As usual, the BNB characters aren't mine and Kasey belongs to Evaesis. Enjoy!
Kelly knew the team would bombard him with questions the next time he saw them, but he ignored their staring and gossiping as he started his motorcycle and let Amanda climb on behind him. He was glad when they were alone at the corner burger joint.
After they placed their orders, Amanda leaned on the table, smiling at him. "So, what's up? Did you have a good visit with your dad?"
"Um, pretty good, I guess."
"You're lucky you got to know him, you know."
Kelly looked away. He knew he was lucky, but sometimes he didn't feel that way. "Yeah… heh, you can borrow him sometime, if you want."
Amanda laughed. "Thanks, but Buttermaker's doing a lot better lately. He and my mom still aren't very chummy, but she doesn't mind him spending time with me."
"That's good. What's he think of your modeling?"
"He thinks I'm too young. Of course. But I can tell he thinks I'm good at it, too. I was wondering: you gonna stick with baseball? You'll be too old for the league soon, right?"
"Yeah, this is my last season here. I doubt I'll play after that."
"Really? What you want to do instead?"
"Maybe open a bike shop."
Amanda waved her hand skeptically. "That's what all you JD's say. Don't you want to do anything big?"
"Who cares about big? It's fun."
"Fair enough." She shrugged.
Their burgers and milkshakes arrived. Amanda took a sip of her shake. "Seen Kasey lately? That girl who was hanging with the team last year?"
"Yeah," Kelly said slowly. He knew he'd wanted to talk to Amanda about her, but he wasn't sure how much to say. "She got to be a good friend of the team. She used to come to our practices all the time."
"Not now?"
"She takes a lot of dance classes."
"Oh, right. That's how I got talking to her that one time—we'd seen each other at the studio. I'd like to see her again. We could all hang out."
"Mm… maybe." He couldn't bring himself to explain it yet. But he did feel very relaxed and more like his old self.
"I'm glad you came by," he told her when they were finished. "You should come to our game on Sunday."
"Sure, I should be able to," Amanda agreed. "Have the team save me a spot."
Kelly smiled. "They will."
"Amanda!" the Bears chorused warmly when she arrived in the dugout.
"Hi, guys. You better win this thing or man, am I gonna be disappointed."
Kelly smiled and kept his attention on Amanda and his teammates—to avoid looking out at the stands where they had spotted Kasey sitting with Bobby Meyers.
But inevitably, Tanner opened his mouth, and the team began discussing her once again.
Kelly couldn't help it; he looked up to see what they were talking about. He saw Kasey take Bobby's hand. He felt his face getting warm. Not good. Then to his surprise, he saw Bobby push Kasey's hand away.
"What's his problem?" Amanda wondered aloud. "I thought boys liked as much contact as possible."
"They're not all perverted," Ogilvie defended his gender.
"Maybe he just doesn't like her being clingy in public," Kelly heard himself say. "She… does that."
The coach stepped out in front of them. "Boys," he said seriously, "if Kasey Gooding's love life costs us this game, then so help me, I'll—"
"You'll what, quit?" Kelly supplied.
"Go ahead and quit," said Tanner. "We never liked ya anyway."
"And we've done fine without a coach before," Engelberg put in.
"Shut up and play ball!" the coach roared.
The game was close, but the Bears squeaked a win. The coach remarked that they were miraculously still in the championship, despite the current "distractions."
Amanda showed up for their next practice… and so did Kasey.
The coach gave up on trying to get anything constructive done as the team flocked around Kasey.
"Where've you been?" Tanner asked baldly.
"I've been busy, Tanner," Kasey answered, "but I'm here now, right?"
Kelly hung back, not knowing what he would say to Kasey. Maybe it was good enough for now to just see her back with the team.
"Does this mean you've got your team loyalty back?" Carmen asked.
Kasey gave an uneasy-looking smile. "I never gave up on you guys. Just because I'm hanging out with Bobby a lot doesn't mean I don't like you anymore."
Kelly lit a cigarette. She'd said "a lot." She was seeing him a lot. And the team hardly at all. He felt like there was a dark cloud hanging over him. And in a way, there was…
"Dammit, Leak, put out that cigarette! You're sending up a dark cloud over the field!"
Kelly groaned. "Just leave me alone, coach," he muttered.
"I thought you quit," Lupis told him.
"Sure, I did. For a week while Mike was here. It was hell. So I started again. You got a problem with it, Looper?"
"Uh… no," Lupis said, taking a step away from Kelly.
"Oh, leave him alone," Amanda said. Then she turned back to Kasey. "So, I hear you're still dancing. Anything big lately?"
"She just had a heck of a ballet performance," Tanner declared.
Toby nodded. "We all went to see her at the center."
Amanda glanced sharply in Kelly's direction. "Really. That's cool."
Kelly tossed his cigarette on the ground and stepped on it. "Come on, guys. It's Yankees next—we need to be on top."
The girls kept each other company on the bench until practice was over. Kasey said goodbye quickly and went on her way. The Bears left one or two at a time.
"Kelly," Amanda called. "Give me a lift home?"
After a moment's hesitation, he nodded. "OK, let's go."
He dropped Amanda off at the end of her driveway a few minutes later.
"Thanks for the ride."
"No problem. It's nice to have you around again."
"Sure. Kelly?"
"What?"
Amanda pressed her lips together in a thoughtful expression. "I just want you to know that I know it's not easy…"
"What's not?"
She sighed. "Being jealous."
Kelly mentally scrambled for words. "Uh… what do you mean?"
"Cut the crap, Kelly Leak. I know you've got the hots for Kasey, and it's killing you to see her with Bobby."
"Now, hold on—"
"No, you hold on. I don't know if things can work out between you or not, but you won't even have her as a friend if you keep being so cold to her."
Kelly looked at the ground. He'd wanted Amanda's advice, but he didn't want her to make it seem like this was his fault. Girls.
"When she came to practice today, you didn't even say hi to her. How can you expect her to know you want to be her friend if you don't even greet her? If you ask me, I'd say you're damn lucky she comes around you at all. And if you want things to get better, you have to give something on your end. Got it?"
He looked back up at her, intending to tell her off, but all he said was, "Yeah."
Amanda nodded and started for her house. "I'll see you around."
"Hey, uh… thanks. Really."
She looked back and smiled. "No problem."
Thanks for reading! Reviews are welcome.