Page 28 of Nothing Like the Movies

It was going to be fine.

This was no big deal, a minor irritation at most, and it was totally feasible that I could absolutely avoid any further interactions with Wes Bennett.

“I’d like to imbed you with the baseball team.”

My coffee immediately went down the wrong tube, and I started coughing, hacking as Lilith patiently waited for me to recover.Imbed you with the baseball team.Dear God, this couldn’t be good. As soon as I was able to speak, I gasped, “What?”

She crossed her arms and said, “I’m sure you heard thatBaseball Americahas determined UCLA has the number-one recruiting class in the nation, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, your tiny little social media post of the team’s preseason practice on Friday got more likes than the football content. And they had agameon Saturday.”

She looked pleased, which made me beyond pleased.

I was also surprised that Lilith was paying attention to the athletic department’s social media posts, to be honest.

The woman was on top of everything.

“People are excited about the baseball team,” she said. “Boosters are excited. Everyone wants to see more of this promising bunch of players.”

I rubbed the spot between my eyebrows that was getting a headache.

“What, um, what does ‘imbed’ mean in this instance, exactly?” I asked, trying my hardest to sound like I didn’t have stakes in her answer.

“Did you watchHard Knocksyet?”

“Yes.” Yesterday I’d binge-watched the latest season, and it was a fantastic docuseries that covered the day-to-day of an NFL team during their season. “I loved it.”

“Well, good, because that’s what we want to do with the baseball team.Wewant to brand this team and this content. We haven’t finalized the verbiage, but I’m leaning towardBruins Baseball: Building a Championship Team.”

“Oh,” I said, nodding and trying to focus while my mind ran wild.

“We want followers to be inundated with day-in-the-life-of-a-Bruins-baseball-player content, as well as short player interviews to introduce this year’s team. I’d like for you to think of yourself as an honorary Bruin teammate and basically go to class, then baseball, then sleep. Rinse and repeat. I’d love to see three or four Reels a week until fall ball ends.”

What?? Nooooooooo.

Was she seriously telling me she wanted me to dedicate my every waking hour to the baseball team? The baseball team thathewas a member of?

And I would have to interview him?

I would absolutely open with the song “Disaster” in this scene if my life was a movie.

This could be a disaster

There’s so many factors…

“What do you think, Liz?” she asked, looking excited.

“It sounds amazing,” I lied, my stomach filling with dread. “Um, so is this for the production department, or is this—”

“No, this is all you.” She gave me an eyebrow raise and said, “This is your next internship assignment.”

Oh God, oh God, oh God.

“It’s a pretty big time commitment, though,” she said, standing and coming around to perch on the edge of her desk. “I’ve confirmed that the general schedule for the team is workouts at six thirty a.m. every day, followed by morning classes, then position coach practices for players after lunch—those are only three times a week, thank God. After that, there’s actual practice every day, conditioning three times a week, and then study hall to make sure the players aren’t falling behind. The life of a student athlete is not for the meek.”

My head was spinning. How in the world was I going to do all that by myself and keep up with my studies?

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