The other three girls looked mortified, and I heard one of the guys behind me all but swallow their tongue to keep from laughing.
“And your hair. You obviously trimmed it in the mirror. It’s hard to cut when everything is backward. I give you props for saving money by doing it yourself.”
The restaurant suddenly became totally quiet. I gave her a cocky little smile and waited for her to erupt.
“Kayla,” she said, holding out her hand for me to shake.
“David,” I said and then motioned behind me. “My teammates and I are grabbing some food before the game. Would you and your friends like to join us?”
“You play for Lincoln High?” she asked.
I nodded.
“My boyfriend is pitching against you tonight.”
“Perfect!” I said with a smile. “You can give us tips on how to hit him while we eat.”
“He claims his father dropped him on his head as a baby,” Wolf supplied as he suddenly appeared beside me.
“Where are my manners? This is Wolf, Tim, and Johan—your dates for tonight,” I supplied.
Johan started complaining, and Tim told him to shut up. Johan was a wimp because he was engaged. If need be, I would call Zoe and explain it was all on me.
“But our boyfriends are all meeting us here to eat,” Kayla said.
She added a smile—not the flirty kind of smile that makes a guy a little queasy, and not the polite kind that’s to be expected between strangers. This was an honest-to-goodness smile, like Tami gave me when we first saw each other after being apart for a while. After that, I changed from just goofing around to wanting to get to know her, even though she temporarily had a boyfriend.
“Perfect,” I repeated, not taking ‘no’ for an answer. “They can join us.”
“What do you think, ladies?” Kayla asked her friends.
“Yeah, why not? I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when they walk in. They’ve been taking us for granted,” one of them suggested.
That seemed to seal the deal.
While I had been acquiring my guys some dates, Moose had my teammates move tables together so we could all sit together as a team. Wolf and Tim grabbed an extra table to accommodate the girls. It amused me that Moose didn’t even flinch when they joined us.
Kayla and I were seated together at the head of the table. While Moose hadn’t said anything, all my teammates gave me shit by just staring at me as I sat down. I gave them my best haughty royal impersonation.
“Carry on with your conversations,” I proclaimed.
They played along and began to talk to each other again. Kayla looked at me sideways and then turned to me.
“You’re the David my boyfriend is worried about. The movie-star one.”
This was the last thing I needed. I’d hoped for something ordinary—well, as ordinary as my life could be. Not the whole fangirl experience. I just nodded.
“Good,” she said.
“Good?”
“Yeah, good. Maybe Chuck will realize I can trade up and that he isn’t all there is, as far as boyfriends go.”
“I’m not going to end up getting drilled in the game, am I?” I asked.
“No. Chuck plans to strike you out. He says that once he’s done with you, you’ll look foolish,” she said.
“How does he plan to do that?” I asked.
She suddenly saw through my questioning.
“Oh, no, you don’t.”
“I can get it out of you,” I said and waggled my eyebrows at her.
“You would have to torture me to get me to talk. You’d have to take me somewhere that no one could hear my screams,” Kayla almost purred.
That took an unexpected turn. Being who I was, I recognized and accepted the challenge.
“Oh, I don’t need to torture you,” I said, looking deep into her eyes and giving her a sexy little smirk. “You’re going to tell me everything I want to know without me having to lay even a finger on you.”
“You sound pretty confident. How exactly do you think you can get me to talk without even touching me?”
I leaned forward, put my lips close to her neck, and blew my hot breath against her skin. Kayla’s body stiffened, and I felt her hand on my upper thigh. Klaxons began to go off in my head. Mr. Happy suggested that my go-to move of using a bathroom for some private fun would make his day.
“Chuck’s out pitch is a slider,” she said in a rush.
Then her fingers on my thigh turned into claws as she realized I’d gotten her to spill the plot.
Before the situation got out of hand, four Lemont baseball players walked through the door. I knew one of them had to be Chuck because Kayla jerked her hand off my thigh. The change in the looks on the ballplayers’ faces was priceless. They’d come in acting like they owned the town, and when they spotted their girlfriends sitting at our table, the thunderclouds of jealousy started to roll in. The girls’ mission was a success.
The guy who I assumed was Chuck strode up.
“Kayla, I thought we were having dinner together.”
“That’s my fault,” I said, standing up and offering my hand. “David, by the way.”
It was not lost on him that I towered above him, which pleased my Alpha Male.
“Chuck,” he said as he automatically shook my hand.
“We stopped in to grab dinner before the game, and I asked the girls to join us so we could learn more about Lemont. We’d love for you to join us, too,” I offered.
“No. No, that’s all right. We, uh, stopped in to tell our girlfriends that we wanted to go somewhere else to eat tonight,” Chuck said, obviously lying. “Thanks for the offer, though.”
“Well, okay, then. I’ll see you at the game,” I said to Chuck and then turned to the girls. “Ladies, it was a pleasure. If you decide to dump these guys …”
“No, they’re keepers,” Kayla said as she grabbed Chuck’s arm to guide him out the door before it got any worse.
They quickly left.
“And David wonders why he gets thrown at,” Moose said.
I acted put-out, which made the guys give me a harder time.
◊◊◊
My flirting with the girls had loosened the team up for the sectional championship. Big games like this could make you overthink what you’re about to do, and you end up playing tight. We were anything but that as we took the field to warm up.
The game was being shown on cable along with the other three sectional championships. We’d drawn the golden ticket in that we played tonight rather than Friday or Saturday when the other three games would be played. The State Championship Playoffs would begin on Monday, with the final game played Wednesday. By this time next week, we could be headed back to school as state champions.
When our time was up, Lemont took the field. I stepped into the dugout and grabbed a drink.
“David,” Jeff called to get my attention. “I sent you a video you need to show the team before the game.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“Lemont’s starting pitcher said some things that might help you guys get ready.”
Moose loaned us his phone, and we all gathered around to watch.
Before our previous game, I’d been asked to sit down with Corey Wilier, the color man in the booth for the broadcast. This time, Lemont was home, so they interviewed my new buddy, Chuck.
Corey: “Joining me is Chuck Wilken, tonight’s starting pitcher for one of Illinois’ baseball powerhouses, Lemont. Tonight, they face a team new to this level of baseball, Lincoln High, that has one of the best baseball players in the state’s history in David Dawson. What’s it like to face a player of his caliber?”
If my chatting up his girlfriend hadn’t been enough, Corey’s question was like waving a red cape in front of a bull; he was calling out Chuck’s manhood, which cried out for a response. This was the kind of trap question I’d learned to deflect.
Chuck: “One player won’t decide the outcome of this game. Baseball is a team sport, and Lemont has proven year in and year out that we produce one of the best TEAMS in the state. If I can keep David Dawson off the basepaths, we will win easily.”