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“Give me one good reason and I will.”
“Because there’s no way in hell that Mikey would ever say yes.”
* * *
“I’m no longer speakingwith you,” Mikey said with a sniffle as she pointedly looked away from the teenage boy who decided to make her life more difficult than it needed to be.
“Funny enough, I figured that out when you kept mouthing it all through class,” Braxton drawled as he dropped down on the bench next to her.
“Then, you should know that I take my grudges seriously,” Mikey said with a firm nod as she folded her arms over her chest and watched the line of luxury cars through the glass wall while they waited their turn to pick up the students in designer school uniforms as they made their way across the freshly salted walkways to the tent the janitorial staff erected along with outside heaters so that they could wait in comfort.
“You look adorably pissed,” Braxton drawled, drawing her attention to find him sitting back against the bench with his head dropped back against the wall, his eyes closed and-
God, he looked exhausted, Mikey thought as she ran her eyes over him, taking in his messy dark brown hair and noted that the golden tan that he had when they’d met was gone before taking in the untucked Latin Scribe uniform shirt that was wrinkled and at least two sizes too big for him, the scuffed black loafers that had seen better days and found herself looking back up to find pale blue eyes watching her.
“I’m always adorable,” Mikey pointed out with a look that should have had him quaking in fear and praying for a miracle to save him. She-
“You really just can’t pull that off,” Braxton said with a heavy sigh as he closed his eyes again and dropped his head back against the wall.
“Really? Then, explain why you’re trembling in fear,” Mikey demanded with a sniffle as she watched his lips twitch.
“Because I’ve seen your fastball,” Braxton said, somewhat appeasing her.
“Understandable,” Mikey murmured as she found herself wondering what was going on with him. He barely said two words most days, kept to himself, barely acknowledged their existence, and when he did, it was mostly to glare at her, which was understandable considering what happened during gym last week. She should probably apologize for that, but in her defense, she didn’t know that he was standing there when she went to kick that ball. Definitely something that she should apologize for, Mikey decided, but later.
“Where’s your boyfriend?” Braxton asked, not bothering to open his eyes.
“Tutoring underprivileged trust-fund kids,” Mikey said, not bothering to correct him since she knew that it was pointless. Sebastian always waited for her during tryouts, practice, and games, so she always made damn sure that she did the same for him when he was picking up hours working for her mother, tutoring, or staying after school to attend a lecture.
“And you’re still here because…?”
“Because he’d be lost without me,” Mikey said with a heartfelt sigh.
“I’m sure he would,” Braxton murmured, shifting to get comfortable as he stretched out his long legs. “Are you nervous about tryouts?”
“I’ve decided that it was in my best interest not to think about tryouts for the sake of my sanity,” Mikey said with a solemn nod.
“I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” Braxton said dryly, only to chuckle when she said, “Please don’t jinx my hopes and dreams.”
“Apologies,” Braxton murmured as his lips pulled up into a smile, the first one she’d seen from him all year.
“What about you?” Mikey asked as she shifted her attention to the hot cocoa station set up by the doors and couldn’t help but shake her head in wonder. This was definitely nothing like public school.
“What about me?” Braxton asked, cracking one eye open to look at her.
“Tryouts,” she said, watching as that smile slowly died away and was replaced by the bored expression that he’d been wearing all year.
“I’m not trying out,” Braxton said, taking her by surprise.
“Why not?” Mikey demanded, sure that she’d misheard him. He loved baseball almost as much as she did. He’d been playing since he was little, joining every team that would have him, and worked with her this past summer at Uncle Jason’s house running drills, catching, and making plans to try out for the team together.
“Just lost interest,” Braxton said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal, but…
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Mikey asked, deciding that it was time to get answers.
Sighing heavily, Braxton closed his eye as he said, “I came to apologize.”
Blinking, Mikey said, “For giving the group of teenage girls obsessed with me a new way to make my life a living hell?”
