Chapter Text
“Did you not understand what I asked from you?”
Caitlyn Kiramman rolled over onto her back, pulling a worn blanket over her shoulders with one hand as she stared up at the ceiling. The thumb of her other hand tapped against the cracked screen of the phone she held, her eyes narrowing in displeasure.
“And am I expected to believe you know every girl on here personally? What are you, a womanizer only when it comes to the softball team?”
Hunched over a laptop at the desk on the opposite side of the room, her companion glanced over his shoulder with a grin. “Not me, but you could be if you took that stick out of your ass for once.” He ducked to avoid the phone that was suddenly sailing through the air toward him, diving out of the desk chair to fumble for it. It slipped through his fingers, bouncing off the thin dorm room carpet, and he slapped a hand against his forehead in annoyance. “And now look what you’ve done.”
“Oh, poor you, Jayce.” Caitlyn retorted icily as she pulled a loose string from the corner of the blanket before flicking it to the ground, “It was in such perfect condition until now.”
“You don’t want me to talk to any of them?” Her friend held out the phone with the screen facing toward her, several headshots from the college softball team roster staring back. Caitlyn gave him a thundercloud glare.
“Sorry, no one in the lineup seems the type that would be interested in wasting a Saturday as a plus one at a stranger’s wedding.” Pulling her long hair up into a ponytail in quick, stilted movements that spoke silently to her irritation, she picked up her own phone and curled up in the corner of the bed.
Jayce sat back down on the desk chair, swiveling it around as he examined the damaged phone screen with regret. “I thought at least one would be your type.”
“It’s not about my type, idiot,” she snapped, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “I don’t care if I never see them again after this. I just don’t want my father worrying that I am–”
“Miserable and lonely?”
“Denying myself a social life.” Her glare was possibly capable of searing him in two.
“Well, aren’t you?” Jayce shrugged, turning back to his laptop. “if you have to pretend you have a girlfriend so your dad doesn’t get nervous you’re working too hard, then maybe it’s time for a little inward reflection.”
“Maybe it’s time for a little shutting the fuck up,” Caitlyn’s voice was artificially sweet, “and minding your own business.”
“Hey, you asked me to help you,” he reminded her, flipping through his lecture notes as he chewed on the eraser of his pencil. “And I think there are plenty of girls on the softball team who would love to go to your dad’s wedding. You know how the student athletes get around free food.”
Caitlyn snorted, not wanting to give Jayce the satisfaction of getting a laugh out of her. She rolled her eyes instead. “That’s all well and good, but what about after the wedding?”
“The reception?” Jayce rocked back and forth in the chair, the hinges squeaking maddeningly. Caitlyn squeezed her eyes shut as if that would block out the sound. “Just have her follow you around until it’s time to go home. It’s what I do whenever Viktor needs a plus one for his internship conference dinner things.” He waved a hand to emphasize.
“It’s not that part,” she said between her teeth, absentmindedly switching between tabs on her phone browser without looking at a single one. “My dad lives four hours away, and I am not planning on taking an entire road trip back to school after a wedding that will probably drag on until after midnight. Do you know how many car accidents occur at night on that highway?”
“So what’s the problem?” Jayce glanced back at her, confusion written across his features. “Just spend the night–” Confusion was replaced with realization, then poorly repressed glee. “ Oh.”
Caitlyn grimaced at him. “I am not using my father’s commemoration of marriage as an excuse to spend the night with someone I do not even know. It’s just…logistically, I don’t quite see how to avoid it.” She had booked a hotel room close to her childhood home – it seemed improper to stay the night under her father’s roof the night of his wedding, although he would most likely insist she do – and the prospect of having to drag a plus one invitee not only to the event but to spend the night with her was less than delightful to consider. And if it was one of Jayce’s friends…well, in her encounters with them, they had always been what Caitlyn kindly and graciously referred to as sluts .
From what she could see in the lineup of student athletes he had shown her, that conclusion remained firm.
“Maybe it’s not such a bad thing,” Jayce was saying, and Caitlyn pressed a hand to her forehead. He was her best and oldest friend, but he had a special talent for getting on her last nerve. “It could be a nice way to, you know, relax and unwind after–”
“Oh, you’re so right,” she interrupted, sitting upright. “Just what I need after attending my father’s wedding to his second wife whom I have met once, seeing every family member I have been more than happy to avoid, and pretending to have a good time when I am missing crucial studying time for finals. What I will really need after all that is a hookup with some girl I have never met and who won’t remember my name after because all the girls you know are fucking linebackers with so many concussions they aren’t expected to have a GPA above two.”
