Page 91 of True Honey
“Silas,” I grumbled and he quieted. “We donate all the proceeds of the new calendar to Women’s funds, shelters and programs in Harbor. To the people that don’t have the support your mother had, or your brother. To the ones that need it the most.”
He watched me for a moment, his fingers tapping the desk he was leaning on as he thought about it. “You’re good.” He hummed, staring at the calendar. “Do you think you can give that speech twice?” He asked, looking up at me and I chewed my lip. “I'm not the only one you have to convince.”
The players. His friends.His family.
An inkling of confidence blossomed in the base of my chest and like he always did Silas caught it first, grabbing the crumbling box off the table and shifting it into his arms.
“Come on,” he said, motioning with his head toward the door. I hesitated for a second but he was patient and eventually I picked up my feet and slippedthrough the door behind him. I went left, in the direction of the office but Silas went right and my brows knit in confusion as I switched directions and followed him.
The sound of rowdy men got louder as we went and I realized he was walking toward the locker room. “I didn’t think you meant like right now!” I said loudly as he turned his back to the door and smiled, pushing it open.
“It’s now or never,” Silas said, like that was actually the only option. I inhaled slowly, listening to the chaos abruptly go silent the second he dropped the box on the floor loudly.
“Good afternoon to you too, Doc,” Dean said, his hands on his hips and a towel wrapped around his waist. In fact most of them were damp and without clothes making me turn my eyes to the ceiling.
“Get decent,” Silas said loudly and a few of them covered up with towels or shorts in a mumbled shuffle. “Most of you know Drew, she lives in the basement with me, and works with Suse in the front office.” He explained, looking over to me still standing awkwardly by the door. “She has something she wants to talk to you about.”
When the entire room turned their eyes to me the temperature in my body rose significantly and my throat closed over tightly but Silas’s expression was encouraging and if I only focused on him I could find the courage to do it.
“Um—” I cleared my throat. “I was thinking that maybe it was time you reshot the Harbor Hornets Calendar…”
The room erupted and it was overwhelming with noise for what felt like minutes.
“Shut up!” Arlo barked from the corner. I hadn’t even noticed him standing in the locker room but he was leaning against the wall near Josh with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Go on,” Silas said softly, his eyes drifting to his best friend in thanks.
“It’s not a secret that the calendar is important to a lot of people, and the last time you did one you raised a crazy amount of money for a good cause.” I tried to sound confident in myself but my voice shook a little.
“And never lived it down,” Van said with a soft laugh, causing a few of them to chime in.
“So I’m learning,” I chuckled nervously and looked to Silas for help but he just gave me another soft smile and mouthedkeep going. “Harbor needs your help again,” I said, trying to find my voice. “All the donations from the new calendar would go to the women’s shelters, and programs that help rehabilitate women affected by domestic violence. I promise it's for a good reason,” I added to the end. “It’s something I know is close to my heart, but also Silas’s and I think now is the perfect time to remind Harbor why they love you all so much.”
The room was silent, I expected more arguments but not that. The silence settled against my chest, the anxiety building the longer they remained quiet in the face of my proposal. I counted myself backwards, my fingers folding into my palm as I made it around to ten and started again.
“I’ll do it.”
I turned my head to see Josh standing up with a serious expression on his face.Arlo was staring at him and I couldn’t pinpoint the emotion on his face but his jaw was set tightly and there was a sense of admiration in his eyes.
“Fuck it, I’m in,” he stepped forward, unfolding his arms. “Blondie is going to flip.”
One by one, the Hornets fell in line with their participation, and eventually the entire room was in agreement to help with the new calendar. Silas beamed at me with pride, his smile stretched from cheek to cheek and it did something to my heart that I wasn’t familiar with. It wasn’t anxiety, the heavy feeling of dread wasn’t present but my heart was racing all the same.
“I have the perfect person to help you set it up,” he said to me.
COURTNEY
Over the course of nearly two weeks, I went back and forth with Cael. We had figured out everything for the photoshoot. He had known what to do for every step we took, and even though I could tell he’d rather be on the field with his friends during the games that week. He was teaching me more about baseball than I’d ever cared to learn.
He sat with me in the stands for five of the seven games they played and explained anything I asked about while we came up with ideas for new calendar shots and tried to figure out exactly what months everyone could be.
I hadn’t realized before, but he really was a sweet guy. He just loved attention. He was standing off the field with August as the photographer set up his gear and the rest of the volunteer Hornets stood around nervously.
“You guys are wearing way too many clothes!” Ella yelled coming onto the field with a big smile on her face.
“Who let her in here?” Arlo said, pointing to her with a scowl.
“You didn’t think you were going to get away with shooting this without me? Did you!?” Ella laughed wildly, “that’s cute.”
