Give Into Me.

"Does this look okay? I've never worn this much orange before." Stepping back from the mirror I smoothed the star shaped necklace over my chest and followed Tyler's voice as he walked out of his closet, a Texas Longhorns t-shirt pulled tight over his top half. Smiling to myself I leaned back against my forearms on the bathroom countertop, he sure looked good in burnt orange.

"Looks great, babe. Y'know, you just might look better in orange than in green."

Tyler made a face and walked towards me placing his hands on either side of mine, "Nah, it's more your color than mine. But, I'll gladly wear it for you anytime."

"I feel so honored," I smiled up at him, it's been almost two months since Tyler's accident and he's made it back on the ice to practice for the second round of playoffs, it's been a long road of rehab but Tyler was strong. Sitting most of the first round out was very hard on him, but it was the best thing for his leg. Today we're heading for an off-ice adventure as the Stars await the first game of round 2, we're going to watch Asher and his team fight for a spot in the NCAA playoffs instead.

The Longhorns are playing the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs today and it's bound to be a good game, with a Longhorns W of course considering TCU is Noah's alma mater they're kind of on my short list. "We should get ready to go, I'd like to see Ash warm up."

"Okay, have you seen my hat?" Tyler asked pushing himself upright after kissing me softly.

"Which one? You only have a thousand."

"Haha, you're so funny. But the Longhorns one, it's grey I think.. you got it for me when you went to Austin last month?"

"Top shelf of your closet, next to the Cowboy's one I got you." I rolled my eyes, I knew he'd only wear that if I forced him too since he was so gung-ho about the Patriots still but I bought it anyway. Tyler trotted off to his closet as I went back into the bedroom tucking my feet into a pair sandals, I was all set to go sit in the hot early May sunshine.

"You all set, Ads?" Tyler questioned walking into the room snapback on his head Ray-Bans in hand.

"Yup! Let's go."

Tyler and I arrived at the Lupton baseball stadium on TCU's campus no more than 30 minutes later, the place just I as I had left it the last time I had watched Noah play. There were so many estranged memories on this campus; the good ones like going to formals and watching Noah and his teammates on this very field to the horrid ones of flinging open his apartment door to see just what I couldn’t bring myself to believe. Everything happened so fast after that moment that the rest of our "good" memories were overshadowed, all I saw when I looked at Noah's face was a waste of 3 years of my life, anxiety attacks, and built up rage.

Thank God Chicago is a long ways from Dallas.

Following the sound of batting practice Tyler and I made our way into the stadium finding our four pack of purple plastic seats, two of which were already filled by my parents. They greeted us with smiles both wearing pins on their Longhorn's apparel proudly announcing that they are the parents of "#12 Asher Reichman".

"Ready for your first game Tyler?" My father, Ben asked leaning across me to look at Tyler.

"Oh yeah, wish I could have went down to Austin with you guys last month." After Tyler's injury he was kind of stuck letting it heal and only doing what the trainers said for almost a month, unfortunately going down to Austin to watch college baseball wasn’t on the list of approved activities.

"We missed you that's for sure, don't worry though we'll get ya down there one day. Football season opens before hockey, that'll be a good time." My dad was all for Longhorn football, a part of me thought that he would have rather had Ash playing on the gridiron than the diamond. But I guess as long as he was wearing orange and not sporting Aggie colors Benjamin could make due.

"Sounds like a plan, this one is forcing football into me one way or another," Tyler nudged me with his elbow to which I just shrugged not taking my eyes off the field.

"Taste of your own medicine, Ty. I didn’t want anything to do with hockey and look where we are now.." I added peeling my eyes away from my little brother throwing at the corner of the field to look at him.

"Touché," He returned, "But I don't think either of us would change a thing, right?"

Shaking my head I kissed his cheek, "Nah, I'm still good."

We sat in a comfortable silence watching as both teams took warmups, the clash of purple and orange amongst the brick dust of the infield and the bright green grass of the outfield. The baseball diamond had always been a calming place for me it was a relaxed game for the most part, it wasn’t anything like cheerleading and I loved it. Just watching my little brother do what he loved, it was refreshing.

Until it wasn’t.

Until the National Anthem ended and the announcer's voice boomed once more, his voice suddenly making my skin crawl. "Would ya'll give a big Horned Frog welcome for today's honorary first pitch, a 2013 TCU graduate, 2 time Big 12 champion, current member of the Chicago Cubs, Horned Frogs catcher #29 Noah Sloane."

My mouth dropped open and my eyes had to be huge behind my Ray-Bans, I felt utterly sick as the tall, dark haired, now bearded boy waved in his old purple jersey atop the pitchers mound. Of all games he would be at this had to be the one?

