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"Right Well, they ran into one of the go-to girls at Sally’s Soirl we met when he came down here early with me for summer ball And, well, you know Cass She called hiirl, and he ended up getting slapped by them both Of course, now he’s allat Rowe to see her genuinely interested in Ty and Cass’s break up

"We have to fix things," she says, and I can tell she means it

"I’m not sure it’s ours to fix," I start to say, but I can feel her eyes snap to et the her phone fro a text that seems to take her ivehatever she wants, and reach into my pocket and hand her my phone I’m not a ether seems important to Rowe, andti more to it, and if it’s important to her, then it’s damn important toa little goodbye picnic for Paige, and they’ll both be there Paige has a lot of alcohol, so that got them both to say yes"

Of course it did My brother has endured far worse for cheap drinks Youhi place?"

"Yeah, about that…" she has a tone in her voice that tellsto be sorry I asked "You think you can sneak us onto the outfield, just one last ti with puffy, full lips and sad eyes, inches away frohway I’m at her mercy I think I was at her mercy the first time I scared her in the hallway I nod yes, and she squeals--one of those girly noises I didn’t think she was capable of--she scoots closely to me and kisses my cheek Thatbrave, all that confidence froh my veins But the way she sinks back down into her seat zaps it all away "Sorry Should I…not go there?"

She’s quiet for a few seconds, and I feel like an ass for pushing her But I know Josh is the big elephant in the rooe to hi you’re done with soht about Sadie froranted, it was usually when I was drunk and trying out the Ty Preeter brand of post-break-up therapy

"No, it’s okay It’s funny, actually I asked Josh out, ulti he liked me I had liked him for a while, and I used to pretend to wait for my dad after practice just so I could watch hiood I , but you never know"

I can see the pain flash over her face, but she pushes through it, so I don’t stop her

"Well, the note ca about it He never asked irl that liked him Trisha Harvest, I ht?" She scrunches up her nose fro this catty side to her It’s not annoying It’s honest and real--and I adore it

"Anyway, Trisha was sitting on the bleachers next to me one day, and I kneas, like, do-or-die time When he walked off the field, I pretty much boxed her out, like old-school Celtics basketball, and just blurted out asking hiether for more than a year"

When she’s done, she just se to it, like the memory of it hurts I want to ask if she thinks they’d still be together But I already know the answer to that So I don’t bother causing her any more pain Instead, I dwell on the fact that she just told a love story like an ESPN commentator

"I cannot believe you just referenced--and accurately, I ht add--both the NBA and the funda the pallance at her "God, I love you"

Oh Shit! I don’t knohere those words came from They weren’t even in ue I look back to the road quickly, then I glance down to the radio to start flipping through channels, doing my best to play it off like what I just said was the same as the rest of our nor, but I was on her long enough to notice her eyebrows shoot up to her forehead