Cody's POV- June 2017

"Mom" I complained as she ran her hand through my hair.

I scrunched up my nose at her as she 'fixed' my hair.

"There"

"Thanks for the saliva on my hair mom" I noted.

She just rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Well, I will stay out of your way. Give a good first impression honey"

"We've met before" I told her.

Mom squeezed my shoulders.

"Just be yourself, don't be too nervous"

I nodded and made a face as she kissed my cheek.

"My boy is all grown up"

"Mom, I'm 21" I reminded her.

"You will always be my little boy"

I offered her a smile and she looked around.

"Is she here?"

Maddy had texted me about 30 minutes ago, saying she and her mom were here.

"She's wearing a blue dress" I said to my mom.

She smiled.

"Honey, half of the people here are wearing a sort of blue"

That was very true.

"I promised I would not meddle, so happy searching"

And just like that, she abandoned me. Mom was right, more than half of the people here were wearing blue. I looked away from the crowd of blue, white, and black when I felt a pat on the back. Austin Barnes, my teammate offered me a smile as he took a sip of his drink.

"Looking for Madeline?"

"Does everyone know?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Joc told me"

Of course he did.

"Liquid courage?"

"No thank you" I answered.

I could smell the tequila he was sipping on, it was strong.

"Have you not found Maddy yet?

Before I could reply, he gestured with his hand.

"She's right there, sitting in between her mom and the team doctor"

He patted my back.

"Go talk with her before Joc is called out"

I took a deep breath as I nodded.

"Good luck"

I adjusted my sunglasses before making my way over. Just as I was about to reach her, I tripped. Thankfully, she did not notice.

"Nice one"

I looked at my teammate Andre Ethier who chuckled.

"That was smooth"

He gestured for me to walk away, and I did as told. I nearly tripped again when I got a good look at her. Her mom said something making our team doctor, Greg look at them with wide eyes. I took a deep breath just as Maddy laughed, and decided to butt into the conversation.

"Excuse me" I said getting their attention.

Maddy looked away from Greg and a smile formed on her face as she looked up at me.

"Hey"

I adjusted my sunglasses not knowing what exactly to say and offered her a smile.

"Honey, why don't you go with Cody?"

Thank you Dr. Mendes.

"I'll finish telling Greg the rest of it"

Maddy nodded and I offered her my hand. She looked at my hand and I smiled as she accepted the hand I was offering. Once she was standing in front of me, she fixed her dress a bit before looking up at me.

"It's nice to see you again"

I grinned at her.

"You could have seen me again, but you refused to answer my FaceTime calls" I replied.

"It was for your own good"

"How so?" I wondered.

"I have nosey roommates"

The smiled on my face stayed as I shrugged. She was stilling holding on to my hand, and I was not complaining about it.

"Do you want something to drink?"

"Water, I drove here" I answered.

She was a year older than me, and I had to show her I was mature. I drove with my mom, but she was planning on ditching me with the rest of the mom's who were here. I followed her to the bar and ordered my water. Maddy eyed the drinks before deciding on a margarita.

"Thank you"

"Let's take a seat" I told her.

I gestured toward an empty couch and followed her. We took a seat and I held my breath as she leaned closer to me.

"Did you sleep in today?"

My tongue was not working with me, so I played it out by taking a sip of my water.

"No, we had a team dinner" I stated as I shook my head.

She took a sip of her drink and I took the time to sit up a bit. I could smell her perfume and it was getting me a little dizzy...in a good way.

"What about you, did you finally get to sleep in?" I wondered.

I took my sunglasses off in order to look at her better.

"I woke up at 10AM to my kitten purring against my face"

I smiled at her.

"Your Orange Tabby, Poppy" I said.

She nodded and sat up a bit to fix her dress. As she did that, I mentally prepared myself for what I was about to say.

"I'm sure you've heard it tonight, but you look lovely tonight" I told her.

She looked at me and shamelessly checked me out.

"You clean up good as well"

It was then that I realized how close to each other we were sitting. I could see the light honey colored rim around her pupil.

"Do you have a picture of your kitten?" I asked.

"You're asking a very dangerous question"

I laughed and shrugged.

"We got all night" I replied.

She stared at me for a few seconds before nodding.

"Very well"

I watched as she pulled her phone out of her clutch before pressing her phone on the home button of her iPhone to unlock it. She had a lot of pictures, but I chose to not be nosey and looked around as she looked for the picture. I locked eyes with Joc who grinned and gave me two thumbs up before being pulled away by his fiancee, Kelsey.

"This is him when he was three months"

I looked down at the screen and smiled at the picture,

"How old is he now?" I asked.

"Nine months"

She showed me another picture of her kitten,

"How old was he when you got him?" I asked.

"He wasn't even 10 days old. Melanie and I were walking back from class one day, and we heard light meows. There were five kittens in the bag and only two were alive"

Melanie was her college roommate who would sometimes answer Maddy's phone.

