Third Base

by Author Stella

  Ellie had introduced me to her friend when I came home at the end of last season. They had a class together, and Ellie thought Charlene and I would hit it off. After spending the night talking, I could see why my friend had thought of me when setting her up with someone. Although, I couldn’t lie—there was a part of me that assumed she’d fixed me up with someone to keep Ryan from complaining about the time we spent together. If I were occupied in a relationship, that would make his troubles go away.

  “Have you ever thought about wearing contacts?” she asked, leaning against the table as if trying to get closer to me. I still wore the black-rimmed Ray-Bans Ellie had picked out for me a couple of years ago, but with the way Charlene studied them, I could tell she wasn’t a fan of the style.

  “I can’t wear them.” When she tilted her head and knitted her brow in a questioning stare, I figured I needed to elaborate. “I have a condition that makes focusing on moving objects difficult—more accurately, objects moving toward me. When I try to focus on them, my eyes shake, which would make the contact lens shift out of place. So rather than only having to deal with twitching eyes and things basically disappearing as they come at me, I’d also have to worry about the contact moving, making everything blurry.”

  “What do you mean things disappear?”

  Other than the drafting process, which included every health test known to man—and even some unfamiliar to the human race—I hadn’t spoken much about my eye condition. It was something I’d had my entire life, so it didn’t often cross my mind. I never found a reason to explain it to anyone.

  I took a spoon off the table and held it between two fingers, swinging it side to side. “Your eyes can track the movement, right?” I watched as her gaze trailed the silverware before locking onto my face. “That’s because your ocular muscles work as a team. But mine don’t always work together, primarily when fast-moving objects are coming at me. If I’m not trying to follow it, it’s fine, but when I am—such as a baseball heading in my direction—it ends up being too fast for my eyesight. And since I can’t track it, it disappears.”

  She watched me in awe, not speaking until I finished explaining the visual impairment that should’ve kept me from being signed with a major team, much less in the starting position immediately following a draft. Ellie and I had talked about it when we were younger, but for the most part, when it was mentioned, it could’ve easily been mistaken by an outsider as a conversation about a forgotten pair of my shoes—not an eye condition that kept me from taking part in activities when I was little.

  “Then how in the world do you play baseball if you can’t see the ball coming at you?”

  I smirked and set the spoon down before leaning into the table to mimic her, moving closer. “Exactly. That’s why it was such a big deal in the sports community when the Titans signed me. I didn’t expect to even be given a chance, and when my name was called, I’d convinced myself I would be stuck on the rookie team until my time ran out. I don’t think anyone was more surprised than I was when I was given a contract and a spot on the forty-man roster.”

  “But really, how do you play?”

  “Well, I pitch, so I don’t really have a moving target to worry about. It’s hitting I can’t do…which is another reason it was so crazy that a National team would’ve picked me up, since they don’t follow the designated hitter rules the American League does.” I could tell my words were going over her head, and even more obvious she wasn’t a baseball fanatic. I had gotten so used to talking to Ellie about the game, I didn’t contemplate the possibility other women would be bored with it. “Anyway, when I bat, I can’t look at the ball. I have to look away and rely on my peripheral vision. Same thing when I catch.”

  “How did you get into the sport if you couldn’t catch or hit?”

  “Well, I didn’t exactly go after baseball…it came after me. My dad coached the local high school team, so when I was five and having trouble with my vision, one of the things our family doctor had suggested was target practice. Every day after school, and for hours over the summer, I would go in the backyard with a ball and throw it at a fixed spot on the fencepost.”

  “But I thought you said you only had problems when the object was coming at you, not a stationary subject.”

  “Yeah…now. Back then, it was focusing in general. It took me forever to learn how to read. Teachers thought I was dyslexic, although in reality, the words kept moving on the page. It eventually corrected itself, obviously, but I still struggle with moving objects.”

  “That’s a remarkable story.”