Just my luck, eh?

And then I remembered the Cubs were in town playing the Rangers this weekend, and that the whole world doesn’t revolve around me.

I felt Tyler's hand gripping my kneecap and I knew both my parents were looking to me for some sort of reaction but I wouldn’t give Noah the satisfaction. I just exhaled deeply watching as he threw the ball at his old position a huge smile on his face. Afterwards he stood and waved to the cheering crowd, a video montage of his 4 years at TCU played on the scoreboard. The early photos from his first two seasons as a frog brought back a flood of memories, I couldn’t even help but smile at a few of them but I was purely disgusted by the end, the final picture of him at the MLB draft shaking hands with the Ranger's GM as his parents and Ellie stood beside him. As the Frog faithful whooped and hollered the four of us remained silent, I may have been outside in the fresh air and blistering sunshine but I could have really gone for some more oxygen in that moment.

Noah walked off the field into the Frogs dugout and I felt the tightness of my chest slowly dissipate, if all was right in the world he would leave right then and go to wherever the hell the Cubs were staying. Leaning back in the chair I pushed my sunglasses up into my hair and rubbed my face with my hands, "Nice start to the game, huh?"

"Honey are you okay? We had no idea he was going to be here." My mother asked leaning back to look at me.

"How could you have known mom? It's fine, he's free to do whatever he wants I cant stop him from showing up at HIS alma mater."

"That's true, but I just, well we know how you get around him."

I shook my head letting out a puff of air, "Yeah, "how I get", Jesus. They're called a panic attacks mother."

"I know what they are Adleigh, I didn’t mean it like that."

"Uh huh, I'm going to go to the bathroom before they start. Ash bats sixth anyway." I grumbled looking over at Tyler who just stared at me through dark lenses of his own Ray-Bans, looking a little frazzled from the whole situation himself. Normally I would never leave before the first pitch but this seamed like a legitimate excuse to my own rule.

I got four strides away from our seats before I felt a hand grasp my wrist pulling me to a halt, turning back I saw that it was Tyler. "Do you honestly think I'm letting you go by yourself after that?"

"I'm a big girl Tyler, I think I can handle it." I shook my arm free of his grasp.

"The last time you saw him I found you outside in a puddle of your own tears barely breathing, Adleigh. So no, you can't." Well, he had a point there. But I wasn’t planning on running into Noah.

"Yeah well last time I had to speak to him, I don't think he'll be in the ladies room."

"We're not taking any chances, besides I could use a beer. What's baseball without beer?"

I huffed and stared at him, there was no way I was getting out of him going with me, "I guess you're right."

Tyler slung his arm around my shoulders as we walked towards the concourse of the stadium, not even phased by my moodiness towards him and the entirety of our situation. We separated as he headed for the concession stand and I got in line for the restroom, surprisingly it moved much quicker than the beer line, something that doesn’t happen in most bars or even in the American Airlines Center.

I made it back to Tyler tucking myself under his arm as he was the nearing the front of the line, we made small talk over our drink choices and hoping that we weren't missing too much out on the field. Although from the sounds of the TV's on the concourse it sounded like we weren't missing much at all as they were still doing the lineups, seems Noah spent some time in the Frogs dugout and delayed the game a bit.

As Tyler ordered our drinks and two for my parents I heard my name from behind, it sounded as if it was a question like the person wasn’t sure if it was really me. I turned and looked a few people back until I saw a familiar face, one that no matter how shitty the situation was I would never hate, Noah's older sister Grace. The brunette was just as beautiful as ever stepping out of line leaving her husband, Jordan to man their spot in line. She approached me and immediately threw her arms around me, her protruding stomach stopping us from getting all that close.

"Oh my Gosh, I've missed you so much!" She cooed pushing me back by my shoulders to really look at me.

"Same here, you look so good Gracie! How's married life?"

"It's going really well, obviously," She looked down rubbing her stomach both of us laughing at her little joke. "And you? You're doing well for yourself too I hear, Mom said you’ve gotten in with the Cowboys and you're dating again I see?" Grace winked at me and looked over at Tyler who now had two beer bottles in each hand headed our way.

"I am, the Cowboy's organization is great. Grace this my boyfriend Tyler, Ty this is Grace Slo- I mean Keller, she's Noah's sister." I giggled fudging up her last name as Grace and Tyler shared smiles.

"Nice to meet you, I'd shake your hand but" Tyler held up the bottles and Grace laughed accepting that as a good enough introduction.

"Nice to meet you too, Tyler, my husband is a fan of yours, well the Stars too of course. Speaking of him I should probably help him get the drinks back to the family." At the mention of family as in plural my face must have changed. "He's still here if you were wondering, but I'm sure he won't be wandering around we're up by the pressbox."

