June 26, 2021

Benny still hadn't answered my text from the day before, so I just assumed he was grounded.

I got out of bed and got ready to work at the bakery. I put my hair in a ponytail, did my mascara, then brushed my teeth. I put on jean shorts and a yellow t-shirt with a flower on it then put my running shoes on and went downstairs.

My dad was still asleep, but Gran was up and ready to leave and already making pancakes.

"Someone's up early," she said as she picked up the perfectly golden pancake with her spatula and put it on a plate for me along with a biscuit and two pieces of bacon.

"Thank you," I said taking the plate and walking over to the table.

"So I heard about your date with Jake last night," she said walking over with her plate full of food and setting it on the table next to me.

"It wasn't really a date..." I said pouring a glass of orange juice, "it was more of like a peace offering or something."

"Right, so I didn't see you two sharing a milkshake when I walked past Norma's?" she raised an eyebrow at me.

"Friends can share milkshakes you know," I said matter of factly.

"Right," she said looking down and cutting her pancake into squares. "You know Logan beat his ass right?" she laughed.

"So I heard." I tried to keep a straight face, but it was honestly really funny. I've never seen Jake lose a fight until now.

We both at breakfast then walked to the bakery. Like always, Phillips was already there waiting for us on the front steps of the bakery, but to my surprise so was Benny. They weren't talking or looking at each other, they were just sitting as far away from one another as possible. Logan was of course on his phone, and Benny looking around at the scenery even though he's seen it millions of times by now.

Benny was the first one to see Gran and Me walking towards them, so he stood up with a big smile on his face. Phillips just kept playing on his phone. I ran to Benny and attacked him with a big hug which he returned with the same energy as always.

"It's about time you got here. I had to sit with that idiot for like three whole minutes." Benny purposely said loudly so Phillips would hear.

"Oh no." Phillips said in an emotionless tone, "My feelings are so hurt." He stood up.

"Logan, be nice," I said walking up to him and hugging him as well.

"Ha," Benny said childishly.

"You too Benny." I turned back to look at him.

Gran walked up the steps and unlocked the doors to the bakery. As we all went inside I could hear Benny and Phillips whispering something to each other, but I couldn't make out what exactly they were saying.

I turned on all the overhead lights and the LED "open" sign, then walked behind the counter to put my apron on.

Both the boys saw I was struggling to tie it, as always, and said "let me help you." In unison.

Was this their way of trying to get me to choose between them or something? I didn't want one to feel bad because I chose the other and then the boys get into a fight of some sort.

"It's fine, I'll ask Gran," I said with a smile then quickly walked back into the kitchen where Gran was.

"Help me," I whispered loud enough for her to hear, but not the guys.

"With what?" She asked, spinning me around to tie the ribbon behind me.

"It's like they're fighting over me, without actually fighting over me." I paused as she finished tying it then turned to look at her. "I don't know what to do."

"Just make them be friends." She shrugged her shoulders.

"It's not that easy, they've hated each other since forever but won't even tell me the real reason why."

She got on her knees to get supplies from the lower cabinets and handed them to me as I ranted to her and set them on the medal table in the middle of the kitchen.

"Then make them un-hate each other." She said handing me a big metal bowl.

"And how am I supposed to do that?" I asked.

She sighed, then stood up. "Pumpkin, you're thinking too much. Just do."

"I don't even know what that means." I put my elbows on the counter and hid my face in the palms of my hands.

That's when Logan walked in.

"Your boyfriend is being a dick." He said annoyed.

"Okay, that's it." I pushed myself off the counter with my elbows then grabbed his arm and pulled him into the main part of the bakery where Benny was. "You two apparently used to be best friends. What happened?"

They both looked at each other confused for a moment, then started ranting at the same time. Their words clashed together like instruments played by four-year-olds. I tried to think of what Gran would do in this situation, even though she was only in the other room.

"Okay just shut up!" I yelled, grabbing both of their attention. "One at a time."

"We were on the same team, then I started playing with the sandlot boys and left his team and he turned into an ass."

"Okay-"

"No," Phillips said cutting my sentence off. "That's not what happened. You were the one who started acting like an ass out of nowhere after you started hanging out with those losers." He crossed his arms and gave Benny the death stare, which Benny returned to him just as violently.

