whole city seemed to have gon

the stands, and the deafening cheers n

white shirt, his presence cool a

were sw

ety net and landed uncontrollab

her's mound, his unifo

e brim pulled low so only

om his cheering teammates, his

old baseball and softly calling for his mother,

my heart, neither

m today," Ethan s

ized I had been staring

ly and took a sip of t

, but the smile on his

e grew

was tight, and the other team t

morale clea

am's turn

up the bat, and walked step

adium suddenl

, my heart risin

ll came tearing

of the bat rang

rc through the air and drop

oub

m erupted in thu

e bat and started

ching across the red dirt lik

ed himself, then lifted his fist an

ad and looked to

ting crowd of heads, I somehow fel

ped a beat in

fti

The big screen began cycling

ment!" the host's voice

stadium

wept across

boy hesitated for two seconds, th

anged. Anot

in first, and th

ghtened for

ra kept

t section, the parent se

image s

d on Etha

magnified us co

ared side by side in vie

d, the crowd

ers swept across the

Kiss!

crashed

here to put my hands or feet. All I c

misunders

ard my ex

hl

. His face was so close I could

oise blurred into

as soft, audible only to me.

d went

warm pressure t

to stop in t

got to pus

dium er

ed together, bursting beside my ear

w how long th

had already pulled away. He was still smilin

ugout, Liam

d from his fingers and hit

s teammates, the coac

ead and stared fixed

slow-motion replay of

beside him and patted his shoul

nailed to

one called

r brother'

ink, and that cold indiffe

ence, something had alrea