511 No More Practices (1/2)

After lunch was math. Dave returned my homework just in time to turn it in.

As I sat between the twins, I could feel some tension between the two. It became even more noticeable when Kyle spoke up.

\”I'll be going home with Marie after school, so you guys don't wait up.\”

Dave frowned. \”Text Zeke yourself.\”

\”Fine.\” He said stiffly. He pulled out his phone and sent the text.

I shifted, feeling uncomfortable.

The pair that normally spent the class time bickering, joking, or just chatting had turned completely silent. It was extremely awkward sitting between them; almost worse than all the attention we got during the day.

In my next class, I told Noah about it, but he had no answers either. He just shrugged. \”Maybe Kyle just wants to spend some more time with his girlfriend now that we aren't in season and the softball team isn't in season. The twins fight all the time, I wouldn't worry too much.\”

Zeke had the same attitude towards Kyle. He didn't say much when the four of us got in the car. He just drove us home quietly. It was a strange feeling being back at the house in the early afternoon. It was like something was missing. Duh. The practices.

I finished my homework within the first hour of being home. Looking at the clock, it was still a couple more hours until dinner. I sighed and went to look for Noah. I found him in the kitchen, sneaking cookies out of the pantry.

\”Noah.\”

He jumped, hiding the cookie bag behind his back instinctively. \”What! Oh. It's you, Jake.\” He pulled the bag out from behind. \”Want one?\”

I gladly took two.

\”Did you already finish your math homework?\” He asked.

I nodded. \”Everything is done. What do we do now?\”

Noah laughed. \”Are you at a lost now that we don't have anymore practices?\”

I nodded. We've never had so much free time after school before.

Noah laughed. \”Come.\” He gestured, holding the bag of cookies the whole time. He walked to the living room with me following behind. He plopped down on the couch, turning the tv on with the remote. \”If we can't play, we might as well watch.\”

He switched through the channels. And paused at the game between the Oakland A's and the Tampa Bay Rays. He peeked at me. \”Will you be okay to watch? Even though Jeremy is playing? We can boo him if you want.\”

I chuckled. \”I'm okay. It's your favorite team still.\”

Noah relaxed and put down the remote. He was obviously happy that he could watch this game. I felt a little bad that he had to be so considerate of me all the time.

It was a night game in Tampa, but you couldn't tell since they played in an indoor stadium. They had just started and were only in the second inning, with Oakland winning 2-0. That made Noah even happier as he munched on a cookie.

\”Some interesting drama has followed Patterson with his move to the AL West.\” One of the broadcasters started to talk about the awkward postgame interview, where he was asked about his mom and brother. \”Now, I don't know how much of that is true, but it was reported that Patterson took the weekend off for personal reasons. He was due to be here in Tampa last night, but only showed up early this morning.\”

\”Yea, Chad, it was a strange...occurrence.\” The other broadcaster joined in. \”He did get approval from the club to skip another game, but there have been reports about where he was last night. Instead of playing here in Tampa, he went to a high school state championship game at Stanford.\”

\”Just goes to show how much Oakland wants to keep him next year when he becomes a free agent. Not many teams are willing to let their players skip so many games without a good reason. He definitely has the support of his club.\”

I looked at Noah. \”He didn't get in trouble?\”