Page 53 of The Shake Off

I didn’t want to see his first pitch in case he didn’t.

I wasn’t sure which I wanted to see less.

“I’m going to get some ice cream.”

I walked slowly to the kitchen, my ears straining for any type of cheering which might indicate how Ace had thrown, and placed the dishes in the sink.

Slowly, I opened the freezer and ran my finger along the enormous selection of ice cream tubs until I found the ones I was looking for – mint choc chip, cherry, peanut butter, and vanilla. Slowly, I scooped out each flavor into two bowls, then placed the tubs back in the freezer and slowly carried the bowls back out.

The camera had zoomed into Ace’s face. Even from the brief five minutes I’d seen of the game last night before he’d come over, I could tell he looked completely different. Relaxed, almost. It wasn’t the Ace I remembered from last year; the one with the almost arrogant, gave-zero-fucks quirk of his lip right before he powered a ball toward his opponent at a hundred miles an hour, but it was a far cry from the guy with tension and worry carved into his features… the one I’d seen since Opening Day.

“He’s pitching much better,” mumbled Kit through a mouthful of ice cream.

“Yeah?”

“Look.” She nodded to the screen where Ace was in position; his knee raised and his arm back. The ball flew out of his hand, straight into Parker King’s glove. “That was ninety-seven mph.”

“Huh.”

“You took so long getting ice cream you missed his first throw. The Red Sox guy only got onto first base after Ace’s third pitch. He’s going for the fast ball tonight.”

I spooned a mouthful of cherry ice cream. “Oh, okay then.”

“See? Maybe he didn’t have the yips. Something seems to have worked, anyway.” She reached for the remote again. “Can we watch The Bachelor now?”

I picked it up before she could. “No, wait, let’s just see Ace finish pitching.”

“I thought you didn’t care about Ace.” She turned to me with a frown. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

Kit spun her entire body around until she was facing me and crossed her legs, determination radiating from her. “What’s going on?”

I sighed; she would only keep asking. I don’t know why I was feeling so weird about it. I always told Kit everything, but for some reason, this felt a little… private? No, wrong? No. That wasn’t it either.

Dumb. Yeah, dumb is exactly how it felt.

“Okay, but try not to judge too much, and can you keep it to yourself this time? I don’t want big mouth Murray telling Penn.”

“What did you do?”

“I had sex with Ace Watson.”

She stared at me, a confused expression on her face. I swapped my bowl of ice cream for my glass of wine.

“I mean,again. I had sex with himagain.”

She would have won an award for the gasp she let out. “What? When?”

I cringed. “Last night.”

“How? You said it was terrible the first time.”

I held a finger up to her. “No, I never said that. I definitely didn’t say it was terrible. I said it needed refining.”

“Then what happened?”

I took a large sip of wine, and recanted the series of events which lead to me doing something I said I’d never do again. Kit’s mouth dropped a little more as my story continued.

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