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But Tommy nodded and motioned for me to lead the way toward the bus. Silence stretched out between us as we walked out of the ballpark, but the tension that I thought had been there from the previous night seemed to have evaporated with the morning fog that had rolled off the ocean. Gone like a distant memory.
Tommy
Ihad spent the entire night after the Red Cross event replaying that kiss in my mind. I hadn’t wanted our first kiss to be such a spectacle. Maggie seemed to have painted a piece of herself over every inch of my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about how she had quickly become something like a safety blanket for me. Any time that I was under stress, my eyes would drift to find hers if she was in the room, like she could feel my anxiety and was the only pill to fix it.
In San Diego, I was drowning under the weight of wanting to prove myself not only to my dad, but to my former club. I wanted them to see that I was a different person, that I deserved success in my life. But every time I went up to the plate, it was as if I was watching a movie reel of every text and every news article that had detailed all of my wrongdoings. Only Maggie had noticed that I was practically underwater and at risk of drowning in that dugout from every opinion that said I was worthless. The moment that she had reminded me that I didn’t owe anyone anything, that all I had to do was be me, I realized that she was more than someone special. She was someone that I needed to hold on to tightly.
From that point on, it was beginning to feel like I was almost becoming obsessive with how much I wanted this fake relationship to be something more. I had thought constantly about the Red Cross event and how I could slowly win Maggie over with subtle flirting. When Monica had told us that we needed to kiss, dread filled me. It was the exact opposite of what I wanted to happen. The kiss was forced and in no way would make Maggie think that I had real feelings for her. It was obvious when she was waiting for me outside the locker room. She was detached, like she wanted nothing to do with me but knew that we had an obligation to this fake relationship, and if her best friend wanted to hang out with me, it was something we were going to have to do.
I had felt so defeated when I watched her stumble through an explanation of why Olivia wanted to hang out. Gone was the girl that had acted so free and comfortable with me. If I was going to have any opportunity to make Maggie think about something more with me, today was important. I needed to flirt with her in a way that wasn’t obvious and was vaguely under the guise of the contract. But at this point, I was losing confidence in my ability to win Maggie over, so I needed to call in reinforcements.
Me: SOS
Adam: What now?
Jamil: On my way.
Adam: Dammit. Fine. I’m coming.
A minute later, a knock sounded on my hotel room door. I pushed off my bed and went to open the door, revealing Jamil and a grumpy-looking Adam. Jamil slipped past me while Adam looked me up and down, his eyes narrowed.
“What’d you mess up now?” he asked as he followed me inside.
“I need help with Maggie,” I told them as they found seats, giving me room to pace in front of them.
“What do you mean you need help?” Jamil asked. “You guys kissed last night! That’s what I call progress.”
“It was scripted,” I told him. “And now I think she’s regretting getting into this contract with me.”
“What contract?” Adam asked, his brows drawing together. I was tired of keeping this charade up with my friends. It was tiring enough to remember that this whole thing was supposed to be fake. The lines were starting to blur between what was real and what it was I wanted.
“Monica forced us to have a PR relationship after that photo came out of the two of us.”
“And you’ve fallen for her,” Adam concluded, like an old sage. “So what? You need help wooing her again?”
“Who says the word woo?” Jamil looked over at Adam, concerned. “You sound like you’re eighty.”
Adam looked over at Jamil, unconcerned.
“So what do you guys think I should do?” I pressed, trying to bring them back to the problem at hand. “She asked me to hang out with her and Olivia tomorrow. Olivia wants to get to know me.”
“Does Olivia not know?” Jamil asked.
“I don’t think Maggie has told her.”
“Treat her how you want to without any of the expectations of the two of you delivering a show,” Adam interjected. “You’ve got to treat her tomorrow like she’s your real girlfriend. There aren’t going to be any paparazzi. Just other people. So, if you act like her boyfriend there, she may start to wonder why.”
Jamil and I both looked over at Adam in wonder. It was so simple, yet so perfect. If I treated Maggie exactly like how I wanted to treat her without any cameras around, it had to catch her attention.
“How’d you come up with that?” Jamil asked, obviously thinking the same thing I was.
“I am the only one of us that’s married, so I think I know a little bit about the art of dating a woman.” Adam cocked an eyebrow at us, daring me or Jamil to say otherwise. “And if I’m being honest, you had me fooled that this whole thing is fake. And maybe Maggie is regretting being in the contract, but I don’t think she regrets being around you. I’ve seen the way she looks at you.”
I must have sat there with my mouth hanging open too long for Adam because he continued on. “I haven’t seen Maggie’s face light up with anyone like it does when she’s with you. The circumstances surrounding you guys may not be normal or ideal, but I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. There was a reason the two of you have been linked, and in my eyes, it’s more than just a PR circus that has brought you two together.”
Maggie and I had only known each other for just over a week, but it felt like a lifetime. I was finding myself changing my priorities, shifting my free time over the last week to spending time with Maggie. Everything around us had felt like it was happening at warp speed, but when it was just the two of us—those moments felt like they could stretch on forever. Adam might have been right—there was a reason the two of us had been twisted together. I might not have known what that reason was, but what I did know was that I felt myself wanting to be better and do better when I was around her. All my past mistakes—the drugs, the alcohol, the women—felt like a different person’s. That moment in the office when Monica suggested this PR relationship was the worst day of my life and the best day of life crashing into one.
“Let us know how it goes,” Adam added as he stood up, patting my shoulder as he walked toward the door. Jamil followed him, giving me a quick thumbs-up and an encouraging smile.
