“By that grin splattered across your face, it’s probably safe to assume that Prince Charming sent you a text.” She dramatically swoons. Violet takes her eyes off the road for a second to get a glimpse of my phone. I turn it towards her. Her eyes roll as she reads it. “That’s what I thought. You two are disgusting. To think that I thought I would never see the day that someone tamed the infamous Graham Black.”
“You didn’t ever---you guys never…” I ask hoping I know the answer already. I’m sure my face says it all.
“If I had, you would have known about it. Trust me Graham’s the type of boy you brag about.” Violet wags her eyebrows. “He’s way too fucking gorgeous not to kiss and tell.”
I blush instantly cursing my fair skin. “Yeah, he is.”
“OH MY GOD!” Violet shouts nearly slamming on her breaks. “You two totally did it. I can see it in the way your eyes lit up. You have sex eyes for him which only means one thing. You totally lost your virginity to the town whore. My best friend is a McSlut.”
Violet has never been one for subtlety and at times I appreciate that fine quality of hers. Now isn’t one of them. I’m not embarrassed by my choice to lose my virginity. That has nothing to do with my embarrassment. I don’t exactly have the experience that most girls my age have. I feel self-conscious knowing that Graham has slept with God knows how many girls and my experience starts with him.
“How was it? I remember my first time. It was painful and lasted like two minutes tops,” Violet confesses with a horrified expression on her face.
“Actually, it was amazing. Perfect even,” I reveal to my best friend who waits patiently for more details by the look on her face. “I don’t have anything to compare it too, but I have a feeling for first times it couldn’t have been much better than what it was.”
“I’m jealous.” Violet smiles. I know she’s happy for me. She’s probably more relieved that I’m not planning on spending the rest of my weekends reading and working on homework.
We pull into the parking lot at the baseball field finding that it’s standing room only already. Violet finds a spot on the fence just a few steps down from the home dugout. Graham’s already standing on the pitcher’s mound warming up his arm looking like every teenage girls fantasy. I watch him intently admiring the way his uniform hugs his body perfectly as he stretches and bends.
He removes his hat to wipe the back of his arm across his forehead to wipe the beads of sweat from his brow. There’s nowhere else my eyes can wander. They’re locked on him as they always are. They have a mind of their own where Graham is concerned. It seems too soon or too unlikely that two seventeen year olds are capable of loving each other like I know we do, but I know what I feel when I look at him.
If on cue, Graham shifts his gaze away from his catcher and they fall directly on me. I smile at him and he drops his hat back in place smiling secretly under the shadow of the bill. I have never been more interested in a baseball game than I am right now. Like usual, Graham plays with his whole heart. No one expects anything less from him. The crowd screams his name chanting his praises. I notice a line of men along the other fence holding radar guns nodding their heads in approval. He was born to play baseball and their presence is the proof of that talent.
One day he’s going to make it. I have no doubts about that. It’s in the way he plays. Graham has a romantic relationship with the game. Baseball is his religion and his way of feeling alive. That’s why my decision the night of the accident was an easy one. He deserves to show the world that his talents will never go to waste like so many before him.
Number seven from the other team hits a line drive straight towards the pitcher’s mound. Graham sticks his glove out snagging the ball. If you blinked you would have missed the play. The crowd screams louder causing an echo in the corner of our little world.
“Nice catch, boyfriend,” I shout before realizing what I just said. Out loud---for everyone to hear. I can feel the heat emerging from beneath my tank top making its slow crawl up to my face. Violet’s eyes widen at me as her mouth fell open in a perfect ‘O’ shape trying to hold back a laugh. That’s when I realize what I have done. Graham’s my boyfriend and I just announced it very publically.
“Please kill me, now,” I joke. It’s my only defense mechanism. Violet shakes her head beside me. I think she’s enjoying this too much.