“They’re on the softball team,” Jayce raised a finger in clarification, and Caitlyn imagined biting it off. “Not linebackers, that’s football.”
“I really, really don’t care.” She stood up, untangling herself from the blanket and stuffing the pile of textbooks on the bed into her monogrammed leather messenger bag. “I think I would rather have my father assume I’m – as you said, miserable and lonely – than have to drag one of your friends along.”
Jayce contemplatively folded a sticky note into small squares. “At least give them a chance. If you come with me to the game later, I can introduce you to some of them and maybe you’ll feel differently about it. Get to know them a bit, you know?"
She looked aghast at the prospect. “I’m not a whore, Jayce.”
“Well, shit, you don’t have to make out with them. Just say hello and maybe a nice girl will come along and be the perfect match for the situation.” Caitlyn stared at him dubiously, pulling the bag’s strap up over her shoulder. “Do you have anything better to do tonight?”
There was no point in lying to Jayce about her social life, not when he was practically her only friend and knew all too well she never had something better to do after school hours. She always insisted she liked it that way, that no one on this godforsaken campus could offer her a better time than the evenings she would spend alone in her dorm, but she was not sure Jayce was ever convinced. In any case, she could not come up with an excuse to dodge his offer now.
“Fine.” She reached up to brush a stray piece of her bangs out of her face, absently wondering if she should trim off the dark blue tips before the wedding next weekend. Her father had never liked it, although her mother, when she was alive, had let her dye it any color she wanted. Caitlyn had not had the heart to cut off the last remnants of blue that tinged the ends of her dark hair…it was the last color her mother had seen on her. Two years ago, before she–
“So you’ll come?” Jayce’s voice cut through her wandering thoughts. “The game starts at seven thirty.”
Caitlyn scowled. “Seven thirty? On a school night?”
“Oh sorry grandma, are you usually tucked in bed with your hot water bottle and chamomile tea by that time?” Jayce laughed, and Caitlyn kicked the back of his desk chair as she walked past, knowing full well that was exactly how she had planned to spend her evening. Her friend tossed the wadded-up sticky note at her. “Meet me there later and I’ll set you up with any girl your heart desires. I promise.”
“My heart desires to get this nonsense over with,” she said unpleasantly, opening the door into the dorm hallway. “And if this doesn’t work out, then I’m going to the wedding alone. It’s starting to sound more enjoyable that way, actually.”
Before he could respond, she shut the door behind her, the messenger bag swinging against her arm as she started down the hall.
+ + + + + +
“You look like you attend a lot of sports games.”
Caitlyn gave Jayce a murderous look, tugging self-consciously at the hem of her skirt as she shuffled over on the bleachers to sit beside him. Perhaps she should have consulted him on what the typical apparel was supposed to be for a softball game; he had neglected to mention her navy blue blazer and oxfords would look ridiculously formal amidst the straggling group of spectators in glaringly casual clothes. Jutting her chin out in irritation, Caitlyn sat down beside Jayce, setting her purse beside her as the silver chain attached to it clinked against the metal seat.
Jayce poked his head around her. “Ah yes, the classic accessory for a college softball game, a Birkin.”
“How was I supposed to know?” Caitlyn waved a dismissive hand at the empty dirt field. “It’s not like I go to many of these…things.”
“Games,” Jayce interjected, leaning back on his hands.
“Yes, thank you, how do I ever get anything done without your wisdom to guide me?” she bit back drily, blinking in distaste when a gust of wind blew a cloud of dust toward them. She brushed a hand over her skirt with a sigh. “Please tell me we don’t have to sit through this entire thing.”
“Oh,” Jayce sprang to his feet, gesturing for her to follow him. “The girls I know are already here, and the dugout is right this way.” He pointed to the long lean-to along one side of the field’s chain link fence, a long metal bench stretching across it. Caitlyn saw several uniformed girls clustered about, talking to one another. None of them looked in her direction even when Jayce spoke, for which she was grateful. “You should go talk to them.”
“No, thank you.” she said immediately, horrified at the very thought. “I’m not going to waltz up and introduce myself out of the blue. I don’t know a single one of them.”
“That’s quitter’s talk.” Jayce shook his head in admonishment. “But I guess that’s what I’m here for.” He leapt down from the bleacher, sending up a cloud of dust from the walkway below. Caitlyn peered down at him, hands clenched in her lap.
“What are you doing?”
“Helping you out.” He grinned up at her before turning on his heel and making a beeline for the dugout. Caitlyn gritted her teeth as she watched him go. They were sitting too close to the group of girls for her to call out to him unnoticed…she doubted he would listen anyway if she tried to persuade him to come back. Instead, she remained staunchly on the bench, fixing her eyes straight ahead at the field.
