When Our Worlds Collide (26 page)

Chapter Thirty-Nine

-Kennedy-

Our classmate’s loud stares turn into silent glances by
Friday. This makes my life much easier, at the very least more manageable. I no
longer have to scurry to and from class in fear of being stared at when I’m
just near Graham. Let alone letting them all see us holding hands or showing
any sign of our relationship. It seems that they all are getting used to the
idea. I know I am. It feels natural to have Graham stare longingly at me across
the hallway or kiss me on the cheek before hurrying to the baseball field for
practice. He sends me sweet text throughout the day just to let me know he’s
thinking about me. Everything appears to be as close to perfect as I can hope
for. 

I understand everyone’s apprehension about us. Accepting
Graham with anyone, even a loser like me, is foreign territory. His
relationships have never extended outside of the bedroom. It’s unheard of and
it’s no surprise that some are turning out to be reluctant on letting me into
their world. I’m even hesitant on entering it myself.

By six o’clock, my skin is crawling. Graham and I have spent
every waking hour together between his baseball practices and games and my
doctor’s appointments. I got the news that I no longer need to have the cast
on. Apparently my injury is healed to the point where it isn’t necessary to
have that clunky cast on. I will have to wear a walking boot for the time
being. You will not find me complaining though. Anything beats having to move
around with those stupid crutches.

“Will you please stop fidgeting,” Violet barks the command
as she turns the radio down in her car. “You will see him soon enough.”

“Not if you keep driving like you’re ninety-five years old,”
I joke flipping through my cellphone to see a missed text from Graham.

Try not being so distracting tonight, k? Coach threatened
to not allow you to come to games anymore after what happened at practice
yesterday.

My laughter permeated Violet’s mustang remembering Coach
yelling at him from the dugout. Violet and I were sitting on the bleachers
working on homework because Graham demanded that I waited for him. Let’s just
say after Mark started yelling at Graham to pay attention to his signals
instead of watching the bleachers, Coach stood in front of where I was standing
to try to block the distraction.

I send him back a quick text telling him good luck. In
response I receive one back with a little wink smiley face.
We’re that
couple.

“By that grin splattered across your face, it’s probably
safe to assume that Prince Charming sent you a text.” She dramatically swoons.
Violet takes her eyes off the road for a second to get a glimpse of my phone. I
turn it towards her. Her eyes roll as she reads it. “That’s what I thought. You
two are disgusting. To think that I thought I would never see the day that
someone tamed the infamous Graham Black.”

“You didn’t ever---you guys never…” I ask hoping I know the
answer already. I’m sure my face says it all.

“If I had, you would have known about it. Trust me Graham’s
the type of boy you brag about.” Violet wags her eyebrows. “He’s way too
fucking gorgeous not to kiss and tell.”

I blush instantly cursing my fair skin. “Yeah, he is.”

“OH MY GOD!” Violet shouts nearly slamming on her breaks.
“You two totally did it. I can see it in the way your eyes lit up. You have sex
eyes for him which only means one thing. You totally lost your virginity to the
town whore. My best friend is a McSlut.”

Violet has never been one for subtlety and at times I
appreciate that fine quality of hers. Now isn’t one of them. I’m not
embarrassed by my choice to lose my virginity. That has nothing to do with my
embarrassment. I don’t exactly have the experience that most girls my age have.
I feel self-conscious knowing that Graham has slept with God knows how many
girls and my experience starts with him.

“How was it? I remember my first time. It was painful and
lasted like two minutes tops,” Violet confesses with a horrified expression on
her face.

“Actually, it was amazing. Perfect even,” I reveal to my
best friend who waits patiently for more details by the look on her face. “I
don’t have anything to compare it too, but I have a feeling for first times it
couldn’t have been much better than what it was.”

“I’m jealous.” Violet smiles. I know she’s happy for me.
She’s probably more relieved that I’m not planning on spending the rest of my
weekends reading and working on homework.

