⋘ 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦... ⋙

Querencia
|noun|
A place from which ones strength is drawn, where one feels at home; the place where you are your most authentic self.

The wind blew gently against Delilah's face as she cycled through the streets of Denver, the barely familiar street signs coming up as warnings every few seconds as she made her way to the baseball pitch, riding the bike Bruce always lends her after she had promised to come to his next baseball game.

She could hear the gentle sound of chatter from vast groups as she neared the stadium, the journey there memorised in her head from when Bruce had taken her here the first time they hung out together.

Coming to a slow stop, Delilah can see the small stadium and bleachers nearly full to the brim with people, all chatting amongst themselves as they waited for the game to begin.

Dismounting from her bike, Delilah slowly walks it over to one of the many bike racks. Most of them were full, but a few were left empty luckily enough for Delilah. Jolting the front wheel in between the bars, Delilah takes the bike lock—a spare Bruce had lying around—from the small woven basket on the front of her bike and weaves it around the bars and through the wheels before locking it and messing up the code.

Checking the lock a few times, she eventually leaves her bike behind and starts to walk toward the pitch.

There was a small stall set up selling drinks to everyone. The line had been cut short since the game was about to start and everyone had already bought their drinks so, with not a clue what to do next, Delilah made her way over to the line, reading a little sign that had the prices written across them.

When she reached the line, her head snapped up. "You don't have enough, so I ain't giving you a drop. Next!" An old woman yelled, glaring down at the girl in front of Delilah as she held up the line. Glaring as she looked up, the woman spoke over the girl's head once she made no indication of moving. "What do you want?"

"I'll have a chocolate milk and a—what did you say you wanted? An apple juice? Orang juice?" Delilah said, cutting herself off and looking down at the younger girl in front of her as she awaited an answer, hopefully guessing correctly at what the kid had been trying to order.

The girl stood there with wide eyes as Delilah waited for an answer. "Yeah, an apple juice." She stuttered out after a few seconds of Delilah staring expectingly at her.

Turning back to the woman, Delilah pushed her hand forward after a few seconds with the exact amount of money needed for the two drinks. The older woman didn't take it instantly, staring in slight disbelief at Delilah. "What? Are you deaf? You heard the girl." Delilah snaps quickly, sending the woman off to get the drinks they had requested.

Instead of handing their respective drinks over to their owners, the woman takes the money and gives them both to Delilah, not daring to look down at the other girl.

"Here you are," Delilah says, handing the apple juice to the girl as they both walk away from the stand, making their way over to the seating area so they can have a clear view of the game when it starts.

The girl looked up at Delilah slightly sceptical, hesitantly grabbing the juice box from Delilah's hand. "Thanks." She muttered, her eyes quickly flickering down before they snapped up to meet Delilah's again. "I'm Gwen." She says much more confidently.

"It's nice to meet you, Gwen, I'm Delilah," Delilah said, leading the way through the stands and finding some empty spots near the home base, great front-row seats.

None of the players had yet to come out onto the pitch, leaving it bare.

"Are you new? I haven't seen you before." Gwen asks quickly, peeling her eyes from the empty pitch in front of them so she could rest them on Delilah, taking her appearance in and studying her as she leaned towards her in anticipation.

"Oh, yeah. I moved here near the middle of the holidays. I haven't really had the time to go out, then when I did I had nothing to do with anyone so I just stayed in." Delilah explained, turning her body slightly to face Gwen so she seemed more inviting.

"Oh! You're the one on BelAir St."

"Yeah," Delilah confirmed with a nervous laugh before scratching the back of her neck. "So, do you know anyone who's playing?" She asks, thinking back to how Bruce would be coming on the pitch soon and it would be her first time seeing him play.

"My older brother is on one of the teams playing today. You might be in his year actually. How old are you?" Gwen explained to Delilah before she spiralled off into an array of questions.

"Fifteen this year." Delilah supplied, smiling slightly at the grin that morphed onto Gwen's face. "I'm guessing by the face your pulling he's also fifteen this year?"

"Yup!" She exclaimed with a smile. "I'll introduce you guys soon. You're going to the public school, yeah?" At Delilah's nod of approval, Gwen breaks off into small laughs. "That's even better."

