Page 60 of Honeysuckle
“It’s me!” I stepped forward, our chests brushing together as Josh’s pulsed rapidly.
He had a nasty cut across his freckled cheek, and his pupils were blown with rage as Hudson climbed from the ground with a busted lip and a bloody nose.
“Keep your faggot away from me!” Hudson snarled, and at first I thought Josh might go in for another round, but it was Arlo who whirled on the player that time. I half expected him to hit him, but instead he grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up until his toes were dragging on the ground, and hurled him backwards into a group of his own players.
“Get out of our stadium,” he snapped, stepping forward when the Philly coaches came to the defense of their players.
“We have an inning to play, King,” their head coach said.
“Play it on your bus ride home, this game is over.”
“You don’t have the authority to end games. You’re an assistant coach!” They hollered at him.
“He doesn’t, but I do.” Coach Cody pushed forward, controlled rage engrained on his face as his jaw ticked. “Take your team home, Albie. Teach them some fucking manners before you come back or I’ll report you to the committee.” His voice dropped low.
“For what?” The Philly coach was red in the face, his hands balled at his side.
“You know what.” Coach smiled at him but there was no humor in the action.
“If you end it here, Ryan, it’s a forfeit. Philly gets the win,” the ump warned.
“Let them.” He shrugged, turning his back on Philly. “It’s the only win they’ll get this season.”
Arlo laughed and followed Coach back to the mess of players still pushing and shoving. "Harbor. Locker room. Now.” He didn’t yell, but we moved anyway—a loose line of battered and bruised faces in the dugout.
“You alright?” Cael asked as I stepped down into the dugout, and I nodded my head in passing. “Hey, hey!” He grabbed me and stopped me from going any further. “Are you sure?”
“I’m alright, Cael,” I answered him properly that time and curled my fingers into his jersey for balance as my adrenaline rush crashed through my bloodstream. “Not a great start to the season,” I grumbled, but a smile formed on Cael’s stupid face. “What are you smiling about? We lost,” I scowled at him.
“Look around, Deano.” The guys stood shoulder to shoulder in blood-stained jerseys, with bruises blossoming and big grins. “We’re a team, that’s better than a pre-season win.”
TUCKER
“Sitdown!”Coachdemanded,and we all sank stiffly against the lockers. Arlo, Silas and a few of the other coaches flanked him with serious looks on their faces. “What the hell is wrong with you guys?”
“He called Dean a…” Cael piped up the fastest, but his words died on his lips as Coach shook his head. He didn’t need to finish.
“I know what he called him, we all heard it.” Coach turned his fiery stare on his son. “Since when do we throw punches to solve problems on the diamond?” He asked.
The locker room was quieter than it ever had been.
“Alright, fair. Dumb question.” Coach ran his hands through his graying, dirty blond hair, pushing his hat off his head as he went. He took a long, deep breath before he spoke again. “I know that I’m not always the most aware, or present,” he said, looking over at Cael again. "But when you sink to their level, they win. You always protect one of your own, but when it comes to slurs, homophobic or racist…” he said with a pause.
We all remembered the year a kid from Boston went after Arlo. It had ended the same way as today. Bloody lips and a softcore scolding that sounded more like a “good job boys” rather than a “you’re idiots” speech.
“So what, we let them?” Van asked, his brown hair sticky against a nasty cut that sliced through his eyebrow.
“No,” Coach said. “These guys don’t see the problem with using words like that because they're coached by men who don’t see the problem with it.”
“Well now they’ve been taught a lesson!” Todd hollered. “They can’t get away with it. If we can learn—”
“Let me deal with it through the right channels. Hudson will go back to Philly proud of himself for getting his team a win,” Coach interrupted whatever Todd was going to say next.
“That wasn’t a win!” Cael argued.
“It is on paper, because you’re all hot-headed…” He trailed off, looking around at us. “Where the fuck is Logan?”
We all stopped to look at who was sitting beside us, but Josh was nowhere to be found. Silas’ jaw tensed, and without a word, he was out of the locker room, the heavy blue doors swinging behind him as he went.
