July 9, 2021

No one ended up going to the sandlot yesterday after the fight between Squints and Yeah Yeah. We decided it would be best to keep them away from each other for a day, then see how they do after.

"They'll be fine," I said, holding Ella's hand as we walked to the sandlot.

I let her wear my LA dodgers hat for today because I thought she looked cute in it.

She was also wearing a really awesome outfit that I thought she looked amazing in even though she said she put such little effort into it.

I was just wearing jeans and an old t-shirt like always.

"I know, I've just never seen squint's so down before. He's always happy and making everyone laugh you know?" She said in a worried tone.

"Yeah, I get it." I said, "Yeah Yeah was pretty down when I took him home too."

"I just hate how they had to go through that." She looked down at her feet as we walked. "They're such good friends and I don't want them to fall apart because of an argument over who sleeps with a blankie and who doesn't."

I stopped right when we got to the turn-in to the Sandlot and stood in front of her so She couldn't walk in. My arms snaked around her waist. I wasn't sure if she liked me doing that but she never told me not to so I did it anyway.

"What if we ditch Baseball today?" I said as I raised an eyebrow.

She laughed until She realized I was serious.

"Come on Benny, " She said putting her hands on my shoulders which made me melt inside every time, "you love baseball. I'm not gonna be the girl that distracts you from what you love. Plus we need to make sure Squints and Yeah Yeah don't rip each other's throats out."

But I love you too. Why couldn't I just say that to her? I love her. I know we've only been dating for four days, but I think I loved her from the moment I saw her taking her bags into her Grans house.

"You're probably right." I sighed.

She must've noticed I was thinking about something because she got up on her tiptoes and pecked me on the lips. Her lips were soft and always tasted like vanilla chapstick.

"We can hang out at watch movies or something when we get done here." She smiled.

I loved her smile. Her eyes always sparkled when she was happy.

"Well, then we better get in there," I said grabbing her hand and pulling her into the sandlot.

It's crazy to think that at the beginning Of summer, all I cared about was Baseball. But now, all I wanted to do was spend time with Ella. She makes me happy and I really do care about her.

Squints was standing on one side of the dugout getting his glove ready, while Yeah Yeah was on the other side talking to Ham about something.

"Alright let's play!" I yelled as I ran towards the dugout and threw all my stuff on the bench.

"Hold on," Ella said letting go of my hand.

She walked over to squints and made sure he was okay. I loved how much she cared about everyone.

I decided to check up on Yeah Yeah because even though it didn't seem like it, I really did care about the two of them. Especially since every time they fought, we wouldn't play as well.

"Hey man, you good?" I asked as I grabbed a water from the cooler next to him.

"Yeah Yeah, man I'm good." He lied.

"You sure?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Dude, it was just a small fight." He slapped my shoulder, "it'll be fine."

I furrowed my brows and put a confused look on my face.

"A small fight?" I raised my voice a little, but not too much so Ella and Squints wouldn't hear, "you guys tried to rip each other's throats out."

"Trust me I wanted to do a lot more than rip his throat out." He laughed.

I slapped his arm. "Dude!"

"Right," he wiped the grin off his face, "sorry"

I looked up at Ella who was still sitting with Squints. She was definitely doing a lot better than I was. She always knows what to say.

The next thing I know, she and squints were heading our way.

"Hey man," Squints said nervously.

"Oh, hey." Yeah Yeah said back.

There was an awkward silence for a second. Ella walked around the two and stopped next to me. Her fingers locked with mine and I looked down at her. She had her attention focused on the boys. I could tell she was nervous so I rubbed her hand with my thumb to calm her down. I saw it in a movie before.

"I'm sorry." The two boys said in unison.

"No, I'm sorry." Squints said, "I shouldn't have made fun of your night light."

"It was my fault," Yeah Yeah insisted, "I shouldn't have brought up your bedtime stories or your blankie."

"It's both our faults." Squints said with a smile. "We good?" He asked holding his hand out for Yeah Yeah to shake it.