We pull into the parking lot at the baseball field finding
that it’s standing room only already. Violet finds a spot on the fence just a
few steps down from the home dugout. Graham’s already standing on the pitcher’s
mound warming up his arm looking like every teenage girls fantasy. I watch him
intently admiring the way his uniform hugs his body perfectly as he stretches
and bends.  

He removes his hat to wipe the back of his arm across his
forehead to wipe the beads of sweat from his brow. There’s nowhere else my eyes
can wander. They’re locked on him as they always are. They have a mind of their
own where Graham is concerned. It seems too soon or too unlikely that two
seventeen year olds are capable of loving each other like I know we do, but I
know what I feel when I look at him.

If on cue, Graham shifts his gaze away from his catcher and
they fall directly on me. I smile at him and he drops his hat back in place
smiling secretly under the shadow of the bill. I have never been more
interested in a baseball game than I am right now. Like usual, Graham plays
with his whole heart. No one expects anything less from him. The crowd screams
his name chanting his praises. I notice a line of men along the other fence
holding radar guns nodding their heads in approval. He was born to play
baseball and their presence is the proof of that talent.

One day he’s going to make it. I have no doubts about that.
It’s in the way he plays. Graham has a romantic relationship with the game.
Baseball is his religion and his way of feeling alive. That’s why my decision
the night of the accident was an easy one. He deserves to show the world that
his talents will never go to waste like so many before him.

Number seven from the other team hits a line drive straight
towards the pitcher’s mound. Graham sticks his glove out snagging the ball. If
you blinked you would have missed the play. The crowd screams louder causing an
echo in the corner of our little world.

“Nice catch, boyfriend,” I shout before realizing what I
just said. Out loud---for everyone to hear. I can feel the heat emerging from
beneath my tank top making its slow crawl up to my face. Violet’s eyes widen at
me as her mouth fell open in a perfect ‘O’ shape trying to hold back a laugh.
That’s when I realize what I have done. Graham’s my boyfriend and I just
announced it very publically.

“Please kill me, now,” I joke. It’s my only defense
mechanism. Violet shakes her head beside me. I think she’s enjoying this too
much.

I give myself a pep talk urging myself to look up at Graham.
When I finally do he’s looking directly at me. I assumed there would be a look
of horror written across his face. In place of that is a shit eating grin. He
winks at me quickly throwing out the last pitch of the game without taking his
eyes off of me. As if he already knows what the outcome will be. Graham’s sure
of himself and perhaps a bit cocky. He earns that right when he’s on the field.
His final pitch is proof of that when the umpire shouts strike followed by
that’s the game. Violet and I jump up and down in celebration with the cheers
from the bleachers behind us.

Graham jogs up towards where Violet and I are standing.
Violet jokingly wipes the corners of my mouth as I watch him.

“Hi
girlfriend
,” Graham yanks his hat off putting it
on my head. It’s too big covering my eyes. I push it up to be able to see him.
I cringe at the dampness from his hard work. I don’t remove it. Instead I watch
him in all of his excitement from the win. “Guard that for me, will you?”

“Of course,” I promise winking at him.

“Now give your boyfriend a kiss,” Graham leans over the
fence to get to me. I give him a quick kiss, but he pulls me in closer
barricading me with his hand on the back of my neck deepening the exchange.
Violet whispers something about us being disgusting. We continue to ignore her.

Graham jerks back quickly. Coach is standing behind him
pulling on his jersey. “What was that for Coach?” Graham questions with a
guilty grin.

“Quit kissing your girlfriend,” Coach pretends to be
swooning over the situation, mockingly batting his eyelashes. “Get your ass in
the dugout. You may have won the game and the girl but now you have to win over
some scouts.” Coach raises his eyebrow expecting Graham to follow. Coach
flashes a smile at me before heading back towards the dugout.

“I promise this won’t take long. Can I just meet you at the
restaurant?” Graham says apologetically. I nodded in response.

