Trinity looks deflated, but she stands by for Sheena and Carter to walk out.
We’re quiet for a second as we watch them walk away. I don’t have a sibling, but I’m still a little confused by the situation and trying to figure out what just happened. It was a shit show for sure. Trinity looks up at me with shyness. She blinks her big blue eyes at me. “Uh, thanks for your help.”
Before I can even answer her, she’s already turned on her heel and starts to walk away. I catch up to her easily, putting my hand on her shoulder to stop her. When she turns toward me, I leave my hand on her arm until she looks at it. I brush a hair off her cheek, wanting just to touch her. Our eyes are frozen on each other until I shake myself out of the trance. “Are you all right?”
She shrugs her shoulders. “Trust me, this is not the first drama I’ve had with Sheena and one of her boyfriends and I’m willing to bet it won’t be the last.”
I nod my head understandingly. “Well, can I walk you to your car?”
Her eyes dip down my body and her face flushes again. It’s almost like I can imagine her thoughts and she’s thinking back to the locker room when she walked in on me. I try to hide my smile and get the thought out of my head. Just thinking about it has my blood pressure rising.
She shakes her head. “That’s okay. I’m fine, really. Thanks for stepping in back there. You didn’t have to do that.”
She obviously wants to go, but I can’t just let her walk away. I can’t get the way Carter was looking at her out of my head. “No problem. Look, Carter’s a real dickhead and I wouldn’t put it past him to meet you in the parking lot if he thought you’d be alone. Will you please just let me walk you to your car?”
She looks toward the tunnel Sheena and Carter just walked down and we can still hear the echo of their voices. She finally looks back at me. I can see the indecision on her face. I feel like I’m holding my breath, waiting for her to answer. I feel like she’s just walked into my life and I’m not ready to let her go yet. I want to spend more time with her and get to know her. For how much we see Sheena around here, I would’ve thought we would see Trinity too. But I would have remembered her. I have no doubt.
She finally smiles softly at me and mutters, “Uh, yeah, that would be great.”
As soon as she says it, I can’t stop the smile that takes over my face. I want to reach out for her, take her hand, touch the small of her back, something. But I don’t. Instead, I just nod my head at her, hold my hand out, and tell her, “Lead the way.”
She starts walking and I slow my stride to walk next to her. Being the starting pitcher for the Tennessee Mavericks, most people would think I have game. But I don’t even try to act like I do. I ask her before I lose my nerve, “So do you have a boyfriend?”
And then I hold my breath, waiting for her to answer me.
4
Trinity
Walking next to Jasper to my car, I keep looking at him out the side of my eye.
I slow my stride and take a glance at his tight jeans that are hugging his butt just right. When he notices I’m behind him, he stops to walk next to me.
“So do you have a boyfriend?” he asks me.
If I didn’t know better, I would think that he’s a little nervous waiting for my answer. But when I look at him, he smiles at me expectantly, almost as if he doesn’t have a care in the world. I know I need to tread lightly because I have no experience in these situations.
Instead, I change the subject. “So how was the game?” I ask him. “Did you win?”
With surprise on his face, he asks me. “Didn’t you watch it?”
I want to laugh at his question, but I don’t. I never come to ball games. “No. I only came to pick up Sheena. Baseball’s not really my thing.”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, I know I’ve probably offended him, but he doesn’t act like it.
He shrugs his shoulders. “My mom was the same way. She was never into baseball, but she always made it to my games.”
The way he’s talking about her in past tense fills me with sorrow. I know what it’s like to lose a parent. I want to tell him I’m sorry, but instead, I tell him softly, “Well, it’s nice she came.”