Dropped Third Strike (Portland Pioneers #1) (8 page)

It was a far cry from the girl Reid was used to seeing, and the look on his face when he got his first glimpse of her was priceless. Her father led Reid into the den where Katie was waiting, and for several moments, he just stood there, staring at her from halfway across the room.

“Wow,” he said finally. “You look great.”

She noticed that there was a bit of a catch in his voice. He cleared his throat a bit in attempt to cover it up, but she still heard it.

“Thanks,” Katie said, smiling. “You do too.”

It sounded like a copout response, but it was true. He stood before her in a black tux with an ice blue tie and vest. In his hands was a plastic box containing a cluster of white roses surrounded by tiny ice blue flowers and tied with a navy blue ribbon. Katie noticed his hands were shaking a little as he put the corsage on her wrist. She told herself that was because they had an audience – both sets of parents and all four of her sisters were watching their every move. It unnerved her a bit as well, but she somehow managed to remain deceptively calm on the exterior as they posed for a few photos and then headed out to his car.

They chatted nervously on the way to the restaurant, where they would be meeting some of his friends and their dates. Katie wished Amy and Brady could be there so she would have someone to talk to, but they had other plans so she would have to catch up with her friend later. In the meantime, she did her best to make conversation with the other girls while Reid talked baseball with the guys. She just didn’t have much in common with the other girls, and they didn’t seem very interested in talking to her. She didn’t care except that it made dinner feel like it was dragging on. Every so often, Reid would turn and talk to her, and she caught him keeping an eye on her throughout the meal. She was relieved when they finally left and headed to the dance.

Inside the school, Katie and Reid waited in a long line to have their photo taken in front of a shiny silver curtain. The prom committee had selected a casino theme for the festivities, so the entire gym was decked out in silver, black, and red. Oversized playing cards and dice completed the look. It had all seemed pretty cool at the time, but when Kate looked back on those photos (before hiding them in a box in her closet), it looked pretty tacky. Then again, it was high school prom. Tacky was expected.

Once they were done with photos, Reid immediately shed his jacket. She walked beside him, chatting idly as they checked out all of the decorations and other couples trickling in. Many of their dinner companions were milling around as well, but they hadn’t spoken to Reid and Katie since the restaurant. In fact, they were on the opposite side of the room. That was fine with her, but she couldn’t help wondering if it bothered Reid.

“Your friends and their dates don’t really like me, do they?” she asked him as they found a place to sit with their sodas.

“Do you care what they think?” he asked.

“No, but I don’t want you to regret asking me to prom.”

“I don’t. I asked you because I wanted to, and I’m glad I did.”

“Even if that means they ignore you all night?”

He shrugged. “Look, the guys don’t have a problem with you. It’s the girls, and they’re just being petty and stupid. As soon as the music starts, the girls will go off to dance together, and the guys will talk to me again. It’s fine.”

Katie nodded, but she had a hard time believing he was really fine with the way the evening was going. Prom was one of their last hurrahs with high school friends, and she wanted him to have fun.

She momentarily forgot about Reid’s friends when Amy and Brady walked up to them. Brady was on the soccer team and he knew Reid from a few classes. While the guys talked about post-graduation plans – college for Reid and the Army for Brady – Amy pulled Katie a little distance away so she could grill her about the evening so far.

“It’s better now, but dinner sucked,” Katie said quietly to Amy. “His friends’ dates hate me, so they were kind of rude.”

“Those girls are snobs, so who cares? You’re here with Reid, and he’s looking sharp.”

Katie smiled and nodded in agreement. “He does look good, but he always does.”

“Are you ready to admit you’re still crushing on him?” Amy asked her.

“No,” Katie said, but her smile betrayed her protest.

“It’s okay if you are. He’s hot. I might even have a crush on Reid if it wasn’t for Brady,” Amy said. “Having a crush on him is completely acceptable. Maybe now is the time to admit it to yourself and to him.”

Katie shook her head back and forth. “No, I’m just going to enjoy tonight for what it is.”

Amy sighed, and Katie braced herself for another lecture, but the boys ran out of things to talk about so they joined the girls’ conversation, which shifted to school and the prom. Katie couldn’t help but notice how comfortable Reid seemed with her friends. Maybe the four of them could hang out this summer before they went their separate directions. She knew she shouldn’t let her mind go there, but she couldn’t help it. Prom and Amy’s insistence were going to her head.

Her nerves from the afternoon returned when Reid led her out to the floor for a slow dance. As she moved into his arms, she could sense the stares from people around them, which made her a bit uneasy. She didn’t have time to dwell on the outsiders though. She was too focused on Reid and how it felt to be this close to him. During their study sessions, she had sat next to him several nights a week and they’d accidentally touched plenty of times, but this was different, new, and unexpected. She felt a little nervous and jumpy, yet at the same time, being here felt so comfortable and right.

Reid seemed completely relaxed, talking with her about his excitement for baseball camp, which would take him to North Carolina just a few days after graduation. Katie talked a little about her summer plans, which included working part-time in the ticket office at Chase Field until it was time to head off to Arizona State. They also talked about their friends, family, and other random things as they returned to the dance floor for each slow song. Reid boycotted the dance floor during the fast songs, so Katie talked or danced with Amy while Reid caught up with his friends.

As the night went on, Katie and Reid’s dance conversations fell into a lull. She tried to tell herself it was because they were talked out, but she had a nagging feeling that wasn’t it. Something had shifted between them. She noticed their hold on each other grew more relaxed and they’d moved closer to each other. By the time the last song was playing, there was little air between them and she was resting her head against his chest.

“Do you want to go to the after-party at Jake’s?” he asked her softly.

