Infatuated

II

Well, it was finally Friday night — the day of the fated sleepover. Truthfully, he was dreading it. It wasn't because of Ness, that was the last reason he'd dread anything. But the idea of sitting in bleachers near the very people who taunted him, — in a new town on top of that — as well as having to impress Ness's parents? The pressure was all too much. Ness had also urged him to stay the night as they'd have more time to go through his game collection, and he gave in.

Tonight's game was in Twoson, a neighboring town, so one of Ness's friends from the town came to watch as well. Lucas didn't know her too well — he knew her name was Paula, and she had psychic abilities. Just like Lucas, although Ness didn't know that... But other than that, he had no other information or ways to relate to this Paula.
"You two will get along just fine," Ness assured him as he pointed her out in the small (but still too big for Lucas's liking) crowd. "The blonde girl with the pink bow! She already knows who you are because I told her you'd be coming, just introduce yourself. I have to go now!"
"Good luck," Lucas tried to shout back to Ness as he ran towards his team.

Lucas stepped over several people's feet in the cramped seats, muttering hushed "sorry"s until he finally got to who he prayed was the right person.
"Paula?" The girl looked up at him. Wow. She was really, really pretty.
"I'm- I'm Lucas. Ness's friend?" He hoped to God that he didn't just randomly introduce himself to a complete stranger.
"Oh, Lucas!" Paula happily greeted him. She scooted over and patted beside her, signaling for Lucas to sit down. He smiled and hesitantly sat down, looking towards the field.

As the game started, Lucas's attention turned to the field. At first, he was confused, but it was similar to the games he and Claus would play as a kid. He was amazed. Ness was naturally talented at baseball, almost as if he were born to play.
"Is this your first time watching them play?" Paula asked, trying to break the awkwardness lingering in the air.
"Yeah, it is... I mean, I just recently moved here and met Ness. T-to be quite frank, I barely have an idea of what this game is or how it works..."
"Oh, yeah? I've been to a couple, but I can really only catch them when they're here. I'll admit, I don't care too much about sports, so I don't know a ton about the game... But I kow that he's an amazing player."
Lucas shifted awkwardly, cursing at himself for not knowing what to say, and wishing the game would start already. As if an answer to a prayer, the speakers announced the start of the game. This was going to be a long few hours.



The game started off as usual, and to no one's surprise, Onett's team took the lead just at the end of the first half. Lucas smiled as his friend kept rolling in points for them, ignoring the belittling remarks from the Home stands.
"Yeah, you're right... He's great." Lucas surprised Paula by speaking for the first time in a while, and she nodded.
"He's definitely improved from the last time I saw him. It's like each time I see him there's something even better with him." He noted the way she looked at Ness and shifted uncomfortably.
"I'm glad you were able to come," Paula attempted to cut the tension. Lucas looked over at her. That's weird. They've never really talked before.
"It's just, Ness has talked about you a lot, and I'm so grateful he has a friend he's close to again. He hasn't had a close friend since Porky left."
"P-Porky?" The name sounded familiar.
"Oh... Porky Minch." She spat the name with a slightly disgusted tone. "You might know his brother, Picky. He and Ness fought a lot from what I've heard. Eventually, Porky left him, and just began to bully him. That's what he told me, at least."
Lucas thought for a minute. Picky was an underclassman if he remembered correctly, but he knew him since he hung around Ness's group a bit.
"Anyways, he -- he doesn't go here anymore. That's what I heard and... hope."
Lucas wanted to ask why but Paula's facial expression looked somber enough to deter him from even begging the question.


Lucas could only manage small conversations with Paula, and he was eventually brought out of his thoughts as he heard the buzzer announcing the end of the game. He'd been zoned out the whole time, he didn't even know if this was a good game or not. He looked at the scoreboard and saw Onett won several points in the lead -- nothing new, apparently, but it was still a thrilling feeling to know his friend helped score so many of those. He stood up as he saw Ness running towards them, his cap in hand and his other waving at them.
"We won!" He proudly announced.
"You've improved so much since I last saw you." Her and Ness hugged while Lucas stood there. He cleared his throat awkwardly. Ness looked at him and threw his cap back on.
"You're still staying the night, right? You don't have to." Lucas nodded awkwardly and didn't know what to say. He hated these moments where he just couldn't speak. Ness and Paula chatted for a bit until Ness waved goodbye to her, catching up to Lucas who was walking around the park. He didn't want to intrude.
"Sorry if that was awkward," Ness looked at Lucas and apologized.
"It's fine, we got to talk a little b-bit. I uh, I didn't want to intrude." He looked down, not wanting to make him feel guilty. 


"Let's go home, I'm sure my mom is making dinner already." Ness smacked Lucas on the back in an attempted comforting gesture. They walked back to his car, Lucas getting in slowly and stretching back as soon as he got in the seat.
"You're tired already?"
"No, I'm just a bit relieved to be away f-from all the noise and people.." Ness smiled at him in understanding and rolled down the windows.
"It's gotta be hot wearing that sweater all the time. I'm dying in this uniform alone."
Lucas smiled back, ignoring the comment about his sweater but grateful for the gesture. He laid his head against the car window and watched the lights go by as they finally drove off from the park, becoming lulled by the lights. He listened to Ness sing along to what was playing, continuing to smile a bit to himself until he dozed off.