Playing The Hot Corner

Summer Hair = Forever Young – The Academy Is…

“Hey, Joe, do you and Jesse want to come over and practice after school?”

“Sure,” Joe called out to Charlie, our best starting pitcher. Charlie knew all too well that when Joe came over to practice in Charlie’s giant backyard, I was coming with. I would be the batter while Charlie pitched and Joe caught. Charlie knew I was a girl and that I led a double life, as well as the rest of the baseball team and my coaches, but the rest of the school just knew me as Jess Parker, not the baseball player that just happened to be named Jesse Parker who disappeared off of the field.

I sighed, making my way out to my car with Joe. “Only we would practice on our day off.”

“I still don’t get why we even have a day off when sections are a week and a half away.”

“Oh well. Hey, you still need help with that physics stuff?”

“That would be awesome.”

“After we go to Charlie’s, then?”

“Yeah.” He dropped into the passenger seat of my car and we left campus for lunch.

~

“How was that one?”

“It was a screwball, wasn’t it?” I asked Charlie. “I probably would have gone for it. Not sure I would have hit it, though. You framed it well, right?” I asked Joe.

“Of course I did.”

“Okay. Should we move on to throw downs? My arm’s wearing out,” Charlie said.

“Yeah. Don’t hurt yourself,” I said, making my way past Charlie and clapping him lightly on the back. I paced out another 40 or so feet to where second base would be and stood over it like a shortstop preparing for a steal. “Ready, Joe.”

Charlie glanced back at me before winding up, this time throwing a little less hard than he was before. Joe caught the ball and immediately got rid of it, throwing right where Charlie had just been and straight to my glove, positioned low to the ground for the tag.

“Perfect, Joe,” I called over to him.

“Couple more?”

“Sure.”

We completed five more, all perfect. Joe had all the capacity in the world to do whatever he wanted with sports. In fact, that’s what I wanted to ask him about later on. I decided to do it while we were going through our physics stuff.

Charlie led us inside and offered us something to drink before we left. We sat at the center island and chatted about classes and the other teams in our section before Charlie’s mom came into the kitchen.

“Oh, hello, kids.”

“Hi, Mrs. Hacker.”

“Are you staying for dinner?”

I glanced at Joe. “Actually, we can’t. We have a lot of studying to do and stuff.”

“Physics?” Charlie guessed.

“Uh huh.” Joe groaned. “She gets it like it was 3rd grade math.”

I shrugged. “Science is my thing. If we’re going to get any homework done, we should go.”

“Yeah. Thanks, Charlie.”

He led us to the door and as I’m about to walk out after Joe, he said, “What, no hug?”

I rolled my eyes, faking exasperation. “Fine, Hacker.” I went back to the doorway and gave him a hug that lasted just a split second longer than a normal hug would.

“See you tomorrow, Joe. Text me, Jess, okay?” he said, reverting to the name I was called in school.

“Yeah, okay.” Charlie was acting a teeny bit weird, but I blew it off. Until, of course, Joe and I got in the car and he brought it up.

“You know he likes you, right?”

I kept my eyes on the road, but raised my eyebrows. “Does he?”

“I can see it. The way he would watch you when I threw down, and how he tried so hard to throw the perfect pitches while you were in the box. He just looks at you that way. Plus, the fact that you wore a sport tank top to work out in added to it.”

I glanced down at my chest. “I wasn’t flashing him, was I?”

“Not exactly, but you were working on it.” There was something in Joe’s voice that I didn’t like. Maybe it was because he knew I would actually date Charlie and he was being protective, like he always was. Maybe it was because he knew that a relationship with Charlie would actually work better than my past ones – I had to give them up because of my baseball commitments, but Charlie would be right there with me this time.

“Joe, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, Jess. Promise.”

I knew he wasn’t going to tell me anything then, and we were pulling up in front of my house anyways.

“I’m going to run over to my house and tell my mom we’re home. Be right back.”

“Just meet me in my room,” I said, going inside while he trotted across the street. “Hey, dad, I’m home. Joe’s coming over to study in a few minutes, okay?” I called to the house.

“Sure, hon. How was practice at Charlie’s?” My dad helped Joe’s dad coach our little league team, and he played baseball until he blew out his knee in the minor leagues.

“Good. He’s working his screwball out really well.”

“Great. That’s the one he was having problems with, right?”

“Yeah, dad.” I went upstairs and dropped my bag on the floor, pulling out my physics stuff and setting it on my bed as I sat down and lay back on my pillow.

A month and a half left of senior year, I thought. Oh, boy. I was really eager to be done with high school, but not looking forward to the inevitable splitting of the two J’s – Joe and me. Joe had football scholarship offers form a few colleges, none of which I had applied to. I was either going to Oregon State University or Michigan State, both of which had the science programs I was looking for. Joe wasn’t even looking at either.

“You all right, Jess?” Joe asked, entering my room unannounced. I was perfectly okay with that.

“Tired.”

“You’re thinking. What about?” He asked, sitting down on my bed.

He knew me way too well. “Next fall.”

“Oh. That.” He lay back beside me, crossing his arms behind his head. I turned over on my side to look at him, briefly examining his strong shoulders and the way they flexed as he moved.

“Where do you think you want to go?” I asked quietly.

“That scholarship from Florida looks really nice. I’d feel good being a Gators quarterback.”

“Whoo for Oregon,” I said weakly.

“Is that the one you’re picking?”

“Probably.”

“I’m not going to be able to climb up your trellis and invade your room at 1 AM,” he said, as if just realizing it.

“I’m going to miss that.”

“Remember the first time I did that?” he asked, smiling. “I almost fell off of that damn thing.”

“Your yell scared the crap out of me. I had no idea you were coming.”

“I’m gonna miss your voice the most. You know how you’re the one that talks the most on the field? It’s going to be so different without that.” He paused. “Come here,” he said, extending one arm. I cuddled up close to him, using his chest as a pillow with his arm around me.

“I don’t want to think about this anymore.”

“Good idea.”

Only a few minutes had to go by until we were asleep.