"We're good." Yeah Yeah took his hand.

Ella squealed and let go of my hand.

"Let's go play then shall we boys?" She said excitedly.

Ella ran and grabbed my bat, then took off towards home plate, all the boys following by running to their spots.

As soon as I reached the fence behind home plate, Ham got down in Catcher's position.

"Plaaaayyy ball!" He yelled, making everyone excited.

We played for a solid three hours straight until we took a break. Squints and Yeah Yeah made up, so we all had fun and played well like always.

We each grabbed a soda, besides Ella who grabbed a water, and sat on the bench.

"So you guys going to the fair tonight?" DeNunez asked as he opened his soda.

Everyone besides Ella and I either nodded or cheered.

Ella looked at me.

"Are you going?" She nudged my shoulder.

"Only if you're going," I smirked at her.

"Guess you're going then." He smiled.

"Darn." I said sarcastically, "I was really looking forward to watching sad movies all night." I shook my head.

She squinted her eyes and pressed her lips together to form a smile.

"Haha very funny." She said dramatically, "you know you love sad movies."

"Whatever you say, ma'am." I laughed.

She gasped, "is it gonna be like those cringe movie scenes where we get stuck at the top of the Ferris wheel and kiss with fireworks going off behind us?"

"I hope not," I said looking down at my lap.

Her smile automatically washed off her face.

"Why?" She said worriedly, "you don't wanna kiss me with fireworks going off in the background?"

My head shot up and I looked her in the eyes.

"No," I said in a scared voice, "of course I wanna kiss you with fireworks in the background... I just-"

"Bennys scared of heights." Bertram blurted making Ella look at him in shock.

"We're you listening to our conversation?" She said in disbelief.

He opened his mouth to answer, but before he said anything Ella cut him off.

"Never mind, that's not the point." She looked back at me with the same shocked look on her face. "You're afraid of heights? Really?"

"What?" I said in a high-pitched voice and scratched my neck. "Of course not."

"That's bull shit." Bertram laughed then looked at Ella, "last time we went to the fair he passed out at the top of the Ferris wheel."

My mouth dropped. "Dude."

I could tell Ella was trying to not laugh at me. I'm pretty sure my face was red from how embarrassed I was, but I tried my best to play it off.

"I ate a lot of Cotten candy before and it was hot okay?" I lied.

"Mhm. Okay." Bertram said not falling for it.

"It's okay Benny," Ella said putting a hand on my arm and talking like I was a two-year-old, "I'll hold your hand the whole time."

"Funny" I scoffed.

"Come on Benny we're just joking." She laughed. "We don't have to go on the Ferris wheel if you don't want to."

"No." I said then took a deep breath, "we're going on the damn Ferris wheel. I'm not a ten-year-old anymore."

I didn't want Ella to think I was a wimp or anything, even though knowing I'm gonna be on that death trap soon scared the shit out of me.

We played all day long until the sun began to set. Yeah Yeah and Squints made up, and Benny is afraid of heights.

Benny and I ran back to our houses to get money for tickets and so I could change. I grabbed twenty bucks, took my hair out of a ponytail, then put on more deodorant and drenched myself in perfume so I didn't smell like I just played baseball with 9 boys in the beaming sun for 11 hours.

I ended up wearing a long-sleeved maroon crop top with a lace back and Jean shorts, then slipped on my converse, obviously.

I ran downstairs, kissed my dad on the cheek, then met Benny outside his house. To my surprise, he had his little sister with him, which he didn't look very happy about.

I hadn't seen her since the day we brought the food from the bakery here for Lilly and Bennys mom, who for some reason Benny doesn't want me to be around. I don't know why, I've met her once and she seemed sweet, but Benny never talks about her.

"Hi, Lilly," I said crouched down in front of her with a smile. "Do you remember me?"

She was holding Bennys hand, I could tell she was nervous because when I asked her if she remembered me she hid behind him.

Benny turned around and bent down next to me without letting go of her hand.