  Our conversation continued to flow throughout dinner, and the more I learned about her, the more I genuinely liked her. By the time we finished dessert, we were back on the topic of baseball—more accurately, the Titans.

  “So, are you friends with everyone on the team?” she asked with her hand in mine as she followed me to my car in the parking lot.

  This was the awkward moment where I seemed to mess everything up. I was never sure if I should invite my dates back to my house, or take them home. Ellie and I had made a rule when she’d first moved in that unless we were in serious relationships, we wouldn’t have sleepover guests. It would be too uncomfortable to wake up in our own home only to find a complete stranger there. Except Ellie knew Charlene. She’d been the one who introduced us to begin with, so I didn’t think she’d mind if I brought her back to the house. Not to mention, Ellie had plans with New Kids on the Block tonight, so I hadn’t expected her to be there.

  However, that didn’t make this part any easier. I still needed to find out where we were going. Thankfully, she’d asked me a question, so I could easily use that as a buffer or lead-in. “Yeah, we’re all pretty close. More so during the season than off, but that’s also because half the players don’t live around here. Speaking of which…am I taking you to your house or mine?” I asked as she slid into the passenger seat.

  I immediately closed the door and then cursed at myself under my breath.

  Her giggles filtered out of my door the second I opened it and climbed in the car. “I’m going to start calling you ‘butter,’ because you’re so smooth.”

  “It’s a trait that comes naturally. Many try to possess it, but only I have perfected it.”

  She laughed again, louder this time, causing me to join her.

  “Well, to answer your question…your house sounds nice.” Half a sigh had slipped out when she added, “But would you mind taking me to my car first? I have an early class, and in the event we fall asleep, I wouldn’t want to wake you to take me home.”

  “I wouldn’t mind at all.”

  “You won’t be saying that in the morning, trust me.” Something about that didn’t sit right, yet I wasn’t sure why. “It’s just easier if I have my own vehicle, that way I won’t have to get up as early, either.”

  It made sense, so I drove her to the campus so she could get her car. And the entire time she followed me to my house, we were on the phone with one another. As odd as it would’ve normally been to have her driving behind me while talking through my speakers, it didn’t seem weird at all. Somehow, I found it completely natural to open up to her, telling her things I hadn’t ever thought to share with anyone other than Ellie.

  During the twenty-minute drive to my house, I told her all about the team. After being on the roster for over two years, I had plenty of stories to share—nothing serious, all light and funny tales of life on the road with men. I had her laughing until she pulled into the driveway behind me.

  As soon as I stepped inside, it became obvious we weren’t alone. Ellie was supposed to have been out with Ry-Guy, Shea Butter, and Melinda, yet I found her curled up on the couch in front of the TV with a bowl of popcorn in her arms and enough tissues scattered around her to stock an entire paper aisle at the store.

  “What’s going on?” I released Charlene’s hand and made my way over to Ellie. As soon as I cleared off the cushion next to her and took a seat, I noticed her puff
y eyes and red nose. “Oh my God, Ellie…what happened?”

  She finally broke her stare away from the screen and turned her attention to me. “She let go.” Her words made no sense, not to mention, they were incoherently muttered through a sob and followed by a hiccup.

  “What? Who are you talking about?”

  “Rose! Rose let go of Jack. She said she’d never let go, and then the bitch watched him sink! There was plenty of room on that piece of wood.” She wiped her cheeks with yet another tissue before blubbering, “I can’t believe she let him go. There’s no hope for true love.”

  “It’s that time of the month again, isn’t it?”

  “You weren’t here to tell me to not watch it.” She gestured to her face with a circle of her finger. “This is all your fault, buddy.”

  Easing the remote from her lap, I held my breath and smiled. Ellie was a ticking time bomb in situations like this. I never knew when she’d detonate. I saw my chance and took it, clicking off the movie and then hiding the controls behind me. “You’re cut off.”

