Page 66 of Fun Together
The parkwhere Eli’s softball game is taking place looks like it hasn’t seen any upkeep in decades. Pretty sure I see what’s left of a Snickers wrapper from 1995 stuck to the fence.To make matters worse, it’s been raining all week and there’s standing water everywhere, causing the mosquitoes to swarm.
“If I contract the latest mutation of the West Nile virus out here, I’m going to kill you.” Rett gives her arm a smack. “Why are we here again?”
“Because Eli thinks I might hit it off with someone on his team and I didn’t want to come by myself.”
“Where is he?”
I point to where Eli is standing on the field. “Third base in the hat.”He says something to the short brunette woman from the other team who made it to the base during the last hit. Whatever he said makes her giggle so loud it echoes through the park.
He’s funny, but he’s notthatfunny.
“No. I mean, where is the guy he’s setting you up with?”
“I’m not sure. He didn’t tell me much about him.”
He didn’t tell me much of anything, because Eli is notoriously bad with details.
“I still don’t get why you don’t just date Eli.”
“Because I like having another friend besides you. And he’s like a brother to Andrew. It would just feel wrong.”
It sort of feels wrong to be getting closer to Eli even in a platonic way. Would Andrew see our friendship as a betrayal? I’ve kept my promise to myself and haven’t reached out to Andrew at all while he’s been gone. Being over at his place the other day when Eli had his plant debacle was a little weird. Not because I once lived there too, but because Eli’s presence there was . . . loud.
“Do you at least know this mystery man’s name?”
“The only things I know are that his name is Chris and that he works at an animal shelter. Or a cat café. Something with animals.”
“Well, that’s kind of cute.” She yawns and I notice that her energy seems low.
“Are you okay? You seem a little down.”
“Sorry, I’ve been trying to keep Minnie under control from two-hundred miles away. She’s not adjusting well to nursing home life, and for her own cosmic reasons, she thinks I’m the only one who can take care of it.”
I give her a side hug, even though she hates displays of affection. “I’m sorry. If you want to go home, just say the word. I don’t want to make you be somewhere you don’t want to be.”
She shoves me away in a brushing off motion. “No, it’s fine. This is a good distraction. I like watching people chase each other around in what amounts to an elaborate game of fetch.”
Eli is still talking to the woman and now he’s laughing at something she said. Why is the game not moving along?
Finally, the person at bat hits the ball and one of Eli’s teammates catches it. That makes three outs, so the teams switch places. I make eye contact with Eli as he jogs to the dugout, and he waves at us with a smile. I return his wave and laugh when he stumbles over one of the bases. I glance at Rett, and she looks at me in a very knowing way.
I ignore it.
Eli is up to bat first. The first pitch is too high, but he hits the ball on the second one. It goes toward left field, and he makes it to first base. I watch as he lifts the bottom of his shirt up to wipe the sweat from his brow, catching a glimpse of the sprinkling of hair going down his stomach.
“Do they ever do shirts versus skins in this league?” Rett asks.
“Hmm?”
She laughs. “God, you are in denial. Do friends check out otherfriendsthe way you are blatantly checking him out right now?”
“I just happened to be looking that way.” He bends down to tie his shoe, and his forearms flex with the motion. “And even if I was, there’s nothing wrong with a friend appreciating another friend’s aesthetic appeal,” I say primly.“I appreciate your beauty all the time.”
“Yeah, okay,” she grumbles.
A few innings and ten mosquito bites later, the game ends and Eli’s team wins when someone hits a home run. He’s all smiles as we meet him at the bottom of the bleachers.
“Thanks for coming,” he says, giving me a very sweaty side hug. He turns to Rett. “Good to see you again, Loretta.”
