Page 72 of Clichés & Curses

‘An away game?’ I heard Eliza ask.

‘He’s on the baseball team,’ I clarified.

‘Is he now?’ Eliza exclaimed, clearly enjoying this. Especially when she knows all about my streak of crushes on school athletes. ‘Is he any good?’

I gave her a sour look. ‘How would I know? I don’t watch all of their games,’ I said, trying to deflect her questions.

‘But I thought you attended all of the home games.’ Eliza tilted her head, her voice all innocent. I shot a glare her way, knowing she was anything but innocent especially when she was interrogating me.

‘Ugh, fine. Yes, he’s a really good baseball player,’ I admitted. Considering he had hit a home run at almost all the games I had attended, I would say that was an accurate description of him.

‘Good to know,’ Eliza said, a knowing smirk plastered on her face. ‘So, what’s been going on between you two?’

‘Nothing,’ I stated, point blank. ‘We’re just friends.’

Eliza gave me an amused look. ‘Friends don’t stop by your apartment just to drop off bubble tea and flowers.’

‘Good friends do?’ I said, phrasing it more like a question than a statement.

Eliza just arched a brow at me, then took another sip of her water. ‘Speaking of the baseball team, what happened to your other crush who was also on the team?’

Eliza might be the most ambitious person I knew, but deep down, she was also a hopeless romantic just like me.

And that’s when I realized why I hadn’t told her about Colton.

After seeing that first game during my freshman year, I remembered our phone conversation that week, when I had told her about Colton: how I might have started developing a crush on him that day, and how it just continued growing bigger and bigger with each game I went to. But I was always cautious of never giving out his name, only referring to him as ‘my crush’, without ever putting a name or a face to it. This was just so I could keep the fantasy of crushing on the baseball player, and the happily-ever-after of it all alive, whenever I talked to her.

But fantasy was easy to keep, when you’re separated by a whole campus, not when it showed up at your front door with bubble tea and flowers.

My inner turmoil must have brewed longer than I thought, when I heard Eliza let out a massive gasp as she pieced out the puzzle herself.

‘It’s him, isn’t it?’ she exclaimed. ‘Your baseball player crush is Colton.’

Sighing, I nodded. No use in trying to hide it any more. ‘Yes, it’s Colton,’ I confirmed.

‘Well, aren’t you a lucky gal,’ Eliza laughed. ‘I should be taking notes from you on how to get guys.’

‘Get guys?’ I murmured before speaking up, ‘You’re getting ahead of yourself here. We’rejustfriends, Eliza. That’s all we are and that’s all we will ever be.’

‘You seem pretty confident about that,’ Eliza said, tilting her head. ‘Did he say anything about only staying friends?’

‘I mean,’ I trailed off. ‘Technically, he didn’t. But how do you move forward to being more than friends, when he hasn’t asked me out yet?’

‘Fair enough.’ Eliza nodded.

Our food arrived a few moments later, and we ate silently through the first few bites, savouring our meal. Eliza offered her plate for me to taste her food, and I did the same with mine.

I thought the whole Colton conversation had come to an end, but I realized I was completely mistaken, when Eliza asked me her next question. ‘So, what you’re saying is, the only thing that’s holding you back from being more than friends with Colton is that he hasn’t asked you yet.’

‘Pretty much,’ I shrugged.

‘Okay. But what if he does ask you out?’

‘Doesn’t matter, since he didn’t,’ I quickly answered.

‘Humour me then. Think of it as a hypothetical situation.’

Her words made me pause. I already knew what my answer would be. But knowing Eliza, a simple no wouldn’t suffice. And that meant telling her about my stupid beliefs over something so childish.

---