Page 41 of The Perfect Game

Blowing out a breath, I tried to find something that would help convince her that I was sorry. “Please forgive me, Serena. I know I made a mistake tonight. I was just so angry that he wouldn’t let me go that I couldn’t focus on anything until I, well, until I could prove to him that I deserve to go.”

The line was silent for several seconds, and I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, pounding loudly as I waited for her response.

“It’s all right, Ben. I get being irritated with parents. If you can go, how long is the camp?” Her voice cracked and I could tell how much she was trying to be upbeat about the whole thing.

“Serena, are you okay? I’m a jerk, and I’m so sorry.”

I heard her intake of breath, and then she said, “I’ll be fine. I was just excited to hang out with you, and if you’re going to be gone, I won’t get to see you for a while.”

“The camp starts on Monday, and I think we come home early Friday afternoon. Aren’t tryouts soon for volleyball?” I leaned back on my bed, resting my free hand underneath my head.

“Yeah, Monday.”

“What did you do today?” Her short answers were making it difficult to carry on the conversation.

“Hung out with the girls. Applied for some jobs.”

I paused a moment. “That’s awesome. What kind of job?”

“Nursing assistants, the kind where you don’t need to be trained yet.” There was little emotion in her voice. I was going to need something to make up for my tunnel vision.

“That would be awesome. It would give you some experience before you start the CNA program, right?”

“Yeah, I don’t know. We’ll see if I even get any of them. I’m going to head to bed. We’re going running again, and I don’t want to be dragging.”

I was so used to her initiating a time to hang out, and I wished she would do it again. But when a few seconds passed and she said nothing, I said, “Do you want to retry movie night tomorrow? Maybe I can come to your place this time?”

“Um, yeah, we can do that. I’ll text you tomorrow. Good night.”

The phone clicked, and I stared at the ceiling. I hadn’t achieved complete forgiveness, but I hoped that by moving our date to tomorrow, we might go back to how we’d been over the past few weeks.

Twenty-Five

Serena

The house was clean, and I’d made some popcorn as I waited for Ben to show up. Glancing at my watch, it was already ten after seven. He was late, and it wasn’t doing much to help keep the anger from simmering in my stomach. If he stood me up after yesterday, then his words of apology meant nothing, and I was done.

I checked my phone, hoping I just hadn’t heard a text saying he’d be late. Nothing.

Grabbing a blanket, I pulled it up to my chin, relishing the warmth against the air conditioner. I thought about how Ben had been acting weird lately, trying to pinpoint when it started. He’d been so chill and fun up until our first date on the docks, and then it seemed like he’d almost walled himself off. Was he really that much of a perfectionist that he didn’t think our relationship would ever work out because of a mistake?

I mulled that over until the bell rang a few minutes later, and I stood to answer it.

“Hey, you made it,” I said.

“Sorry, I had to finish up some last-minute stuff and then jump in the shower.” Ben leaned over and hugged me as he stepped into the house. His hair was wet, and he smelled like body wash. He shifted nervously, sticking one hand in his back pocket.

I waved him into the family room. “You’re good. My parents are at some charity gala for my dad’s team, so it’s just us tonight.” I sat back in my seat on the couch and pulled the blanket up again.

Ben hesitated and finally sank down, sitting a few inches away from me.

“What should we watch?” I asked, turning on the TV.

He shrugged. “I’m good with whatever.”

“You don’t have to be so agreeable all the time, Ben. What do you want to watch?” I nudged, staring at his profile.

He turned to me, his eyes almost pleading for something. “I like action, adventure, sports movies, but I’m good with what you want to watch.”

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