Sliding Into Home

Laura brushed her hair behind her ears, slipped on her beanie, then sidled up to her teammate Tina. "Hey, you looked good out there today."

"Thanks cap," Tina said back. "Think we have a chance on Sunday?"

"Of course we do. We've got you after all," Laura said with a smile.

"Ha, thanks again." Her tone was playfully dismissive, but she smiled. She had a great smile. "Seriously though, they're at the top of the division. It'd be a big win, but I don't know."

Laura shrugged. "It's a new moon."

"And that's...good?"

"Of course it is. There's power in that," she said with a wink.

"You really believe in that kind of stuff?"

"There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. So sure, why not?"

Tina snorted. She had a good snort.

"Give it a chance, I'll show you. What's your sign?" Laura asked.

"Oh come on. You sound like the guys on frat row trying to pick up freshman."

"Oh, I'm *nothing* like them."

"I hope you don't take offense, but I just don't buy into the whole astrology thing. Sorry"

Laura nodded sagely. "Yeah, a Scorpio then I'm thinking."

Tina rolled her eyes. "I wish I could say you're wrong but I honestly don't know." She gave Laura a tap on the arm, then started to walk away. "Well, I'd better hit the showers. Have a good one."

Laura reached out to tap Tina back, but she had walked just a little too far away to reach. Laura quickly pulled her arm back and pretended she had just been stretching. "Yeah. You uh, you too."

Well, Laura thought, that hadn't been *disastrously* bad. Not great. Not awful. But not good. She sighed, then started making her own way off the softball field. She kicked off her cleats, stuffed them into her bag alongside her glove, then put on a pair of sneakers. She'd change and shower later. The library was going to be mostly empty this time of day and nobody would mind. Well, probably not. Might they?

That conversation with Tina had gone off the rails somewhere. She replayed it in her head as she made her way across campus to the library. Had it been the Shakespeare quote? Yeah, that had been weird. But no, Tina had laughed at that. Not the Shakespeare quote then. The moon. She shouldn't have mentioned the new moon. *That* had been weird. Next time, no moon talk.

Unless maybe it wasn't that at all. Maybe she had just come on too strong.

Alright, so next time, play it more cool.

And no moon talk.

When she got to the library Laura settled in with one of the heavy tomes of sports medicine she was expected to somehow learn by heart and got to work. She was getting some looks. Damn. They totally cared that she was still in her softball uniform. Oh well.

By the time she finished up the sun had set and what few people had been in the library when she got there had mostly filed out. So there was no one around to see when Laura left and vanished in a flash of white light.

***

"Ladies and gentlemen, the fourth member of Trevor's harem, Laura Rivera!"

Now that name did ring a bell. Trevor turned around to see the captain of his university's girls softball team walk nervously out of the palace. Jesus, he thought, shaking his head. And here he had been thinking his landlady had been a bad pick for a harem.

Laura's eyes widened when she saw him sitting there. The two weren't friends or anything, but they spoke somewhat regularly. The pickup league that Trevor played in used the field, same field as her team, and he had become a sort of unofficial liaison in charge of coordinating games around their schedule.

As Laura stepped down in front of him Trevor turned towards Violet, who still stood at his right hand. "You guys picked her? You seriously couldn't have made a worse choice."

He had meant to keep his voice down, but apparently Laura had heard him. "Why's that?"

"Because you're a..." He stopped. Technically, he didn't actually know. He *assumed*, but...

Laura let out a nervous chuckle. "No, you're right. I'm super gay. So uh, I take it you aren't making the choices around here then?" she asked. Trevor saw the others lean in, interested in his answer.

"No, sorry. I'm along the for the ride the same as you. I have no idea what's going on." Not everyone seemed to believe him, but Laura at least nodded along.

Violet jumped in to start the girl's introduction and Laura began to fidget uncomfortably.

She had long, straight hair that fell down to her lower back. She liked to wear it over her shoulders, though she'd tie it in a bun when she was pitching. He'd never seen her off the field without a beanie. Her hair was a light brown, but it gradually faded to blonde highlights near the tips. The look worked for her.

She was tall for a girl, although not especially tall for a pitcher. Trevor only had about an inch on her, so she was probably 5'10" or so. She was in good shape, of course, and the crop top she wore exposed her taught midrift while hugging her perky if modest chest.

As Violet went on to describe her "tantalizingly narrow waist" and "firm bubble butt", he could hear Laura murmuring under her breath.

There was no denying that Laura was hot but she wasn't out of his league so much as she was in the wrong league altogether. So Trevor had never really entertained any hopes on that front. As she walked over to take her place on one of the podiums Trevor's mood grew sour. He liked Laura. She didn't deserve whatever this was.

"Halfway there," Violet called out. "The next contestant is both older and wiser than Trevor here, and just between us I have it on good authority that he once called her mom by mistake."

Oh hell.