Page 140 of The Third Baseman

Oh, God.

I took the card from Lowe, stood up, and waited.

The first Brewers’ batter walked out of the dugout, and got into the batters’ box.

Then I remembered Ace had been told to delay the first throw, but I hadn’t given any thought to how he’d do it.

Jumping Jacks.

Jumping Jacks was how Ace was delaying the first throw. He wasn’t hard to miss because the mound was right in front of me, but I barely glanced at him before my gaze finally landed back on Jupiter, who still hadn’t noticed me on the screen.

He hadn’t noticed me period.

His head was down, his foot marking the dirt near third base. He hadn’t even noticed the game had yet to start because Ace was fucking around.

Everyone else except Jupiter had noticed, especially as the crowds were very obviously laughing.

Ten seconds of Jumping Jacks, and Ace was done.

“Reeves, you fuckhead! Look!”

Jupiter’s head snapped up to Ace, and then turned slowly to the left, to where Ace was pointing – to me on the Jumbotron, holding my sign. In a flash he whirled back around to the crowd, then back to the Jumbotron, and once again to me.

He’d found me. From the way his body turned and his massive biceps crossed over his chest, I knew he’d found me. I couldn’t see his face, but I was willing to bet all the stars in the sky he was glaring at me, eyes narrowed and piercing, his jaw clenched tight.

Just like his poster.

He didn’t look away, didn’t look over to the Jumbotron, just stayed trained on me, my sign, and the huge black letters which read:

JUPITER, I HAVE A QUESTION.

I waited, staring straight at him, and not over to the Jumbotron where I could see myself in perfect color; big and bold.

“Turn it around,” Lowe hissed.

“Oh, right.”

WILL YOU BE MY BOYFRIEND?

If I thought the crowd was laughing loud at Ace, it was nothing compared to the roar going through them now.

Behind me I could hear whispers, light laughter, and then a snort to my right – or a chorus of them. There was too much ringing in my ears for me to hear properly.

I was suddenly thankful there was a whole row of Emerson’s friends between me and the strangers who thought I was certifiable.

Thank God we were in the front row so no one could turn around to look at me. It was bad enough the entire stadium could see me on the screen, and it didn’t take long for the crowd to realize they were possibly witnessing more than a joke, evident from all the cell phone camera raised in the air.

“You’re gonna be on the news later,” sing-songed Beulah quietly from her seat.

I groaned just as quietly. I could picture the headlines, especially as Jupiter had yet to answer.

He was still staring at me when another snort of laughter echoed behind me, and it was enough to have me stamping my foot like a petulant child.

“JUPITER!”

The Jumbotron screen split in two, one half on me, the other half on Jupiter.

A grin spread slowly on his face, stretching out his full lips until it was a smile reaching from ear to ear; bigger than I’d ever seen it.

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