The Baseball Player and Me

4|

Caroline

"Can you believe this!?"

I awoke, blinking and yawning as my eyes adjusted to Cassidy's phone, a millimeter away from my face.

There was the picture of me and Rhett, standing close together on the driveway. The caption read "Rhett Ryan's Catch of the Night". I was staring up at him doe-eyed, he had a smirk on his face.

"Cool," I muttered, rubbing my eyes. "I'm a catch. I'm a fish."

Cassidy climbed into her bed with me, her body rolling over mine as she made herself comfortable on the other side of the mattress. "I did not realize that that's who I poured my drink on! I have the best aim! Did you know him? He acted like y'all knew each other. How did you know him? Out of all the people for me to spill my drink on. You went inside with him but then you came back so quickly, I didn't know y'all went to the front yard. What happened, Care? Why didn't you tell me who he was?"

I closed my eyes lazily. Cassidy talked so fast. Her excitement only intensified my frustration in Rhett's behavior last night. I didn't want to be a "catch" and I didn't want to be reminded of how insulted I was by this stranger. Who cares that he plays baseball, my all-time favorite sport. America's pastime, or whatever. Rhett Ryan was rude and nasty.

"He turned out to be a mean boy..." I muttered, rolling over, my body away from Cassidy.

"Awe, Caro! Screw that mean boy! WE DON'T NEED BOYS ANYWAY!" Cassidy shouted, throwing a pillow off my bed onto the floor for emphasis. It was when she rolled over to spoon me that her brother, Carter, and her boyfriend, Jace, walked to the doorway, a confused look on their faces.

"Nice picture, ho," Carter enunciated, playfully, holding his phone out, the same picture of Rhett and I on his screen.

"Catch of the night!" Jace laughed.

I glared at them as Cassidy pulled me in closer.

"Go away! SHE'S NOT A FISH!" Cassidy yelled. They both snickered and walked off.

"We don't need boys anyway," Cassidy muttered again, patting down my hair as I fell back to sleep.

**

Being labeled Ryan's Catch wasn't life altering by any means. Chelsea, a gossip-addicted, "campus celebrity"-obsessed girl in my Bio class, was the only one who said anything. Unfortunately, she said it in front of the entire class before the tardy bell rang on Monday. Fortunately, she was the only one who seemed to care.

"Rhett is SO cute, isn't he?!" she asked as soon as I walked into class. The rest of the class didn't seem to be paying attention.

I sat my bag down without responding. "He's a jackass, too," Courtney, another girl from the class interjected.

Courtney was a one-upper. You made a 96 in English? She'd say she made a 98. You had two tests next week? She had four. But she was nice, and she really had Bio down. She was a good study buddy.

"Is he?" Chelsea stared at me.

"I don't really know him," I said, pulling my textbook from my bag. "That picture and caption were taken out of context."

"But still, even to stand that close to him. You're like... campus famous now," Chelsea went on.

"Please! I went out with two linebackers at the same time. Took them a while to realize. Linebackers are so dense..." Courtney said. The conversation and Chelsea's attention turned to her. I was grateful.

**

It had been three weeks since the tweet, and over a hundred other tweets had been posted on the campus gossip feed since then. The most recent scandal was about a group of students capturing campus squirrels and freeing them in the old gym.

I was old news.

It was a Saturday, and our team had just won its first baseball game of the season. Cassidy and I had gone to the game and watched with a thousand of other fans as Rhett Ryan pitched a near-flawless game, leading our team to victory.

Cassidy made a comment about his overly-inflated ego, but I could see why his ego would be so big. He was handsome, and he was talented. I didn't think he had a big ego, per say. He just didn't know how to handle himself correctly. I didn't know Rhett Ryan, and he didn't know me. So I wouldn't allow myself to be bothered by what happened between us a few weeks ago. Besides, that was old news.

"Do you want to drink beer or liquor tonight?" Cassidy asked, climbing into bed with me.

Her parents were so laissez-faire about us drinking and going to parties. They trusted her, and we hung out with the same crew as her big brother Carter, who always had our back. They would tell her and Carter, "Just make sure you have a sober driver, or call one of us!"

We always did.

My parents were clueless and could care less. I could not come home for three days and they wouldn't notice. Sometimes it bothered me, but most of the time I didn't mind.

I didn't answer, so Cassidy asked again. "Beer or liquor?"

I pulled my pillow over my face. "I want to take a nap!"

"Buuuut Caaaarooooo," she groaned. "It's almost six and by time we get ready and then pre-game it'll be eight and I have to have a good buzz by time we get to Jace's party because his teammates are so obnoxious and I got this really cute dress from TJ Maxx. They were having a sale on top of their low prices. You know people take that place for granted but you can really find some good stuff there if you just look around. But the dress is so cute and it makes my ass look huge, but in a good way. Or at least I think so. Can I borrow your tan espadrilles? They're in my closet from last weekend. Do you think my ass is okay?" She said this all in one breath, going from laying next to me, to standing on top of her bed, to standing in front of her mirror, her shirt pulled up, evaluating her posterior.

I sat up in bed and blinked at her.

"It's kind of flabby," she said, pinching an imaginary piece of skin. Cassidy was fit and flawless. She had no flab anywhere.

"Oh my God!" I shrieked. "I guess I'm getting up now."

Cassidy bounced on the bed towards me again. "I'm so glad you're coming with me!" she said, and hugged me. As if we didn't go out together every weekend. As if I didn't practically live with her. "PARTYYYYY!" she cheered.