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The screaming and hollering rang out through the air, along with a repeated “good game”.
Del growled angrily, throwing his hat onto the ground in frustration. Maybe if he hadn’t messed up so many times they would’ve won.
Striking out three times…. Freezing up on base… stupid mistakes no high schooler should’ve made.
Del began packing up his things, bat, glove, the works, before feeling a hand on his shoulder.
His heart jumped, he knew exactly whose hand those were, he could recognize those hands through 10 layers of winter clothing.
“Hey Russ—“
He yelped as he was pulled into a hug, one of those bear hugs Russel always gave no matter what.
“Don’t let it get to your head, alright man?”
Russel said before Del could say anything else. He was shocked, he didn’t even realized Russel was watching the game.
A moment of silence fell over the two, before Russel pat his back gently.
“Ice cream? It’s on me.”
That caused Del to instantly light up, Russel knew exactly what he needed all the time. It was his thing, he cared for people.
Russel chuckled softly, picking Del’s baseball bag up, as well as his discarded hat, before wrapping an arm around him.
“Come on. Let’s go before your coach starts hollering.”
The little bell on the door rang as two teens pushed through the door. Del was ranting loudly, as Russel simply nodded along, agreeing with him every now and then.
This was their routine, after any special occasion one of them would ask the other if they wanted to go out for ice cream, they’d go to their usual spot, order ice cream and just chat, then they’d end the night listening to music together.
Their other friends said it was like they were going on date nights. Russel and Del would always there was nothing between the two of them, but that was further from the truth.
They sat in their usual booth, Del still rambling about how the ump didn’t know nothing. Russel was nodding along faintly, beginning to zone out slightly.
When Del finally realized Russel wasn’t entirely there he paused. He knew it wasn’t entirely his fault, something that happened when Russ was a kid. But that didn’t really matter at the moment, Del would use this to his advantage.
Del took a small scoop of ice cream on his finger, before smearing it on Russel’s cheek. Russ blinked back to reality, staring at Del before he finally realized what had happened. She gave a small chuckle, before doing the same to Del.
The two laughed like maniacs, their ice cream forgotten as they chatted and laughed together.
After what only felt like a few minutes, but was probably hours they finally paid and left. They finish the day off like usual. Driving around listening to music, picking up a few friends to hang out, maybe stopping at a 7-11 for snacks.
Knowing Del they’d probably get into some sort of shenanigans along the way. But to Russel it was no issue as long as it was with Del.
Though he couldn’t shake a weird sense of dread.
“Man, maybe I should just drop you off at your house, and we hang there for a bit. I’m not feeling the vibe.”
Russel explained, opening passenger side door. He watched as Del made a face, before letting out a small chuckle.
“Really? I think today’s a perfect day to hang out.”
Del said, opening the drivers side and stepping in. Russel couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not, it looked like it was gonna start raining soon if he was being completely honest.
“Del I’m serious, something feels off.”
This caused Del to pause. Russel always had a pretty good intuition. But today he really wanted to hang out with the group.
“Russ it’ll be fine, I swear, let’s try and beat the weather, yeah? We’ll pick the guys up, and we’ll hang out, and everything will be fine. We’ll be quick, I promise.”
Russel seemed to consider this, he knew Del really wanted this. He sighed, settling into the car seat. Right when he closed the door it began pouring rain.
That’s when Russ realized they were in some real deep trouble now, he didn’t know with what, just that something bad was coming.