Benchwarmer's Victory

I sat at the end of the dugout, my iphone clutched in my sweaty palm like a lifeline. Another Friday afternoon baseball game, another chance to watch Jake from the safety of the shadows while he lived his best life out on the field.

"Bro, you literally just sit there every game," Marcus said, sliding onto the bench next to me. "You ever gonna, like, talk to him?"

I rolled my eyes so hard I practically saw my brain. "First of all, I'm taking in the ambiance. Second, my mom started me on these new stress-reducing vitamins and I'm literally waiting for them to kick in before I make any major social moves."

Marcus snorted. "Those gummy bear things? Yeah, I'm sure those are gonna work wonders."

The truth was, I'd become a professional spy. I knew Jake's routine better than I knew my own homework schedule. I knew he wore the same neon-laced cleats for luck. I knew his post-game Instagram stories always featured the same sunset filter. I knew he took vitamin C supplements before every game because his mom was basically a walking health blog.

My phone buzzed. A notification from the school's anonymous confessions page: "Someone pls tell the bench girl that Jake thinks her batting practice form is actually fire."

I almost dropped my iphone.

"Wait, WHAT?" Marcus grabbed my phone to read the post. "Dude. He's been watching YOU?"

Before I could process this information, Jake walked by, freshly showered, his hair damp and perfect. He paused.

"Hey," he said, looking directly at me. "You working on your swing again next week? I could, like, help you with your form if you want."

My vitamins had definitely kicked in, because instead of saying something absolutely awkward, I heard myself reply, "Yeah, that'd be... actually really cool."

He grinned. "It's a date then. Batting practice, Tuesday."

As he walked away, Marcus practically tackled me with excitement. The vitamins weren't magic, Jake wasn't some unattainable celebrity, and I wasn't just a spy in the dugout anymore.

I looked at my iphone, at the confessions post, at everything that had changed in thirty seconds.

"Yeah," I whispered to myself. "Tuesday."