Page 35 of The Baller

My obsession with baseball was already bordering on unhealthy, and I was practicing my catch and swing every waking moment I had – before school, during school, after school, before bed – and my bat came everywhere with me. If I could get those Air Jordans just like Derek Jeter, then I would get to the major leagues. Iknewit.

My grandma had given me five dollars on my eighth birthday, and I’d known exactly what I’d wanted to buy with it – the Derek Jeter Air Jordans – except I was a little short – okay,a lotshort – so I needed to get to work. I made flyers and mowed lawns on our street for two months to pay for them.

Finally, the day arrived, and my mom took me to the Nike store in Nashville, and I walked out on a cloud wearing my brand-new Air Jordans, just like Derek Jeter.

I don’t know if it made a difference, but I now play in the major leagues. I have a contract with Nike, and fashion houses send me their clothes to wear.

But even though Nike could send me as many Air Jordans as I wanted, the first thing I do at the beginning of every season is buy a pair. Actually, I buy two; one pair I keep in New York to wear, the second I have on display in a custom closet in the house I bought my mom and sisters in Nashville.

I own every pair of limited edition Air Jordans ever made, and they all sit alongside my very first pair – the cream ones with orange piping and an orange swoosh.

Parker tapped against my jittering knee. “But seriously dude, what’s up?”

My eyes sliced back to his before I replied, “Nothing, why?”

Across the aisle, Tanner tore open a packet of nuts with his teeth, and shook the contents into his hand. “You looked likesomeone shit in your favorite pancake pan.”

Ace spluttered out a cough, along with the gum he’d been chewing, which landed in Tanner’s lap.

He flicked it away. “Ugh.”

Ace reached for the gum, now by his foot, and wrapped it in a piece of paper.

Parker and I were both wearing slightly bemused, not to mention confused, expressions, while Tanner continued throwing nuts into his mouth.

“What does that even mean?”

“You don’t look happy.”

“I’m fine,” I shrugged again, though even as I said it, I didn’t quite believe the words. “Why’s everyone on my ass this morning? I’m tired. We’re all tired. It’s the end of season. We need this vacation.”

My eyes flicked toward the cockpit as one of the stewards emerged, and pulled the curtain separating the little galley kitchen from the main cabin. “Gentlemen, we’re ready for take-off. Please fasten your seatbelts.”

“Bahamas, here we come!” whooped Tanner, the second the front wheels lifted a couple of minutes later.

Yeah, Bahamas. We’d finally decided on a destination with the help of a coin toss.

I watched the ground get further and further away, the people and cars, the boats on the Hudson, The Statue of Liberty and the George Washington Bridge vanishing to nothing more than tiny Lego pieces as we rose higher into the clouds, before disappearing for good. Pinching my nose to stop my ears popping, I took a deep breath and settled in. Tanner was up as soon as we leveled out, throwing himself onto one of the couches with such force I’m surprised it didn’t knock the plane off course.

I picked my book up, only to put it down again as the steward appeared. “Gentlemen, what can I get you to drink before lunch is served?”

Parker glanced up from his phone. “We’re officially on vacation. I think it needs to be four beers.”

Ace and I both nodded in confirmation, and a loud, “Hell, yeah,” came from the couch. Parker went back to his phone, and Ace did the same. I closed my eyes for what I knew would be a brief minute before the beers arrived.

“Cheers, boys,” I toasted and held mine up after they’d been placed on the table in front of us, and then glanced at Ace. “How’s your face?”

“All bruising.” He leaned over to knock his bottle against mine and Parker’s. “Nothing the sunshine won’t fix.”

Scratching through my beard, reminding myself I needed a shave before we hit the beach, I looked at his smirking face. “The ladies will love you again, and the world will right itself.”

“I only care about Payton loving me, and as fucked up as I look…” a grin split his face as his brows waggled. “Not sure I’d recommend getting your ass kicked by four dudes for a bit of loving… but I wouldn’tnotrecommend it.”

“Did Radley reply?”

My eyes flicked to Parker, wishing he’d found some other topic to change the subject to from Ace’s sex life. Bringing the bottle to my lips so I didn’t have to verbalize it, I shook my head, though it didn’t shake the twinge that pinged in my chest. I couldn’t even pinpoint why it pinged. It was probably because I still felt a teeny bit guilty that Ace looked the way he looked, or that I’d gotten us into the mess in the first place.

But it was probably because I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

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