“And how do you know Charlie?” He gave me a weird look. “A café? Are you sure you have the right Charlie?”
“Gage Joseph Reynolds. I am going to call every girl in your contacts tonight and tell them you are g*y.” I shoved Braden away from me and he finally let go.
Gage laughed. “Oh, you know what, Charlie just walked in. Here she is.”
I punched Gage in the stomach and took two deep breaths. “Hello.”
“Hi, Charlie. It’s Evan.”
A smile took over my face. “Oh. Hi, Evan. How are you?”
“Who was that?”
“My brother. He’s a little slow but we love him anyway.”
“Hey,” Gage yelled. “I’m the smartest one in this house.”
I could hear the smile in Evan’s voice when he said, “He was obviously trying to irritate you.”
“Isn’t that what big brothers do?”
“I wouldn’t know, I only have one sister and she’s five years older than me.”
“Ah, well, take my word for it.”
He laughed. “So, I was just wondering if you still wanted to go to a baseball game with me, because my dad said we could use his tickets for this Saturday.”
“This Saturday!” I realized I had yelled in my excitement, so I cleared my throat and tried to calm my voice. “For sure. I’m in.”
“Great. Um . . . there are four tickets, so I thought we could take Dustin with us too. Do you think you can get one of the other girls to come? Amber maybe?”
“Sure. I’ll ask her. Where should we meet?”
“I could pick you up. Five, maybe? It takes about an hour and a half to drive up there depending on traffic.”
“Sounds good. I’ll text you directions. And just a warning: that was only one of my brothers. I have four.” Yes, I included Braden in that count, since apparently that’s exactly how he saw himself. “And my dad is a cop.”
“Wow. Way to make a guy feel at ease.”
“You’ll be fine. See you Saturday.” I hung up the phone, the smile still on my face. There was nothing that made a girl feel better about a guy humiliating her than a different cute guy asking her out.
Behind me, Gage said in a low voice, “He will not be fine.” Then he laughed maniacally.
I whirled around. “If you ever do that again, something really bad is going to happen to you.”
“As in you are going to do something bad to me, or Fate is going to even the score? I really need to know, because it will make a difference in my decision.”
I shook my head.
“Who’s Evan?” Braden asked, his hazel eyes on me.
“Someone who is taking me to the A’s game this Saturday. And I know you both know who the A’s are playing. That’s right—the Giants.” I sang out a high-pitched note of taunting. “Who’s jealous?” I knew Braden was. I knew beyond anything that he would love to go to that game, and I felt terrible. But rubbing it in his face seemed the correct way to deal with those feelings.
Gage went to the kitchen drawer beneath the phone and pulled out a paper and pen. “Okay, you’ll need to write his full name here so Dad can run a background check.”
I sighed. “No.”
“How did you meet him? Where does he go to school? How old is he? Is he even an A’s fan?”
“Pretty sure he’s an A’s fan, since he has season tickets.”
“Call him back and ask if he has any extra,” Gage said.
“He does, but those are for my other friends. So tough luck.”
“Isn’t What’s-his-name’s wedding on Saturday anyway?” Braden asked.
“Who’s What’s-his-name?” I asked. “Wait, did I forget about some lame wedding I’m supposed to be at?”
Gage waved me off. “No. It’s this guy we know from years and years of soccer camp. He’s a couple of years older than Jerom.”
I pointed at Braden. “But obviously you don’t know him or you’d actually know What’s-his-name’s name.”
“I never went to soccer camp, Charlie.”
“I know.” Hadn’t we established I knew his life pretty well? “Soccer camp people do actually leave soccer camp at some point, though.”
Gage interrupted any comeback Braden might’ve come up with by saying, “His name is Ryan, and you’re right, his wedding is Saturday. Crap. How are we supposed to humiliate Charlie’s date?” He patted Braden on the shoulder. “Looks like it’s all on you, my brother. Make us proud.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Gage got up to leave, Braden trailing after him.
“Please don’t do anything to Evan,” I said to Braden as he reached the door.
He turned back. “No worries. I’ll steer clear.”
“Thanks.” If only I believed him.
Chapter 22
I came home from my shift at the store on Saturday just in time to see my brothers all tuxed-out for the wedding. “Look who cleans up nice,” I said.
“You’re one to talk,” Gage mumbled.
“Have fun,” I said, bounding upstairs. I only had about two hours before Evan would show up at my door, and I hadn’t exactly planned what I was going to wear yet. Last time Evan saw me, I was wearing my work clothes and more makeup than I had ever worn in my life. I knew I wasn’t going to replicate that, but I had no idea how far back I wanted to scale it.
My phone rang and I picked it up. “Hello?”
“Hey, Charlie, it’s Amber. So I bought a really cute A’s jersey to wear to the game because I had no idea what to wear to something like this. And then I wondered if that’s what I should wear and I didn’t want to feel stupid being the only one wearing an A’s jersey.”
She honestly thought it possible that she’d be the only one wearing an A’s jersey at an A’s game?
“So I bought one for you, too. They aren’t the same because I didn’t want to be twinsies or anything, but they were kind of boring so I bedazzled them.”
Bedazzled? What the heck was a bedazzle?
“I hope that’s okay. What do you think?”
“That’s cool. Jerseys are good. Thanks. How much do I owe you?”
“No, nothing. It’s on me.”
“Are you sure? Jerseys are expensive.”
“I’m sure. When do you want me to come over? I could come over soon and we can get ready together. Do you want me to, or would you rather I just come over right before the guys are going to come get us?”