“I think… I think… that maybe, I mean, I think I’m fall-"

“YO, ASSHOLE!”

Logan.

“Fuck,” we both say.

Chapter 30

*Mikayla*

“It’s official, I’m going to be a homeless, jobless college student.” I huff out, picking at my fries.

Jake and I are sitting at a picnic table near the concession stand at the batting cages, the rest of his friends are here too.

“Maybe I should defer for a year, save up some money and work full time?” I ask, more to myself than anything.

He looks at me for a while. “You don’t have any other choice? Surely there’s financial aide or something?”

“It’s too late for that, college starts in a few weeks.” I’m sad. I’ve looked at all options and it all leads to dead ends.

Lucy and Cam come to sit with us. Heidi is watching Dylan bat, Logan’s pitching to him. He sure as shit is no Jake.

“What are we talking about?” Cam asks, pinching one of my fries. I shove the whole thing at him. I’m too depressed to eat.

“Just how I’ll get to experience college, while living on the streets, panhandling for cash.” I fake pout as I watch the others at the cages.

“Why don’t you ju-" Cam starts before cutting himself off.

I turn back to him, he’s looking away. I look to Lucy and Jake and they won’t look at me.

“Why don’t I just what?” I ask them all.

“Um, nothing… I was just going to say…” Cam stumbles around his words for a while, obviously thinking of something to say. “I know, Stripper! You could totally do that.”

Lucy smacks her palm on his forehead, he flinches and rubs at it. “You, my dear Cameron, are a pig!” she states.

They all chuckle for a little.

“You guys laugh now, but I may end up having to.”

Jake stops laughing instantly.

*Jake*

“Hey, so there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

I lightly kick Kayla’s bare legs.

It’s a couple hours after we get home from the cages, late afternoon.

She’s laying in the back yard in a white bikini.

She’s hot as hell.

She sits up and moves her sunglasses to the top of her head.

I sit down in front of her, position my legs under hers and pull her towards me so she’s straddling my legs, but not so close that my junk is touching hers. Just enough so I can look at her and maybe touch her, just a little.

She looks at me, and waits.

I take my cap off, run my hand through the back of my hair, then put my cap back on, backwards, so she can see me.

“I uhh… shit.” I blow out a breath.

“Whats wrong, Jake?… you’re like… all nervous and sweaty and… what’s going on?”

“So my grandma…” I start, she sits back a bit, confused about where this is going. “She started a college fund for me when I was born.”

She relaxes a little.

“Anyway…” I continue, “she started this fund, I don’t know, mom says she comes from a family with old money, whatever that means. Anyway, the money was there when I finished high school, but the thing is, I mean, I obviously got a full scholarship so I didn’t really end up needing the money for that.”

“Oookay…” She looks so damn confused, it’s kind of adorable.

“So… my mom and dad said the money was mine, however I wanted to use it. They gave me a few options, just to bank it, donate some, invest some, but what they really thought I should do was maybe buy a house near campus. That way I didn’t live on campus and couldn’t be distracted by the ‘college life’, that’s what they called it, no frat houses and stuff. I think they knew that I wanted to focus on ball, and I might get sidetracked if I lived there. They trusted me enough to live on my own and make my own decisions. Plus, when I finished I could rent it out and make a killing because of its location. At the end of the day it was up to me what I did with the money. They would have been fine with me blowing it all in Vegas. Okay, maybe that’s a little far… shit…”

I look at her and she still looks confused. She’s waiting for me to continue, so I do.

“Dad looked at a couple of houses, and one weekend we went up and walked through them all. I ended up buying one, Kayla. It’s this tiny cottage type house, on its own, not an apartment or anything. It has 3 bedrooms and a porch and a little backyard, it’s pretty decent.”

I look at her and wait for her to say something.

“Say something,” I tell her.

“Um, good job? What? I don’t know what you want me to say. That’s awesome, Jake.”

“But you didn’t answer.”

“Did you ask a question?”

Shit, I didn’t. She has no idea where I’m going with this.

“Move in with me?” I ask, looking straight at her.

“WHAT!? I can’t do that, Jake. It’s your house, and you need to focus, that’s why you bought it right?”

“I bought it with the plan that Cam and Logan would live with me. But they want to live the ‘college life’,” I say, rolling my eyes.

“If you really wanted me to live with you, why are you just asking me now?”

“Because I don’t want you to be a stripper!” I blurt out.

“WHAT?!” she says through a laugh.