Home Run || j.m.b [ON HOLD]

02 | birlempedia

Apparently, I didn't get the memo of knowing who Joey Birlem is. Even Harper - my best buddy in softball and who rarely knows about these kinds of things - know him. It's a miracle really. I don't really feel left out but for some reason, I do?

It's weird. I'm weird.

Harper gave me a whole lecture about Joey at last night's practice. She knows almost every detail about the guy, she may as well pass as one of his siblings - which I've learned from her that he has more than a few. Oh, and if you see me following Joey Birlem on Instagram, it's because Harper 'accidentally' pressed the follow button and begged me not to unfollow it.

Which I don't mind at all.

Thanks to Harper, I could answer any trivial questions Lizzie fires at me every now and then, leaving her to stare down at the ground, her eyes in pure shock, dumbfounded.

"How - where did you learn this?" she had asked this morning when I arrived at her house.

"Harper," I simply told her.

"Your personal Wikipedia for Joey?"

"I own no such thing, sorry," I answered.

Saturday has rolled in faster than I expected. Usually, the weekdays last like forever but what happened now? It's like when I don't want it to go fast, it's decided to run, run, run at full speed and now we're here, leaving me to drown myself in a sea of nervousness and worry.

I don't understand why I'm like that, but this is pretty serious business.

Dressing up has never been one of my strongest points, but you could say I didn't do that much of a bad job today. Since the weather is a bit unstable - sometimes cold and other times warm - I decide to wear a tan coloured sweater that I could take off when it's too hot so that I'd be wearing a white button down shirt which is tucked into black skinny jeans.

It's not a wardrobe malfunction of some type, right?

While waiting for Lizzie who is taking forever just to put mascara on, my curious mind tells my hand to move towards my phone and look at the picture of Joey Birlem one last time.

Just one last time, and that's it.

"Zeus looks good, am I right?"

The voice coming up from behind me surprises me a little, making me throw my phone slightly in to the air. Lizzie stares at the screen of my phone innocently before blinking at me, holding her laugh in.

"I knew you'd stare at him all day."

Take this, you foul loathsome evil little cockroach!

My hand finds itself smacking Lizzie's forearm, making her wince and glare at me, rubbing her hand as she curses under her breath.

She glances at the clock on top of her door frame. 8:52 am. Two hours until whatever she signed me up for. Lizzie sighs at the time and looks for her phone.

"Come on, Alissa, hurry up, you're taking forever!" she whines, dragging me out of the house at full speed.

"Says the one who took almost fifteen minutes to mascara one eye and another twenty to redo it again because it's 'not perfect enough'," I say.

"Shut up, Alissa, don't waste your breath," Lizzie scolds me, "every oxygen molecule is precious to the world. You don't want to waste that, especially since the ozone layer is thinning and massive deforestation all around the wo -"

"You're the one wasting oxygen, stupid," I flick her forehead. She glares at me through the side of her eyes and walks faster to the train station, not forgetting to take me along with her even more aggressively.

Our destination is the last stop of the train route. The station is an old yellow Victorian-styled building and everyday since it was built, it's full of life. Across from the station is - apparently - where we're meeting Joey Birlem. A big meeting square where people can hang out and enjoy themselves.

As Lizzie tells me to run, my phone rings.

"Alissa!" the person on the other side shouts into the speakers.

"What?"

"Take pictures!" Harper tells me, "I need to add it to my Joey Birlem Photobook, thank you!"

"You think you can just call me and tell me to take a picture?" I say before she could have the chance to hang up.

"You're a good friend, Alissa, thanks, bye!"

That's how now, my phone gallery is filled with pictures of hallways.

There's definitely a lot of people here, each of their faces lighting up with excitement, making me look at myself and wonder if I'm the only one who has no idea what's going on. In front of the room, there is a small stage and a background saying 'JCT Tour' in big bold letters.

Lizzie is too excited to express what she's feeling into words as she keeps on jumping on the spot, her eyes squinting with delight and her phone tightly clutched into her hand, ready to take pictures.

Then, all the squealing increase to screaming when the doors to the side open and in walks three figures dressed in dark coloured clothing while waving out into the audience. I realise, one of the three of them must be Joey Birlem, hence why I'm holding my phone up lazily to film everything.

Lizzie keeps on clutching my arm in excitement, rambling about random facts about the three boys in front of the room - which I've learned the other two's names are Charles and Tayler.

Because she wont stand still, I let Lizzie go ahead into the line while I back off and observe the scene unfolding before me in a safe distance.

Picking a spot to sit on, I let myself rest in the corner and get out my phone. The room is stuffy enough with all the people inside, so I take my sweater off and tie it around my hips before continuing on playing a racing game I downloaded not too long ago.

Lizzie's red hair had disappeared into the crowd the last time I lifted my head up - which was not too long ago. Maybe I was too shocked that when I see sharp gold speckled hazel eyes staring down at me in a way I couldn't describe, I couldn't do a thing but hold my breath, my eyes widening.

"I know you," I hear myself whisper out in reflex, realising who it is.

"How do you know?"

"Birlempedia."

All I want to do now is bury myself six feet down, never wanting to be seen ever again.

•
soOoO.... tbh i think this chapter is not as good as the last one, because ... idk actually. i have the plot set out and everything but i dont know how to word it, you know what i mean? well at least it's not as cringey - which i am thankful for lmao.

tgif everyone! have a great weekend:))