"Let's not start talking about school now, yeah? We still have a week or so of the holiday left and I'm dreading sitting in a classroom for six hours without any friends." Delilah breaks off into a small rant, her sentence finished with a small huff as she leans back carefully in her seat, slumping back a little.

Delilah's hand starts to feel numb randomly. Looking down at it, she notices the chocolate milk carton she had forgotten about and slowly rips the top open, the temperature of the cardboard container was what was freezing her hand up. She takes a sip as Gwen begins to speak. "You'll have Finney once I introduce you to him."

"And be known as his little sister's weird older friend?" She asks rhetorically, staring up at Gwen like she hadn't realised what her words meant. "I'll pass." Gwen laughs at Delilah's words, turning away from her briefly to look at the pitch, no one had yet to step a foot onto it.

"It won't be like that, promise. He's cool." She says with a light grimace.

"Has anyone ever told you you're a bad liar?" Delilah asked, staring smugly at the girl when she lets out an annoyed grunt.

Gwen goes to say more on the subject but gets cut off as some of the people around them start to cheer, the first team of baseball players stepping out onto the pitch. "Is that your brother's team?" Delilah asked as she took in the cream-coloured jerseys.

"Nah, his team wears teal." She states, examining all the players that came out onto the pitch. "His team is batting first by the looks of it." She says as the cream-coloured jerseys space themselves out across the field, preparing for the game to begin.

Delilah keeps an eye out for a certain boy as more players start to make their way onto the pitch, Delilah spotting the boy she had come to know pretty well over the past few days rather quickly.

Bruce ran on with multiple people from his team, all joking around as they huddled together near some of the bases. They seemed to be talking, going over a game plan but Bruce's head surveyed the crowd, searching for something.

Once his eyes landed on Delilah, a bright grin took over his face as he raised his hand—the one without the mitt—and waved at her over excitedly. Some of his friends turned to stare once they noticed he wasn't paying attention and all started patting him on the back and laughing once they saw Delilah return the favour in a much more relaxing manner.

"You know Bruce Yamada?" Gwen asks, spotting the interaction quickly and staring on in confusion at the two. Gwen's previous assumptions about what Delilah had said were that she didn't have any friends yet, or that she wasn't very close to anyone here, but based on the way the two reacted to each other, it didn't feel right.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Bruce and I have known each other since we were little." Delilah confirmed, slightly caught off guard by the question sent her way. Her answer fell slightly flat as Bruce and her hadn't really been friends that long even though the statement was technically correct.

Before Gwen could dive deeper into the topic, Delilah brought something else up. "Do you know a lot about baseball?" Delilah questions softly as she tracks some of the players on the field, reading the last names on the backs of their jerseys.

"Nope. I just pretend to so Finney doesn't go off on a whole rant explaining every detail of it to me- hey! There he is!" She cheers loudly, cutting herself off as she sees her brother step across the pitch, making his way with the rest of his team to line up, ready to hit the ball with their bats.

"Which one?" Delilah asks, scanning the lineup of boys to try and find one that represents Gwen in some form.

"Blake, he's near the back." She supplied, saying his last name instead of trying to point him out, leaving Delilah to scan through the new set of boys once again.

Once she spots him, he takes him in as best she can. It's hard to do so when he's facing a different direction. He had fluffy brown hair that fell below his ears and would be slightly taller than her if they were to stand next to one another, but his face stayed hidden as he didn't look back.

"So what's meant to happen next?" Delilah asked before taking a sip of her milk, wiping the droplets that got left behind on her top lip.

From the corner of her eye, Delilah saw Gwen shrug her shoulders. "Finney's team gets to bat for a bit, then there change it over and Finney will toss the ball at them while the rest of the field."

"Why do so many people come to these games? Are they important?" Delilah asked as the first boy stepped up to one of the bases.

Gwen turned her attention away briefly since it wasn't her brother that was batting so she could afford to miss this part of the game. "Not really. A lot of people in the crowd are friends of some of the players. Like Bruce Yamada, a lot of people come to see him play since he's nice."

Delilah's eyes quickly flicker over to Bruce, a snarky remark on the tip of her tongue before thinking better of it and biting it down. Bruce looked focused as he stared at whoever was up to bat, his glove held loosely in his hand while his knees were bent, ready to take off running at any second.

