The Tour

forty-seven

Will's black necklace sparkled as he trotted around the bases after driving another ball over the fence. It was his seventeenth of the season, meaning that he was hitting one practically every other game. His teammates congregated around home plate and jumped on him the second he touched home. Evan slapped the top of his helmet a couple of times for good measure.

As he jogged back to the dugout he turned and gave me a wink and a wave. I had stood up the second the ball left his bat, and I raised my hands over my head in celebration. It was one of the final games of the season; the University of Hawaii hadn't qualified to advance out of the PAC-12 for playoffs.

The roar of the crowd died down and I returned to my seat next to Noah. "You picked a good game to come to," Noah noted as he looked back down at his Kinesiology notes, "or maybe you're a good luck charm."

"Hardly," I scoffed, glancing down at the pre-game pamphlet that I had taken. Will was not only hitting for power, but was also boasting a batting average of 0.350. He had transformed his game this season and was now making plays at third that he had been too slow for last year. His solid defense and steady performance at the plate had caused a lot of buzz and landed him on the top prospects list for the MLB draft.

My mom had called me immediately after my second place finish in Tahiti, urging me to come home for a week in June. Coach John wasn't thrilled with the idea- he had big plans for training in Australia before the upcoming contests began. Some of my weakest performances had occurred in Australia, and that needed to change. On the other hand, Will getting drafted was something that I needed to be home for.

The airplane tickets home had been booked and I was home for two weeks, the maximum amount of time that I could get off before I needed to be back for the earliest heats of the next competition. Noah had picked me up for the airport and forced me to quiz him for his test tomorrow on the whole drive to the game. It was my first time home since Christmas, but Noah was much more interested in passing his last final tomorrow and graduating next week.

"Entering the game in the bottom of the ninth inning, Evan Lancer," the announcer called.

My dad clapped politely as Evan trotted to the mound from the dugout. The head coach had moved him from his role as a starting pitcher to the closer. Initially, Evan had called me complaining of "bias against slower pitchers" and "incorrectly interpreted stats", but it turned out that the stats had been right. Evan was most successful when he only saw a few batters but got innings almost daily.

"Two down," Will called to the outfielders positioned behind him, showing them two fingers after Evan struck out another batter. Will was poised on his toes as soon as Evan got to the set position, but relaxed when a biting curveball resulted in an embarrassing miss from the batter.

The next pitch was a fastball inside, and even though the batter was jammed he managed to pull it straight down the third base line. Will extended from his crouched position to leap out, arms fully extended, to snag the ball out of the air. The red infield dirt smeared into the grass as he slid on his stomach, grinning casually as he flipped the ball over his head and back to Evan.

My brother stopped his excited yelling long enough to catch the ball and run over to Will with the rest of the team. The homerun and diving play had resulted in a final Hawaii win, potentially the last one with both boys on the team. The first basemen pulled Will up and shoved Will's hat back on his head as Will hugged Evan tightly. Our seats were only a few feet away from third, and I could see the tears in both of their eyes. The draft would mean the end of fifteen years of playing together.

The on-field festivities continued and the announcer proceeded to congratulate the graduating seniors. My parents were huddled up with the Sanders clamoring for the professional photographer to get a picture of their sons together. I hung out in the front row of the bleachers for a few minutes, watching the boys soak in the moments.

"River!" A call interrupted me from my observations, and I looked up to see Kumar waving excitedly at me. Will had been standing next to him, and he whipped his head and started searching the stands. His eyes landed on me a second later, and a grin split open over his face and he jogged over to the seats. Kumar was three steps ahead of him, but stepped slightly out of the way when they got to the railing.

"I know that your balance is way better than mine but I'm going to give you my hand anyway," Will said, offering his hand to me to help me over the railing. I took it, scrambling slightly ungracefully over the railing before jumping down. Kumar held out his arms for a hug, and I complied. I could see Will over Kumar's shoulder, and he had a bemused "really?" expression on.

Another moment passed and I moved back to Will's side. He took a few steps down the foul line into the outfield and I followed him into the short grass. "Thanks for coming home," he said, bumping my shoulder.

"I heard that it's a big weekend around here," I smiled slightly.

He sobered up and tugged on his cap, looking down at the grass and brushing it nervously with his cleat. "I'm kind of stressed. I don't want to disappoint everyone," he gestured at the stadium.

I took a moment before answering, not wanting to brush over his feelings. "I know that's intimidating, but from what I've read I don't think you need to be too worried. If all else fails, you can stay at college and on the bright side you'll still be here when I come home."

"That would simplify things, you're right," Will allowed, "But I think that we could manage the alternative too."

I squeezed his hand. "Either way, God has a plan, and it is good."

----

So sorry for the long wait, but hopefully I will get the next update up within a few days (it might be the last one of this book before the sequel!)

also somehow my tom holland fit (lol I will probably never write another fanfic) is somehow #1 in tomholland and has been really blowing up recently so that's fun haha. Anyway, love you all, thanks for reading :)