Mikey found herself glaring at Sebastian when he pointed toward the stools lining the kitchen island. When he said, “Go sit down,” she grumbled, but did as she was told for the simple fact that she didn’t feel like arguing with him at the moment, not when they both knew that he wouldn’t make as big of a mess as she would.
While her mother loved to cook, Mikey…didn’t. Love it, that is. Every now and then, she liked to try her hand at cooking just to see what she could do, which admittedly, wasn’t much. It was also a gesture that went unappreciated by her family since they normally ended up staring at whatever she cooked with terror in their eyes, something that should probably concern her.
“Did they post the roster yet?” Sebastian asked as he searched the refrigerator for something to eat.
“No, but I already know that I’m not pitching,” Mikey said, trying to shrug it off like it was no big deal, but it was killing her.
“How do you know that?” Sebastian asked, throwing her a questioning look as he pulled out the pot roast that her mother made earlier and placed it on the kitchen island before grabbing the roasted potatoes, carrots, and butter.
“Because I found out today that the coach’s son and nephews tried out for the team and they’re all going for the pitchers’ spots,” Mikey said, biting back a sigh as he grabbed a cutting board, careful not to disturb the video equipment and laptop that her mother had set up for KaseyCooks.com on the large kitchen island that Reese built for her.
Slowly exhaling, Sebastian said, “Well, that explains it then.”
“It really does,” Mikey said, still not sure if she should be relieved by the news or not.
On the one hand, there was a
good chance that the coach said what he did because he wanted to make sure that his son and nephews got the pitchers’ spots, but on the other hand, it meant that she really didn’t have a chance in hell of pitching on this team. It also meant that she would never get a chance to pitch in high school with him as her coach, which left her with a few options.
She could apply to Latin Scribe High School like they’d planned and tryout for the baseball team or talk to her parents and see what they could do, which honestly, wasn’t really much of an option. There was nothing that they could do without pissing off her coach and making this worse. Her only hope was to keep her mouth shut and put in the work, showing the coach that she had what it takes.
Not really in the mood to talk about this right now, Mikey decided to change the subject. “When are you going to talk to your parents?”
“I’m not,” Sebastian said, grabbing a large onion off the counter and started cutting it.
“Why not?” she asked, wondering, not for the first time, why he was being so stubborn about this.
“As long as I stay out of trouble and get back into school, there’s nothing to worry about,” he said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal.
For a moment, Mikey sat there, watching him as he chopped the onion into small pieces as she thought about what he’d said and…
“Maybe it would be a good idea if you stopped showing up for lunch,” she suggested, even though she hated the idea of him being alone all day. If he wanted a fresh start, then they were going to have to do everything that they could to make sure he got it, which meant that they should probably stop sneaking into each other’s rooms at night.
“You’re probably right,” Sebastian said after a slight hesitation as the sound of the kitchen door opening had her looking to her left and murmuring, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have somewhere else that I need to be,” as she made her way to the door closest to her.
*-*-*-*
“Tell me that she didn’t really just hide in the pantry,” Uncle Reese said, sighing heavily as he rubbed the back of his neck while he shifted his attention from the closed pantry door to Sebastian.
“She has problems,” Sebastian said, stepping out of the way as Aunt Kasey took over the mess that he was making.
“She really does,” Aunt Kasey said as Sebastian’s attention shifted to his parents, who didn’t really look all that surprised to find him here. And who also didn’t look like they’d gone to bed yet, making him wonder what they were doing here.
“I assume that you have a good reason for being here this late at night,” Uncle Reese said, dropping down on Mikey’s recently vacated seat.
“You would assume wrong,” Sebastian said only to glare when the little brat said, “We really do!” from the safety of the pantry.
“And I can’t wait to hear it,” Aunt Kasey said with a warm smile as she gestured to the cabinets. “Can you grab a frying pan for me, sweetie?”
Sending one last glare at the pantry door, Sebastian grabbed a large frying pan out of the cabinets for Aunt Kasey as his parents joined Uncle Reese and sat down at the kitchen island. While they waited for an answer, they helped themselves to the platter of chocolate chip cookies that Aunt Kasey kept filled for moments like this.
All of them looking at him expectantly.
Before he could open his mouth, the little traitor said, “You might as well tell them! They’re going to find out sooner or later!”
“We really will,” his father said while his mother, who was frowning down at the cookie in her hand, said, “My chocolate chip cookies never come out looking like this.”
“How do they usually come out?” Uncle Reese asked as he reached over and plucked the cookie out of her hand and popped it in his mouth.