  Just as Ellie’s mouth opened to say something, a throat cleared from somewhere in the distance. We both snapped our heads in that direction, noticing Charlene, who I’d left alone to tend to Ellie.

  “Oh, hey,” Ellie greeted our guest, perking up as best as she could. “I wasn’t expecting you to be here tonight. In fact, I hadn’t thought this guy would be home so soon, either.” Then, as if reality had finally snuck its way through the fog in her brain, she stared at me with wide eyes, then returned her attention to my date. “Oh. Did I totally mess up your plans?”

  I said “no” at the same time Charlene responded with “yes,” which caused us to gape at the other over the back of the couch. I immediately stood and faced Charlene, feeling like shit for having forgotten about her being there and why I’d brought her to the house in the first place—which now seemed like a horrible idea with Ellie in the living room.

  “Did you want to watch a movie?” I offered, not sure what else to say.

  Charlene glanced between the two of us, disappointment marring her pretty face. “Not really. I was kind of hoping we could continue what we’d been talking about since dinner.”

  Confused, I asked, “What were we talking about?”

  She rolled her eyes and hiked her purse up to her shoulder. “Never mind. I’ll just head home and let the two of you spend time together.”

  “No, wait.” I walked around the couch and held her by her elbows to keep her from leaving. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting her to be home, and when I came in and caught her crying, I just reacted. But she’s fine and doesn’t need me, so I’m all yours. Exactly how we’d planned.”

  “You sure?” she whispered, probably trying to keep Ellie from overhearing.

  I grabbed her hand and peered over my shoulder. “Night, E.T. I’ll see you in the morning before class. And for the love of God, stop watching Titanic and go to bed.” Then I led Charlene down the hall to my bedroom, where I closed the door behind us.

  “Now this just feels forced and weird.”

  “What does?”

  “This.” She waved her hand between us. “Everything was going so well, and then we come here, and it’s like I don’t exist.”

  Not once during the entire time I’d been friends will Ellie had I ever found myself in the situation I was in now. I’d never witnessed any woman react with jealousy over my relationship with Ellie, and I wasn’t sure how to handle it. But I had learned a thing or two about pacifying a female when she was upset with me—Ellie had given me enough practice to have made it an art form. It was insane how easily a woman could become upset or offended by the simplest words.

  Holding onto her hips, I lowered my mouth until my lips brushed against hers. “That’s not true. I just don’t handle crying well, especially when it’s my best friend who’s in tears. I’m sorry. But I’m here now. I’m all yours.”

  Charlene quirked one eyebrow, as if calling my bullshit. “You know when she’s on her period, Coby. That’s not normal. I have plenty of friends who’ve been in long-term relationships, and their significant others don’t have a clue when their cycles are.”

  After getting comfortable on my bed with my back against the mountain of pillows, I took her hand and tugged on her arm until she joined me, landing between my legs with her head near my chest.

  “Let’s just forget about that. I can’t explain my friendship with her, nor do I care to try. Anyone who has a problem with her being in my life can either figure it out or…” I didn’t finish my threat. It wasn’t meant to come out that way, but in the end, it was exactly how I felt. I would never change the dynamic of my relationship with Ellie because of insecurities or jealousy. “I will say this one time, and then we’re done talking about her. Ellie has been in my life since I was six weeks old. My mother died in childbirth, and her parents—especially her mom—had stepped in. Every single memory I have includes Ellie. She’s always been there to celebrate all the good things, and to make the bad times bearable. So I’m sorry if that’s a problem, and if it’s something you think we can work out, then I’m all for figuring that out. But if you think I can—”

  She clamped her fingers over my lips to keep me from talking. “I don’t have an issue with it, Coby. I met you through her, remember? I fully understand the dynamic. I just don’t want to be ignored or forgotten about.”

  I ran my fingers through the front of her hair, hoping that came off as attentive and not something that would make her feel like I was showing affection to a beloved pet. “I don’t think you have to worry about that. You’re the one in my bed with me. Not Ellie.”

