Just A Kiss Chapter 4

WitFit Prompt-Foreign

It would seem that there’s a woodpecker knocking on my door way too early for its own good.  It’s mockingbirds you’re not supposed to kill, right?  Not woodpeckers.

I roll over and look at my alarm clock to see that it is, indeed, way too early for this nonsense and then I roll back over and cover my head with the pillow, praying that it’ll stop.

Nothing can be that important.

However the incessant knocker would want me to believe otherwise.

I look over to the other side of the room to see why Rose hasn’t gotten up yet, only to remember that she’s probably still at Emmett’s. 

My head’s a little foggy and there’s a foreign taste of funk in my mouth, even from the small amount that I drank at the party last night.  I’m such a tee-totaler. 

How Rose and Alice talked me into going to a party at the senior baseball players’ apartments is beyond me.  I know this, though…never again!  Totally not my scene.  I only recognized a handful of people and I still have no idea what was in that punch.

…The Night Before…

As I expected, as soon as we get to the party, Rose abandons me for my Neanderthal cousin.   And Alice…well, she surprises me by finally making friends with her crush, the first baseman named Jasper.  Or, Jasper-I-want-his-Tex-ass, as she calls him. 

Grabbing a signature red Dixie cup, I fix myself some sort of purple concoction and then walk around the party for a bit.  I’m trying to find someone I know and can to talk to when it dawns on me that the one person I expect to be here, isn’t.  Edward.  Where is he?

I console myself of his absence with the thought that at least he’s not here with a bunch of girls hanging all over him.  That’s something I don’t think I can stomach, even though I have absolutely no right to him.  Sadly.

After an hour of completely shallow conversations and several shooing-swats to boys who are a little too handsy, I find Rose and Alice and tell them that I’m leaving and going to walk back to the dorms.  It’s only three blocks away and the fresh air will do me some good. 

Once I start walking, I realize how restless I really am and make a big loop around the campus instead.  Thank goodness for campus security trolling around on their little golf carts.  Otherwise I might be a little freaked out.  

My walk takes me by the library- my home away from home-the new basketball arena that was finished just in time for this past season, and finally by the baseball field. 

The stadium is bathed in darkness, but I notice that over on the far side that the lights are on at the batting cages.  If I wasn’t so lost in thought I would have heard the repetitive swoosh and ping sound of the automated pitching arm and subsequent hitting of the ball.  How many hours of my life have I spent at the ballpark watching Emmett?

As I walk a little closer, I immediately recognize who’s in those cages, showing no mercy to those little white spheres.  Edward. 

Dear Lord…the rhythm of the swing, the twist of his upper body, the broadness of his back as he brings the bat all the way around.  He’s like art, all smoothness and fine lines.

A few more steps closer and I suddenly realize that he’s not alone.  Sitting on an upturned five gallon bucket just outside of the cage is a pretty girl with strawberry blonde hair, huddled in a hoodie with his name and number embroidered on the back of it.  She’s cackling with her head thrown back at the fact that he’d actually just missed a pitch.  His smile back at her is amazing and I’m instantly heartbroken.  They seem really comfortable together.

Feeling a little sick to my stomach, and not wanting to get caught gawking, I quietly turn and beat a path back to my room.  Once there, I quickly send a text to both Rose and Alice letting them know that I’ve made it home safely.

Rose, being the mama bear that she is, calls me to ask what took so long and when I tell her about what I saw at the batting cages, her response is vague.

“Hmm…I wouldn’t worry about it, Hon.  I’m pretty sure he’s not seeing anyone, but I can ask Emmett to be sure if you want.”

I don’t want.  I just want to live in my little fantasy world for one more night.

“Don’t.  It doesn’t matter anyway.  You just go have your fun.  Love you.”

“You, too.”

Suddenly I’m exhausted and my bed looks the best it ever has.

...The Morning After...

The knocking is never going to stop and now I recognize the annoying voice accompanying the woodpecker knock on the other side.

“Keep your pants on.  I’m coming,” I grumble, finally giving in and practically falling out of the bed.

I open the door to a bright eyed and very smiley Alice who barges through my door without an invitation.  I sincerely hope she’s brought some more of whatever it is that she’s on.

“So Rose told me about last night…you know…seeing Edward and all.”

I sigh and roll my eyes, making my way back over to my bed, not wanting to rehash this.

“What’s your point, Alice?  And please tell me this isn’t why you woke me up on a Saturday morning before nine o’clock.”

Her grin is slow, but big and wide and all cat-that-ate-the-canary.

“I know who she is.”