“Go impress the scouts then come have our first date, Mr.
Black,” I smile standing on my tippy toes to kiss him on the cheek.

Violet clears her throat before speaking, “Isn’t the whole
first date thing moot in point considering he already got the milk and now
there’s no point in buying the cow.”

I am going to kill her. 

Graham raises an eyebrow at me knowing very well that she
knows that we have slept together. “What? She’s my best friend. She knew before
I even told her. Now go before Coach actually bans me from your games. I’ll see
you soon,” I declare pushing him off of the fence in the direction of the
waiting scouts and a Coach who’s tapping his foot on the ground impatiently.

Violet and I wait for Dan to finish showering. We are
sitting on the hood of her car that’s right outside of the locker room doors.
We must have been too busy talking about prom and some of the other parties I’m
sure Graham and Violet will drag me to. 

“Kennedy,” Violet whispers elbowing me in the side to get my
attention. She points a disguised finger in front of us. I look up and take a
deep breath in. I’ve been avoiding him for good reasons. He’s attempted a
handful of times to talk to me, more like corner me, in the hallway. I managed
to sneak by him before he can say anything, but that doesn’t stop him from
keeping his eyes on me. Even when I don’t catch him I can feel them on me,
taking what’s left of what he tried to take. Craig knows better than to say
anything to me in front of Graham. I’m alone now though.

“Violet.
Kennedy
,” Craig’s voice says deeply. Just
the way he says my name makes my skin crawl.

“What the hell do you want, Craig?” Violet barks out the
warning rolling her eyes at his unwanted presence.

“Just seeing if Kennedy is coming over tonight is all.”
Craig takes a step closer towards me leaning against the front of the car where
my feet are planted in defense.

“I think we all know the answer to that,” I say under my
breath trying to sound confident and strong even when I’m anything but. Being
trapped on the hood of a car makes leaning back as far as possible a game that
I’m not winning. Craig takes it as an invitation to lean closer until he’s
nearly on the hood of the car with me.

“That’s too bad. I thought we could finish what we started
last weekend,” Craig growls running his hand over my leg. Bile rises up my
throat. He knows exactly what he’s doing and I don’t understand why he’s hell
bent on making my life miserable. 

Before Violet or I can say anything he walks off with a
menacing laugh echoing through the parking lot. My breaths are coming out
shallow. Without knowing what to think, I keep telling myself that he’s just
trying to get the best of me. The only reason why he even has the nerve to say
anything to me now is because Graham isn’t around to hear what he says.

Maybe I made the wrong decision in not reporting him or
maybe if even I had reported him nothing would have come from it. Craig didn’t
succeed in what he intended on doing that night in his room, so what good would
calling the police be? It’s too late to report him now. Staying away from him is
what is best. The more distance between us the better chance Graham has to
keeping his cool. He has a lot riding on his good behavior. No team wants a
hothead on their roster and I’m not going to let my mistakes jeopardize
Graham’s future.

“Ken, you okay?” Violet asks patting me on the leg pulling
me back from my thoughts.

“Can we just keep this between us? Graham has enough going
on right now. I don’t want to burden him with this,” I explain quietly. He
should know about Craig’s attempts to scare me, but I can’t bring myself to
give him anything else to worry about.

“Kennedy, Graham will want to know.” She argues. I know
she’s right. I’m just not willing to give Graham another thing to worry about.

“You don’t understand. There are things you don’t know and I
can’t tell you but trust me when I say Graham doesn’t need to deal with this
right now.” Violet nods in compliant understanding. She drops the subject, but
that doesn’t mean that it’s left my head.

Dealing with baseball and scouts on top of his Dad is enough
for Graham to keep him busy. I know his Dad hasn’t let up on him. I don’t let
it be known that I notice, but I see the bruises and I feel the way he cringes
and tenses up when I hug him too hard. The last thing Graham needs is to worry
about leaving me alone in fear of Craig pulling another stunt. It’s a secret that’s
best left quiet for now.

