the reason | 13rw

s i x t y - f o u r

"i really feel like you should be at home nicolette." monty said as we walked into the school, hand in hand." 

"i'm fine monty, really." i said. "i have to get my shit together and graduate to make my mom happy. my junior year was shit and i missed a lot, i'm not letting that happen again. soccer, good grades, prom and then college." 

"college," he said and slowed. 

"what's wrong?" 

"we've never talked about college." he said. "where are you going?" 

"i don't know yet, colleges are sending out acceptance letters soon and i applied to a lot of places." i said. 

"where at?" he asked. 

"i mean i applied to places in texas, florida, here, all over the country basically." i said. "why?" 

"i've been talking to coach, he said a lot of schools are looking at me for scholarships." he said. "more than what elliot had." 

"really?" i asked, a smile spreading across my face. 

"yeah, but..." 

"but nothing montgomery." i said. "that's amazing!" 

"i don't want to go anywhere unless you are going to be close to me." 

"monty, be excited for one fucking second please." i begged. "this is good news and i need all the good new i can get." 

"i'm fucking nervous." he smiled. "so many scouts are watching me at games now." 

"they've been watching the whole time, just like i have been." i told him. "so at every game, remember i'm there." 

he laughed and leaned down, pushing his lips against mine. we pulled away and looked into each other's eyes. 

"i fucking love you." he said. "i'm going to put a ring on your finger one day." 

....

"yeah, i'm at school." i said into my phone as i walked to the baseball field. 

"are you feeling okay nic?" elliot asked. 

"yeah, i'm feeling good." i said. "i'm about to watch the boy practice."

"is dad at work?" 

"yeah, he's been picking up more shifts because he doesn't like sitting home." 

"sitting in my dorm is pretty lame too." 

"you should go and party." 

"i can't, i'm not risking my baseball scholarship." 

"what a good boy." i laughed, approaching the bleachers. 

i saw two older men standing with the coach by the dug out. 

"you went quiet." elliot said. 

"i think some colleges are watching practice today." i said. 

"find out where they're from." he said. 

"i will." i said. "i'll talk to you later." 

i hung up and hurried to the dug out. 

"nicolette," the coach smiled. 

"hey," i smiled. 

"are you watching practice today?" 

"yeah, monty's my ride." 

"well this is joe ferguson from stanford university and kyle hayes from pepperdine university. they are also watching." he explained.

"stanford and pepperdine?" i asked, shocked. "those are some fantastic schools." 

"they are," joe laughed. 

"you guys remember elliot james from last year, right?" coach asked them. 

"hell yeah i do, fantastic player. stinks we lost him to texas tech." kyle said. 

"that's her older brother." coach told them. 

"how's he enjoying tech?" 

"he's loving it." i said. "i miss him a lot and wish he had chosen a closer school but i know he doesn't regret his choice." 

"he's going to make it big one day." joe told me. "keep the boy out of trouble." 

"oh, i am." i nodded. 

"alright boys, huddle up!" coach yelled. 

i walked into the dug out, sitting on the bench. i watched as the boys all jogged over. monty and i made eye contact. we both smiled and i blew him a kiss. he shook his head before focusing on the coach. i looked over at jeff, scott and zach. they were all focused on the university coaches. 

"let's get this show on the road!" the coach yelled. 

....

after practice, i watched the stanford pull monty aside. i watched as they talked, monty nodded with a smile. they shook hands before monty hurried over. 

"hey." i smiled. 

"he said that he's seriously considering me and if i keep up this year, i could get a scholarship." 

"oh my god!" i squealed and hugged him. 

"i'm sweaty," he whined and pulled away. 

"i love you." i kissed him. i pulled away and looked into his eyes. 

"i love you too." he smiled. "let me go grab my things and we can leave."

i nodded as he pulled back, jogging towards the school. i grabbed my bag, pulling it over my shoulder. i started towards the school but saw someone sat on the bleachers. i walked closer and saw scott. 

"hey scott," i said. 

he looked over at me. "hey." 

"what are you doing?" 

"i'm just sitting." 

"yeah, but aren't you inside?" 

"neither of those coaches talked to me." he said. "they talked to monty, jeff, zach and everyone else but not me." 

"they didn't talk to everyone else scott." i said. "why does it matter any anyway?" 

"those are the tops school in cali. i want to go to one of them." 

"i thought you didn't want to stay in  cali." 

"well it looks like i'm not going to anyway." he said and got up. 

....

"finally." i rolled my eyes sarcastically as monty walked out of the lockerroom. 

"sorry," he put his arm around me. "let's get you home." 

"can i get a crunch wrap from taco bell?" i smiled, batting my eyes. 

"fine," he gave in. 

we walked out of the gym and saw kyle, the pepperdine coach, standing against a locker. 

"mister de lac cruz, the man i wanted to see." he smiled. 

we slowed to a stop. 

"hello," monty smiled. 

"i saw joe has already talked to you about a scholarship but i am also here to tell you that i'd love to have you on my team next year too. keep up the good work son." he smiled. 

"thank you so much." monty said. 

"she yours?" coach asked, motioning to me. 

"yeah she is." monty smiled down at me. 

"keep her, not many women like baseball enough to have a brother and boyfriend play it." 

"i'm planning to." he replied.