I give myself a pep talk urging myself to look up at Graham. When I finally do he’s looking directly at me. I assumed there would be a look of horror written across his face. In place of that is a shit eating grin. He winks at me quickly throwing out the last pitch of the game without taking his eyes off of me. As if he already knows what the outcome will be. Graham’s sure of himself and perhaps a bit cocky. He earns that right when he’s on the field. His final pitch is proof of that when the umpire shouts strike followed by that’s the game. Violet and I jump up and down in celebration with the cheers from the bleachers behind us.
Graham jogs up towards where Violet and I are standing. Violet jokingly wipes the corners of my mouth as I watch him.
“Hi girlfriend,” Graham yanks his hat off putting it on my head. It’s too big covering my eyes. I push it up to be able to see him. I cringe at the dampness from his hard work. I don’t remove it. Instead I watch him in all of his excitement from the win. “Guard that for me, will you?”
“Of course,” I promise winking at him.
“Now give your boyfriend a kiss,” Graham leans over the fence to get to me. I give him a quick kiss, but he pulls me in closer barricading me with his hand on the back of my neck deepening the exchange. Violet whispers something about us being disgusting. We continue to ignore her.
Graham jerks back quickly. Coach is standing behind him pulling on his jersey. “What was that for Coach?” Graham questions with a guilty grin.
“Quit kissing your girlfriend,” Coach pretends to be swooning over the situation, mockingly batting his eyelashes. “Get your ass in the dugout. You may have won the game and the girl but now you have to win over some scouts.” Coach raises his eyebrow expecting Graham to follow. Coach flashes a smile at me before heading back towards the dugout.
“I promise this won’t take long. Can I just meet you at the restaurant?” Graham says apologetically. I nodded in response.
“Go impress the scouts then come have our first date, Mr. Black,” I smile standing on my tippy toes to kiss him on the cheek.
Violet clears her throat before speaking, “Isn’t the whole first date thing moot in point considering he already got the milk and now there’s no point in buying the cow.”
I am going to kill her.
Graham raises an eyebrow at me knowing very well that she knows that we have slept together. “What? She’s my best friend. She knew before I even told her. Now go before Coach actually bans me from your games. I’ll see you soon,” I declare pushing him off of the fence in the direction of the waiting scouts and a Coach who’s tapping his foot on the ground impatiently.
Violet and I wait for Dan to finish showering. We are sitting on the hood of her car that’s right outside of the locker room doors. We must have been too busy talking about prom and some of the other parties I’m sure Graham and Violet will drag me to.
“Kennedy,” Violet whispers elbowing me in the side to get my attention. She points a disguised finger in front of us. I look up and take a deep breath in. I’ve been avoiding him for good reasons. He’s attempted a handful of times to talk to me, more like corner me, in the hallway. I managed to sneak by him before he can say anything, but that doesn’t stop him from keeping his eyes on me. Even when I don’t catch him I can feel them on me, taking what’s left of what he tried to take. Craig knows better than to say anything to me in front of Graham. I’m alone now though.
“Violet. Kennedy,” Craig’s voice says deeply. Just the way he says my name makes my skin crawl.
“What the hell do you want, Craig?” Violet barks out the warning rolling her eyes at his un
wanted presence.
“Just seeing if Kennedy is coming over tonight is all.” Craig takes a step closer towards me leaning against the front of the car where my feet are planted in defense.
“I think we all know the answer to that,” I say under my breath trying to sound confident and strong even when I’m anything but. Being trapped on the hood of a car makes leaning back as far as possible a game that I’m not winning. Craig takes it as an invitation to lean closer until he’s nearly on the hood of the car with me.
“That’s too bad. I thought we could finish what we started last weekend,” Craig growls running his hand over my leg. Bile rises up my throat. He knows exactly what he’s doing and I don’t understand why he’s hell bent on making my life miserable.
Before Violet or I can say anything he walks off with a menacing laugh echoing through the parking lot. My breaths are coming out shallow. Without knowing what to think, I keep telling myself that he’s just trying to get the best of me. The only reason why he even has the nerve to say anything to me now is because Graham isn’t around to hear what he says.