Chapter Forty

-Graham-

All my dreams are becoming a reality and the only person I
can’t wait to tell is sitting in Antonio’s Pizzeria. I walk through the glass
double door and as always, I know exactly where she is without having to look
around the room for her. It’s instinct, some invisible string linking us
together.

Not wanting to interrupt her in the middle of her fit of
laughter, probably at something Violet’s saying, I stand back to watch her.
Only her best friend can make her laugh like that. It carries over the packed
crowd that engulfs the main dining area. Just the sound of her laughter causes
my heart to beat faster. I’m still surprised how much of an affect Kennedy has
on me.

 She’s wearing those jeans that I love so much. They hang
low on her waist and her tank top rides up exposing a tiny hint of stomach if
she moves just right in the booth. Who knew the smallest stretch of skin could
be such a distraction. Every time Kennedy leaned forward on the fence tonight I
noticed it. 

I let out a deep breath admiring her. The way she’s throwing
her head back as she laughs and the way she places her hand on the base of her
neck as if that will help barricade the beauty of her laughter from escaping.
Her laughter comes to a halt abruptly. Her entire body stiffens noticeably from
where I’m standing. I have to smile. Kennedy flicks her head to the side so
quick I think she’ll have a kink in her neck. Her eyes peruse over my entire
body starting at my toes and slowly making the way up to my face where I greet
her with a wink.

Kennedy springs up from the booth leaving Violet and Dan to
watch as she runs over to me. She’s getting around much easier now that she
doesn’t have those crutches. I’ll never tell her, but I sort of miss them. She
depended on me more when she was stumbling around with them. Her arms swing
around my neck as I pick her up in a tight hold.

“You did awesome tonight,” Kennedy praises wiggling her legs
to be put back down to the earth.

“I have some big news to share,” I confess proudly.

“I don’t think its news when we all know who those scouts
were here to see.” Kennedy playfully elbows me in the side.

 “Oh is that right?” I elbow her back as we walk back to the
far corner to the booth. “Then enlighten me on what happened tonight. I’d love
to hear your little theories.”

“Let me guess. Hundreds of scouts are going back to their
fancy far off schools and are going to put up a fight to see who you decide to
commit to in the end.” Kennedy looks to me for a response. “Am I at least a
little bit close?”

I throw my arm around her shoulder squeezing her into my
side. She fits perfectly against my body. She hastily wraps her hands around my
waist as if she can’t get close enough.

“Close, babe. Georgia’s scout is going to be making a visit
to our next game to see me pitch. That’s always been my first choice and now it
doesn’t seem that far away,” I say honestly.

Kennedy slides into the booth turning her attention back to
me. “Anyone who isn’t blind can see that you were meant to play baseball,
Graham.” She reaches under the table placing her hand on my thigh running it up
and down the length as far as she can reach letting it land just a tad too
close to where I want her touch the most. She traces circles with her thumb
causing a heat to course through my body making me instantly hard.

Realizing how rude Kennedy and I are being I turn my
attention to our waiting friends. Violet is studying the two of us as if we are
her science project that she just doesn’t quite understand and Dan is doing
what he does best, studying Violet’s curves.

I slap him on the side of the head to break his
concentration. Dan rubs the spot immediately.

“What the hell was that for?” Dan stammered trying to hide
the smirk on his face. He knows damn well what that’s for. I don’t think the
two of them have admitted that they are more than just the fuck buddies that
they claim to be.

“Hasn’t anyone ever taught you that it’s rude to eye fuck a
girl in front of people?” We all laugh at my bluntness.

“The same person, who forgot to teach Kennedy not to rub her
boyfriend hard under the table obviously,” Violet snaps back flashing a wink
towards Kennedy. Kennedy nearly chokes on her water. I pat her on her back
lightly as the two girls fall into another howl of laughter.

