...Nathan made it over home plate and so did the runner behind him, but everybody else struck out. Nathan sent a look over his shoulder as he crossed home, and he thought he saw Brent incline his head in response. Nathan’s pulse spiked and he felt jittery—giggly. He walked straight over to the cooler and popped open a light beer, downing it quickly, hoping to drown the nervous giggles in his throat before they could start.
“Hell of a good job there.” Dale slapped him on the back. He was technically their manager, but that just meant he coordinated the beer runs and ordered the pizza after each practice. He was a good guy, genuinely excited for Nathan’s success.
“Thanks. Hey…do you recognize their pitcher?”
“Baliss? Sure. I’m surprised you don’t. He was class of ’01, too. You probably played him a few times.”
“Yeah, that must be why. I just couldn’t put my finger on why he seemed so familiar.”
Dale didn’t know that Nathan would have recognized him anywhere. He could rattle off his stats, recount the best stories of his high school career, and reveal himself to be either the biggest fan Brent had ever had or a creepy stalker. Of course, if he had been a stalker, Brent’s sudden appearance in his life wouldn’t have been such a shock. The truth was, he knew nothing of Brent’s life after graduation. He’d disappeared from town and they didn’t have any common friends, so Nathan had never given a thought to tracking him down.
Watching Brent was like taking an unexpected trip through time. Suddenly, Nathan was eighteen, he had his entire life ahead of him, and Brent was the embodiment of that perfection and confusion. Nathan had always suspected he wasn’t like other boys, but it wasn’t until he saw the blond haired, green-eyed Brent that he’d realized how different he was…because he didn’t care about kissing girls, but he so badly wanted to touch Brent’s lips that he thought it might kill him. During the course of that baseball game, he’d seen himself kissing Brent in a million different ways. But it had never occurred to him that Brent Baliss would make the first move. Would wait until Nathan’s nervous giggles subsided and then kiss him with sweet urgency...