Page 141 of The Third Baseman

The stadium was so silent you could hear the birds singing outside, and the jets flying overhead.

You could have heard a pin drop.

Then, he nodded. Slowly, teasingly, but he nodded. Nothing could stop the smile taking over my face as I slowly dropped the sign so he could read my shirt. He glanced at the Jumbotron then bent back, throwing a laugh out high enough and loud enough to startle the birds.

JUPITER REEVES IS MY BOYFRIEND

I’d never heard the crowd cheer bigger. It was deafening; booming; resounding; thunderous.

I snatched away the tear before it fell. I wasn’t going to cry on the Jumbotron as well as make a total idiot of myself. Not that I cared, but thankfully the umpire decided he’d had enough of the Jupiter and Marnie show, and the game got underway.

The final batter walked up to the batters’ box for the end of the Brewers’ first inning. Ace did his thing. The bat cracked. The ball flew through the air, and straight into Jupiter’s glove.

I swear he hadn’t even been looking, because I swear he’d been staring at me since the first pitch.

He sprinted toward the dugout, ball still in his hand. I didn’t know he was capable of scaling walls more deftly than a cat, but in a blink, he was on the roof of the dugout, standing in front of me with the ball in his hand.

I barely noticed the movement around us, of cellphone cameras coming out as he bent down and leaned forward.

“Hello, Marnie Matthews.”

I blinked away the emotion in my eyes. “Hey.”

He held his hand out. “I caught you a ball.”

I took it, soaking in the soft smile as he looked down at me. I wanted to bathe in this feeling forever; warm and glowy, and perfect. “Thank you.”

“Nice shirt.” He reached out, his fingers slipping under the neck and pulled me to him. His hand fisted the material, and I didn’t have a second to think before his lips crashed onto mine, not that I would have changed the outcome under any circumstance.

I wasn’t sure what was louder; my groan or the cheer from the crowds watching us around the stadium. But I didn’t get a chance to enjoy more than the briefest taste of him, the quickest swipe of his tongue before our perfect moment was ruined.

“Okay, show’s over. Get down, right now Reeves!” yelled Coach Chase. “You’re acting like a goddamn teenager!”

Jupiter smirked but did as he was told and disappeared into the dugout.

“I told you he’d run off the field,” whispered Lowe.

When Jupiter came out for his first time at bat, I finally got to enjoy the butterflies fluttering round as they dissipated all the nerves. And I really got to enjoy the way he turned and winked at me, just before he took position.

Then I got to see the wavy line he drew in the dirt, the way he always did. But for the first time, I realized that it was more than a wavy line… much more than a wavy line.

I saw it for what it really was.

An M – for Marnie.

How had I never recognized it? Though I knew a small voice, Jupiter’s inside voice, was telling me it was because I’d never truly acknowledged his truth, that he’d never stopped loving me, and his future was our future.

That he loved me as much as I loved him, and this time he wasn’t going anywhere.

I could finally allow myself to believe it.

For the rest of the game I sat in a beam of his sunshine, warmed through to my bones with the knowledge that Jupiter Reeves once again belonged to me.

Jupiter Reeves wasmyboyfriend.

The Lions won, seven to two. Jupiter would be forgiven for delaying the start of the game because four of those runs were his, along with the handful of Brewers players he’d caught out.

The crowds were still cheering as they dispersed, clearing out of their seats when he pulled me down the steps by the dugout and yanked me onto the field. His callused palm wrapped around mine and stayed there until he found the quietest spot he could, because he was too desperate to see me to wait until we got home.

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