“I’m not…” Kennedy argues back at her best friends
accusation completely horrified. Violet’s eyebrow rises in skepticism. “What! I
wasn’t.”

Violet throws her hands up in surrender. “I’m not judging.
I’m damn proud. Who knew Graham Black would be the one to bust you out of your
sexual repression. Plus if you’d like to continue I’m sure Dan and I can find
something to occupy our time with while you...finish him.”

“VIOLET!” Kennedy screeches with dread. Her cheeks turn an
exceptionally loud color of red in embarrassment. Sometimes it’s easy to forget
that up until a week or two ago Kennedy was a virgin.

Our waitress appears out of nowhere to take our orders
pulling the two girls back from their stare off. Her name tag reads Veronica
with a small pink heart sticker at the end. By the way she’s glancing down at
me through her eyelashes I’d assume that we know each other. She has bedroom
eyes which only makes me shift in my seat in discomfort. Dan’s eyes widen from
across the table as if he realizes the same thing as me in the same moment as I
do.

“
You’re
screwed
,” Dan mouths from across the
table.

“How’s it going, Graham?” Veronica’s voice is low with
determination. Most would refer to the tone as sexy and I’m not ignorant enough
not to agree. It has a certain undertone when words roll off of her tongue. Her
voice doesn’t compare to Kennedy’s sweet voice.

“It’s going good,” I give her a friendly smile trying to
sound indifferent. I notice Kennedy’s hand has stilled on my thigh. The
circling motion has come to a halt. She has stiffened up beside me. She knows
something’s off. The tension is palpable.

“I haven’t seen you since Craig’s party a few months back. I
thought you would have called after that night,” Veronica confesses putting the
last nail in my coffin.

I’ve been dreading this moment. I’m not an idiot. Situations
like this are inevitable. Protecting Kennedy from awkward encounters with past
mistakes is bound to be impossible. Kennedy goes from frozen to completely
frigid as she watches and waits for what’s going to happen next. She jerks her
hand from my thigh putting all of her concentration on the dessert menu.

“Veronica, this is my girlfriend. Kennedy,” I offer turning
my attention towards Kennedy in hopes to rectify the situation before it goes
more south than it already has. Kennedy is gracious towards Veronica, just as I
knew she would be.

Kennedy smiles at Veronica reaching her hand out with a
grace that no one would expect from someone in this situation.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Kennedy insists with a genuine
smile that only she could be capable of.

“Girlfriend?” Veronica’s voice is laced with anger and
obvious confusion by the word girlfriend. It doesn’t go unnoticed by anyone
that she didn’t reach out to shake Kennedy’s outstretched hand. Kennedy slowly
retreats her hand focusing back on the dessert menu again.

“Oh shit, here we go,” Violet whispers under her breath. Dan
shoots her a look to tell her to shut the fuck up before I can even open my
mouth to reiterate the same to her.

“Girlfriend,” I say the word trying to emphasize how serious
I am.

“You’ve got to be shitting me?” Veronica shouts out above
all of the chatter that’s surrounding us making everyone to stop their private
conversation to watch the show that’s bound to unfold with her outburst.
“Graham ‘The Man Whore’ Black has a girlfriend. Write it down in the books.
This is a fucking first.”

Veronica eyes fall over to Kennedy with a look of disgust.
Surprisingly Kennedy doesn’t bat an eyelash at her tantrum. She’s the depiction
of cool and collected.

Veronica addresses Kennedy resting her hands on the table
directly in front of us. “Let me guess? He told you how special you are, how no
girl holds a torch to you? Then once he worked his magic on you, you found
yourself with your pants down but your shirt still on, right?” Kennedy doesn’t
say anything but looks at Veronica with pity. “Don’t waste your time
sweetheart. Guys like Graham don’t have girlfriends, especially not innocent
ones like you. You’re a flavor of the week. You’ll never be anything more than
that.”

