“Oh, I know,” he says through a chuckle, standing up and tossing down twenty bucks before heading to the back for the men’s room.

“Cass would never fuck up baseball,” I think to myself, then I toast to no one and take a long chug to catch up with Nate. I drop my twenty on the table and wait for him at the door.

Things seem to have worked out for Nate. I knew they would. And he didn’t play like shit in his tournament, despite all of the drama-rama. Rowe did have some dude come to the game with her, pretty much hitting on her in front of my brother. That shit wasn’t cool, but Cass said I didn’t know the whole story, or whatever. All I know is if Cass brings some guy to tag along with us somewhere, I’m going to knock his teeth out—and I don’t care what his story is.

Cass has had a full week of practice. Her body is holding up to the pressure. I know it’s a concern for her, making sure she gets rest, stays cool. I made her take an Epsom salt bath in the physical therapy room on Friday. She hated it, but it’s good for her muscles and nerves. Overheating isn’t good for MS, and extreme cold isn’t great either. Salt seems to be good for just about anything. I’ve been researching it as much as I can, because I want to help her, to be there to push back when MS tries to knock her down.

She’s dodging calls from her parents. At first, it was really upsetting her, but now it’s almost routine the way she just clicks END on the phone when she sees their names pop up. Thankfully, Paige doesn’t seem to be bullying her about it. Cass says Paige is always on her mom’s side, but I don’t know. I think Paige might be in Cass’s corner more than she realizes. Paige sure as hell let me know where she stood.

Cass has been out with the girls all day—Halloween shopping. I love this holiday. When I was a kid, I liked that I got free candy. When I was a teenage boy, I liked that teenaged girls dressed up in slutty costumes. And now that I’m twenty-two…? I like that college chicks dress up in slutty costumes.

“So, do I get to see?” I ask Cass, pulling the bag on her arm, trying to get a peek at her costume. I only get a glimpse before she jerks the bag away. I can see the skirt—red and white stripes. She’s either a hot nurse or a cheerleader. I’m good with either.

“No, I want to surprise you,” she says, her cheeks a little red when she smiles. It’s cute when she’s sexy like this. “What are you wearing?”

I laugh once at her question before I answer. “Like you don’t know,” I say. Yesterday, I got a ransom note in my mailbox. It was a picture of a teddy bear—more specifically my teddy bear. I’ve had Cookie since as long as I can remember. Honestly, I think he means more to Mom than me, but I like that he means that much to her. So, I keep him in my box of crap that I haul around with me—he’s in there with a few trophies, yearbooks, homecoming pictures, and I think maybe my kindergarten report card.

Anyhow, the note with the picture said that if I ever wanted to see Cookie again, I better wear a tutu at the Halloween party. It’s not so much about Cookie as it is about someone thinking they have something on me—so yeah, I’m going to wear the tutu. I’m going to fucking own that tutu—and the silver sparkly Speedo-style thong I’m wearing underneath.

“What does that mean?” Cass asks, and I try to size up the look on her face. Yeah, she’s in on this. She’s totally in on this.

“You know what that means,” I say, and she rolls her eyes at me. Yeah. She’s in on it. I can’t wait for her to see the tutu.

Cass

Rowe filled me in on the Cookie thing after the boys left. I guess Ty’s been picking on Nate, so to get back at him, Rowe kidnapped his teddy bear and is holding it ransom. My boyfriend has a teddy bear…named Cookie. Yep.

The best part is that she dared him to wear a tutu to the party tonight. I wish Rowe knew Ty as well as I do. If she did, maybe she wouldn’t have taken the threat so far. I’m pretty sure everyone at the party has seen my boyfriend’s penis. There’s not a lot hiding it. There’s a goodly amount of pink fluff that tufts up in the front as he’s sitting, and then there’s a very small silver thong…that doesn’t fit well.

It’s not attractive, like, in the least, but I kind of love that Ty couldn’t give a shit. Most of the guys at this party tonight are dressed in stupid, scary masks, or with bad vampire makeup and their regular street clothes. The blend of the various colognes gave me a headache, so we’ve been hanging out outside.

“Okay, so again, explain this whole tutu thing to me? This is all because you tease Nate about making a fussy fuss?” I say, noticing a group of girls walking by, staring at Ty’s lap, giggling, and moving on. That’s right, ladies, get a good look. He’s all mine. I laugh a little to myself.