The Tour

thirty-five / first pitch

The grimy stadium mirror reflected my green University of Hawaii baseball cap that kept sitting slightly higher on my head than I wanted. I tightened the velcro in the back and tried to smooth my humidity enhanced blonde waves, or frizz. Not seeing your boyfriend for three months tended to leave a girl wanting to impress.

My mom finished washing her hands and I dutifully followed her through the crowds of college kids to our usual seats by the third base home dugout. We were thirty minutes early, so students were just starting to arrive, but people were clearly excited. I sat on the edge of my seat, waiting for the boys to come out. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I glanced down, surprised to see a text from Will.

Will: Hey, can you find your way down below the stadium to where the locker room entrance is? My or your dad might be able to point you in the right direction.

"If you need me to," I replied before asking my dad which way the entrance was. As soon as I rounded the corner that I was directed to things got quieter. The empty concrete hallways below the stadium were painted green and white and covered with motivational quotes.

River: I'm in the hallway

Will jogged out a moment later, grabbing onto me and cradling my head between his shoulder and cheek. I gripped his warm up shirt tightly. "I'm so glad that you're here, and okay," he whispered, holding me close.

I pulled my head back a little to see his eyes were wet and were about to start tearing up. "Will, I'm genuinely fine, I promise. He's probably the one that is still recovering from the whole thing. But I'm going to need you to save the tears for later because you have a game in twenty five minutes."

He wiped his eyes and smiled. "Yeah, actually, about that. Coach wants to know if you'll throw out the first pitch."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Since when do you guys even do that? And I haven't thrown a baseball in months, that sounds like it could be very embarrassing."

"Well, he heard of your fame and wanted to give you the honor, you know, because you're such a legend around here. And we all know you take after your brother, you could throw a strike with your eyes closed."

"Who would catch?"

"I offered to. Evan said that he wouldn't because it would be too embarrassing if you missed, but if you would rather it be someone other than me then I'm sure any of the catchers would do it," Will answered.

I ran my hand through my hair nervously before I nodded. "Okay, you can do it. Can I get a bullpen in first though?"

He grinned. "Absolutely."

Will turned around and walked quickly through the hallways, stopping to run into the locker room to update his coach before we continued to the bullpen. He opened a door in the concrete wall that revealed three mounds and plates right outside of left field. Two guys were still throwing their warmups, but neither of them were Evan. Rumor was that he would have game two of the doubleheader.

"Sanders, what are you doing out here?" One of them called after he finished his follow-through.

He gestured towards me with his glove hand. "I'm catching the local celebrity."

"River Lancer, no way! Long time no see," the other pitcher yelled when he noticed who I was.

"Kumar, what's up?" I asked him, thankfully recognizing him from when I had met him through Evan.

"Alright boys, we got some work to do before showtime so don't mind us, we're just going to borrow this mound," Will said, leading me over to the empty rubber.