Her dad coached little league. Huh.

And then I see it, a picture of her with her mom and dad, her mom heavily pregnant. Her dad with one arm wrapped around her mom and the other wrapped around Kayla. Kayla dressed in full baseball gear, cap to cleats, huge smile on her face, holding a bat in one hand, and a little trophy in the other. ‘MVP’ it says. No shit.

The ceremony starts, Lisa does a small speech, Kayla doesn’t leave my side. The little league team throw in balls and gloves into her dad’s plot. There are lots of tears and cries, but Kayla stays strong throughout. A few people come over and talk to Kayla, she mainly nods and tries to smile. I even see some police officers paying their respects. Even Fatty and Mendoza are here.

When most of the people have left, including my parents and Lisa, I assume to head home and prepare for the gathering, I notice a couple walking towards us. Kayla notices too, and lets go of my hand to give them each a hug, then reaches for my hand again.

The couple smile sadly at Kayla, then look to me, and our joined hands.

Kayla clears her throat. “Sam, Henry… This is-"

The lady, Sam I gather now, James’ mom, interrupts her. “You must be Jake?” she says, reaching out her hand, I shake it tentatively. “Kayla has told me so much about you.” She smiles warmly at me.

This isn’t awkward at all.

Henry, James’ dad I assume, goes to shake my hand. “Thank you for taking care of our girl, son.” He says while patting my shoulder.

“Uhh, it's no problem, sir. … she’s special, you know?”

“Oh we know…” Henry agrees. “It’s a shame our asshole of a son couldn’t see it and keep his dick in his pants.”

I stifle a laugh and hear Kayla doing the same.

“C’mon, Henry.” Sam drags him away. “We’ll keep in touch, dear,” she says, waving at Kayla.

“Well, that was unexpected,” I mumble under my breath.

“Not really, they’d love you, Jake.”

***

We head back home to the gathering that’s taking place. A lot less people here than at the ceremony. My friends are on the back patio so we join them. I think Kayla is a bit more relaxed now, she’s keeping up conversation with the few people that approach her.

A girl I haven’t seen before approaches Kayla.

“Hi, Mikayla,” she says in a mousy voice. “I’m really sorry about your loss.” She laughs once. “What a shit thing to say, like, you lost something but you’ll find it again.” She shakes her head.

Kayla laughs out loud. “Amanda, how are you?”

“I’m okay, not gonna ask how you are though.”

Kayla laughs again, and it’s genuine.

“I just came to say… I dunno. Shit. Hey, you’ll be at UNC right?”

Kayla looks at me and smiles. “That’s the plan, just gotta work out some minor details.”

“Cool,” Amanda says, nodding her head, “I’ll Facebook you my number, we should hang out sometime, maybe go on the prowl for some non sucky, cheating, dickfaces.”

Kayla laughs again, we all do.

“Sounds amazing. I’ll call you. Thanks for coming.” Kayla smiles as the girl walks back into the house.

“I like her,” Heidi says.

I do too. But I can’t help thinking about what she said, about going on the prowl. College is going to be completely different to here. She’ll have more friends and more attention from other guys. I can’t help the feel of jealousy that consumes me at the thought of it. What can I do? Lock her in my room all damn day? Shit.

And then it hits me. Where the fuck is Megan?

***

Everyone has left now, but my friends are still here, and we’re shit talking on the back patio. The sun’s gone down and there’s a slight chill so I make a little fire pit in the middle. I don’t think my friends will be leaving any time soon and I think Kayla’s happy about it, takes her mind of things.

The back patio doors open and Mom comes out with a tray of leftovers. We all start to dig in. Dad comes out with a cooler and places it in the middle. “Someone needs to be designated driver and don’t tell your parents. In fact, I didn’t even give it to you, I merely placed it in a position that you were able to get to, and you did, and my story will hold up in the eyes of the law.”

Logan opens the cooler and it’s filled with beer. “Thanks, Mr. Andrews. You’re so my fave person over 35.”

My dad chuckles to himself. “And you, Logan, are still an asshole,” he says as he closes the door behind him.

“Buuurrrnnnnnn” Cam says, laughing.

“So…” I nudge Kayla sitting next to me. She gets up to the tray of food and picks up a napkin full of little things. She saunters back and sits on my lap, leaving her chair empty. I smile to myself. Logan eyes me curiously. I don’t care.

“So?” she replies.

“Your dad was a little league coach?” Everyone is listening to our conversation.

“Yep. One of the best,” she says proudly.

“So that’s why you could hit the shit out of some balls at the cage?”

“Yep. I gave it up when I got boobs,” she shrugs.

I laugh. My eyes dart to her boobs before I force myself to look away.

“Actually he was a huge baseball fan, a fan of yours too!” She’s chewing her food.

“What? How?!” I ask, because it doesn’t make sense.