Page 8 of Praise You

"Sure. Hit me."

"My little brother plays for the Pirates."

Choking on my soda, I pause, waiting for it to go down before I speak. "What? You have a brother who plays for the Pirates? That's fucking amazing. Who is it?"

"Have you heard of Sebastian Lawson?" I nod my head and he continues. "That's my younger brother. He's been playing baseball all his life. When he was in college at U of San Diego, he got drafted to the Pirates and he's been there ever since." His voice is filled with awe as he looks back at the big screens on the wall.

"Damn man. That's amazing. Do you play baseball, too?"

He laughs loudly, shaking his head. “Nah. That was Sebastian's thing. I was one of those kids who did like Mathletes and shit. All the educational stuff while he was the athletic one."

"Both are good. But fuck man, the Pirates? We should definitely go to a game together. We can cheer on your brother."

We both chuckle as I take another sip of my soda. I decided to forego a beer tonight, as I have an early class tomorrow and alcohol always makes me sleepy.

"Hell yeah, dude. I'm always down for a game. We can take a look at the schedule and see if there's a day and time we're both free."

"Sounds good, man."

We both turn back toward the screen, watching the game continue. We talk easily as we finish up our food. Once the game ends, we pay our tabs and get up to leave the restaurant. Tonight was such a great night and I truly think I have met a new friend.

"We should do this again sometime," I say to Nate after we step out into the cool air.

"Of course. Where did you park?" he asks, looking down the street.

Jerking my head to the right, I say, "I parked behind the building. You?"

"I parked down the street. But thanks for hanging out with me."

"It was fun. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Absolutely. Night man."

"Night."

I walk toward the back of the building before getting into my car. I live close to the restaurant and the campus, so it only takes me ten minutes to get home. Exiting my car, I click the car key fob twice to make sure it's locked before walking up the steps to the second floor where my apartment is.

Once I step inside, I take off my shoes, kicking them to the side and out of the way. I set my wallet and keys down on the counter in the kitchen before opening the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water. Sitting down on my leather couch, I twist off the cap on the bottle and take a large gulp. Placing the bottle onto my coffee table, I pick up the remote, scrolling for a couple minutes, before tossing it back onto the table and sighing loudly. Ember meows loudly, jumping up onto my lap. She circles around before plopping down. Her head rubs under my hand and I chuckle, knowing she’s asking for some love.

“You good, girl?” I ask, using my finger to rub under her chin. She purrs, closing her eyes at my touch. After getting her fill of my cuddles, she stands up and jumps off the couch, heading in the direction of her bed. “Fine, I see how it is. Just use me for mini massages and then take off.” Ember meows softly as she takes off and I huff.

Relaxing against the back of the couch, I let my eyes drift close, and I breathe in deeply, my thoughts going straight to the masked man.

"Ugh, are you serious?" I say aloud to the empty room.

Sitting back up, I reach onto the end table next to the couch and unplug my computer from its charger. I open the laptop, waiting for it to turn on and load. My leg bounces up and down at my nervousness. I wipe my sweaty hands onto my pants before reaching for my water and taking another sip. I pull up the search engine typing in FAN-tasy. Closing my eyes, I bite my thumbnail, impatiently waiting for the screen to load.

Navigating the main page, my mouse hovers over my 'favorites' category. I never even favorited the specific profile, but I guess since it was the first profile I went to—and the only one I keep going to—it automatically assumed it was one of my top choices.

Looking at the different icons, I notice the bubble is gray, which means masked_menace isn't live. I haven't done a live video since that first one, but I have come back here multiple times and watched the videos masked_menace has uploaded.

I don't know what it is about him. Maybe it's because he's such a secret, or the fact it's something new I'm discovering about myself. But I feel some type of connection to him.

Which is fucking crazy.

We did one live video together.

One.

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