a ray of sunshine. But with the way things are in the world, he'd never truly be accepted.

As Will grinned away, Mara stuck the homemade crayon card in her purse, careful not to wrinkle or rip it. It was going to be framed up on her wall, the reminder that there is always someone you could love.

Out in the open air, Mara thought that maybe taking Will to the High School would be good for him, to see things and be in the open air. But, maybe that wasn't the best idea Mara has had as a babysitter.

As the two neared the outside basketball court, Reggie Mantle and his football goons could be seen goofing off. Will held on tight to Mara's hand, a sign of distress with him. "Willy ba-nilly, they won't make fun of you. Okay? And if they do, I'll protect you," Mara whispered in his ear as she picked Will up. Will nodded, still staying close to his beloved babysitter.

Mara passed by them with her head held high, but she knew she was going to be recognized by a certain someone - Reggie.

"Mars, hey," Reggie called, jogging after her. He abandoned his beloved sport as he saw her, and Mara couldn't help but smile. They were friends, after all.

"Reg, what's up?" Mara answered, her arms wrapped around Will. He nearly whimpered like a wounded puppy if Mara didn't pay attention to him every couple of seconds.

"Just playing some ball with my boys," Reggie replied, sounding as douchey as ever. Mara suppressed a laugh, seeing how hard he was trying. "How about you?"

Gesturing towards Will, Mara beamed. "I'm babysitting. This here, is Will. He is like my little brother." Will gave Reggie a small smile, one that was forced. "Hi little guy," Reggie said, in a soft, soothing voice you should use on babies.

Mara nearly dropped Will; was it possible for a guy to have a deep voice and use it to talk to babies? Her heart began to beat faster. She couldn't explain it - it was strange. Sure, they always say that a guy who can play and talk to kids like a pro is sexy. But why did it make her feel like this?

"He doesn't really talk. But he's a special guy. My special guy," Mara said, gulping. Will sent Mara a real smile, which caused her to smile. Kids smiles were contagious to Mara, and Maras' smile was contagious to Reggie. It was only natural he smiled.

He began to lean towards the ground, so Mara set him down. He just sat there on her feet, happily, making up his own words and playing with his spit bubble.

"He's cute," Reggie said, nodding towards Will. His hands were deep in the pockets of his basketball shorts playing with a token of some sort. "He is. But he's scared of everything," Mara admitted, looking down at him. "Hopefully it'll get better when he grows up a little bit more."

"With you as his babysitter, he'll have straight A's growing up," Reggie laughed, just staring at Mara. She snickered, thinking about how Will would be the school genius. "That would be pretty awesome if he did," Mara replied. She hadn't noticed that he was staring at her.

"Hey, what happened with Archie and Jughead in the student- What?" Mara began to ask, before realizing after about a minute that Reggie was staring at her. "Oh, it's just that.. you're really beautiful," Reggie said, smoothly. Mara roll her eyes, a smile tugging on her lips.

"That was so original of you, Mantle," Mara sarcastically teased, her eyes maintaining eye contact for the longest time. Reggie even counted the minutes and seconds that they held eye contact.

"That was the longest you've ever looked at me in the eyes," Reggie stated. "1 minute and 3 seconds."

The cold, hollow air was suddenly filled with the laughter of Reggie and Mara, the two so perfectly normal you'd never have realized that there had been a murder in the town. Mara was clutching her stomach as she couldn't breathe, she was laughing so hard. Reggie watched her, laughing with her for her sake.

Was it weird that he had counted and told her? Did he embarrass himself yet again?

"Oh my god, Reg. The things you do and say to make a girl feel special," Mara chirped, able to breathe once more. Reggie immediately smiled, as it was good knowing you weren't in complete trouble for doing and saying what he did.

"Hey, gotta make my girl feel special," Reggie replied, immediately cringing at the cliché-ness. It was like whatever he did that when he was either around her or in a conversation involving her, he'd do something stupid.

Mara shook her head, eyes on Will now, who didn't do anything but gargle. "I'm not your girl, Reggie," she said softly. Bending down to pick up Will, Mara gave Reggie a small smile as a goodbye before continuing to walk to the school.

"Not yet," Reggie admitted to himself. "But you will be."

WORD COUNT: 1,034 words

AUTHORS NOTE:
TWO UPDATES IN A DAY, HOORAY! Actually really proud of myself. I'm gonna celebrate by eating some snickers.
Did I get you guys with the beginning? 😂 man oh man. When I was writing this even I surprised myself tbh
And this was just a filler and some teasing for you guys. Hope you enjoyed it
Till next time
-rebekah