Practice

I’ve only ever felt peace before alone, by myself. But I feel peace now, in his arms. After a blissful eternity under him, wrapped around him, connected by a kiss, he’d rolled over and pulled me on top of him. Now he’s just lying on the ground, one hand behind his head as he looks up at the canopy, and I’m lying on top of him, soaking in his heat.

I have a hand laid on his chest, rising and falling with his slow breaths, feeling the steady beat of his heart. My face is nuzzled into his neck, pressing soft kisses along his sensitive skin as I breathe deep through my nose, trying to fill myself with his scent. His other arm is around my waist, holding me against him. The joy I feel inside is almost painful, filling me to bursting.

The afternoon stillness is broken by the distant ping of a metal baseball bat, and I feel Derek’s body stiffen in response. “Shit,” he mutters. “I gotta get to practice.”

He gives me one last tight squeeze and then gets up, pulling me with him. He steps aside to dust himself off and then starts walking away. I try to gather myself, the abrupt end to our time pressed together allows the reality of today to leak back inside, and I feel like I’m about to slip underwater. I want to jump at him, cling to him, beg him to stay. I don’t have anywhere to go. “Um… I don’t have any way to get home.” That’s not entirely true, but I can’t think of anything else to say.

Derek looks back over his shoulder. “Come hang out at practice, I’ll drive you home after.”

Is he serious? Isn’t that something girlfriends do? “What about Mina?” Her name in my mouth is like acid, curdling the joy inside with the memory of what she did, with the fear of what she still might do.

Derek laughs and keeps walking. “She’s not gonna be there. Don’t worry about it.”

But I am worried. “Um… I don’t know, Derek. It just feels…”

I can’t finish my thought before he turns around and closes the distance between us in a few easy strides. “Hey.” His voice has an edge to it that immediately sets my heart pounding. “I told you not to worry. Are you gonna listen to me?”

I look up at him, my breath shallow, my body tingling at being so close to him again. All I can manage is a whisper. “Yes, Derek.”

He smiles. “That’s what I thought.” He leans down to plant a kiss on my forehead, and I gasp at the contact, my eyes closing in bliss. When I open them again he’s already started walking away, and I hustle to keep up. I stay like that the whole way to the baseball field, just a half step behind him. It doesn’t feel right to walk next to him, and I certainly don’t dare to hold his hand, as much as I crave to feel his strong fingers holding me tight. I still don’t know exactly what I am to him, and I’m still terrified of Mina.

So I take my place on the bleachers to watch baseball practice. I know Derek is more of a football guy, but with that season over he uses his athletic build and talents for the school baseball team. And what talents he has. He barely gets a talking to from the coach for being so late, and his teammates are all happy to see him.

I’ve never actually watched Derek play sports, just heard about his exploits from admiring students and teachers. He takes batting practice, and I squeeze my legs together every time he sends a ball soaring over the fence. He does baserunning drills, and my eyes drink in the sight of his grace and power as he moves. But it’s when he takes the mound that he takes my breath away. I’ve always loved watching pitchers, the way they use their entire body to hurl the ball. Coiling like a spring and then unloading like a tiger leaping at its prey. Seeing Derek do it sends my mind deep into my fantasies, imagining him moving his body like that against me. It isn’t until the coach signals the end of practice that I realize my mouth has been hanging open, and I shut it with a snap, praying no one saw.

I walk with him back to the parking lot, eyes searching in every direction for Mina. When I see the spot where she crushed my bike, there’s nothing left of the wreckage, just some scuff marks on the pavement and a few loose bits of metal. I guess someone already tossed it. The reality of my bike being gone starts to sink in, and I have to stop myself from reaching out to grab Derek’s hand.

We finally get to Derek’s old yellow mustang, and I let out a long breath when the door closes and I’m safe from the outside world. I suck that breath right back in as Derek reaches over and grabs me around the shoulder, pulling me across the front bench until I’m squeezed right next to him. He looks down at me as he turns the key in the ignition. “I like you better when you’re close to me.”

The motor starts with a loud rumble and Derek takes us out of the school parking lot onto the road. I’m about to tell him he’s going the wrong way to get to my house when his hand moves from my shoulder down to my chest and he squeezes my right breast, almost too hard. “MMnngg!”

“So did you like watching me practice?” His hand is gentler now, kneading my soft flesh.

“Mmnnh. Mmmmyeah. Yeah, it was… ah… it was nice.”

He kisses the top of my head. “What was your favorite part?”

It’s getting hard to focus. “Ahhhh… annhhh… when you were pitchingguuhh…” Fuck I sound so pathetic but I can’t help it.

He chuckles. “Oh yeah?” Suddenly his hand on me shifts, and he squeezes my tit with two fingers and a thumb. “That’s my fastball. You like it?” He moves his hand again, his middle finger circling around me. “There’s my curveball, still working on that one though.” Now his thumb curls and his pointer finger moves over the center of my breast, sliding back and forth over my stiff nipple. “And that’s the changeup. Probably my best pitch, they never see it coming.”