"Are you friends with him?" Delilah asked, bringing their conversation back around to what they were speaking of earlier.

"No, but I've seen him talk to Finney a few times so I guess I know him by association." Gwen joked.

"'Cause that makes so much sense." Delilah laughs out with a slight eye roll before looking back to the game. The boy that had just been batting was now at the second base, a second boy at first, and someone else getting ready to bat.

"This game moves quickly," Delilah states, watching as the pitcher hurdles the ball at one of the boys. He takes a swing at it and hits it quickly, the ball goes flying up as he runs to the first base, the other two boys taking off to the next.

The ball hits the ground quickly and goes for a small roll before someone picks it up and throws it to those waiting at second base. The boy standing there quickly tags the boy running towards him before he can hit the base.

"It can move quickly. But sometimes it takes a good minute to get through someone." Gwen says before looking over to her brother. "He looks like an idiot." She deadpans as she stares at him.

Delilah turns to look at Gwen's brother. "It can't be that bad." She spots the boy leaning against the fence, swinging his bat back and forth as he stares off into space. "He looks fine to me."

"That's because you're not related to him, you don't need to deal with that thing every day," Gwen states with a grimace before looking away from her brother. "I can't bare the sight of him for much longer." The younger girl says as she shields her eyes for a few seconds so she can look away from Finney and puts her attention back on Delilah.

Doing the same thing, Delilah turns back to Gwen. "You two are close I take it?" Delilah assumes, smiling at the brief interaction between the siblings.

"Afraid so. Do you have any siblings?" She questions.

"Uh, no. It's just been me and my mum for a while. My dad fucked off when I was still very young." Delilah explains before what she had just said dawned on her. "Oh sorry, excuse my language."

"I don't mind the language," Gwen states firmly before smiling again. "Your lucky to not have some annoying older brother. They're such a pain in the arse it's not even funny."

"I'm sure he's not that bad. Or your just as worse." Delilah grins.

"No way! Have you met me?" Gwen exclaimed, slightly baffled at what Delilah had just said.

"On the contrary, I've only known you for less than an hour," Delilah says, turning her eye to the pitch quickly, seeing Finney nearly at the front of the line. Turning her attention back to Gwen, she sees the girl slightly red with anger, something that Delilah laughed at. "I'm joking, chill out."

Gwen let out another huff before turning to face the pitch. "Oh look, Finney's up next." She turns her body to face the pitch fully, leaning forward slightly in her seat as she clutches onto her knees, waiting for Finney to step up.

"He'll do great," Delilah promises as she gives her full attention to the pitch.

Once the boy before him had hit the ball and made his way to first base, Finney stepped up to home base slowly, getting ready to take a swing at the ball. The pitcher prepared their arm before launching it at Finney, giving him the perfect opportunity to swing at the ball with his bat and launch it back.

His swing wasn't perfect but it gives him enough time to get to second base and for two others to get back to home base Gwen cheers loudly from bedside Delilah as Finney runs, grabbing the boy's attention once he makes it to the base.

He spares Gwen a quick glance, tossing a tight-lipped smile her way before returning his focus back to the game. In those few seconds of Finney facing the stands, Delilah was able to take in his full face.

He had soft lips—or at least they looked soft to Delilah at the quick glance. Looking up at his eyes instead, they were a  dark shade of honey brown. His hair seemed to frame his face perfectly as she took in even more of his features like his pointed nose.

"Your brother did great." Delilah states as the next boy steps up to take a swing at the ball, dragging her eyes to look away from Finney and focus back on the game.

He does a lot worse than Finney but he still makes it to first base, leaving Finney at third.

"He'll be at home base on the next run, then all I need to worry about is him pitching," Gwen states, leaning back in her seat slightly but still sitting stiffly as she watched the last boy swing at the ball and make a run for it. Finney was the only one to make it to home base on that run, the rest being left at the other's bases or getting tagged as they tried to make it further.

"I've seen him do three things and I can tell you he'll carry his team," Delilah says, lowering her voice slightly so no one around them would hear in case they were friends or related to anyone on the teal team.

"Thanks, you should tell him that after the game," Gwen suggest, smiling up at Delilah with mirth behind her eyes.