She wasn’t thrilled at the idea of being around his jock friends and their snob girlfriends, but she was even less thrilled at the idea of ending her night with Reid either. So she agreed, and an hour later, after they’d changed out of their formal clothing, she was following Reid through a crowd of their classmates in the basement of Jake’s parents’ house. It was no small basement, or small house for that matter. Jake’s family was among the wealthiest in town, and the size of their home exhibited that notion.

“Too bad I didn’t bring my suit,” Katie said sarcastically as a half-dozen teenagers pushed past them to get to swimming pool and hot tub.

“We could go swimming without suits,” Reid suggested with a straight face

His serious expression made Katie’s face grow hot. And then he laughed.

“I’m kidding,” he said, nudging her. “Come on, let’s get something to drink and look around a little. Jake’s house is pretty cool.”

Katie nodded and followed him to the full buffet of food before they made the rounds. They watched people play Final Fantasy on Playstation 2 in one room, and they joined a group of people watching a marathon of
The Osbournes
on MTV in another room. The number of people made it all a bit chaotic, but Katie was only vaguely aware of what was going on around them. She was too distracted by Reid’s presence at her side and the fact that they had been holding hands or touching in some way for most of the evening. It had started at the dance as a way to keep up with him in the crowd, and it had carried through the rest of the evening, sometimes at unnecessary times – like now. She tried not to think too much of it, but that was getting more difficult as the night wore on and his touch grew more familiar and addictive. She didn’t want to pull away, even though her brain was doing everything in its power to convince her she should move away from him if she wanted to keep from falling harder for him.

After two episodes of Ozzy, Sharon, Jack, and Kelly, Reid helped Katie up off the floor and led her outside. The pool and hot tub were full as they passed, continuing on through the expansive grounds surrounding the house. Several yards away from the pool, they found a bench in the garden. They could still hear the laughter, chatter, and splashes from the pool, but it wasn’t loud enough to be a distraction. The darkness and some scattered landscaping also afforded them some privacy from the view of their peers.

“This has been a really fun night,” Reid said, after they sat down.

“Yeah, it has,” Katie agreed. “I’m glad you invited me.”

“I’m glad too,” he said. “Sorry my friends’ girls tried to ruin it.”

“They tried, but they didn’t. I don’t care what they think of me. In a few months, I probably won’t even remember any of them.”

Reid smiled and nodded. “That’s what I like about you, well, besides the fact that you can talk baseball with me all night without your eyes glazing over. I like that you don’t really care what other people think of you. You don’t care that you’re not popular.”

It was probably Reid’s attempt at a compliment, but Katie heard it a bit differently. She was well aware of her social status at the school, but hearing Reid say it sort of bothered her.

“Gee, thanks for the reminder,” she said.

Her tone was defensive, and Reid straightened a little.

“I didn’t mean it that way,” he said. “I mean, I didn’t mean it in a bad way.”

“Yeah, well, what is ‘popular’ anyway?” Katie asked, but her tone betrayed her attempt at apathy. “By definition, shouldn’t it mean everyone likes you? Because I don’t think the so-called ‘popular’ people really live up to that definition. There are plenty of people who don’t like them and don’t want to be them. I know I don’t.”

“I know, I know, and I agree completely,” Reid said, squeezing her hand. “I shouldn’t have said anything. Sometimes I just can’t talk the way I want to.”

They were both quiet for a few moments. She felt like her entire evening had unraveled. The magic of being with Reid on the dance floor. The warm feeling of his hand covering hers. All of her romantic notions about Reid were quickly disappearing during this conversation, and she felt like she was crashing back to reality. He fidgeted next to her, obviously trying to think of how to repair his words. Meanwhile, she was silently fuming, feeling embarrassed and confused about what was happening.

“Katie, I think you missed the point in all of that,” he said finally. “I said I like you.”

She turned her head to study him. Surely, he couldn’t mean that the way her heart was hearing it.

“Yeah, I know you like me,” she replied, trying to right her emotions. “We’re friends.”

Reid shook his head and laughed a little.

“Why are you laughing?” she asked.

“Because you aren’t listening to me. Katie, I took you to prom tonight. We danced all night. And now I’m sitting here, holding your hand, telling you I like you. What part of that says ‘friends’ to you?”

Katie swallowed hard and continued to study him, trying to process his words. Should she let her heart take them and swoon with happiness? Or should she let her head take the lead and attempt to analyze if there was a different meaning to his words?

He didn’t give her time to sort out that dilemma though because he leaned in and kissed her. Katie was so surprised by his action she didn’t respond to his kiss at first. Reid started to pull away, misreading her lack of reaction. She didn’t let him go though. She put her free hand behind his head and kept him close, pressing her lips to his again. This one, with both of them in the game, lasted much longer and packed even more sensations.

Finally, she let him go, and they both pulled back, staring at each other. Katie felt dizzy and off-balance. Reid just looked stunned. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get the words out, they heard shouting coming from behind them. They both looked over their shoulders to see Jake standing in the pool area, loudly announcing that the party was over. Katie glanced at her watch and saw that it was after 4 a.m. and then she looked back at Reid, who still hadn’t moved. She hoped he would finish whatever he’d been about to say. She hoped he’d kiss her again, but none of that happened.

“I guess it’s time to go,” he said, standing up and reaching for her hand.

Katie followed him back to the house and through the party. It might have been her imagination, but his grip on her hand felt different as they thanked Jake’s parents for hosting and headed back out to Reid’s car. She waited for him to say something on the ride home, but he drove in silence. When he stopped in front of her house, Katie opened the door and turned to look back at him, giving him an opening to say something.

“I guess I’ll see you at school,” he said.