she's alright {benny rodriguez}

~2~

The next morning, you woke up and got ready to go to the sandlot, maybe meet some new friends. You grabbed your hat and put on your sneakers. Your dog followed you to the door as you weaved through the boxes, and you pet their head.

"Bye dad!" you yell as you open the door.

"Bye Y/N, have fun!" he calls back. You smile, give D/N one last pet, and head outside. As you were walking down the street you heard the boys yelling at the sandlot, and hurried your steps towards the field.

You came to the entrance and slowed your pace, walking into the field. One boy with dark-rimmed glasses spotted you first and stopped mid-throw. He frowned and looked at everyone else, who also turned towards you. He leaned over to another kid and whispered, probably about something like why the girl that always walks her dog by them is coming in the sandlot.

You waved shyly and Benny calls you over. "Y/N! Hey, you made it!" He runs over to you and leads you in front of the boys. "Guys, this is Y/N, she just moved here a few weeks ago. I invited her to play with us."

A kid, a bit on the bigger side, walks up and looks you over. "But she's a girl! She can't play with us."

The other boys nod in agreement, and you bow your head. Of course they don't want me here. "I can go, if you don't want me. Thanks for inviting me, Benny," you give a halfhearted smile and start to turn around.

"No, wait. That's not what they meant, right guys?" He grabs your arm and you turn back around. The other boys nod quickly with wide eyes, and Benny turns back to you. "I'm sorry, we don't have any other girls in this part of the neighborhood. Here, I'll introduce you. Guys, this is Y/N. Y/N, this is Hamilton Porter, we call him Ham. Michael Palledorous, we call him Squints. Bertram Grover Weeks, Timmy and Tommy 'Repeat' Timmons, Alan McClennan, also called Yeah-Yeah, and Kenny DeNunez."

"Hi, Y/N," they all chorus. You run through all their names in your head.

"Okay, Y/N. You wanna watch for a bit?" Benny asks, and you nod. He turns to the other guys and tells them to go to their positions while you jog to the dugout to watch.

+++++

After a few hours of watching the boys play, Benny decides to wrap it up early.

"Bye guys!" you call out, and they all waved at you, heading home.

Benny walks up behind you and taps your shoulder. "Hey, you... you wanna practice throwing around a bit here? You did say something about needing practice yesterday."

"Um, sure! I did say that, didn't I." You smile and Benny hands you his glove.

"Here, I'll teach you how to use this. I'll throw you the ball, and you just try and catch it." He jogs halfway across the field and brings his arm back. "Ready?"

"Yeah, go ahead." You hold out your arm and wait for the ball to come. You took a step back and prepared to catch it, but it missed your hand. Instead, it hit your stomach. "Ooof," you grunt and drop your hand.

"Are you okay?!" Benny calls. You nod and wave an ok, standing up straight again.

"Good, just winded. Let's try again."

Benny throws a few more times, but you miss all of them. "What am I doing wrong?" you ask, and he jogs back over.

"I think you just need to keep your eye on the ball. You're closing your eyes and looking at the last second. Here, I'll show you." He walks around behind you and grabs your arm, putting his face right next to yours. "You just hold your arm out here, watch the ball," he points to the air, "and wait for it to come to you."

You nod and he runs back, throwing the ball in your direction. You keep your eyes on it the whole time, and this time it hit your glove. You look at it and smile at Benny. "Nice!" he yells. "Okay, now throw it back." You switch the ball to your other hand and throw it. It reaches him, and he catches it. "Hey, that was good! You're a natural. Okay, now let's just throw it back and forth until you get a better hang of it."

After about an hour, you and Benny decide to head home.

"I see you wore a hat today," he smirks at you.

"I did, and I'm glad I did, too. It's hot!"

"Yeah, it gets like that in California sometimes." You two laugh as you arrive at your house.

You turn around and take off your hat. "Hey, thanks for inviting me to play with you guys. And for giving me lessons, I really appreciate it," you smile and rock back and forth on your feet.

Benny leans against the porch support and nods. "Of course. Anytime. Um, are you gonna come out tomorrow too?" He rubs the back of his neck as he waits for a response.

You frown, trying to remember if you were doing anything. "Ohhh, Benny. I'm sorry, I promised my parents I would help finish unpacking. Maybe the day after?"

"Oh, oh. Yeah, of course. No obligation. I'll see you the day after?"

"Yeah! Bye." You wave at each other, and you head into the house.

{jan. 27, 2021}