Page 9 of Rounding Third

“Well, I'm worried if I'm loud or distracting, you’ll kick me out and I don’t want to leave.”

“You’re always distracting.” I roll my eyes, but I'm smiling.

“I don’t mean to be.” He frowns down at his plate full of sushi.

“Do you want to talk about what’s going on? Something’s off with you.” I place my laptop on the table and tuck my legs under me before grabbing my plate.

“No.”

“You have approximately fifteen minutes before I'm going back to writing.” I arch a brow.

“Fine. Our interaction today really screwed with my head,” he grumbles under his breath.

My head snaps to face him and my brows pull together. How did our interaction bother him? I only spent like five minutes with him. I couldn’t possibly be the cause of this weird funk he’s in.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know.” He runs a rough hand through his hair, messing it up even more. “You just… you almost seemed embarrassed to be friends with me and I don’t know how to take that. Are you?”

“Am I embarrassed to be friends with you?” The question comes out as a squeak and I mentally facepalm myself. Why do I have to be so awkward?

“Yeah. Are you still friends with me out of an odd sense of loyalty or do you actually want to be friends with me?”

Smithy leaps off the couch and begins pacing back and forth. This really is bothering him. I’ve never seen him like this. Normally he’s so confident and easy going.

‘You know he hides his true feelings most of the time,’my brain screams at me.

I reach for him and tug him back onto the couch. I hate seeing him so broken up over this.

“Travis, are you serious right now? You’re the most important person in my life. I don’t want to spend a day on this planet without you around.”

“Are you sure? You seemed like you just wanted me to leave earlier. And then when I got here, you weren’t thrilled to see me.” He stares down at my hand still holding onto his forearm.

“At the stadium, it was awkward. You flirt, but I know it isn't real; you’re just being you. But it makes it weird for me when people ask if there’s something going on between us. I answer questions and have to insist we’re just friends every single time I'm seen with you in public.”

I give him a few seconds to process that. He still won't meet my gaze, but I can see his emotions flickering across his features. There’s a hint of sadness and I don’t know why.

“And when you got here, I’ll be honest, I didn’t want to open the door.”

“What the heck, Sweets?” He finally lifts his gaze to meet mine and there’s so much hurt swimming in his gray eyes. They’re darker than they normally are and I wish I could sneak into his head and know what’s going through it right now.

“I’m majorly stressed about this article. Bill’s pushing for something speaking against Owen.”

“You can't do that!” He sits up so quickly he almost falls off the couch.

“I'm not going to,” I try to soothe him, but I'm not sure anything can calm him down tonight. “I’m going to report thetruth and the truth is Stubbs’ is an asshole. He’s always treated me poorly and I don’t have a problem sharing that with the world.”

“You never told me that.” Smithy’s brows form a deep frown. “What did he do?”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s over and I don’t need to deal with him again.” I wave off his concerns. “We’re fine though, Tavis. You don’t have anything to worry about. I'm not going anywhere. I'm in your life for the long haul, unless you want to kick me out.”

“Never, Sweets. I want to keep you forever.”

Chapter 4

Smithy

I want to scream from the top of my lungs and tell her she’s the love of my life. I want to get down on my knees and beg her to give me a chance as more than her best friend. Anything to convince her I'm not just being ‘Smithy’ when I flirt with her.

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