Why she had agreed to this humiliating ordeal in the first place, she had no idea. Maybe it would be better to call it quits and go back to her dorm. Sure, she'd have to go to the wedding alone, but at least she wouldn't have to suffer through however long a softball game was supposed to take before the equally unpleasant ordeal of meeting any of Jayce's boisterous friends.
She ventured a glance over to the dugout and saw several of the girls staring at her.
How wonderful.
Caitlyn stared back, stone-faced. She wasn’t sure what would be more awkward: acknowledging their interest or pretending she didn’t notice them whatsoever. She could see Jayce talking to them – running his mouth more than he should be, most likely – and looked away sharply when he gestured toward her.
She counted to ten in her head, hoping by then they would have lost interest in the conversation by then and Jayce would come back to the bleachers. One. The sun was setting and it was glaring straight into her eyes. Of course she had forgotten to bring sunglasses with her...wasn't this just her lucky day. Five. Would Jayce be upset if she decided to leave halfway through the game? She could pretend to have a headache, or say she had forgotten to finish a homework assignment. He knew she had never once forgotten an assignment, so that excuse would not fly. But maybe she could conjure up some other emergency-
Eight, nine, ten. After what felt like an excruciatingly long time, she snuck another glance over toward the dugout.
Another girl had joined the group around Jayce, and was staring unabashedly at her from under a ragged shock of faded pink hair.
Caitlyn raised an eyebrow, trying to look as if she was not deeply bothered by Jayce’s involvement in what admittedly was turning out to be a very stupid idea.
The girl winked at her, then shoved a handful of sunflower seeds into her mouth before spinning around on the heel of her shoe and disappearing into the cluster of identical burgundy jerseys.
Before Caitlyn could look to see where she had gone, Jayce suddenly appeared beside her, clambering up onto the bleacher again with a grin.
“You’re welcome.”
She frowned, glancing away from the dugout before he could tease her for staring. “For what?”
“I got you a date.” He leaned back against the bleacher above them, resting his elbows on the side of the seat and interlocking his hands behind his head. “In less than five minutes, which is pretty impressive if I do say so myself.”
“What?” Caitlyn stared at him, annoyance flaring up once again. “You said I should talk to them.”
“And you said you wouldn’t,” Jayce shrugged. Caitlyn had to admit he had a point. “Probably a good thing too.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You don’t look exactly thrilled about any of this.” He looked her up and down. “And it’s pretty clear you aren’t here for the love of the game. Someone had to sell the pitch for you, and I think I did a pretty good job.”
Caitlyn blew a frustrated sigh between her lips, tapping her nails impatiently against the cold metal of the bleachers. “Care to tell me who you set me up with? I hope she knows it’s strictly business, a plus-one kind of thing only–”
“Yeah, yeah, I made that very clear.” He waved his hand carelessly. “Don’t worry, they don’t think you’re trying to scout out a good time.” Nodding toward the dugout, he pointed to the pink-haired girl who had winked at Caitlyn, and who was now strapping knee pads and a chestplate over her jersey off to the side of the field. “That one’s your lady for hire–”
“Please don’t phrase it like that.”
“–and she seems very excited to meet you.” Jayce waved, and the girl looked up. She grinned when she saw Caitlyn looking at her and waved back, before picking a sunflower seed from between her teeth. Caitlyn felt her own tight smile fade to a grimace, but Jayce did not seem to notice. “I’ll introduce you to her after the game. She said she was going to impress you with her skills on the field before meeting you officially.”
“That’s charming,” Caitlyn said flatly.
“Isn’t it?” Jayce nodded in satisfaction, his friend’s sarcasm lost completely on him. “Her name’s Vi, and…oh! She said to give you this.” He sat up, digging in his pocket before pulling out a dusty plastic bag of sunflower seeds and handing it to her. “Apparently she had some extra and wanted you to have some.”
Caitlyn took the bag gingerly between two fingertips, setting it down beside her purse. “I think I’d rather not.”
“Don’t look so glum,” Jayce elbowed her gently, tipping his baseball cap with the Hextech logo emblazoned on the front over his eyes. “If it ends up not working out, look on the bright side. At least you get to watch a softball game with your best friend.”
Caitlyn cracked a small smile that did not quite negate the frown that creased the upper half of her face. Propping her feet up on the bleacher seat below her, she flicked a speck of dust off of her plaid skirt. “Just the way I wanted to spend a Saturday evening.”