542 V2 ch14 (2/2)

A young man jogged over, wearing a similar outfit as Rose. ”Yes?”

Jeremy tapped me on top of my hat, on my head. ”This is Jake, my brother. He's with the team that Rose just took to the outfield entrance for the pregame announcements. Can you help him rejoin his friends? I'm not sure if he can get there on his own.”

”Sure thing!” Chuck answered promptly.

Jeremy looked down at me, making eye contact. ”Text me later, okay? We'll figure something out.”

I nodded.

He left me with Chuck, jogging back to his dugout.

”Let's go, Jake. I'll get you back to your team in no time.” Chuck guided me to the exit, leading the way. After a couple seconds of silence, he spoke up again. ”So you're Jeremy's brother. Must be kind of cool to have a brother who's a pro in the big leagues.”

I shrugged.

He took my lack of response as nonchalance. ”Maybe because you're young, you don't understand what a big deal it is. A very small percentage of players will ever get this far. Let alone be as successful as Jeremy.”

I was thankful when we got to the main concourse, filled with fans. It became too loud for Chuck to hold a conversation with me and he just focused on finding my team. We walked along the concourse from behind home plate to the outfield seating. He took me down a level and led me through an 'employees only' pathway.

With the noise volume back down, he spoke up again. ”I heard a rumor that Jeremy and Rose are dating. Can you confirm that for me?”

I shook my head. This is the first time I'm hearing of it.

”Oh. I heard that they were really close.” Chuck continued, mistaking my shaking head as a 'no, they aren't dating' kind of answer.

I was too embarrassed to speak up and say that I didn't know. That I couldn't possibly know. Jeremy and I were still trying to find some solid ground to build our brotherhood on. How would I know anything about his dating life?

”Jake! Over here!” Noah waved excitedly as soon as he spotted me. We had a true mutual camaraderie where we understood one another clearly and could talk about anything. There wasn't any guessing or awkwardness between us.

I joined him and the group without saying goodbye to Chuck. I glanced to Rose, who was speaking with the coaches, not sure what I was looking for. It's not like a neon sign would suddenly pop out and state that she was dating Jeremy.

”Jake? You okay?” Noah asked. ”How'd it go?”

I shrugged. ”Not much could be said. I'll try texting him more often, I guess.”

Noah made a face. ”That's it?”

I was still staring at Rose as I told him. ”He offered to let us come to some more games over the summer. Without school, there are more options to meet up.”

”That would be pretty awesome.” Dave sighed. ”Too bad I won't be around to join in the fun. I'll be too busy traveling around the states, working on my craft.”

”As you should.” Kyle snorted.

”I don't want to hear that from you.” Dave huffed.

Zeke glared at the two, stopping the fight early.

I didn't know much about dating and relationships so I turned to the one guy I knew who does. Or at least, did. ”Kyle, how can you tell if someone's in a relationship?”

The twins and Noah all got quiet, freezing in time.