AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Shut up!” She smacked his bicep and twisted toward him. “You’re kidding!”
Oh God. That was too big a reaction, wasn’t it?
But that was Nikki; too excitable to be contained. Even when she knew she should be reserved. Like a haphazard roman candle of happiness.
Her gaze tangled with his and his hazel eyes were lit from within making them glow. He smiled wide and let out a small laugh.
“It was pretty cool.” He ducked his head and red crept into his cheeks.
“What the hell, André?” she asked excitedly, blazing past polite and going straight for familiar. “That’s amazing!”
He scrubbed a hand over his face, but it didn’t clear the happy smile.
“What was it like? Everything you ever wanted?” she asked.
He sucked in a breath to answer and something passed through his eyes. Just a shadow—there and gone—but it dimmed his smile. “Almost. Yeah.”
She wanted to ask more but knew it wasn’t her business.
Thankfully, Ryan returned with snacks.
* * *
So, baseball was okay.
She wasn’t going to have a favorite team after this or anything, but Ryan had been right. There was something super magical about watching baseball, drinking beer, and watching the sunset.
The heat from the day had started to dissipate and the colors of sunset drifted across the sky. Reds, yellows, purples, pinks, and oranges.
Nikki took a deep breath and let it out.
“Sometimes I forget about sunsets,” she said.
André’s head swiveled her direction. “Forget they exist or just forget what they look like?”
“Maybe both,” she answered honestly. “I don’t spend time looking for them and so they catch me by surprise.”
She glanced to her right where Ryan was supposed to be, but he’d left to get more beer.
He’d done a great job of explaining the game without being a jerk about it. But there was still such a disconnect with him. As if he were only listening to half of what she said.
She eyed the empty stack of plastic cups in Ryan’s cup holder.
How many beers had he had?
She’d only had two. André hadn’t finished his first one.
Yeah, she’d be getting an Uber home.
“You know he thinks you’re an auto mechanic, right?” André asked, having leaned into her space.
She chuckled deeply. “I know. I have told him what I do countless times.”
André snickered and she joined him. He laughed harder because she was laughing, and it just fueled her to keep going.
God, it felt good to laugh. Laughing had to be in her top five favorite things to do. The release of energy was like an explosion of joy. A common way to celebrate just being alive.
Because being alive was always cause for celebration.
