Page 44 of The Perfect Game

My stomach tightened, and I was sure something was squeezing my lungs. “Umm…good question. What do you think she would like?” Heat rose to the tips of my ears as I thought about it. I was probably the worst gift giver ever, and it seemed like a birthday gift to my first girlfriend was almost as much pressure as being called to pitch in a tight spot.

“You like her, right?” The fact that one of Serena’s good friends had just asked me if I liked Serena or not meant I was doing an awful job in the boyfriend department. I wasn’t sure if Penny was this blunt with everyone else in the world, but she had a way of getting information out of me that even I didn’t know.

“Of course I like her.” I liked her smile, her sarcasm, and the way she snuck Daniel treats every time she came over to my house. She loved volleyball about as much as I loved baseball, and she’d been through a lot in the past few years, even though most people assumed she had the perfect life. But what to get her that conveyed all that wasn’t coming to mind. “Let me get back to you on that.”

“Okay, then. Well, I have to run, but good luck at your camp, and we’ll see you on Friday. I’ll text you Kate’s address so you have it.” She hung up, and I stared at the phone, wondering what I’d just gotten myself into.

I wracked my brain to come up with something that would be unique and show her how much I cared about her. The disappointment on her face when I showed up late to the movie night still twisted my stomach as I remembered it. I didn’t know much about the future, but I did know I needed Serena in my life. My feelings for her had gone from major crush to stronger feelings than like. But was there a physical representation of that I could give her?

I had three more days of baseball. Plenty of time to figure that out. And staying away from her like my dad had advised before I left for this trip wasn’t an option. I wanted her by my side, walking through the halls of the school and cheering for me in the stands during a game. And I would be there doing the same thing for her games. We both deserved the support of the people who loved us, and I was pretty sure I was there.

Twenty-Seven

Serena

“Girl, why are you dressed so somber?” Brynn asked, sitting in my room.

I looked down at the jean shorts and black blouse. It had been a while since we’d actually gone out anywhere, and maybe Penny’s more subtle style was rubbing off on me.

She stood and walked into my closet, grabbing several hangars and spreading the clothing out on my four-poster bed. As I scanned the pieces, I realized she’d pulled out several items I’d never seen before. I stood from the chair next to my desk and walked over, pulling out a tag so I could see the brand.

RG. My mom had designed these? I held up the white lace shirt with a second layer underneath all but the sleeves. The second had ruffled sleeves and just a few pieces of bling along the front of the shirt.

“Why don’t you ever wear any of these? I might have to borrow one or two of them.” Brynn held another shirt up to her, turning several ways in the mirror and making faces.

“I didn’t even know I had them.” These definitely didn’t fit in the old-woman category, and I hoped she was planning to sell more things like this in her shop. This was way better than what we’d modeled at the fashion show, and if Brynn and I were both excited about them, it was a good sign.

I pulled on the lace shirt and changed to a navy-blue circle skirt, adding some heels when Brynn insisted.

“Since when has it been like pulling teeth to get you to dress up?” Brynn said, admiring herself again in the mirror, this time with the shirt on.

With a quick shrug, I sat down and applied some mascara and eyeshadow. “It helps to know where I’m going. I get that you want it to be a surprise, but just tell me already.”

Brynn pulled on her upper lip with her teeth. “Um, no. Then no one would ever tell me a secret again. You’ll just have to wait a little bit longer.” She curled her eyelashes and then coated them with mascara before saying, “Have you heard from Ben today?”

I glanced toward my phone as if it would suddenly produce a bunch of messages from him. I’d barely heard anything from him over the past few days, but I could only imagine what the coaches were putting him through.

“No.” I gave a forced smile. I hadn’t heard from him since Tuesday when he’d called. He’d sounded so tired but also like something was off. That was just the start of my defenses rising in response to a lukewarm boy. But then at the end of the conversation, he’d sounded like he wanted to say something more serious but had held back. Since he hung up, it had been radio silence.

Brynn looked as if she’d just smelled something disgusting. “Really? He better make up for it tonight.”

Pointing my finger at her, I asked, “So you’re saying he’s going to be wherever we are tonight?” I grinned, hoping to coax any tidbit of information out of her. I hoped she was right because the strongest feeling I had right then was missing Ben, his awkwardness and his quirky sense of humor.

She used her thumb and pointer finger to pull an imaginary zipper over her lips. “My lips are sealed.”

“Not anymore.”

“Whatever. It’s seven fifteen. Let’s go. We’ve got to meet the girls in a few minutes.”

* * *

Twenty minutes later,we pulled into Kate’s driveway. I didn’t see Penny’s car and still had no idea what was going on. Brynn stalked up the steps and opened the door, walking right into the house.

“What are you doing? You don’t live—”

“SURPRISE!”

I jumped back, almost falling off the small step into the front door, barely catching myself on the handle.

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