  “Has she ever been?” She was fishing for information—even clueless me could see that.

  “Sure. Lots of times. We’ve spent the night at each other’s houses since we were little.”

  “Have you ever had sex with her?”

  Well, that certainly backfired.

  I hesitated, not wanting to lie to her, yet at the same time, I didn’t want to cause issues, either. “Just once. But it’s not like that. It wasn’t even like that then.”

  Her expression went blank, and I could tell I had lost her. Still, she didn’t pull away yet. “Then what was it like?”

  “I mean…it was both of our first times. It’s not like we had some kind of wild night full of hair pulling and spanking. It was over as fast as it started. And we only did it because we didn’t care to move into the next phase of our lives still holding on to our virginity.”

  Had I taken one second longer to contemplate how my explanation didn’t do anything to prove my point, I more than likely would’ve answered differently. But as it went, that wasn’t the case. Instead, Charlene tried to back away.

  “Please don’t leave,” I begged. I’d never had a woman in my bed before. And the few times I’d made it to a bed with someone of the opposite sex, it hadn’t ended the way either of us had expected. Needless to say, I wasn’t about to strike out for the third time. “It’s hard to put it into words. I was just selected first in the draft, and she was about to head off to college—basically alone. We’d been through everything together, so it only felt natural for that to be one more thing to add to the list.”

  “Just stop, Coby. You’re making this worse. Not better.”

  “No, I don’t think you get it. We were both outcasts at school. Well, not like social pariahs or anything, but we sat together—by ourselves—at lunch, and we were pretty much the only two in the entire town who weren’t invited to field parties and tailgating. It had always been just the two of us.”

  She pulled herself to her knees, and I followed her motion, sitting up in front of her to get closer, hoping she wouldn’t leave. “Trust me, I get it. But what you don’t get is what it’s like for me. Ellie’s my friend. We aren’t super close or anything, but still, she’s my friend all the same. And here I am, in bed with her best friend—the same guy who she trusted enough with her virginity. And yes,
Coby…you’re making it worse. I know you’re trying to calm my fears by telling me it was innocent, yet you’re the guy who left me in the hallway of an unfamiliar house while you went running to her.”

  I held her face between my hands and stroked her high cheekbone with my thumb. “I am a complete moron. I suck at saying the right things to women. Things are always so effortless with Ellie, and I have a hard time remembering it’s not like that with anyone else.”

  “Oh my God, Coby. Just shut up already.”

  I obeyed. Immediately.

  However, that didn’t mean I let it go just because I didn’t use my words. I hauled her into my lap, forcing her to straddle my thighs, and closed my mouth over hers. The kiss was awkward and stiff, and I worried I’d done yet another thing to screw it all up, but just before I decided to concede, she moaned into my mouth and wrapped her arms around my neck.

  “That’s better,” she whispered against my lips.

  “So does this mean you’ve forgiven me for having sex with my best friend?”

  Her face scrunched up in disgust, and before I could do anything else, she pushed herself out of my hold. I reached out to stop her, and the moment I grabbed ahold of her shirt, extending my arm at an odd angle, the burning sensation lit up every muscle from my left shoulder down to my fingers, my neck practically going numb.

  “You’re such a jackass,” Charlene muttered, oblivious to my agony.

  “I didn’t mean it like that.” My words barely made it through my clenched teeth. Even though I was in pain, I wasn’t about to give up and let her walk out. I really connected with her, and if I let her leave, she wouldn’t give me another shot.

  “That’s the truly sad part, Coby. I understand that you didn’t intend to alienate me or make me feel like the third wheel, yet that’s exactly what you did. You say you guys are just friends, and maybe that’s true. Maybe you’ll never be more than that. But it’s incredibly awkward to be in my position, because from where I’m standing, you two have some kind of impenetrable bond that will only hinder any future relationship with you.”