Dude...Thats Not a Guy

30. Distractions

Soraya's POV:

An hour of freedom from my own mind, from my own thoughts, from my life, from any worry. That's what training means to me. It's an escape from my everyday life, no matter how difficult it is. My focus is swayed from all of my problems to improving my game, to setting up and practicing plays. That's why I always needed baseball, not wanted, needed.

Right now, as I threw to Ashton, I forgot about Adam. I forgot about how he was back. I forgot about how he was out to get to me again. My only focus was getting that ball to Ashton's glove and catching it in mine again.

"Alright, due to Xavier being out for a few weeks, Soraya is going to be our main pitcher, Aston will be our main catcher. But, we won't be able to rely on them to play entire games, especially since we are so close to finals. So, everyone is going to practice both pitching and catching to see if any of you can be relievers when needed." Coach stated, eyes flicking around the group of us. "Also, I have a card here, and I want every single one of you to write a message so profoundly sincere and heart-warming that you bring a tear to my eye. Do you understand how difficult that is?"

There were murmurs of agreement, all of us knowing that Coach wasn't a very emotional guy.

"Alright, two lines facing each other, each pair with a ball, one side squatting, the other side standing. Kingston, Klarence, helping to give pointers. Let's move." Coach stated, going to walk past me.

"We all know you're a big teddy bear on the inside, Coach, you realise that right?" I asked him, patting him on the shoulder before walking to one end of the pitchers and making my way down the line, giving pointers and helping them improve their skills. By the time I finished walking down the line it was swapping time, so I began with the other side.

The hour of distraction was finished sooner than expected, and I was getting into Ashton's car, throwing my gear in the tray of the truck before climbing into the cab. I then sat on my phone, waiting for him to finish up his conversation with Calen before climbing in the car as well.

"Hey, is that the same car that was across the road from your house? The blue one?" He asked, looking straight across the school carpark. My eyes went from his face to the car he had mentioned, the pastel shade of the paint was the same... but there wasn't anyone at school I knew to live on the same street as me and I definitely didn't know anyone at school with a pastel blue car.

"Yeah, it is." I responded, getting notes up on my phone. "I'm going to take down the number plate." I added, typing down the combination of numbers and letters as Ashton turned the ignition on.

"Got them?" He asked, looking towards me with a worried expression.

"Yep."

"Good, then let's go, I don't really want to meet this guy yet." He stated as a joke, but I just stared at him. My thoughts immediately returning to the situation at hand, baseball wiped completely from my mind. What if Adam did end up finding Ashton and his family? I don't know how far Adam would go to keep everyone away from me. He could hurt one of the twins...

"Soraya?" Ashton's voice cut through my trail of thought.

"Hmm?"

"Are you alright?" The question was so simple, but the answer was as well.

"No. I'm not." How could I be? How could I be 'alright'? Anxiety had become a part of everyday life, looking over my shoulder constantly, being scared of being left alone, always wondering if he's broken into the house yet, wanting to know if he'd introduced himself to Kelley and Dave as an old friend of mine... he had always been a good actor and I wouldn't be surprised if he did that just to get close to me.