The Baseball Player and Me

2|

Caroline

I felt a presence behind me before I saw him. A male, I figured, inhaling the faint scent of boy-soap. He stepped beside me and looked down where I sat. Glancing out of the corner of my eye, I saw that he was handsome, with messy dark brown hair and light blue eyes, and tan and tall.

"Hi, I think that's my backpack," he said. He released a crooked smile and blushed. "Amy told me I was meeting a Carl, but you're clearly not a Carl..."

I busted out laughing as the words escaped from his lips.

"Oh my God," I said, my hand instinctively touching his forearm. "She calls me Carl all the time! Well, she told me I was meeting a Rita," I released my hand from him and motioned to the seat in front of me. "You're clearly not a Rita."

He shook his head laughing and ran his hands through his hair, taking the seat across from me.

"I'm Caroline," I intentionally enunciated, sliding the book across the table. "Amy is so funny, this is so like her. I've been sitting here, looking around, trying to figure out which female was Rita in here. I don't know what a Rita looks like." I shrugged my shoulders, laughing to myself again.

"Amy thinks she's so funny," he said, looking down at the book. "How do you know her? She's my sister."

We both said it at the same time. 'She's my sister.'

"Cheer," I added, smiling at our synchronization.

"Oh, uh, half?" he said, a smile forming across his face. Resting my chin on my hands, elbows on the table, I took him all in. I immediately recognized that he and Amy had the same blue eyes. I noticed a dimple in his left cheek. He was handsome. He was my type.

"Oh, I'm Rhett, did I say that?" he blushed, smiling again.

That smile was getting to me.

"I didn't remember Amy having a brother," she said, crossing her leg under the table. Her foot brushed my leg. I didn't mind.

"Well, I lived with my mom, but I was sort of getting into trouble so I moved here with my dad. But I stayed at my mom's last night, and Amy didn't come to school so I couldn't get my backpack," I explained.

Why was I telling her this much?

She nodded. She was interested. "Well, you'll do great at our school. I can already tell."

I wondered if I'd see her on campus, but then remembered, with a school of nearly 6,000, there was a slim chance I would.

"So, can I buy your coffee for your troubles?"

Back to business, I thought. Oh, how it was interesting while it lasted, Amy's joke, the small talk.

Rhett. Rhett. A very Southern name, I thought. Suddenly, I remembered that Amy's last name—his last name—was Ryan. Rhett Ryan.

How did I not put this together before? Campus had been buzzing before winter break about a new kid, a junior, who was transferring to our school in the spring semester. He was an exceptionally talented baseball player, a pitcher, and all the baseball players were fan-girling over the new guy who was coming.

Amy Ryan is my cheer sister, and I remember her mentioning that she had a half brother that attended school somewhere else. Amy Ryan a very generic name, but Rhett Ryan has a real ring to it. When students started buzzing about the new guy, I didn't put two and two together to realize it was her brother.

"Caroline?"

"Oh, well," I snapped out of my thoughts and scrunched my nose. "It's okay. Don't worry about it. I was just helping Amy out," I said, releasing one arm from under my chin, brushing his as I sat it on the table lazily.

As he reached for his wallet in his back pocket I watched the muscles in his forearms tighten and ripple. I quickly looked to his face. "Well I'm not accepting that," he said, his eyes meeting mine.

It's the first time they had, and I studied them, thinking they didn't look happy but didn't look sad. They didn't look sleepy but they didn't look well-rested. They didn't look needy but they didn't look fulfilled. They just looked blue.

This guy was tough to figure out.

**

Rhett

Her eyes stared into mine intensely. I wanted to look away but I was transfixed. She was gorgeous, in an ethereal, unusual sort of way.

She wasn't blonde.

I loved blondes, I remembered, and my eyes faltered.

"Well, here's eight bucks," looking to my billfold I pulled out four bills and flopped them on the table. A few landed on her open arm on the table, and then slid onto the table top.

"That's too much," she said. My eyes went from the cash on the table, to her breasts, to her lips, plump and red. "I don't even need it really. Tip the barista and I'll be happy."

She was playing me. How could she not want my money?

"Are you sure?" I said, collecting the cash and tapping it against the table so it was a neat stack. I placed it in her open palm. "Meeting me was a nice gesture, and I want to pay for your drink. Strangers don't usually help people out like that, you know."

"Oh," she said, biting her bottom lip almost seductively, but I'm sure there I was misreading it. "I hope you don't think I'm strange."

You're something, I thought, my eyes lingering on her lips again.

"You're sweet, Caroline. Sweet Caroline. You know that song?" I asked out of impulse. Then I instantly felt stupid for it. Calling females enduring pet names wasn't usually my thing, and I wasn't sure where that had come from.

"Ugh! I hate that song!" Caroline scoffed. "I've heard it a time or two." She rolled her eyes, and I couldn't help but think she looked cute when she did so.

"Rhett?" I recognized Jackie's high-pitched voice before I saw her. Turning towards her, she walked up to me and placed her arm around my shoulders, her fingernails digging into my shoulder blade. This felt almost possessive.

"Hey Jackie," I said. I hated her touchiness, but I still stood and kissed her cheek. She was smiling at Caroline, but it wasn't genuine.

I looked to Caroline, who had a pleasant smile across her face. "Jackie, this is Caroline. She's a friend of my sister."

"Nice to meet you," Caroline said, seemingly sincere. She extended her arm to shake Jackie's hand. Jackie only grinned back.

Caroline pulled her hand back. She didn't seem offended, whereas I felt angry just by watching Jackie be rude. Caroline stood and adjusted her purse at her shoulder. "Well, it's nice to meet both of you," she looked me in the eyes as she said this. "Good luck at school," she added, and pushed her chair in. She waved goodbye to River as she walked out the door.