Yuwen stood on the edge of the practice field, the sun blazing down on him as he fiddled with the hem of his Pickles t-shirt. His eyes drifted to Taylor, who was warming up with the rest of the team. The knot in his stomach twisted tighter. Things had been weird between them lately. They’d been dating for a while now, but Yuwen could tell Taylor was upset. Every time he tried to apologize, it felt like his words slipped out wrong, as if his jokes only made things worse.

“Hey, Yuwen! Ready to throw?” Coach Dan’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Yeah,” Yuwen muttered, walking toward the mound. The Pickles were counting on him, and he could at least focus on that, right? He was the team’s best pitcher, after all. He wasn’t about to mess this up.

As Yuwen took his position, he noticed Laurie standing in the outfield, nervously glancing at the ball. She’d missed her hits earlier, and the anxiety was written all over her face. Yuwen felt a pang of sympathy. Laurie, like him, had her insecurities. But Yuwen couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt—he'd posted that video of her falling, trying to lighten the mood, but now it just felt wrong. He regretted it, but he couldn’t seem to get the words out.

“Focus, Yuwen,” he muttered to himself, winding up for the pitch. His gaze flickered over to Taylor again, just for a second. She was laughing with Rochelle, but Yuwen knew it wasn’t real. She was putting on a brave face, just like him.

The ball flew from his hand, a perfect pitch that made everyone cheer. Yuwen tried to swallow his nerves, but it didn’t work. He wanted things to be okay with Taylor again. He wanted to be better, to stop messing up and actually talk to her the way she needed him to. But for now, all he could do was throw the perfect pitch and hope that maybe, just maybe, everything would fall into place.