Page 100 of Honey Undone
“Aren’t Mom’s supposed to warn their sons against chasing girls across the country or something?” I said, prompting her to give me a reason for why I was being dumb and reckless.
“None of this,” she looked around at the office, “would exist if your father had listened to his mother when she told him exactly that. He followed after me because I knew my dream, and I knew how to get my hands on it. There’s nothing wrong with your dream being Adeline. You’ve never been one for staying put in anything, you love what you love, and I’m proud to say that you love with everything you have.” She set the notebook down. “Look at your time with the Hornets. You only had one reason to take more classes this year and it was simply because you loved playing with them. It had nothing to do with baseball. You just wanted to be around your friends.”
There’s nothing wrong with your dream being Adeline.
“What the hell would I do in California?” I laughed, it was ridiculous to even be entertaining the idea. Mom looked around at her office with a bewildered look on her face. “Oh, yeah. Right…” The new hotel in San Francisco. It had always been the plan to follow her into the business, it wasn’t exactly my dream to wear a suit every day but I knew the ins and outs and had more degrees than I needed to be qualified to do it.
“You’re too smart to be this slow, Kai.” She smiled, leaning forward to pat my face with her hand. “You’re looking at the situation like it's the end all, but it’s not. Nothing in life is that serious unless you make it so.”
“I’m serious about this Mom.” I said, practically cutting her off.
“Then do something about it.” She nodded and I knew that was the end of the conversation.
SARAH
“Do you think they’ll actually show?” Rhea shimmed into her shorts, pulling them over her spanx and adjusting them around her thighs. Her dark hair was pulled back into two messy buns on the side of her head. Game days were her favorite, and it was easy to tell by the way her eyes sparkled.
“Jensen takes his bets pretty seriously,” I said, tying my cleat in a double knot. “We should be more worried about this team today. The Jags aren’t messing around.”
“Tenzie is back—”
“Wasn’t she suspended for metal cleats?” Sunday was braiding Kaia’s hair into two neat rows beside me.
“Kenna has the scars to prove it,” Kaia added. “Just watch each other's backs and if she tries anything shady we deal with her.”
“Your definition of dealing with her will end up with you in jail so just be vocal about the misconduct if it rises and let Cosy handle it.” I warned her and Kaia rolled her eyes. “I mean it.”
“I heard you,” Kaia patted Sunday on the thigh and stood up rolling out her shoulders in her jersey.
“You hearing me and you listening are two different things, Kaia.” I stand up, shaking out my legs to fix the creases in my shorts as I tighten my ponytail. She watched me carefully as I cocked my head to the side. “Today is going to be hard, don’t get hurt. Please.”
“Don’t give me those puppy dog eyes, Minty. It’s illegal,” Kaia said, shaking her head and looking away from me.
“You forced my hand,” I said, I was only trying to keep her upright and out of trouble for as long as I could, “promise me.” I poked.
“You are a thief of joy,” she said but shook my hand, rolling our palms together in a smooth movement that linked our pinky’s tightly. “I promise…“ she started to back away and I instantly knew what was coming out of her mouth, “to never die…” she changed her words at the last second and went running from the locker room.
“You can’tTeam Americame and run away, Kaia!” I called after her, and we all flooded from the cramped locker room onto the pitch. The bleachers were vibrating with energy that matched the rapid rate of my heartbeat.
Kaia was already chatting with Coach as we lined the side of the pitch and started to warm up. I knew that she was amped about today, it was going to cause trouble if she wasn’t able to reel it in but I always knew she spotted my new agent in the stands and she’d do anything for me.
I stepped onto the field with the team, following through the warm-ups with Sunday at my side while she remained with her head in the clouds. She lost her balance once or twice during her scoop stretch and ended up on the ground laughing as I hauled her to her feet.
“Oh my god,” she said, her eyes widening at something over my shoulder. “They came.”
I turned on my heel as the rest of the team flanked us in awe. Not only had Jensen managed to get nearly the entire Hornet’s team to join him but he had several of the Hogs in toe, including both Black brothers and Loveday, all three shirtless and painted head to toes in Hillcats colours.
The Hornets team wore similar getups, using their gifted rugby jerseys as bandanas or armbands. Every single one of them was sporting either a letter of the Hillcats name painted in bright orange on their bare chests, or a number that corresponded with a player. Ella was carrying a box and one by one the guys pulled out Pom poms that looked roughly handmade and lopsided.
She gave me a little wave as Arlo laid out a blanket for her on the bleachers, giving her a hand up and leaning against the side with a disinterested expression on his face. Brighton was talking to Judd both wearing backwards Hillcats hats,their array of tattoos peaking out beneath the blue body paint as Boone helped the guys line up to spell Hillcats correctly.
“Are they missing an L?” Cosy sounded confused.
“No it’s Arlo,” I said, pointing to him still standing with Ella. The chaos of the situation combined with one two many naked men was drawing the attention from both sides of the field. They might actually turn out to be a good distraction as long as it was the other team they were disturbing.
“Boone’s been working out.” Rhea’s head tilted to the side.
“He stopped drinking,” Kaia said, “It’s annoying.” It meant that he wasn’t as fun, at least not when she needed him to be, in those dark moments when she just needed a clown.