"Okay, so you're both ass holes." I said walking to a point where I was standing between both of them, breaking their staring contest, "get over it. If I can forgive Jake for punching me in the face and leaving my arms bruised for a whole week, you two can forgive each other for something as dumb as calling one another an ass."

Benny looked at me with wide eyes.

"You forgave him?" He said in disbelief.

"Yes. He took me for lunch yesterday and we decided to be friends like we used to be and move on with our lives." I crossed my arms.

I was starting to sound like a mom yelling at her kids for fighting over a toy, which is pretty much what was happening here.

"So I beat the shit out of him for nothing?" Phillips said raising his voice.

"No, you showed him how I felt when he hit me," I said turning away from Benny and towards him. "Thank you, by the way."

"Of course." He smiled.

Benny rolled his eyes.

"So he beat him up?" He said shrugging his shoulders, "Who was there for you when you were balling your eyes out on the floor all day long?"

"That's not-"

"At least I actually did something about it." Phillips fired back.

They started yelling at each other again, their words overlapping one another making it hard to hear who was saying what. I had had enough of their arguing.

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT," I yelled as loud as I could which made both of them look at me in disbelief. I took a deep breath, "The point I'm trying to make is that you're both my best friends and I want you to get along." My head was shooting back and forth between the two of them so they wouldn't think I was talking about one more than the other.

They didn't say anything. Benny looked at me with sad puppy dog eyes that made me melt inside, and Logan took a deep breath as he stared at the ground beneath him.

"Can you please just try to go one whole day without fighting?" I said with tired eyes.

No one said a word. They just stared at each other from over my head again. It was like they were cussing each other out through their eyes.

"Fine." Benny sighed, "But the boys are gonna be pissed."

"I'll talk to them," I said, focusing on Benny who was still staring at Phillips with an unsure look in his eyes.

I turned to look at Phillips. He was looking at his feet with his arms still crossed, then he looked up at me without lifting his head.

"Logan?" I said waiting for him to agree with Benny and me.

He took a deep breath.

"Fine." He rolled his eyes.

A huge smile came across my face.

"Great, so Phillips and I will come by the sandlot after work," I said looking at Benny.

He faked a smile "great...".

After working for 9 long and busy hours, Gran finally let Phillips and I go. My heart was pounding as we walked to the sandlot. This could go two ways: great and they all get along... or terrible and Benny and Logan end up beating the shit out of each other.

"You okay?" Phillips asked looking down at me.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said nervously.

"No, you're not. You fidget with your fingers when you're nervous." He said with a smirk.

My head shot down to my hands, and as he said, I was fidgeting. I never noticed that before. Did he really pay that much attention to me?

My face went a little red.

"Don't worry," he said trying to calm me down, "I promise I'll be on my best behavior."

That's exactly what Jake told me before he came to Texas, and we all know how that went...

"That's what Jake said..."

"Yeah, well, I'm not Jake." He paused, "I can control my temper... most of the time."

I laughed as the words processed through my head.

"What?" He asked, confused as to why I was laughing.

"Nothing," I said trying to contain my laughter, "it's just that I don't believe that statement."

"I can! I haven't gotten into a fistfight in almost a week." He said straightening his back proudly.

"You beat up Jake yesterday," I said looking up at him.

"Shit, I forgot about that." He said scratching his neck.

"Right," I said sarcastically while shaking my head.

When we got to the sandlot, the boys were all in the dugout taking a break.

Squints was the first to see us.

"What... the... fuck." He said fixing his glasses and squinting his eyes to get a better look at us.

The rest of the boys turned their heads in our direction.

"Oh hell no," DeNunez said walking out of the dugout.

When we finally reached where they were, all the boys were standing with their arms crossed, besides Benny who was leaning against the railing of the dugout.

"Why are you with fartnips?" Ham said.

"It's Phillips." He said defending himself.

"Since Phillips is working up at the bakery with me now, we've gotten a lot closer and-"

"I swear if you're about to tell us you're dating," Bertram said with a disgusted look on his face.

"No. That's not what I was gonna say." I sighed, "I was gonna say that we're friends now and I think you all would get along if you weren't so stubborn."

"Hey!" Yeah Yeah said, "he's the one who started this whole thing in the first place!"

I rolled my eyes then walked over to the group of sweaty boys. I motioned them with my arms to get into a huddle.

"Just give him a chance guys," I begged, "Benny's already on board."

They all turned to Benny who was still leaning against the fence in shock.