"So we took them both home with us. She kept the other kitten, and I kept Poppy"

She showed me a picture of a white kitten.

"This Marie when she was nine weeks"

"Like the Aristocats" I said.

She nodded.

"Were you allowed to have pets at your place?" I asked.

"No, but we convinced our landlord to let them stay"

"He seems really obedient" I admitted.

"When he wants to be"

She swiped through some pictures.

"This is him now"

"This was him yesterday when I flew in from Oklahoma City"

"I bet you missed him" I said.

"Oh yeah, I don't think I've gone this long without not seeing him"

I smiled.

"Do you feel like you're being watched?"

"We are probably being watched" I admitted.

We were indeed being watched by all my teammates and significant others. I chuckled as Maddy waved at the group that was watching and they waved back. Apparently, the Wives and Girlfriends knew Maddy very well.

"I could have taken an uber or something"

"I promised your mom I'd take you back" I replied.

I smiled as Maddy rolled her eyes.

"Well at least there's no traffic"

I nodded agreeing with her.

"Do you have practice tomorrow?"

"We do, but it's an afternoon practice" I answered.

"Ok, that's good"

Just rip the bandaid off and spit it out.

"Do you maybe, want to go out on a date?" I asked.

She looked at me.

"Um"

"You don't have to" I added.

"No it's not that. It's just"

She sighed.

"Can I be completely honest with you?"

I glanced at her and nodded.

"Of course" I said.

Through my peripheral vision I saw her rub her temple.

"I'm not seeing anyone"

Ok...

"But"

Ahh there's a but. I was about to get rejected.

"You're a great guy from what I saw today, so I'm going to be honest with you because I in no way want to lead you on"

I said nothing and she continued.

"I'm about to sound like a teenager here"

She laughed.

"So there's a guy"

I was going to be the bigger person, so I nodded.

"He's had the biggest crush on me since we were kids, and I've never felt anything for him until a couple of months ago.His sister is my best friend and I guess I felt obligated to reciprocate the feelings he had towards me. I've gone out on one date with him and kissed him twice. We said we would stay friends until summer came, and we would discuss what we were"

I slowed the car down and turned to her while waiting for the light to turn green.

"He's been seeing other girls"

"Does it bother you?" I asked.

She looked at me and shook her head.

"No"

Poor guy.

"Erin opened her big mouth and told him I was talking with someone and he flipped out"

Scratch that, the guy was a dick.

"He pissed me off, and I told him to fuck off. I wasn't in the mood to deal with that. Not that day at least"

Maddy was referring to Game 1 of the Women's College World Series Finale. She took a pitch to her elbow, the team lost, and she confirmed her retirement.

"Have you talked with him since then?" I wondered.

"No, he hasn't even bothered to try calling as well"

"What a douche" I stated.

She laughed and I shrugged.

"It's true, if he expected you to stay single then he should have done the same" I told her.

The GPS told us we had arrived to the destination. I parked the car and turned to look at her.

"How about I let you think the question over" I suggested.

I shut the car off and smiled at her.

"Let me walk you to the door" I said.

"Ok"

I took my seatbelt as she did the same. We both got out of the car, and I made my way over to her.

"Listen" I spoke up.

She looked at me.

"If you decide that you don't want to go out on a date, I hope we can still be friends" I stated.

"Really?"

I smiled at her.

"Yeah, I like talking with you" I admitted.

She smiled and nodded.

"That's really mature of you"

Internally I laughed because I wanted to find this guy and punch him in the face. Be the bigger person though, I had to be that. To respond to her compliment, I just shrugged and accepted it.

"I had a good time tonight" I confessed.

"I could say the same thing"

She stepped forward and I froze just as she kissed my cheek. The front door swung open, and Dr. Mendes grinned at both of us.

"Hello"

I cleared my throat as I composed myself, suddenly thankful for the dark night because I was blushing.

"Thank you for bringing her home Cody, would you like to come inside?"

I smiled and shook my head.

"Thank you, but I should head home. It's been a long day, and I like sleeping" I told her.

Dr. Mendes smiled.

"That you do Cody, that you do"

I nodded.

"I bring your daughter in one piece" I said.

"I can see that, thank you honey"

"No problem" I replied.

I stuffed my hands into my pockets and looked at them.

"So good night" I stated.

I nearly tripped as I stepped back, earning a giggle from Maddy. For my own good, I decided not to look back as I made my way back to my car. Once I was in the comfort of my own car, I looked towards the house. Maddy was following her mom inside, and I watched as she looked in my direction before closing the door. The light shut off just as I turned on my car.

"That guys loss" I mumbled as I put on my seatbelt.

To my understanding, nothing ever happened between them. If he really had feelings for her, he should have fought for her. I hoped I got a yes to the question I had asked her because if I did I was going to treat her the way she should be treated, which was with respect.