Page 83 of The Third Baseman

That look was back on his face, the one where he wasn’t quite sure what I was thinking. I stroked down his cheek, biting down on my lip to distract me from the nervousness.

In the last two months he’d helped me study and I watched his games. We’d stolen kisses in the hallways as he rushed to practice and I ran to the library; he’d tried to teach me about baseball, and I’d tried to teach him about the solar system. We’d spent time with his friends, and on one rare occasion outside of the times we all rode to school together, Emerson, where she’d made me laugh with how much she made fun of him. He’d met Lena and Byron, though neither of them had known what to say to him.

And we were so similar; we were both working our asses off to live childhood dreams. Even if they weren’t quite the same, our drive was. We understood what it was like.

A physics student and a baseball player.

Marnie the nerd, and Jupiter the most popular of jocks.

There was nothing about this situation that hadn’t surprised me; especially how sweet and kind he was, how patient he’d been with me. Not once had he pressured me into doing anything I didn’t want.

Now, I wanted everything.

“I saw my mom this morning. Her and my dad have gone away for the weekend.”

He frowned. “Are you going too? I thought we were going to hang tonight.”

I shook my head. “No, I’m home alone. Will has a party that I know he didn’t tell my parents about; it’s why my mom thought she could leave me. They think he’ll be home.”

He smiled again. “Okay, cool. We can watch a movie or something. Then I have my game tomorrow. You’ll come, right?”

“Yes, of course I will.” I softly touched my lips to his before taking a deep breath, “But there’s something else I want to do instead of watch a movie…”

I held his gaze, waiting for him to catch exactly what I was saying without the embarrassment of having to say it. It took him twenty seconds of searching my face for the ball to drop, followed by his jaw.

“Marn, are you sure? Don’t you want to wait until your birthday?” he blurted.

I shook my head slowly.

“You’re sure? You’re really sure? I’m happy waiting until you’re ready. I’m good doing all the other stuff.” The way he was tripping over his words made me swear he was almost nervous as me.

“I’m ready, Jupe.”

He stared at me then stood up so quickly the plinth shook.

“Let’s get back to school. I need to go to the drug store, and if I sprint to practice, there’s still enough free period left.” He dropped back down when he caught the surprise on my face. “If that’s okay… we can stay here if you want.”

I laughed. “No it’s good. I need to get to the lab early anyway.”

He pulled me to my feet, smacking a quick kiss to my lips, before gathering up my text books and the blanket. We took off at speed down the hill to the main campus, him nearly pulling my arm out of the socket while we ran.

“Ouch, Jupe!” I squealed with laughter, and a little pain, as we passed the hockey arena.

“Shit, sorry. Sorry.” He roped me into a hug; his free arm wrapped around my waist, and kissed my hair with a chuckle. “I’ll walk at a regular pace. Where’s your next class?”

“We can go to the sports building; I need to collect a new timetable before I go to physics.”

“Perfect. Lead the way, professor.”

I rolled my eyes making him laugh, and that’s how we walked across the campus. It was becoming the norm; and perhaps I’d gotten used to the staring, or maybe people weren’t staring quite as much as they used to. That was only if I discounted the harem of identikit girls who followed him around like I didn’t exist.

I’d also gotten used to the length of time it took to get places with Jupiter, because everyone had to say hello to him, high-five him, or comment on his latest game. But he kept my hand in his through all of it. He didn’t seem to care, or notice, how long we were, as long as he was holding onto me.

I definitely didn’t care.

We walked up the steps and flashed our badges at the entry way, Jupiter hauling me against the wall before I had a chance to head in the opposite direction.

“What are you doing?”

---