Cody's POV- August 2017

I chuckled as I was pulled down and into a embrace.

"Cody, this is Alexandria. Alex, this is Cody"

"It's nice to finally meet you" I said as Maddy's best friend, Alexandria let go of me.

I stood up straight and smiled at her.

"You too! Maddy has told me so much about you"

"All good I hope" I replied.

Manuel stood up as I looked at him.

"All things are good?"

"They're great" I answered.

He gave me a one arm hug, and patted my back.

"That's good news, now let's eat"

I turned to look at Maddy who was hugging Alexandria. 

"He's even more handsome in person"

Maddy nodded before letting her go to hug Manuel. 

"Long night?"

She smacked his arm as he wiggled his eyebrows at her. I'm pretty sure it stung, but he just laughed at her.

"Did you two order anything?"

Both Manuel and Alexandria shook their heads.

"How was dinner last night?"

I took a seat next to Maddy and turned to look at her as I reach for the menu.

"It was nice, we had steak"

"And pasta" I added.

Maddy nodded as she looked down at the menu.

"Do you want to go halves on crepes?"

"Sounds good" I answered.

"You two are disgusting"

I laughed and looked at Manuel.

"We've done nothing" I pointed out.

"I didn't think it would happen, at least not this soon"

Alexandria nodded agreeing with Manuel.

"What?" I wondered.

"Maddy falling for someone"

I smiled a bit.

"I'm a lucky guy" I admitted.

"Don't screw it up"

Manuel shook his head as he looked at Alexandria.

"He won't"

I nodded agreeing. There was no way I was messing this up.

"So when Maddy goes to Toronto for school, you're doing long distance?"

We talked about this last night.

"Yeah" I replied.

Maddy and I agreed that when she left to Toronto for school we would continue being a couple. 

"That's so nice to hear"

I looked at Maddy who looked up from the menu she was holding.

"Banana, Nutella or Strawberries, Creme cheese?"

"Strawberries and Creme cheese" I told her.

She nodded.

"Did you two order already?" I wondered.

"Nah, we got here like five minutes before you two"

"What did you two do last night?" I asked.

"Alex showed me around, we had dinner and then she dropped me off. Polly, Ella and I watched Grease Live"

He nodded.

"And I may or may not have punched Auston in the face last night"

Alexandria laughed as Maddy looked at them with wide eyes. I had to admit, I was a bit surprised...and proud of Manuel. 

"You guys should have seen it! Auston did not see it coming!"

"You're ok with someone punching your brother?" I asked.

"He deserved it"

Maddy just laughed making me look at her.

"Please tell me it did not bruise"

"It didn't bruise, and it's not fractured either. He was a bit of a drama queen and made mom take him to the ER. The only thing hurt, was his ego"

I just smiled and shook my head at Manuel, making a mental note to thank him when Alexandria was not around.

"Are you coming to tonight's game?" I questioned.

"I am, Mateo got me a ticket"

I nodded.

"Well then I'll be sure to try not to suck tonight" I answered.

She laughed.

"You're like a shoo in for National League Rookie of the Year, I doubt you will suck"

"I thought you didn't keep up with sports" I said.

"Oh I don't, just you"

I smiled.

"So you've had a crush on her for like more than two years now?"

"Yup" I confessed.

I was not ashamed to admit it. If Auston found out about this he'd probably be incredibly bitter about it. From what I knew, he had been crushing on Maddy since they were kids. 

"That's cute, especially with how things worked out"

I nodded agreeing. We ordered our breakfast, and as we waited for the food to come I was told a few stories about Maddy. 

"Maddy was a big reason why I wasn't picked on in school. Most children have parents who tell them to tell a teacher when a kid is picking on you, Maddy's parents though were not those kind of parents"

Maddy nodded agreeing and shrugged.

"I was taught to defend myself at a very young age"

Alex nodded and proceeded to continue telling us a story,

"From ages four to nine I had a personal bodyguard. Kids knew better than to mess with Maddy because she was taught to fight back. Thinking back now it was kind of funny considering how late of a bloomer Maddy was. She's always been super girly, but she's a total tomboy. So the first day of third grade, we all notice there is a new girl. She had moved to Scottsdale during the summer, and for some reason she found thought it would be funny to pick on Maddy and stick gum into Maddy's braid. This happened on the very first day of school"

What kind of nine year old does that?

"Maddy said nothing and stood up. Our teacher literally stopped reading and the whole class watched Maddy cut half of her braid off"

I looked at Maddy who scrunched up her nose a bit.

"Has Maddy ever thrown something at you?"

Manuel nodded and I slowly shook my head.

"The accuracy is great. She always gets you"

Alexandria smiled.

"Imagine that accuracy with less velocity. Maddy literally threw her braid like a boomerang at the girl. Remember those ball hairbands, the ones that you had to wind up on the hair and hold back with the other ball"

I nodded slowly as I realized what she was talking about. 

"That hit the girl's smirking mouth"

"Did you get in trouble?" I asked Maddy.

She smiled.

"I walked out of the class room and straight to the principles office"

Manny laughed.

"Did the girl mess with you after that?"

She shook her head, and Alex continued telling the story.

"Maia demanded that girl be changed teachers"

"Did they?" I questioned.

"Yeah, my mom pulled me out of class and took me to get a haircut. The next morning I showed up with shoulder length hair"

"How long was your hair before the haircut?" I wondered.

"My mom used to pride herself on how long and healthy my hair was, so she was pretty pissed I had to cut my waist length hair"

Manuel looked at her.

"So the cut was about the same as you did a couple of weeks ago?"

She smiled.

"A little less, I was three feet at that age"

Our plates were places in front of us, and I couldn't help but smiled at Maddy as she angled her phone to take the picture of her gravy biscuits.

"Some things never change"

Manny chuckled as he reached for his toast. Auston was at the game, he smirked at me as I made my way back to the dugout after I got ground out at the top of the second. When I scored a run during the fourth inning, I couldn't help but smile at him as I made my way back to the dugout. Sadly, the Dodgers fell 3-6 to the Diamondbacks.

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