Maybe I made the wrong decision in not reporting him or maybe if even I had reported him nothing would have come from it. Craig didn’t succeed in what he intended on doing that night in his room, so what good would calling the police be? It’s too late to report him now. Staying away from him is what is best. The more distance between us the better chance Graham has to keeping his cool. He has a lot riding on his good behavior. No team wants a hothead on their roster and I’m not going to let my mistakes jeopardize Graham’s future.
“Ken, you okay?” Violet asks patting me on the leg pulling me back from my thoughts.
“Can we just keep this between us? Graham has enough going on right now. I don’t want to burden him with this,” I explain quietly. He should know about Craig’s attempts to scare me, but I can’t bring myself to give him anything else to worry about.
“Kennedy, Graham will want to know.” She argues. I know she’s right. I’m just not willing to give Graham another thing to worry about.
“You don’t understand. There are things you don’t know and I can’t tell you but trust me when I say Graham doesn’t need to deal with this right now.” Violet nods in compliant understanding. She drops the subject, but that doesn’t mean that it’s left my head.
Dealing with baseball and scouts on top of his Dad is enough for Graham to keep him busy. I know his Dad hasn’t let up on him. I don’t let it be known that I notice, but I see the bruises and I feel the way he cringes and tenses up when I hug him too hard. The last thing Graham needs is to worry about leaving me alone in fear of Craig pulling another stunt. It’s a secret that’s best left quiet for now.
Chapter Forty
-Graham-
All my dreams are becoming a reality and the only person I can’t wait to tell is sitting in Antonio’s Pizzeria. I walk through the glass double door and as always, I know exactly where she is without having to look around the room for her. It’s instinct, some invisible string linking us together.
Not wanting to interrupt her in the middle of her fit of laughter, probably at something Violet’s saying, I stand back to watch her. Only her best friend can make her laugh like that. It carries over the packed crowd that engulfs the main dining area. Just the sound of her laughter causes my heart to beat faster. I’m still surprised how much of an affect Kennedy has on me.
She’s wearing those jeans that I love so much. They hang low on her waist and her tank top rides up exposing a tiny hint of stomach if she moves just right in the booth. Who knew the smallest stretch of skin could be such a distraction. Every time Kennedy leaned forward on the fence tonight I noticed it.
I let out a deep breath admiring her. The way she’s throwing her head back as she laughs and the way she places her hand on the base of her neck as if that will help barricade the beauty of her laughter from escaping. Her laughter comes to a halt abruptly. Her entire body stiffens noticeably from where I’m standing. I have to smile. Kennedy flicks her head to the side so quick I think she’ll have a kink in her neck. Her eyes peruse over my entire body starting at my toes and slowly making the way up to my face where I greet her with a wink.
Kennedy springs up from the booth leaving Violet and Dan to watch as she runs over to me. She’s getting around much easier now that she doesn’t have those crutches. I’ll never tell her, but I sort of miss them. She depended on me more when she was stumbling around with them. Her arms swing around my neck as I pick her up in a tight hold.
“You did awesome tonight,” Kennedy praises wiggling her legs to be put back down to the earth.
“I have some big news to share,” I confess proudly.
“I don’t think its news when we all know who those scouts were here to see.” Kennedy playfully elbows me in the side.
“Oh is that right?” I elbow her back as we walk back to the far corner to the booth. “Then enlighten me on what happened tonight. I’d love to hear your little theories.”
“Let me guess. Hundreds of scouts are going back to their fancy far off schools and are going to put up a fight to see who you decide to commit to in the end.” Kennedy looks to me for a response. “Am I at least a little bit close?”
I throw my arm around her shoulder squeezing her into my side. She fits perfectly against my body. She hastily wraps her hands around my waist as if she can’t get close enough.
“Close, babe. Georgia’s scout is going to be making a visit to our next game to see me pitch. That’s always been my first choice and now it doesn’t seem that far away,” I say honestly.