"Maybe," Delilah mutters, turning the suggestion over in her head before she decides against it. Maybe the next time she sees him play she would compliment him, or if they were ever to become friends she would bring up the game and congratulate him on it. Or never. Never was also a good option.

When the first boy from the cream team stood up, he looked a bit shaky as he approached the base but once he hit it, there was nothing else but to wait for the ball to be thrown at him. As they waited for Finney to throw the ball, Delilah noticed Bruce Yamada at the back of the lineup, staring intently at Finney as he waited for him to throw the ball.

It came sharply and it came suddenly as the ball was launched at the batter, curving round to the side before making its way straight for the boy. The boy hopelessly swung at it, missing it just barely.

Delilah sat there in shock as her jaw dropped slightly. "Woah. Finney's arm is wicked! How did he throw a curve ball like that?" She gushed, turning to Gwen to gauge her reaction.

The younger girl sat there smugly as she stared over at her brother, turning to look at Delilah's bewildered expression. "He's practised that throw, like, a trazillion times."

"And it's paid off clearly." Delilah let out breathlessly before turning back to look at the pitch. Finney had lined up to throw once again but the batter got a hit on it this time.

The boy sent the ball flying up before it plummeted to the ground. It was received quickly and thrown to one of the bases but the batter was lucky enough to get to the base before he could get tagged out.

It went on like that for a while. Boys stepping up one by one and getting ready to bat. They would all normally miss the first one before getting a decent hit on the second. The fielders did a good job at catching the balls on the full or tagging people out.

It eventually had to near the end of the line and it was the boy before Bruce. Finney threw another curve ball, this time the boy hit it on the first time and it was sent hurtling back towards Finney's head. But somehow, thanks to some god above, Finney was able to catch it before it came in contact with his face. Effectively saving himself from a nasty bruise but also getting the boy out and another point to his team.

The people around Delilah cheered at the quick recovery on Finney's part. Gwen let out an excited whoop and Delilah let a faint smile grace her face as she watched the people around her celebrate Finney's minor victory.

But the crowd died down once Bruce stepped up to the home base. He held a fierce concentration in his eyes but at the same time, he had never looked more relaxed in his life. A lazy smile was stretched across his face as he got comfortable at the base before he turned to Finney, ready for the first throw.

Finney tested the ball in his mitt a few times before wounding his arm up and throwing the ball quickly at Bruce. It took on its normal curve and was caught easily by the catcher, Bruce's swing doing nothing to come in contact with the ball. "Strike one!" One of the referees yelled out.

Delilah's smile dropped quickly at the miss, worried for Bruce as she watched the catcher stand and quickly throw the ball back to Finney before returning to his crouching position a meter behind Bruce, ready for the next toss.

Finney went through the same routine, before tossing the ball toward Bruce. Bruce swung once again but to no avail, missing the ball. It was easily caught by the catcher where he rose from his crouch and threw it back to Finney before returning to his hunched-over position, waiting for the next stray ball. "Strike two." One of the referees had yelled before Finney threw the last ball.

Before he did so, his eyes scanned the crowd, locking on a few people near Delilah. At some point, his eyes scanned over Gwen before they shifted to Delilah. To her, Delilah just thought Finney was taking reassurance from his sister, but all Finney did was take Delilah in. From her light brown nearly blonde hair, her button nose and soft chocolate eyes.

It rattled him slightly to have the attention of a girl such as Delilah on him. He had noticed her when he first walked onto to the pitch, when he subconsciously scanned the crowd for Gwen, only to find Delilah sitting next to her. She was smiling when he first saw her, but now she held a small frown on her face as she watched Finney like a hawk, her eyes flickering to Bruce every few seconds where they would soften before hardening again when she looked back to Finney.

It made his nerves jump at the switch in her gaze. She was here for Bruce Yamada, not him.

The roar of the people sitting in the stands brought him back to the game as he turned his gaze back to Bruce. He cranked up his arm and threw one last ball at him. This time, Bruce was able to effectively hit the ball, sending it flying well past the pitches' borders as one of the boys on Finney's team struggled to try and grab it, ending up nowhere near it as it travelled out of bounds.

Bruce's team cheered as they all took off to home base, forming a small circle once they had all arrived, cheering one another along as they welcome their last few runners.

Gwen's shoulders slumped slightly forward as all the players made it safely back to home base, winning the game with a few of those final runs.