“That’s enough Veronica,” I put a hand up to stop her tirade
with a stern and demanding tone. I just want this to be over with. Not exactly
how I imagined our first date going.

Kennedy pushes my hand down. I can feel the steam rolling
off of her as she and Veronica stare each other down. Kennedy’s angry and I
have never seen her like this. I have a feeling I’m going to need to buckle up
for the ride. Kennedy is anything but a coward.

“No Graham, she’s right,” Kennedy’s voice is low, almost a
near whisper.

“What?” I’m more confused now than before. Kennedy places a
hand on my cheek landing a kiss on my lips quickly before turning her attention
back to our waitress.

“Graham Black doesn’t do girlfriends is what everyone keeps
telling me, but here I am. So perhaps maybe everyone else is wrong.
You
must be wrong,” Kennedy glares up at our waitress with a smile. “Everyone’s
wrong because here I am on a Friday night sitting in this booth while some girl
who I’m sure dropped her pretty little lace panties without much of a snap of a
finger telling me something that I already know. The best part is that I don’t
give a shit what you have to say because you’re standing their taking our order
while I’m sitting here next to the guy who doesn’t
do
girlfriends.”
Kennedy does air quotes when she says girlfriends. 

Each of us stares at Kennedy. All of our mouths gaping with
surprise. I grab Kennedy’s hand under the table squeezing it in appreciation of
her jumping to both of our defense. Veronica watches the two of us together.
She must think that if she stares long enough that something will change, but
it doesn’t and it won’t.

“We’ll have a large meat lover’s pizza and a medium
pineapple and ham. Thank you,” Kennedy orders without dropping her defensive
eyes from Veronica. Violet stifles a laugh but it’s loud enough for everyone to
hear. Veronica storms off back towards the kitchen.

“She’s going to spit in our food, right?” Dan offers
laughing at his own joke making the rest of us fall in with him. We all go
silent once the situation sets in.  

Kennedy turns her body to face forward keeping her hand
entangled with mine. I think I’m still in shock at Kennedy’s brazen reaction to
Veronica. Spending nights worrying over how Kennedy will respond to my past
doesn’t matter now. I’m pleasantly surprised with her reaction. She handled
herself with her head held high not allowing someone to take anything away from
our relationship.

“Okay, I’m going to say it since no one else will. Who the
hell are you and what did you do to my best friend?” Violet eyeballs Kennedy
from across the table. “That was impressive.”

“I think she’s still right here,” Kennedy smiles with a
prideful gleam in her eye and a smirk to match it.

“I thought you were going to get up and beat that girl’s
ass,” Dan addresses the elephant in the room a little less subtly. “Remind me
to never piss you off.”

“It seems that jealousy reared its ugly head at a certain
waitress,” Violet sneered in the direction that Veronica had headed.

“I don’t think it was jealousy. She was just protecting what
is rightfully hers,” I correct them. Kennedy kisses me on the cheek as I
lightly elbow her in her side in appreciation.

Veronica never comes back to our table. However, we did get
our pizza unscathed as far as we can tell from first inspection. Trust me, we
double checked. The conversation veers off of Kennedy’s battle with the
unexpected waitress and quickly turns towards something lighter. We talk about
baseball mostly. It doesn’t go unnoticed that Kennedy’s body freezes up at the
mention of Georgia.

I look over at her and she quickly diverts her eyes focusing
on Violet who’s giving her the look. You know the one? The one that passes
between two people like a silent conversation---I think the female population
has this tactic down to a tee. Violet excuses herself from the table and
Kennedy follows quickly behind her. I make an effort to ask her if she’s okay.
Of course, she says she is. I watch Kennedy as her figure recedes into the back
corner of the restaurant. My eyes stay on her until I can’t see her anymore.

“You’ve got it bad,” Dan snickers shaking his head in almost
disbelief.

“You’ve got no idea, man,” I say under my breath looking
back towards Dan who’s smiling at me like I just let him in on the secrets of
the world.