Page 90 of The Shake Off

“Chill as fuck,” he replied with a smirk.

Marnie rolled her eyes. “Jupiter’s different because he’s more aerobic during the games. He covers more ground. Also, you don’t bat, therefore your heart rate doesn’t shoot up while running bases.”

“What’s my heart rate saying now?” I asked.

“I’ll get you a new patch, but overall, it’ll be the same. Calm.” Her head tilted a little and she stood up. “You do seem calmer than I’ve seen you in a while.”

Jupiter pushed off the wall. “She’s right, Watson. You have been less annoying than usual.”

He grunted as Marnie nudged him hard.

“Jupiter, be quiet.”

I looked back at the screen, where there in blue, green, and red was the sum of my failures and successes this season. I guess it made sense that the morning after I’d slept with Payton the second time – the successful time – was when the green lines would begin to appear, but while I knew my game had been improving, as well as my mental strength, I never expected she’d have had such a physical effect on me.

I didn’t think I felt any different than I had yesterday, but the blue line said otherwise.

I took a deep breath and thought about it, I wondered if perhaps I might have felt different because this morning had been different. Having Payton in my space, wearing my clothes, sitting at the kitchen counter while we made pancakes, had been different.

The soft click of Marnie’s laptop shutting brought me back to the present.

“Okay,” she said, “I need to go. Good luck for the rest of the game. I’ll get you a new patch.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. I’m not going back in. Thanks anyway, Doc.”

“You’re so goddamn smart, Marn,” Jupiter grinned at her, then blew her a kiss which made her cheeks redden, but when she turned to walk away, I could see a smile on her lips.

I let out a little chuckle and headed back to my seat to watch the rest of the game, just as Parker hit a home run. The crowd roared; foam fingers shot in the air as his name was chanted while he sprinted around the bases until he was safely home.

He jogged back to the dugout with a shit-eating grin, high-fiving Lux who was next up to bat.

“Awesome, buddy,” I grinned, slapping him on the back. “Fucking awesome.”

“King!” Coach hollered from the other end of the dugout, and gestured him over.

I sat back down, watching every guy on the team slap Parker on the back as he made his way to Coach.

“What’s been going on?”

I looked at Jupiter, who was sitting next to me again. “Huh?”

“With you. What’s been going on?”

Out on the field, Lux’s hit managed to get him as far as second base.

“I’m not following.”

“Your pitch, the lack of running your mouth off about whichever girl you hooked up with last night, you generally being more tolerable to spend time with…” He raised one thick eyebrow at me and grinned.

“I didn’t ask you to follow me back here, or sit next to me,” I snapped. “In fact, feel free to fuck off down the end of the benches if you’re going to be a dick.”

Jupiter threw his head back with a loud snort. “Easy tiger, I’m fucking with you. Mostly. But it all smells suspiciously like you’ve got yourself a girl.”

I stayed as still as I could, trying to school my features to give nothing away, instead of the giant smile I wanted to break out into, which would give everything away. Everything and more.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure, you don’t.” He sat back again, eyes on the field. “I was there in Shepherd’s office, remember? You told him you were going to fix it. Looks like you have, but something tells me you didn’t do it by yourself.”

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