Despite herself, Delilah let out a small cheer, laughing at Bruce's success. But soon she remembered the girl sitting next to her had a brother on the losing team. "Maybe next time they'll have better luck," Delialah said, resting a comforting hand on Gwen's shoulder as she tried to calm the smile off her face.

"Yeah. They don't play for another few weeks so that gives them time to improve." She said, reassuring herself more than anything.

People in the stands started to file out by now, not bothering to stay behind and watch the two teams shake hands. Some did stay behind though, but they were mainly families or close friends of the players. Delilah decided to stay with Gwen until Finney had made his way off the field.

"Exactly, gives them plenty of time to come up with a new strategy before they're doomed for their next game," Delilah says with a smile as she slowly stands, walking Gwen over to the fence separating the pitch from the stands.

But the two weren't left alone for long as Bruce quickly spotted Delilah and ran over to her, sweaty and sporting helmet hair as he clutched the item in his hand. "Did you see that!" He yelled, running over to Delilah with a large smile on his face.

A matching grin took over Delilah's as he neared. "You were amazing Bruce! Mint even!" She yelled in congratulation, reeling back slightly when Bruce reached the fence and jumped over the side of it. Dropping his helmet to the ground once he landed on the grass, he bent down slightly and wrapped his arms around Delilah's waist, lifting her up slightly and spinning her around with himself, high off his victory. "Ew, no! Get off me! Your all sweaty."

"Doesn't matter." Bruce grinned, slowly setting the girl back down despite his words. "You were watching, you saw it all?" Bruce asked, somehow in disbelief.

"Yes, I watched the whole thing."

"Good. Good." He muttered to himself, taking a few steps back towards the fence. "I better go. I'll see you around Delilah." He says, practically vibrating with every movement as he picked up his helmet and climbed back over the fence and ran to the changing rooms.

Delilah watched him run off briefly, smiling at the boy's giddiness at winning his game before she dragged her eyes away from the retreating boy, focusing back on Gwen.

"So, Delilah." Gwen started.

"Yes, Gwen."

"Apart from Bruce, am I your first friend?" The younger girl asked, smiling innocently up at Delilah as she leant one of her arms on the wired fence railing.

"Since I've moved here, yeah. You're my first." Delilah explained briefly, not caring to spend too much time on the subject.

"That's sweet. I get to introduce you to everything great about this place." Gwen said with a grin.

"I'll hold you up to a high standard then. By the end of summer, if I'm not completely in love with this place, I'm going to be disappointed." Delilah jokes, leaning back slightly and Gwen lets out a small laugh.

Delilah goes to speak once more when from the corner of her eye she sees Finney making his way towards them. "I've gotta go now, Gwen. I'll see you around, yeah?" She questions softly.

"I'll make sure of it," Gwen says shortly before Delilah is making the small trek back to her bike. She takes the last sip of her chocolate milk carton before tossing it in one of the bins stationed near the pitch.

When she reached her bike, she crouched down and took the lock in her hands, carefully putting the code in and snapping the lock out of place. Standing back up, she starts to wrap the coil around her hand.

"Hey, Delilah!" Gwen yelled, pulling Delilah's attention away from her bike as she placed the lock into the basket out front before she backed it out of the bike rack. Looking over at the younger girl, she could see her standing next to her brother.

The two locked eyes briefly before Delilah had to pull her gaze away to reply to Gwen. "Yeah?" She yelled back in question.

"Don't be a stranger!" Gwen yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth so Delilah would be able to hear her easier over the loud ruckus of people surrounding them.

A small laugh bubbled in Delilah's chest and spilled out of her mouth as she shook her head slightly, looking down at the ground before beaming over at Gwen. "Bye Gwen! See you soon!" She calls before throwing a leg over her bike and beginning to cycle back home.

Behind her, Gwen waved goodbye even though the girl wouldn't be able to see it. "Who was that?" Her older brother asked, staring after the girl.

"That was Delilah. You're going to like her."

‧͙ ⁺˚* ･ ༓ ☾ 　　 ☽ ༓ ･ *˚⁺ ‧͙

A/N

Don't worry, Bruce doesn't get kidnapped this chapter.

Also I have no idea how to play baseball or any of the rules so if I got some things wrong about it that's probably why.