"Oh, uh okay. Was it that obvious?"

"A bit, but I get it, he's my brother but I know what he did to you was really shitty. You do deserve better, and I hope you've found it." Her big brown eyes that mirrored Noah's pierced mine, her hand on my forearm to really get her point across.

"I think I have, Tyler's great. I guess it's true you find love when you're not looking." I smiled at her and looked over at Tyler who was standing awkwardly trying to avoid being sought out at he held an abundance of drinks.

"I'm very happy for you Ads, we should get lunch sometime. Just because Noah screwed up doesn’t mean I can't still have you in my life, our life. You were my little sister, y'know." Grace's words hit me right in the heart, she was my sister, the older one I never got to have myself so with Noah's quick exit out of my life his family was ripped away too. Three years together and almost a whole childhood of friendship was all thrown away in the blink of an eye.

"Absolutely, I still have the same number, I'd love to get together some time."

"Perfect, I'll be in touch. It was nice meeting you Tyler, take care of my girl would you?" Grace looked at him a large grin on her face.

"Don't worry, I will. Enjoy the game, Grace." As she walked away back towards her husband Tyler handed two of the bottles to me looking at me like he needed a lot of clarification and fast.

"We were very close, she's two years older than us she was a cheerleader too and unlike Noah she went to UT. Grace is the big sister I never had I guess? When everything went downhill the family I was a part of for so long was ripped out from under me, we never really got a clean break."

"How long has it been since you've talked to her?" Tyler asked walking back towards our seats skillfully weaving through the crowds.

"A year probably, we did the whole small talk when we were both on campus, she's a pharmacist so she spent a long time at UT. But, I couldn’t bring myself to go to her wedding, she understood obviously, it was too hard."

"So the hardest part of all this is Noah? He's the root of all evil, eh?"

"That's a perfect explanation, babe. But, I mean I didn’t just lose him I lost a family, they were my family too. It's just weird now, y'know?"

"I get it, Grace seems nice."

"Yeah, she is they're all nice, the Sloane's? Noah seemed nice too like everything back then was great, but I guess he wasn't perfect after all." I took a sip of one of the drinks in my hand as I thought of how stupid I was to think our relationship could be so picture perfect with 3 hours distance between us and a never ending stream of girls for him to look at.

"Too bad you are." He said with a wink too which I rolled my eyes as we approached my parents extending the two drinks in my hands to the two older adults staring sternly out on the field as the 3rd Longhorn was up to bat, one runner on 2nd base ready to run.

"Took you long enough," My mother commented sipping from the dark brown bottle.

"Well, we ran into Grace Sloane." I stated crossing my legs before taking a sip of my own drink.

"Oh, how is Gracie? I haven't heard much since the wedding last year." My dad asked his eyes never leaving the field.

"Pregnant, very pregnant. 6 months I'd guess, maybe more." I too had zoned out from her social media over the past few months, I had seen the pregnancy announcement on Facebook but that was it. I tried to avoid the Sloane's for the most part, that was Ellie's territory now or so I thought; I guess Grace still wanted me to be involved with her life at least.

"Oh I bet Greg and Marnie are over the moon, Jordan and Grace will be great parents." My mom added and I nodded along as the 4th batter grounded out but managed to bring in a teammate for the first run of the game.

As the next man squared up in the batter's box Asher appeared at the side of the dugout, a large #12 on the back of his classic burnt orange away jersey. I smiled to myself watching him take practice swings but he never got the chance to swing for the fences, the third out came for the Longhorns and they were sent off to take the field. Asher jogged his way out to first base all three of us assuming the position to watch Asher's throwing, leaning our forearms down on our thighs.

"Come on Ash," I mumbled as the pitcher threw to him to get the runner out only missing by a hair as his hand slapped the base a millisecond before Asher tagged him with his glove.

"You take this very seriously, huh?" Tyler joked, I shrugged my shoulders sitting back up as the next ball was easy pop-fly out.

"Lets just say we both picked a sport and went at it full force, Asher's just happened to be a full family deal. I spent what little free time I had at the ballpark, or driving him to his games, hitting coaches, and batting practices."

Before Tyler could comment on my spiel about not only America's past-time but also the Reichman's I adverted my attention back to the game quickly watching as the third basemen whipped the ball towards second who threw it to Asher just as fast, a perfectly executed double play. "Yes! Yes, dad did you see that?!" I squealed turning over to my dad who put his hands up for a double high-five.

"That's my boy!" Ben cheered as the Longhorns hussled off the field, in a pinch Asher was in the batting box tapping his bat in the all too familiar pattern before settling in for the first pitch.

