Page 66 of The Trouble with Players

He laughed. “Thanks, babe.”

She giggled as he placed her down.

Cody looked to me. “Crew should be out in a minute. He’s talking to Coach.”

I nodded.

“We’ll wait,” Gina offered again.

“Go,” I urged. “He’ll be out soon.”

Gina contemplated it.

“Go,” I repeated.

“Call me if you need me,” she said.

“Okay.”

Cody dropped his arm over her shoulder and walked them toward the exit.

I lay back on the grass and stared up at the sky. With the darkness all around and no nearby lights obstructing my view, stars speckled the sky like a beautiful work of art. I tried to make out the different constellations—at least the few I knew—and they popped amongst all the others.

“You make a wish?” Crew asked.

“Maybe.” I didn’t sit up. “How’d you see me?”

“You stand out no matter where you are.”

“You and your lines.”

He laughed as he sat down beside me. “What’d you wish for?”

“That I’d meet some hot baseball player this summer and he’d—” My words were cut off by his lips sealing over mine. At first the kiss was slow, but then he climbed on top of me and caged me in with his elbows on either side of my head and the kiss deepened.

He eventually pulled back, giving us both a minute to catch our breaths. Even in the darkness, I could see the flush to his cheeks. “That’s what you were gonna say, right? You’d meet some hot baseball player, and he’d kiss you so good it would erase all others from your memory.”

“You would think that.”

“Tell me I’m wrong.”

I shrugged, not about to feed his ego even if it was the truth.

“Well, finish your thought then,” he said, rolling off of me and laying on his back beside me to stare at the stars.

“I was looking for constellations. Not making childish wishes.”

“It’s not childish to wish on a star. Don’t you make a wish when you blow out the candles on your birthday cake?”

“They never came true. So, I stopped making them.”

His head dropped to the side so he could see me. “Seriously?”

I met his gaze. “Seriously.”

“Well, that’s just sad.”

I shrugged.

---