The Boyfriend League Read Online Free PDF Page B

were willing to donate.
    â€œI like the way the second baseman moves when he goes after a grounder,” I said.
    â€œYeah, he’s really fluid. I wish I’d brought my dad’s binoculars.”
    â€œWe’ll be able to see them better once they start batting practice.” Since we were on the second row, just to the right of home plate, we’d have a great view.
    â€œHow do you like having a guy in the house?” Bird asked.
    â€œHard to say. Jason is really quiet. Forsome reason, I thought guys were noisy.”
    â€œI’m sure real brothers are. These guys are probably just trying to be polite.”
    â€œI guess. He played pitch with Dad last night.”
    â€œMust have been a rush for your dad.”
    I smiled. “Yeah, it was.” Although Dad, loyal as ever, had stopped by my bedroom before going to bed to let me know I was still his favorite ball-tosser. “The guy’s good”—he’d winked at me—“but no one can replace you.”
    His words had made me wish I’d tossed the ball around with them, but I didn’t want Jason to see me as just one of the guys. If one of his teammates asked about me, I didn’t want his recommendation to be, “She has a great arm.”
    â€œIs Mac working?” I asked.
    â€œNo, he’s still looking for something, although I get the impression working isn’t high on his priority list. He’s all about the baseball.”
    â€œKinda like us, huh?”
    Bird grinned. “Yeah.”
    â€œDo you think guys prefer girls who aren’t?”
    She looked at me. “Why would they?”
    â€œI don’t know. I just…”
    â€œWant a boyfriend?”
    â€œYeah, some sort of validation that it’s okay I’m not a beauty queen.”
    â€œTiffany doesn’t have a boyfriend, either.”
    â€œNo, but a lot of guys hang around her. She had a date to the prom.”
    She had been crowned prom queen, actually.
    â€œShe doesn’t seem real to me,” Bird said. “You, on the other hand, are very real.” She pressed up against my shoulder, pointed toward the field. “You know, they call third base the ‘hot corner.’ I think our third baseman might be the reason.”
    She was right. We had more important things to discuss than my sister. We had guys to rank, score, and rate.
    â€œI never realized what a busy schedule they have, with games, practice, and work,” I said. “We need some real face time with these guys, but I don’t know when we’re going to get it.”
    We got it a lot sooner than we’d expected. When the coach had yelled that practice wasover, Mac had removed his catcher’s mask, walked to the backstop, grinned at Bird and me (at least I think the grin was for me, too), and said, “Some of us are going out for pizza. Why don’t you come?”
    So, Bird and I found ourselves sharing a table and pitchers of root beer with fifteen guys. How cool was that?
    I could picture the field during practice and exactly where each guy had been positioned. So I knew the blond on my right was the shortstop and the dark-haired guy on my left played third base. Thanks to the roster I’d almost completely memorized, I knew most of the guys’ names, too. Shortstop was Chase, the third baseman was Alan.
    In baseball, the catcher is also known as the field general, and it was like Mac was in charge here, too. As the guys had been pulling tables together, he’d yelled, “Bird’s with me, Dani’s with Jason!” and he’d pointed fingers at us—like a flight attendant directing passengers’ attention to the emergency exit doors—so the guys would know who was who. Of course, he didn’t mean like boyfriend–girlfriend. He wasreferring to our families hosting them.
    I wasn’t sure how he knew I was with Jason. Maybe Jason had said something on the field or maybe