It had been a few days since Lucas went to Riley's house. He hadn't seen her at school but he was also avoiding her. He couldn't believe how much he missed her even though they had just met. Riley had something different. Something most girls don't have. She didn't care what people thought of her, she could care less about labels or status or popularity, and she had a childlike demeanor mixed with a sassy spunk that she only let out every once in awhile. Lucas had seen it the first time he saw her. And again when she came to his baseball game.
'Basebally game. Focus on the game today.' Lucas thought as he was getting ready in the locker room. He had another game today that he really should be focusing on. But it was becoming harder and harder to get Riley out of his head.
"Hey guys, let's get out on the field. Remember, we work as a team. We win, we lose, we triumph, we fall, all as a team." Most of the team started heading out as Coach Gleason finished his speech. "Friar, I'm going to be starting Miller out on the mound today. Your head's not in the game."
Lucas was so angry, he could feel it in his ears. But he knew the coach was right. He couldn't even focus on getting ready, let alone trying to strike guys out. But he did not want to see the gloating look on Billy's face.
When Lucas wasn't pitching, he was on 1st base. He loved it almost as much as pitching. Every position required an instinct and Lucas seemed to have this one.
Since this was a home game, Lucas' team was out on the field first. He headed out to 1st base to warm up the short stop, 2nd baseman, and 3rd baseman. He looked towards the mound where Billy was throwing some warm-up pitches to the catcher. But, suddenly he felt like he was being watched. He heard the catcher call balls in and returned the warm up balls. He turned to the bleachers where he saw Riley, Maya, and Farkle from his history class. Maya and Farkle were talking to each other but Riley's eyes were locked on Lucas. She smiled a little at him and every reason he was staying away from her seemed to disappear from his mind.
Lucas was glad that his friends were here but he needed to get his head in the game. The first batter got up to the plate and Billy walked him. 'So much for replacing me.' Lucas thought to himself. But as coach pointed out, this was a team sport.
The runner started a lead off from the plate and Lucas snuck behind him to the plate. Lucas was hoping Billy was watching the runner out of the corner of his eye. Billy winded up, Lucas hit his mit and Billy turned and threw the ball towards Lucas. It was a wild pitch that Lucas had to jump for and it bounced off the top of his mit. The runner had easily made it to 2nd base. Lucas was having a hard time supporting his teammate right now.
Lucas looked over to Coach Gleason who was shaking his head. He looked towards the bleachers and noticed that Riley was still watching him. He wondered what she would do in this situation. 'She's such a good person, she would just go help him.' Lucas thought as he headed towards the mound.
"Hey man I know I'm not your favorite person, but you got this. Shake everything off. Reset."
Billy looked at Lucas in shock. He nodded his head and Lucas jogged back to 1st base. Billy wound up and threw his first strike of the game.
Billy proceeded to strike out that batter and the next two until it was the end of the inning. As Lucas was entering the dugout, Coach said, "Looks like you heard what I said before the game. Great job, Lucas."
GMWGMWGMWGMWGMWGMWGMWGMWGMW
The team ended up winning the game 4-0. Lucas went up to Billy after the game and congratulated him on his performance. Billy had thanked him and shook his hand. 'Maybe we can get past things afterall,' Lucas thought as he exited the dugout and came face to face with Riley. Maya and Farkle were headed towards the parking lot, hand in hand.
"That's new," Lucas said and pointed in their direction.
"Yeah, it kinda came as a shock to us all. But sometimes the person you need most is right in front of you."
Lucas knew that Riley needed an explanation of how he'd been acting and why. And he knew that he needed to tell her how he felt so that she could make up her mind about when she wanted from him.