Ball.

Ball.

Foul tip, strike.

Strike.

Ball.

Full count, I exhaled nervous as if I was the one at bat, "Come on 12, watch the curve."

The small white ball came hurtling towards Asher, a fastball no doubt but those were his favorite, always had been. The sound of the aluminum bat connecting with the baseball cracked throughout the ballpark, the white sphere sailing out to deep left field, dropping just feet from going over the fence. At speeds faster than my little legs could ever imagine running Asher landed at second base, a beautiful double.

"Damn, he's good." Tyler stated sounding a little dumbfounded.

"Yeah, kinda.. His high school team won state twice, he got the most playing time out of all the freshman last year too."

"His high school? Did you not go to the same one?"

I shook my head, as Asher stole to third putting a man in scoring position and one on first base, "Ash went to Jesuit it's all boys, Noah went there too. Solid baseball program."

"And I'm guessing you went to an all-girls school?"

"No, Hannah and I went to Bishop Dunne, it's Co-Ed. I wanted to be able to cheer even if it wasn't all that elite. But, Jesuit just has better sports, Ash got more offers by going there." The next batter brought Asher in receiving applause from a third of the crowd before being tagged out trying to steal second.

"I guess that makes sense," Tyler mumbled ending our conversation, high school seemed so long ago now that talking about it was weird.

The Longhorns pulled off an incredible win over the Horned Frogs, ending with a score of 9-2. After the game the four of us ditched our seats and waited around with a few other UT parents for the boys to come out. As we waited I handed my phone over to my mom forcing Tyler to take a picture with me as we looked super cute in our Horns apparel.

As I typed away posting it to Instagram "I "Hooked" a good one ;) Tyler's first UT game! #HookEm" I heard Asher before I saw him. Clicking post on the app I shoved the phone into the back pocket of my jean shorts and looked up to see my sweaty little brother only a few feet away.

Asher dropped his big black duffel on the floor before hugging our parents, he's always been a Mama's boy and it's clear as he spends an extra moment in our mom's arms. When Shayla's told him how proud she is and how well he played the tall brunette comes for me pulling me into his chest with a thud, his height has always amazed me. How am I barely 5'5 if Asher gets to be 6'3? Genetics are not fair.

"Nice game, Ashy." As I congratulated the boy who continued to squeeze me, "Bub, I can't breathe you're squishing me."

"Are you okay? Did he say anything to you? I swear I'll find him if he did." Asher finally spoke looking down at me with a concerned face.

"I'm fine, I promise I never even saw him, just Grace." I gave his forearms a reassuring squeeze.

"You don't know how hard it was to not say anything to him, they act like he's God around here." I laughed as my little brother made a disgusted face.

"Thank you for not making a scene, I don't need this starting all over again."

"You know I have to protect you, it's my job." Being younger never stopped Asher for taking care of me, he was always the one I turned to first.

Leaning up on my tip-toes I pressed a kiss to his sunburnt cheek still stained from eye-black, "Thank you, you're my favorite little brother."

Asher mumbled something along the lines of "I'm your only brother" before bro-hugging Tyler and settling into that conversation, hanging back I watched them interact it was nice they were very different but I was like a bridge that brought them together. While the two "Bros" and my dad chatted about the game I fell into conversation with my mom, it was going smoothly until she brought up Noah once again.

"Honey, do you ever think about Noah? You don’t still love him do you?" Smooth mama, real smooth.

"Do I still think about him? I try not to even hear his name, mom. It hurts, the best day of my life was hearing he got traded."

"That's a little harsh, Adleigh Ruth." I rolled my eyes seeing if the men were still conversing.

"Yeah, well so is cheating on your girlfriend of 3 years. Life's not fair is it? So, no I don’t still love him, hate's a strong word mama but I'd almost use it on him." I ranted my tone flat and harsh just as I felt.

"Simmer down, I know he hurt you, hell he hurt us all he was like a son to us y'know? I just had to ask, I don’t want you ruining the beautiful thing you have with Tyler because of him, he doesn’t deserve to hurt you twice."

"That could never happen, I've got nothing left in my heart for Noah," Peering over my shoulder once more I stole a look at Tyler, "Because I love Tyler, Mama, I really do. It's different than with Noah, I don’t know how or why but it's just, fun? And new, and I just can't get enough of him."

Shayla's lips curled up into one of the biggest grins I'd ever seen her posses, "That's true love my girl, sometimes you find it in the strangest places."

I grinned to myself knowing that she was right, you do find love in strange places, like a dimly lit bar on a slow Friday night, that's where I had found what I was slowly seeing as the love of my life.