Do Not Fall For The Baseball Captains novel Chapter 51

The Ex–Factor

Victoria’s POV

“Do you ever wonder what went on in the minds of our pioneering fathers? Most especially Karl Terzaghi.”

Nova sighed, twirling her mechanical pencil between her fingers.

We were tucked into a comer booth at the student union, a mountain of scribbled graph paper, textbook diagrams, and half–empty coffee cups spread out between us.

The campus buzz surrounded our table, a mix of student chatter and clinking cutlery, but Nova was completely in her element, staring down at our soil mechanics project

“I mean, the guy basically created geotechnical engineering from scratch,” she continued, tapping the eraser against a grid sheet.

“Think about the calculations required for effective stress and soil pressure without any modern software. If we don’t get the settlement analysis right for this retaining wall design, our entire foundation model is going to—”

She stopped halfway through her sentence.

The sudden lack of sound from across the table made me blink, but I kept my eyes fixed on the tiny scratch on the wood grain right next to my notebook.

A firm nudge against my elbow snapped me back to the room.

“Earth to Victoria,” Nova leaned forward to peer into my face.

“Right! Sorry,” I stammered, my voice sounding incredibly thick as I scrambled to look busy.

I grabbed a calculator, randomly punching in numbers that didn’t correspond to anything we were working on.

“The settlement analysis. Exactly. If the moisture content exceeds the plastic limit, then the clay layer will obviously experience a secondary compression index that… Uhm, which means the whole structure will just… sink into the dirt. Right?”

I was rambling a bunch of complete nonsense, tossing out buzzwords like a broken machine until Nova leaned back in her chair and laughed, cutting me off entirely.

“Girl,” she chuckled, shaking her head. But as her laughter calmed down, she really looked at me, and her smile completely faded.

She dropped her pencil onto the table, her brow pulling together.

“Hey, are you okay?”

I forced a smile, the muscles in my face stretching so tightly it actually hurt.

1/3

Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because you just suggested we use a clay settlement formula for a concrete foundation, and you look like you’re about to physically throw up.” She pointed out, her voice dropping into a tone of genuine concern.

She reached across the notes, her fingers lightly touching my wrist.

“What’s going on? You’ve been staring through me for the past forty minutes.”

“I’m just stressed,” I insisted, my voice dropping to a whisper as I gently pulled my arm back to grab my coffee cup.

“The semester is winding down, the engineering labs are piling up, and I haven’t been sleeping well. That’s all it is, Nova. I promise.”

She didn’t look like she believed me for a single second, but she didn’t push. She just sighed, her eyes lingering on me for a moment before looking down at her notes.

I couldn’t confide in her. I wanted to–God, I desperately wanted to clear the knot in my chest–but the reality of my situation made it absolutely impossible.

The reason I had to suffer through this silence was because Nova had feelings for the exact same person who was currently occupying every single dark corner of my mind.

If I told her about the text message sitting in my history, I would have to explain the fake agreement with Elijah. I would have to explain how I had spent the last month trying to manipulate the situation just to get one boy to notice me.

‘Lexi and I are back together.’

The words stayed with me, lingering far longer than I wanted them to.

How? How did Caleb get back with her?

It didn’t make any sense. Caleb had an absolute, unyielding rule that everyone on campus knew about.

He never, under any circumstances, went back to an ex–girlfriend or a fling. He always said that once a chapter was closed, turning back to it was just a waste of time.

So why her? What was so extraordinary about Lexi that made him break his own moral code?

What sort of power does she possess?

Just when I thought I was close. I had been this close. Just yesterday, at the park, he had looked at me with so much attention, his fingers tucking my hair behind my ear, treating me like I was the only person who mattered.

I had spent years archiving every single smile, every nice comment, and every childhood memory, convinced that if I just waited long enough, my turn would finally arrive.

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