Page 53 of Honey Undone
“Just because you asked so nicely,” I said, giving her a wink. When I turned around Cael was standing in his space behind Reyes with a smug look on his face.
I flipped him off and went back to warming up.
When the Ump called for the game to start it was like a flip had been switched. We all set aside our personal lives and came together as a unit. We knew what the stakes were and we couldn’t come off the field without the win.
If we lost, the season would be over.
And all the stories about us would be true. We couldn’t win without Arlo.
Coach gave some speech about playing our best and Dean followed it up with an equally tired rant about believing in each other. Everyone was exhausted but determined. The thought of a bi-week tickled our heels and fueled us forward through the game.
“Focus on shutting them down,” Arlo instructed Reyes and me. “End the game on the mound. Make sure you keep it clean and don’t throw the same pitch back to back. We want them tripping over the unpredictability.”
“Yes Coach,” both of us gave him a quick nod. Taking the field was easy, leaving it without a field would be devastating.
The stadium thrummed with unintelligible enthusiasm only silencing as Reyes set up to throw the first pitch of the game. I sank low to the ground, steadying myself in the clay and getting my fingers dirty as the batter readied him for the pitch.
Reyes was bad for just throwing, his communication lacked the finesse that Arlo had spoiled me with. Josh could be brash at times, but he always gave me a warning before doing something insane.
The ball was released and before I could adjust it smacked into the back of my glove with a deafening echo. My eyes flickered up to Reyes who looked proud of himself but I scowled. We needed to be on the same page or this would go south, and fast.
The second pitch came off just as hot but the batter was already stumbling over the unexpected curveball that came at me and the Ump called the second strike. I could feel everyone’s eyes on us, this first batter would set the tone for the rest of the game and if Reyes could manage to shut him down…
I threw it back, taking a slow and calculated breath before sinking back down and rolling out my neck as Reyes pulled back on the mound and released the last ball. The batter swung and I swore the stadium collectively held their breath asthe ball whipped through the air and the sound of it slapping clean into the leather of my mitt rang out through the air.
“That’s it boys,” Arlo’s voice boomed from the dugout next to Coach’s loud clapping and suddenly the confidence was refreshed. The team shone a little brighter and I could feel the hope bleeding through the concrete walls of the stadium.
With the tingle of belief running through our bloodstream, the game came easy, it was like we were playing with newfound energy and the team had found our way back to what we had been before.
Everyone was completely focused and by the time the last inning rolled through the stadium was on fire and we were running fumes but up by six whole runs. We had managed to pull off the win.
“Six fucking runs!” Cael clapped his hands together.
“We haven’t played this good all season, no offense Josh…” Todd groaned.
Josh grumbled something under his breath, anger rolling off him and for a second we all braced for another fight between the two of them but Arlo was quick to come to his defense.
“Todd, shut the fuck up.” Arlo snapped, and it wasn’t his usual playful tone that he used with us either. It was authoritative and loud. “It wasn’t Josh holding you back,” he said, “you were all so caught up in your own heads trying to recreate a season that you forgot that wealwaysgo forward and what was last season,isn’tthis season.”
“Why are you ragging on us, we won,” Cael argued and for a second I thought that Arlo might put him through the wall. But he just shook his head in disbelief. Coach Cody stood back, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, letting Arlo take the lead on the speech.
“You won one hard game, we have three more series to go through if you want to win it all. This was the easiest game you’ll play in weeks.” Arlo said and the dugout fell quiet. “Blaming hardship on each other isn’t how we do shit and youknowit.”
“It was just a joke, Arlo,” Todd tried to say but Coach cleared his throat to silence him.
“All fucking season every single one of you has been trying to prove a point to everyone… the news, the experts, the fans, your families. Not once have you gone out there to prove to yourself that you can do this,” Arlo sighed, pulling off his hat and running his fingers through the dark strands of his hair. “You won today because you remembered who you were, what this team stands for but if you let it slip your minds again, this will be the last happy memory you have of the season.”
All of us stayed quiet, our chests still rising and falling irregularly from the last inning, sweat pouring down our skin, our muscles sore and aching.
“Two steps at a time,” Dean was the first to find his voice, his fingers coming up to his chest and the team fell in quickly and without hesitation. It was going to be an exhausting month but if it felt anything like today, every single battle was going to be worth it.
SARAH
“You sure you’ll be okay?” Cosy asked in the parking lot, her hand on the frame of her open door.
“Yeah, location is on and if I stop moving for more than ten minutes Kaia will call so…” I laughed and Cosy took that as insurance enough that she could leave me to wait for Jensen.
I was standing on the concrete pad outside the stadium listening to a group of girls squawking over the team. It was only when they started ranking them that I started listening closer.
