Page 7 of Catch Me
Moving my gaze to Travis, I considered taking the seat next to him again. He’d acted friendly to me, but I hadn’t been aware that he was gay. How was everybody here fucking gay? The math didn’t make sense.
Pushing away my pride, I grabbed my tablet from my backpack and returned to my seat. It wasn’t like someone often got an opportunity to watch the game from one of these suites. I’d always wondered about them, but I never would’ve thought I’d be here, especially with Travis McKinney. I wished my dad was here, because he was a fan. Then again, he’d probably boycott the team if he knew about Travis’ sexuality.
It was probably better if he didn’t find out or I’d never hear the end of it. He’d go on about how his favorite team was ripped away from him. I already listened to him bitch about my mom marrying Ross, who had a gay son and a trans son. It had pissed me off, and more than once, I had to tell him not to speak down on her.
Travis glanced at me briefly when I sat down. I ignored him and pulled up an app on my tablet.
Earlier, I’d been working on a piece I’d planned for my time here. Looking at pictures wasn’t enough, so I was going to take advantage of having the field in front of me. I already had theforeground finished, but I wanted the background to be perfect with every detail I could manage.
It was difficult in this position, and I definitely wasn’t making it a masterpiece, but I could get it down, then redo it when I got back to the house. I had a really good memory, and it wouldn’t be too difficult. I just needed the vision.
Pausing the motion with my stylus, I looked over at Travis. He was watching me, and when he saw me staring, he offered me a smile.
“Sorry.” He didn’t sound sorry.
Ignoring him, I glanced out the window, then down at the screen. He’d broken my concentration, and it took me a minute to get back into it.
“That’s really good,” he went on. “Amazing, actually.”
“I know.” That probably made me sound like an asshole, but I knew that my art was good and I didn’t want to be interrupted to get complimented.
“Can I see the pitcher?” he asked, his slight southern drawl tilting the last word.
My eyes closed briefly as I took a deep breath. “Why?”
He shrugged. After grinding my teeth, I zoomed out and turned the screen toward him. His head cocked as he studied the image. Regardless of my art being good, my foot began to tap while I waited for him to be done scrutinizing it.
When I couldn’t stand it anymore, I turned it toward me and looked at it. The nose wasn’t right. Maybe. It definitely needed adjusting.
He pointed at the screen. “It’d be really cool if you put the Mariner’s logo there, but not super obvious. Like, you have to actually look to see it blended into the image. Sorry, I don’t know if that’s possible. I just saw it in my head, but I’m not an artist.”
I tilted my head a little and pictured it. It sounded like a pain in the ass to inlay something subtle like that, but I had to admit that it could be cool.
“Are you in school for art?”
“Yeah,” I replied without looking at him.
“Do you take commissions or anything?”
“I do some on a freelance site when I have time. Gives me extra money.”
“What about something bigger?”
This time, I turned to look at him. His amber eyes were locked on me in a way that made me want to tell him to fuck off. When he smiled, I relaxed a little. He seemed like a really nice, genuine person, but I didn’t want to get close to him. I couldn’t, really.
“Like what?” I asked.
“Like a whole team.” When my brow furrowed, he crossed his ankles and leaned back. “We’re doing a calendar. Overrated, I know. Who uses wall calendars anymore? Anyway, it’s always just professional photos, and I think it’s boring. I bet if I pitched the idea of art, they’d go for it. Everyone loves supporting indie artists.”
“I don’t know . . .”
It sounded like a huge project. Expensive too, if I had to travel to Georgia. If I could do it in one trip, maybe it’d be manageable, but I didn’t think I’d be able to swing that. Art couldn’t be rushed.
“Your name would be on it,” he said. “And it’s not just physical calendars. There are digital ones, then sometimes, the same pictures are used for other things. Could be a good opportunity, plus it’d pay well.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Can I broach the idea with our manager? Just to see if he’d be into it?”
