for the love of the game ; g.d.

Chapter 16

The next day, I woke up at exactly 9:30, and jumped out of bed to get ready. I threw on a pair of jeans, a nike shirt, and my favorite pair of Jordan's.

My mom went to breakfast with Lisa before the game, and kissed me goodbye before she walked out the door. Meredith left behind her, on her way to her friend's house. I brushed my teeth, washed off my face, and threw my hair up in a ponytail before jumping out my window and heading over to Grayson's. His was wide open, and rap music blared from his room from a radio.

This first thing I noticed when I stepped into his room, except for him, was the blank spot above his trophy shelf where a photo of him and his dad used to be. Chills went down my spine. It was a picture his mom had taken after one of his Little League games. I almost wanted to say something about it, but didn't.

He was shirtless and leaned over his bed, digging around in his baseball bag for something. He didn't hear me come in, probably because of this obnoxiously loud music. I stood there for a second and admired him, and the way his arms flexed everytime he threw something to the side. I walked up behind him and wrapped my arms around him, placing small kisses on his shoulder blades.

"Hey, you," he said. I didn't respond. I ran my hands along his toned abs, getting lower and lower just to tease him.

He chuckled softly and spun around, grabbing my face and kissing me aggressively. He picked me up and threw me down on his bed, hovering over me, still kissing me like he was born to do so. I ran my nails along the skin on his back and let out a small moan once his lips connected to my neck. "You have a game in 10 minutes, Gray," I breathed out. "I didn't mean to get you so worked up."

He shook his head and placed a small peck on my lips before raising himself to his knees to undo his belt. "They can wait."

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I unlinked our hands once we got to his team's dugout, and raised myself up to kiss his cheek. "Hit a homer for me."

He laughed and hit me playfully my shoulder. "You got it."

I walked away from the door and joined my mom, Lisa, and Loren on the crowded benches.

After the first inning, the score was 0-1. The opposing team was the 1, since visitors always bat first. On the batting lineup, Grayson was 2nd. He stood on deck while the starting batter took a few practice swings next to home plate. He glanced up at the stands. He gave me the finger and stuck his tongue out at me, and I did the same.

"That was some cute shit right there," Loren said with a mouthful of popcorn. The first batter made it all the way to 2nd, then it was Grayson's turn. He was hands down the best hitter on the team. And I'm not even saying that because he's my boyfriend, it's because he could hit baseballs all the way out of the park before he learned his ABC's.

The first pitch was a ball, and the next one was a grounder drilled to 3rd base, he ran as fast as he could to 1st and crossed it just in time to be called safe, but also fall to the ground.

Right as he stepped onto the bag, I saw his knee bend and then crack. He collided with the ground, holding his knee up to his chest and rolling back in forth, his face in knots from the pain. The 1st base umpire called time and yelled for the coaches, who not just jogged, but sprinted over to him and knelt down beside him.

The whole crowd was on their feet, watching closely in shock. Lisa was already making her way down the steps and to the fence next to the dugout. Players from our team made their way out there too, and several voices were yelling out his name.

I almost had a feeling what had happened, but I didn't want to admit it to myself in case it would make it true. Everyone stood there for a good 10 to 15 minutes before an ambulance arrived. Two men hopped out of the backseat with a gurney and made their way through the crowd of people.