I’m only barely understanding his words. I’m squirming against him, unable to hold back my breathy moans and soft whines. Oh fuck it feels so good.

“Now as much as I love to pitch, I feel like batting is where I really excel. Here.” Still teasing my breast, he takes his other hand off the wheel to grab my left hand and place it in his lap, right on the bulge between his legs. “Why don’t you practice holding one yourself.”

Oh my god. Oh my god it’s right there in my hand. Without thinking I gently squeeze, feeling how hard it is, how thick, how even through his pants the heat is palpable. I can’t stop myself from saying “oh fuck.”

“Look at that, you’re a natural. Now, try giving it a good rub. Wrap your fingers around it, there you go, a little firmer. Mmm.”

I’m obsessed with it. It’s getting bigger, harder in my hand. I feel it twitch. But his sound of pleasure is what sends me spiraling. “Like this, Derek?”

He kisses the top of my head again, his hand on my breast squeezing firmly. “Like that, now rub it up and down, nice and slow, oh yeah. Just like that.” He lets out a long sigh. “Ahhhhhh fuck that feels nice. What a good girl. Now kiss my neck again like you did before.”

I lean against him, pressing my left breast into his side and my face into his neck, breathing deep, kissing up and down as my hand squeezes and slides along his hardness. He gives me a low, satisfied groan which sends a shiver of satisfaction through my whole body. I want more of him, all of him, I want to climb into his lap wrap myself around him and feel that hard heat right against me. Kiss kiss lick suck he tastes so good his sweat and skin and his hand on me oh fuck Derek I’m yours all yours.

“We’re here.”

He switches the engine off and I pull partially away from him in surprise. We’re at my house, right in the driveway next to my Dad’s work van. He was taking me home, just the long way.

He kisses me, a quick firm press of his lips against mine that snaps all of my attention onto him. “Now just gotta finish what we started.” His hand on my breast moves up, to my collar and down the front of my shirt, beneath my bra and squeezes my soft flesh directly, catching and rolling my stiff nipple between two fingers. His other hand deftly undoes the front of my jeans and slips down inside my damp panties, two long fingers sinking deep inside me as his thumb presses against my clit.

“Ahhhhh Derek wait, my Dad, what if-”

“Shhhh” he kisses me again, longer, harder, moving his fingers now. “This won’t take long.” He curls his fingers inside me, rubbing them gently against that spot again, his thumb on my clit pressing firmly in little circles. “Don’t look away from my eyes.”

I can’t they have me I’m falling into them oh my god Derek I’m right there I’ve been right there all day just waiting for you and now I’m here I’m HERE OH “MNF!”

He can sense it, he knows I’m there and his mouth catches mine before I can give voice to my ecstasy, his tongue enters my mouth matching the movement of his fingers down below, my whole body subject to him as I squirm in place, shuddering through the orgasm he’s giving me. He pulls away from the kiss as he pulls his fingers from inside me, his other hand still doing incredible things to my breast. My mouth is open, panting, **** for breath, and he puts his fingers inside it, making me taste myself for the first time. I’m still caught in his eyes, and he doesn’t need to tell me what to do. I use my tongue to bathe him, cleaning myself off him, gently sucking and swallowing my residue, thankful, forever thankful for what he’s done to me.

After pulling his fingers out of my mouth he gives me another kiss, gentle and sweet, and finally takes his hand from inside my shirt. “Good girl. Let’s get you home.”

He opens the driver’s door and I follow him out, thinking we’ll say goodbye here in the driveway, but instead he’s walking around my Dad’s work van and to the front door. Oh my god what is he doing? He’s not going to knock on the door is he?

Of course, that’s exactly what he does. My Dad opens the door almost immediately, like he was expecting us, and stands in the doorway beaming. I’m there next to Derek, still flushed and trembling from what just happened in the front of his car, and I can’t look my Dad in the eyes. So instead I look over at Derek, and notice his eyes are wide with surprise.

“Um, hi, Mr… Kilpatrick?”

My Dad laughs. “Mr. Balakrishnan, actually. But please, call me Karan. You must be Derek!” He extends his hand, and I remember my Dad is a lefty and I watch in horror as Derek extends his left hand, the one I just came all over, to shake with my Dad.

The confidence is back in Derek’s eyes, and that sharp grin is on his face. “Pleasure to meet you, Karan. Your daughter here needed a ride home, so I’m just dropping her off.”

“Of course! Of course! Thank you, so kind!” He steps to the side and gestures inside our small house. “Can I invite you in? Coffee? Tea? Would you take dinner with us?”

Derek shakes his head. “Can’t today I’m afraid, another time.”

My Dad nods. “Another time it will be! I need to make you my famous chicken vindaloo!”

“Looking forward to it.” Without warning Derek leans down and kisses me. “I’ll be back to pick you up tomorrow morning. Got a big day planned for us.” And then he’s gone.

I watch him leave, and then look back at my Dad, still beaming like an idiot. “Wow, Cass! A date! On a Saturday!” He gets a puzzled look in his eyes. “Hey, where’s your bike?”