Page 96 of Clichés & Curses

Knowing how packed it was going to be, especially parking-wise, Claudia and Lily decided to meet us at our apartment before we booked an Uber to go to the stadium together.Nina heated up some leftovers from last night, just to pan off our hunger throughout the game, since we planned on getting dinner later.

‘Everyone ready to go?’ Nina said after putting the last of the dirty plates in the dishwasher.

‘Yup!’ Claudia shouted at the same time as Lily exclaimed. ‘Ready!’

‘Me too,’ I replied. ‘Just let me grab my things, and then we can leave.’

I made my way back to my room and went to my closet to pick out a jacket. The weather wasn’t too cold thankfully, but the game was starting at 5 p.m. and would last into the early night.

I was about to reach for my denim jacket, when I noticed the one hanging beside it.

Colton’s baseball jacket.

After the not-date with Colton—as I liked to call it—I had immediately hung it inside my closet, instead of having it laid around my room. I did so because, one, to take care of it, and two, to let myself get rid of the memory and the desire to want more. I knew if it was placed somewhere I could see, I would just be reminded of what I couldn’t have.

But that was before I had decided to give him—give us—a chance. And maybe, there was a part of me, even back then, that just didn’t want to give it back to him just yet.

‘Clara!’ I heard Nina call out. ‘The Uber is coming in three minutes.’

‘Coming!’ Without further hesitation, I unhooked his jacket and placed it on my arm. Grabbing my tote bag from my desk chair, I joined the girls at the front door before we headed for our ride downstairs.

It might have been just an exhibition game, but when your college team is as celebrated and renowned as ours was, every game that you can catch in person is a big opportunity you shouldn’t miss. That also pretty much meant that the shared parking lot between the baseball stadium and the track field was filled to the brim, along with all the empty parking spots that were within walkable distance to the stadium, just as we had expected.

It seemed not only the whole college, but the whole town had the same idea of how to spend their Saturday evening.

We told our Uber driver to drop us off at the library instead, so he could avoid the ongoing traffic.

As we walked along the path, talking about who we were most excited to see play today, I took my phone out to see if Colton had texted me back.

After our conversation the day before, we had both gone our separate ways. Colton had to meet up with his team, and I had to head home and start prepping dinner. I had a new recipe I wanted to try out, and thus needed extra time, in case I messed it up.

But that only meant our conversations continued through text instead, and I hadn’t realized just how much I missed talking to him. It didn’t go too late into the night, since I knew he needed his sleep for the game.

We didn’t text as much that day, other than a good morning text, and him telling me he was going to be in the stadium all day with the team and their coach to discuss the strategy for that night’s game.

My last message wished him good luck for the game, but I wasn’t sure if he had seen it, since I only texted him on the Uber ride.

Our short walk finally came to a stop, as we approached the entrance to the stadium. The game was starting in half an hour, but it seemed like all the good seats were already taken.

Luckily, we managed to find four seats between the home plate and first base, somewhere in the middle of the numerous rows. It gave us a pretty good view of the game.

I settled into the furthest seat to the right, with Nina sitting next to me. A playlist of the day’s latest hit songs blasted the speakers as we waited for the game to start.

I unlocked my phone to see if there were any new notifications.

There were none.

I couldn’t help but feel a little upset at not sending the text a bit earlier. Not that he needed it, but I’m sure he would’ve appreciated it.

‘Are you wearing what I think you’re wearing?’ I heard Nina ask next to me.

I tucked my phone into the jacket. ‘What?’

‘It’s Colton’s jacket, isn’t it?’

I was yet to update Nina on what had happened with Colton the day before, only because I didn’t want to have her hopes up just yet, since Colton had a condition to fulfil to earn his chance of a date with me.

‘Yeah, it’s his jacket,’ I told her and left it at that. But the smile on my face pretty much told her everything she needed to know.

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