Curve Ball

Jace
__________________

I forget when, but we ended up migrating to the couch. May's bed barely fits two people comfortably and considering Dante and I aren't small dudes, we needed room.

I took one of the singular chairs in the living space so May could have room to lay down. Her legs are fully extended, with her head resting on a pillow that is leaning against Dante's legs, and her back to the TV. She fell asleep halfway through our third Marvel movie (obviously starting strong with Captain America: Winter Solider, then moving to Thor Ragnarok, and then she fell asleep halfway through Iron Man 2).

She hasn't mentioned what happened since we left her room, though sometimes I would sneak looks at her to find tears running down her face. I figured she would tell us if she were having another- what would it be considered? Panic attack? Anxiety attack? Both?- so I let her have her peace. I know I hate when people are breathing down my neck, asking me if I'm okay 24/7, so I assume she's the same way.

I hear keys enter the lock on the door before it's opened. Savannah and Veronica's conversations halts immediately upon seeing us in the living room. They both look to me before looking at Dante, and then finally settling on May. Both of their faces drop instantly.

"Oh no," Savannah drops her bag at the door and kneels in front of where May lies, gently rubbing her back.

"When did she call you?" Veronica directs the question at Dante.

"Right before Spanish. We had just started walking to class when she texted me. I already figured something was up when she wasn't in her normal parking spot," He says in a low tone, while gently rubbing her hair.

"He just turned around and sprinted to the car. I had no idea what was happening so I just followed him," I add in.

Savannah looks up at Dante. "Can you carry her to her room? Please?" Dante nods once before carefully removing her head from the pillow, and picking her bridal style. Savannah follows behind him, biting her nails.

"I knew we should've stayed dammit," Veronica says, replacing Dante's spot on the couch. "Can you explain what happened when you got here?"

"It'd probably be better if you ask Dante. I let him rush to her while I put the key back under the mat and locked the door. By the time I got to her room, Dante was just whispering to her and I could see her breathing eventually slow down. Then she and I talked while Dante made food and then she asked us not to tell Lukas, which I'm still confused about,"

"Yeah don't tell Luke. As much as I hate keeping things from him, this is one thing we need to," She says, rubbing her eyes.

"But why?" I ask. Veronica opens her mouth to respond but Dante cuts her off when he walks into the room. Savannah must still be with May since she doesn't trail him.

"I'll explain in the car," He looks to Veronica. "We should get going. We have a baseball meeting in like 15 minutes,"

"Alright. I'll text you and update you later," Veronica stands and hugs Dante, waves at me, and walks to May's room. I follow Dante out and down to the car. Once he pulls out of the parking lot, I turn to him and ask him to explain.

"There's a lot of this story that is not my place to tell. You have to wait until she's ready to tell you because it wasn't an easy time for her. But I'll explain Lukas.

"May and Lukas have been best friends since like, birth. They grew up together, played baseball together until May switched to softball, went to the same school all 13 years, yada yada yada. Lukas graduated early because he's smart as shit, but also because Ole Miss allowed him to come a year early. May committed here fall of her senior year? Something like that. She says Lukas isn't a reason why she came to Ole Miss, but I don't believe her. You should've seen them before Lukas started dating Veronica. They were inseparable and even now, they have the exact same personality.

"Anyway, needless to say, if Lukas finds out that May is having.. episodes.. again then he'll be solely focused on her and miss baseball practices and classes. That happened when she was first diagnosed and he almost got kicked off the team. May was pissed at him for jeopardizing his scholarship. So we can't have him find out because of that."

Now that I think about it, they do have very similar personalities. There's times where I'll be with Lukas and I'll notice that his mannerism are very similar to May's. Even the first night I saw her, she was playing video games with him.

"But did something happen for her to get diagnosed? Or did it just develop overtime?"

He glances over at me and stays silent for a minute. "All I'm gonna say is that there's a reason she doesn't go after baseball players anymore," Anymore.

"Did she used to be with one? And he caused it?" I ask.

"That's all I'm gonna say. It's seriously not my place,"

"No I get it. Just the respectful thing to do,"

"Plus, I don't think she gets cleared for another couple weeks, and it's killing her not to be able to pick up a ball. And I know she's stressed about it not being completely healed when she is finally cleared and having to sit out even more to let it heal properly. She's just a huge over thinker,"

Dante pulls into the parking not too soon after he's done talking. He puts the car in park and we start walking toward the athletic building.

"I just hope she feels better when she wakes up," I say to break the silence.

"Yeah me too. She doesn't deserve all the things she went through and is still going through, but she's a strong women. She'll get past it."

We walk the rest of the way to the building in silence. We end up being one of the last guys to show up to the meeting so they start right after we walk in. Most of the time, I don't pay attention, too concerned on whether May woke up yet or not. I check my phone every ten minutes for a notification from her or her roommates, but nothing comes, even after the meeting ends.

Dante and I make our way back to our apartment and after I settle into my bed does my phone finally vibrate.

Wilson
now
thank you for today. i appreciate it more than you know. and i'm serious about us starting fresh. i don't want anymore awkward tension between us, i hated it

I swipe into the message immediately and form my response.

Call me anytime u need me Wilson and I'm there. And yes I hated it too, even though I might've been the main cause of it lol

Speech bubbles form at the bottom of the screen and I find myself staring at them, eagerly waiting for the message to pop up.

lol maybe.. but i had a part in that too
goodnight hatcher

My heart sinks slightly at sudden end of the conversation but I realize that she must be exhausted from what happened.

Goodnight Wilson

I watch as the Read 9:37 AM appears on my screen before lying back down. And even through all of today's events, I find myself falling asleep with a small smile on my face.