Tea For Two

12

Disclaimer: This is part of an original piece of fiction. It belongs to me, as well as the characters in it.

Do not steal it from me, or I will send Liam Neeson to find you. And he WILL find you.

Thanks. Enjoy.

~~~

I find it hard to sit through the rest of the school day. I've always been able to give classes the attention they've needed, but not today. I'm ready to leave before any of them even start.

I eat lunch alone, just like I always used to, before Emily moved in.

I never thought of my eating arrangements as 'lonely' before, but today I am very aware of the emptiness of the patch of grass next to me where my beautiful red-haired girlfriend usually sits.

6 o'clock, p.m. rolls around, and I'm ready for the game. While Emily was at her pre-game practice and dress-out, I went home and made myself some white tea. I drank it bitter because there is still no sugar in my house, and neither of Emily's parents are home, so I can't just walk into her house to borrow some.

Our team is already on the field, an hour early, stretching and getting ready. They go through the movements in synch: holding one foot behind their butts, pulling on the thigh muscle; reaching down to place as much of their hands as they can on the ground. I smile as they do this last move, reminded of part of a conversation I overheard in class today: "Girl, I swear, baseball pants are like God's gift to every single girl in the spring."

I decide that Emily may be the only girl in the world who can make this uniform look good. She has her favorite cleats on- she showed them to me yesterday- and they're laced up as tight as they can be. Her hair is in a ponytail, pulled through the back of her hat.

She's wearing one of the biggest smiles I've ever seen on her. She looks like she's getting ready to have the time of her life.

I shake my head and turn around, scanning the small bleachers for a possible place to sit. I know that if I don't sit down soon, there won't be space for me once the game starts.

I am now left with a choice. There are three places where a person such as myself can sit in the bleachers when watching a Tigers baseball game: I can sit with Emily's mom and stepdad in the family section, but neither of them could make it. Plus, I'm not actually related to any of the players. I would be subjected to listening to fathers comparing their sons' batting form, and mothers worrying about their sons' recent non-existent injuries. That's really not so fun.

I can sit with my classmates in the student section- if I didn't really dislike most of them. Though my recent time spent with the team had proved that I had been too quick to decide that I didn't want friends from my peer group, I still don't think this is the time or the place to make friends.

I can also sit in the "girlfriends only" section. It's less of a section, really, than the space in between the bottom of the bleachers and the tall fence separating the spectators from the field. But that's instantly a no-go. No one sits with them unless they're also dating a member of the team, or ballsy enough to use this as a way to announce that they soon fully intend to date a member. I don't want to raise questions about Emily and I, much less one of the boys, so I instantly decide against that particular sitting space.

So this leaves me with nowhere to sit and watch my girlfriend's game.

I find it sad that I never realized that in keeping my relationship with Emily hidden, I was going to remain isolated in certain parts of my life. I already have been, yes, so it doesn't really bother me much. But I never thought that I would have to watch her games alone- she's the only person I would actually want to watch a baseball game with.