"This is Ella." He said softly, "She's very nice I promise."

She nodded with a smile and looked over at me.

"Are you dating my brother?" She asked in her soft and sweet voice.

"Yes, I am." I giggled.

"Do you guys kiss?" She asked innocently.

Bennys eyes went wide, while I just laughed at the question.

"Okay that's enough talking, let's go ladies," Benny said standing up and picking Lilly up with him.

He was holding Lilly in one arm, and holding my hand with his free one. I wanted this to be us when we grew up. I know it's crazy to think that far in the future, but I could really see it happening. He was so good with kids, especially Lilly. It was adorable.

When we got to the Ticket booth, we handed them our five bucks and put our tickets into our pockets for safekeeping.

"Should we find the guys or just work our way around until we run into them?" I asked.

"Let's just wait till we run into them, " he said with a laugh, "they're probably throwing up somewhere."

"Why would they be throwing up?" I laughed.

"It's a long story," he said almost like he was embarrassed.

We both laughed as we walked through the park until Lilly laid her eyes on a big blue stuffed elephant.

"Oh!" she gasped as she pulled Jenny towards the booth, "I want the elephant!"

Suddenly, she let go of Bennys hand and started running towards the booth where the Elephant was. Benny and I laughed as we watched her admire the stuffed animal that was zip-tied to one of the poles.

"How old is she again?" I asked taking Bennys hand in mine again as we slowly walked towards the ring toss game Lilly was stopped at.

"Six, she'll be seven in October," he said not taking his eyes off her.

"She's adorable," I said with a smile.

"Sorry for her being shy earlier, " he said looking over at me. "She has a little bit of autism, but it's not the severe kind. She doesn't like social interaction much, and she's behind most of the other kids in her class."

I would've never noticed if he didn't point it out. But now that I think about it, I can see some of the signs a little bit clearer.

"Oh, and she's obsessed with elephants." he laughed.

I smiled and looked back at him.

"Then you better win it for her," I said purposely bumping into his side.

He smiled back at me then focused his attention back on Lilly who was jumping as she pointed to the big elephant.

When we reached the booth, a tall man wearing jeans and a Hawaiian shirt walked up to us from the other side of the counter and smiled.

"You playing?" he asked, his eyes on Benny.

"Uh, yeah I guess." benny shrugged his shoulders and showed the man his ticket then slipped it back into his pocket.

He set three blue rings down on the counter in front of him.

"Alright, dude, you got three shots. If you make it on the red bottle, you automatically win." he pointed to a red bottle that was in the middle of all the rest of the clear glasses.

"Got it," Benny said confidently.

"Whenever you're ready man." the guy said, stepping to the side out of the throwing zone.

I watched Benny as he picked up the first ring and closed his eyes to take a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, he had the same look he made when he was up to bat. He got the ring ready like he was about to throw a Frisbee, then with a flick of the first it flew through the air and onto a clear bottle right next to the red one.

"You gotta get the red one, Benny," Lilly said tugging on his shirt and pointing to the red bottle even though she could barely see it.

He refocused his attention on the red bottle, doing the same routine as the first time, then tossed it through the air like a frisbee. Only this time I didn't make it on any of the bottles. The ring bounced all over the bottles making a clinging noise, then fell between two of the bottles.

He sighed. "You sure you want that elephant, Lilly?"

"Positive," she said not taking her eyes off the stuffed animal.

"Alright, you got one more shot kid." the man with the Hawaiian shirt said.

Once again, he focused on the red bottle and got ready to toss it. He took a slow deep breath, then released the ring from his hand. The next thing I know, the man was ringing a cowbell he had hidden under the counter. He made it onto the red one.

Lilly cheered as she hugged Benny excitedly. The man grabbed a long stick with a hook at the end and reached it up towards the blue elephant. When he set it down on the counter, Benny handed it to Lilly, who engulfed it in a huge hug, even though it was almost bigger than her.

"You like it?" Benny asked with a smile.

"I love it!" she smiled, not loosening her grip around the elephant.

