Second Chance (41 page)

“I
was
just helping her out
today
,” he says
, all innocent
.

“And you just happened to rub her leg?”
I
ask
and match his casual tone
.
I
throw another ball, a little bit harder
.
Travis catches it and the impact knocks his smile down a few pegs
.

“
Yeah, so
?
She’s
—
”
he pauses
and flips the ball in his fingers as he thinks about this
.
“It’s hard to describe her
.
She’s
cute
, that’s for sure
.”
He gives me
a
second to let this observation sink it
.
It makes my teeth clench
.
“
I
’m
thinking about asking
her out
,
”
he says and
whips the ball back at me and I catch it without taking my eyes off of
h
is
.

“
I don’t think so.
”

I throw the ball, lighter this time
,
a
nd we keep tossing back and forth
while Travis considers my words
.

“
You
passed her up,” he tells me. H
is
words
feel
like he’s taking a swing at me
.
“T
hat
makes her
available
.”

I stare across the grass at him
.
“She
’s
not
interested
in you
.
So don’t waste your time.
”
I know this
advice
is worthless
.
Nothing is out of Travis’s league
.
A challenge only
motivates
him
.

“I
can
change that,
”
h
e says and smiles
.

I stop throwing and fix my eyes on his
.
“Keep your hands off
of her,
”
I
say slowly
just
to make sure I get my point across
.

“I don’t know if I can,” he says and laughs a little
.
“I bet a girl
like her
is an animal in bed.”
S
omething like thunder rumble
s
through my body.
I wind up and throw a curve ball high and
as hard as I can and
Travis barely
has time to
react
to the throw
.
He blocks his
forehead
with his glove like a shield and the ball bounces off
the leather
with a loud smack
.
It knocks any trace of
a
grin off his face
and sends
him
back
pedaling
a
few steps
.
He throws his glove on the ground and
stomp
s
toward me
.

“What’s
your problem?” he yells. S
ome of the guys
warming up
turn to watch us
.
I take a few quick steps until I’m in his face
.
A
ll he needs is a good look at my eyes
to know where I stand
.
I see the
anger in his eyes settle as the truth sinks in
.

“Oh,” he says
.
He raises his eyebrows like he’s surprised
.
And maybe he is
.
I’m sure he
suspect
ed
I still liked Dylan
.
He didn’t
know
I
still
loved
her
.
“
I get it,
”
he says
.

I
stare him down a few seconds longer
.
“
Thanks for the warm up
,” I say and walk away towards the infield
.
I feel like I’m in high school and I could win an immaturity award, but I don’t care
.
Passing off Dylan as single is one thing
.
Exposing
her
to
dickheads
like
Toolshed
is another
.
It
really
was
the noble thing to do
.

***

The next afternoon,
I park in front
of Kari’s apartment
.
I
stare up at the blue, two story house
and
feel guilty
.
What am I doing here
?
If I can’t stand
the thought of
Dylan dating anyone, why do I
get
th
e privilege
?
But I would feel even worse if I canceled at the last second
.
So, I decide just to go through with it
.
Zero expectations
.

I turn off the engine a
nd get out of the car
.
It’s a perfect day for hiking—
seventy-five
degrees
and a
clear blue
sky
.
I take it as a good sign
.
I ring the doorbell and one of
Kari
’s roommate’s answers
.
She grins at me
shyly and opens the door.

“Come on in,” she says
.

I walk into the living room and it smells like vanilla or cinnamon or something girly
.
There are white Christmas lights strewn all over the room even though it’s
almost
May
.
The
girl
who opened the door
introduces herself as Anna and another roomma
te
sitting on the couch
waves and tells me she’s Kim
.
I
say hi to
both of them and
Kari
shouts that she’ll be right out
.
I stand there and look at the walls and they’re covered with framed
nature
photography
.
I think Dylan’s pictures are better
.

No I don’t
.

Damnit
!!  I swear that girl put some kind of a hex over my thought process
.

When
Kari
walks into the living room
I stare with surprise at
what she’s chosen to wear hiking:
s
kinny jeans,
platform
flip flops
,
and
a
tank top that sparkles
with rhinestones
.

“Ready to go?” she asks
.

I stare back at her
.
“Are you?”

“Oh
, wait, let me grab my purse.”
She runs out of the room and her
shoes
clop
with her
down the hall
. She’s
back in two seconds with a blue purse
large enough to be a grocery bag
hanging off her shoulder
.
She’s smiling so huge and looks so excited
that
I feel awful
.
Maybe she forgot what we planned
.

“What do you want to do?” I ask her
.