"Benny," Ham yelled.

"What?" He said confused.

"Get your ass over here!"

He jogged over to the group huddle and squeezed in between me and DeNunez.

"You're in on this?" Smalls said with a shocked look still across his face.

"Well..." he paused and looked over at me. I gave him a look that screamed 'help'

"Yeah. I think we should give him a chance." He looked back at the group who gave him a disgusted look.

"I can't believe this," Ham said putting his right palm on his forehead and shaking his head in disbelief.

"So?" I asked even though there was a 99% chance they would say no.

They all looked at each other with questionable looks then back at Benny and me.

"We need a minute." Squints said.

The boys, besides Benny, stepped into a separate huddle and whispered.

We couldn't hear anything they were saying, it all just sounded like fake whispers and random words.

I was standing in between Benny and Phillips now, waiting for them to finish being childish and agree to let Phillips play with them. The suspense was killing me, and I could tell it was getting to Phillips as well.

Finally, they all nodded their heads and walked up to the three of us very confidently.

"Alright Phillips," Bertram said with his arms crossed, "here's the deal."

"Well let you play." Timmy said, "but only because Ella and Benny both think it's fine."

"Yeah, only because Ella and Benny think it's fine." Tommy copied.

A look of relief washed over my face as I engulfed Phillips in a huge hug.

He didn't hug back, instead, he just patted me on the head and smiled.

We had played for three hours straight before calling it a day. Phillips had gotten along with everyone pretty well, except for Ham of course.

While I was gathering my stuff together in the dugout, Smalls sat down next to my bag on the bench.

"What's up with you and toxic guys?" He said handing me a soda which I turned down with a wave of my hand.

"What do you mean?" I moved my bag and sat down next to him.

"I mean, first you bring Jake here, and now you got a thing for Phillips?"

"I don't have a thing for Phillips!" I whisper-shouted. "He's just a friend."

"If you just wanted to be friends, you wouldn't have brought him here." He said raising an eyebrow at me.

I opened my mouth to say something but closed it when I realized he might have been right.

"That's what I thought." He smirked.

"Oh shut it," I said grabbing the other soda he had offered me.

"You know, Bennys not toxic." He said nudging my arm with his elbow.

"I never said he was," I said confusedly.

"I know, but I know there's something between you two." He paused to take a sip of soda, then continued. "He doesn't look at any of the girls at school like he does you."

"What?" I nervously laughed. "I'm confused, are you trying to get me with Phillips or Benny?"

"I'd choose Benny," DeNunez said sitting behind me and butting into the conversation.

I looked over to Benny, who was laughing at something Phillips said while putting his glove in his back pocket. Both of them looked at me and smiled. At least they're getting along.

I sighed and threw my head back while covering my face with my hands.

"I'm just saying, Phillips might actually not be all that bad, but you and Benny definitely have something," DeNunez said putting his arm around me.

"Benny and I are just friends," I said through my hands.

"And Phillips?" Smalls said turning his body in my direction.

"Phillips is also a friend," I said uncovering my face, but letting my head stay resting on the bench.

I seriously felt like they were trying to confuse me. First Smalls says I have something for Phillips and now DeNunez says I have something for Benny. I didn't know which was true, or if either were even true at all.

"Look, I gotta go home for dinner," I said lifting myself off the bench. I threw my bag over my shoulder and started walking out of the dugout.

"Hey! Wait up!" Phillips said running up to me.

I turned around and walked backward as he caught up to me.

"What's up?" I asked stopping where I was.

"Thank you." He smiled.

"For what?" I laughed with a confused smile across my lips.

"For helping me not be so stubborn and become friends with the dwee- I mean guys."

I rolled my eyes and laughed. "You're welcome."

I watched as he walked backward towards Benny then left when he turned back to face the dugout.

It was 7 and the sun was starting to set. I took one more look at Benny and Phillips who were both laughing at something again then turned and walked out of the sandlot.

It worked. The boys all got along with Phillips for once and now they could be friends instead of fighting 24/7.

But now I had what Smalls and DeNunez said stuck in my head the whole way home. Maybe I did have feelings for both of them, but I couldn't do anything about it because it would ruin everything that we had just built today.

I tried to shake the thoughts of both of them out of my head as I got to the steps of my house so I wouldn't be overthinking stuff at dinner. I couldn't like both of them, but I could never choose between them.