"What are you gonna name it?" I asked squatting down until I was the same height as her.

She thought about it for a minute, then smiled and looked back at me.

"Ella."

My heart felt warm and tingly. That was the cutest thing ever.

It was actually really fun having Lilly with us. She started to warm up to me when I took her on the carousel while Benny stayed behind to hold the Elephant. She said it wasn't old enough to go on the ride and that she wanted me to take her to "ride the ponies".

When we got off the carousel, we all decided we needed a snack since we had played games for about two hours now. I could tell Benny was trying to avoid the Ferris wheel, but I didn't say anything about it. I'd get him on it sooner or later.

We walked through the food truck area as looked around at all the different options. Lilly was holding my hand and Benny was holding the elephant for her. Her hand was so tiny it was adorable.

"There's too many options," Benny laughed.

"I know," I smiled, taking in the smells of all the junk food around us. The one thing that caught my attention was the smell of fresh and warm soft pretzels. "Oh my god." I gasped.

"What?" Benny said looking at me.

"We have to get cinnamon soft pretzels," I said looking for where the smell was coming from.

"You read my mind." He smiled at me.

Lilly was the one who saw the big blue and yellow Wetzel's Pretzel's sign. She pointed it out and we jogged toward it before anyone else could get in line before us.

We ended up ordering a large box of cinnamon pretzel bites for Benny and me, and a big salty pretzel with a pink lemonade for Lilly. We found an empty picnic table and sat everything down to eat.

"We're going on the Ferris wheel after this okay?" I said quickly before Benny could fully process what I said.

"Okay," he answered as he took a bite of the pretzel bites in front of him. Once he realized what I said, his eyes shot open and he looked up at me. "Wait! No!"

"Too late," I laughed, "you already said yes."

He put his face in the palm of his hands as he tried to come up with any reason why he couldn't go on it. Finally, his head shot up from his hands.

"But who's gonna watch Lilly?" He said trying not to smile, "only two can go at a time."

I sighed as I took a bite of the tiny cinnamon masterpieces in front of us.

"We can watch her." A familiar voice said from behind me.

I turned my head around to see Smalls, DeNunez, and Timmy, and Tommy all holding a different ice cream flavor in their hands.

"Dang it," Benny said putting his head in his arms on the table.

"Oh come on." I begged, "what happened to 'I'm not a ten-year-old anymore'?" I said mocking him from earlier.

He kept his head down on the table for a moment longer, until he finally looked up and sighed.

"Fine." He spat, "but only once."

"Great." I smiled big, "let's go then!"

Benny watched me in shock as I stood up from the table with a huge smile on my face.

"But we're not done eating." He whined.

"We can finish it when we come back," I said walking around to the side of the table he was sitting on next to Lilly.

I grabbed his arm and started pulling him up as he groaned like he had just woken up or something.

"Come on." I ordered, "get up."

He stood up and stepped over the bench he was sitting on, and looked me in the eyes.

"If I pass out, it's on you." He said seriously then grabbed my hand.

"You're not gonna pass out." I laughed, then started pulling him towards the big brightly lit wheel that was right next to the food.

Pretty soon we were full-on running to the line that was waiting for the ride. There were only three other people in line, so once the people who were on now were done, we wouldn't have to wait.

Benny looked like he was about to faint so I grabbed onto his arm with both hands and leaned my head on him.

I looked up at the spinning wheel in awe as the line behind us grew. Finally, after standing in line for about five minutes, the group that was on started getting off one by one.

When the couple in front of us got into their seats, I made sure to hold onto Benny extra tight so he wouldn't try and back out.

"You ready?" I said looking at him, still holding onto his arm.

"Not really."

"Great, let's go."

We walked up the steps and got onto the platform where we would get onto our cart.

As we sat down, the man in a red and white striped suit and a funny top hat pushed the safety bar down into our laps so we couldn't get off.

Then suddenly, it started moving again.

"Oh shit," Benny said scooting closer to me, making the cart shake which scared him even more.