Kennedy slides into the booth turning her attention back to me. “Anyone who isn’t blind can see that you were meant to play baseball, Graham.” She reaches under the table placing her hand on my thigh running it up and down the length as far as she can reach letting it land just a tad too close to where I want her touch the most. She traces circles with her thumb causing a heat to course through my body making me instantly hard.
Realizing how rude Kennedy and I are being I turn my attention to our waiting friends. Violet is studying the two of us as if we are her science project that she just doesn’t quite understand and Dan is doing what he does best, studying Violet’s curves.
I slap him on the side of the head to break his concentration. Dan rubs the spot immediately.
“What the hell was that for?” Dan stammered trying to hide the smirk on his face. He knows damn well what that’s for. I don’t think the two of them have admitted that they are more than just the fuck buddies that they claim to be.
“Hasn’t anyone ever taught you that it’s rude to eye fuck a girl in front of people?” We all laugh at my bluntness.
“The same person, who forgot to teach Kennedy not to rub her boyfriend hard under the table obviously,” Violet snaps back flashing a wink towards Kennedy. Kennedy nearly chokes on her water. I pat her on her back lightly as the two girls fall into another howl of laughter.
“I’m not…” Kennedy argues back at her best friends accusation completely horrified. Violet’s eyebrow rises in skepticism. “What! I wasn’t.”
Violet throws her hands up in surrender. “I’m not judging. I’m damn proud. Who knew Graham Black would be the one to bust you out of your sexual repression. Plus if you’d like to continue I’m sure Dan and I can find something to occupy our time with while you...finish him.”
“VIOLET!” Kennedy screeches with dread. Her cheeks turn an exceptionally loud color of red in embarrassment. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that up until a week or two ago Kennedy was a virgin.
Our waitress appears out of nowhere to take our orders pulling the two girls back from their stare off. Her name tag reads Veronica with a small pink heart sticker at the end. By the way she’s glancing down at me through her eyelashes I’d assume that we know each other. She has bedroom eyes which only makes me shift in my seat in discomfort. Dan’s eyes widen from across the table as if he realizes the same thing a
s me in the same moment as I do.
“You’re screwed,” Dan mouths from across the table.
“How’s it going, Graham?” Veronica’s voice is low with determination. Most would refer to the tone as sexy and I’m not ignorant enough not to agree. It has a certain undertone when words roll off of her tongue. Her voice doesn’t compare to Kennedy’s sweet voice.
“It’s going good,” I give her a friendly smile trying to sound indifferent. I notice Kennedy’s hand has stilled on my thigh. The circling motion has come to a halt. She has stiffened up beside me. She knows something’s off. The tension is palpable.
“I haven’t seen you since Craig’s party a few months back. I thought you would have called after that night,” Veronica confesses putting the last nail in my coffin.
I’ve been dreading this moment. I’m not an idiot. Situations like this are inevitable. Protecting Kennedy from awkward encounters with past mistakes is bound to be impossible. Kennedy goes from frozen to completely frigid as she watches and waits for what’s going to happen next. She jerks her hand from my thigh putting all of her concentration on the dessert menu.
“Veronica, this is my girlfriend. Kennedy,” I offer turning my attention towards Kennedy in hopes to rectify the situation before it goes more south than it already has. Kennedy is gracious towards Veronica, just as I knew she would be.
Kennedy smiles at Veronica reaching her hand out with a grace that no one would expect from someone in this situation.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Kennedy insists with a genuine smile that only she could be capable of.
“Girlfriend?” Veronica’s voice is laced with anger and obvious confusion by the word girlfriend. It doesn’t go unnoticed by anyone that she didn’t reach out to shake Kennedy’s outstretched hand. Kennedy slowly retreats her hand focusing back on the dessert menu again.
“Oh shit, here we go,” Violet whispers under her breath. Dan shoots her a look to tell her to shut the fuck up before I can even open my mouth to reiterate the same to her.
When Our Worlds Collide Page 26