Page 105 of The Perfect Love

“Thank you for wanting me here.”

“Night, baby.”

I press a kiss to his cheek. “Goodnight.”

And then, like every time we’ve slept in the same bed, I easily fall into a peaceful sleep wrapped in Trevor’s arms.

Trevor

Holy fuck.

Every so often in life, you know while something’s happening that you’ll remember every detail for the rest of your life.

That’s right now. Because I’m standing in the clubhouse of the New York Metros’ stadium for Aaron’s bachelor party. I’m wearing a Metros jersey with my last name on the back. And I’m about to play a game against the fucking New York Metros.

If I looked up surreal in the dictionary, I’d see a picture of this. No doubt.

I don’t care if it’s all technically for Aaron. I get to spend a few innings living a dream I thought I’d lost.

Back when our friend—and Amanda’s boyfriend—Jamie was preparing for the draft and had scouts coming to see him, Aaron connected with the Metros’ pitching coach, Marc Demoda. Marc and Aaron bonded over being pitchers who’d suffered hand injuries and became friends.

Because of course they did.

Aaron could become friends with anyone after talking with them for twenty minutes. That’s just who he is.

With some coordination from Jamie, who plays for the Metros minor league affiliate back home, Marc helped set this up for Aaron.

Not only do I get to live this tiny piece of my dream and play in a major league stadium against members from a major league team, I get to do it all with my best friends.

A couple of guys from the SUNY FL team are here, but otherwise, it’s our high school friends, including the dream team infield. Miles catching, Joel on second, Nick at shortstop, me at third, and Aaron pitching—for a bit of the game, at least. Like me, he won’t be able to play through the whole thing. I already know I’ll only last a couple of innings, but Nick’s older brother Vince played third on our high school team ahead of me, and he’ll be taking over when I’m done. Aaron will be bouncing around playing different positions before he pitches the final inning or two.

“You boys all ready?” Marc asks.

Aaron looks at him and smiles. “Give us a second.”

Marc nods and talks with Jamie as they head to the dugout where the rest of the guys are, but Nick, Miles, Joel, Aaron, and I hang back.

“Somehow a lifetime of playing ball together ends up here,” Aaron says. “I know Jamie and Marc pulled out a lot of stops to make it happen, but part of the reason I’m here at all is because of this—our team. The one we built and refused to break up. Do you remember when we were eight, and they tried to put Nick and Miles on a different little league team than us?”

Nick claps his hands and laughs. “Oh man, my dad was ready to lose his shit over how many tantrums I threw about that.”

Joel laughs. “Luckily, my dad threw money at the situation and fixed it.”

“I know we’ve had our own friend groups over the years, but this little team is the reason we won the state championship in high school. No one plays like we do. No one knows their teammates like we do. Fifteen years of playing together… they’ve got nothing on us.”

“So what you’re saying is… we’re about to go kick some major league ball players’ asses?” Miles says.

“Sounds just delusional enough to be right,” I say.

We all laugh.

“Thank you all for being here. I know this moment isn’t just for me. It’s for all of us. Let’s go kick some ass.” Aaron sticks his hand out. “Warriors.”

We all put our hands on top of his and yell, “Warriors!” in honor of our high school team.

Then we make our way out to the dugout to live our fever dream.

It’s the bottom of the third, and I’m savoring every moment of this game, ignoring the pain in my leg and lower back. Today is a dream, even if three innings is my limit. Vince batted for me in the top half of the inning and will take over for me after this.

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