When Our Worlds Collide (Our Worlds #1)(55)
“I don’t know what to tell you, Graham. I’m not sure that I can do this,” I begin to explain. “I just…I’m me and you’re you. There’s a reason why we haven’t crossed paths until now. How can we expect this to work?”
Graham and I watch each other both contemplating what I have said. His eyes are down casted while mine stay locked on his face trying to see some glimpse if there is any hope left. When he looks up at me, his eyes give me my answer.
“I don’t know, Kennedy. I really don’t,” Graham forces the words out and turns his back leaving me standing alone in the crowded hallway. I feel more alone than I have in a long time. He doesn’t bother looking back before he walks away to blend in with the rest of the students.
The rest of the school day goes by in a blur. During Government, Graham stays busy chit chatting with a few of the baseball players at the back of the room while I spend most of the hour and a half trying to force myself to keep my head facing forward. I break down twice and casually turn my head to peer back to where he’s sitting. He catches me both times, but I can’t read what his eyes are trying to tell me.
I want to run back to him and jump in his lap and apologize for what I said and for doubting him for one single second. I think we both understood that it’s too late. I went too far and now Graham’s sitting just a few rows away but it feels as if there could be oceans between us.
Chapter TwentyEight
-Graham-
“Hi Kennedy, you’re here to take some photos?” Coach shouts out in the middle of his pregame speech. I search the green in front of the dugout wondering where she is hiding.
“Only if it’s okay with you,” she says sweetly from the outside of the dugout somewhere. You can always hear her smile through her voice. I know better than anyone after the way she bulldozed me in the hallway today that her sweetness can run out.
“Good luck capturing anything worth using. These boys may be good at baseball, but they aren’t anything worth writing home about. ” This makes her laugh making my desire to run out to her and kiss her like I just had this morning before school. Those moments seem too far away now. Almost as if they never happened. I screwed it all up more than what she’s aware of. Typical Graham, always messing things up and for what…
Kennedy turns the corner towards the dugout where we’re all sitting along the bench. She has the camera up to her eye snapping photo after photo. She looks beautiful. The sun’s shining down on her long brown hair making it shimmer in the light. I can’t keep my eyes off of her. I wasn’t trying to hide my fascination. She has changed out of what she was wearing this morning into a pair of jeans and a simple teal tank top. The color makes her eyes stand out amongst everyone else.
“Graham Black, quit ogling that poor girl and get on the field,” Coach shouts at me before throwing my mitt into my lap. I glance up to see all of my teammates already warming up. Kennedy’s smiling at her camera screen. Just her smile lightens my mood. And to think you screwed it all up with her.
I run out of the dugout to stand directly up against Kennedy’s back while she snaps a few shots of the players that are on the field like I’m supposed to be. She’s aware of how close I am by the way she stiffens up.
“You look beautiful,” I whisper in her ear. She doesn’t say anything. She turns to face me allowing her expression to say it all. Everything is eventually going to be okay. After what I did this afternoon I highly doubt that.
I barely make it to the mound when Mark and Craig step in front of me stopping me dead in my tracks. “You ready for tonight?” Mark asks with a sly grin.
“What’s tonight?” I ask knowing fully well what they are referring to, yet another party at Craig’s. It’s the same thing every weekend. Keeping my gaze locked on Kennedy as she walks around the field snapping shot after shot, I am caught by my best friends. Craig’s tossing a baseball in the air playing catch with himself while Mark’s intently watching me as if I’ve lost my mind.
“She’s hot, right?” Craig marvels at his obvious attraction to my girl. This is him staking his claim on her.
“She’s gorgeous,” I answer honestly. Mark looks at me sideways in surprise. Craig’s eyebrows singe together threatened by the compliment.
“I’m thinking that tonight’s the night. Girls always fall for the Craig Daniel’s charm. What would make this chick any different?” Craig asks but Mark and I both know it’s a rhetorical question. Craig jogs over towards Kennedy leaving Mark and me on the mound.
Before he was out of ear shot Mark mutters under his breath low enough for what was only supposed to be for my ears, “Because she’s actually smart unlike all the others.” This makes us both laugh, but Craig doesn’t find the humor in the jab as he glares at the two of us flipping us the bird behind his back. Heaven forbid he lets Kennedy see him being crude. Such a con artist.
“I’ve seen you watching her, you know?” Mark speaks up as he tosses the ball in the air towards me.
“Who?” I ask already knowing who he is referring to. I can’t stop myself from looking back towards her. She was standing near the dugout talking to Coach now. Coach must have run off Craig because he’s in the outfield where he belongs.