Grand Slam

Part 10

I wasn't in the lineup for this game, but I was used as a pinch hitter. When I was up, on the first pitch they threw, I got hit on the leg. Dansby was on third since he'd got a triple during his at-bat. He looked at me like he was asking if was okay. I gave him a thumbs-up, even though my leg hurt. Freddie was up next, and he got a hit up the middle. Dansby scored easily, and I started to go around second base and go for third when the Mets second baseman, Javier Baez, ran right into me. My sore leg went out from under me, and I hit the ground. When I got up, I saw the umpire at second base call me out, and Snitker storming out of the dugout, yelling at the umpire that there was interference when Baez ran into me. The final ruling was out, but it was only the second out, so Dansby scoring still counted.

I walked back into the dugout and slammed my helmet into my cubby. I was sitting on the bench when Dansby sat down beside me. "Are you okay?" "What do you think?" I snapped, getting up and going to lean against the fence.

We ended up winning the game 6-3, but I was still pissed about the call against me. Dansby had tried to talk to me multiple times, but I'd just walk away and ignore him.

Dansby's POV
"She won't say a thing to me dude," I said to Freddie after the game in the clubhouse. "Just give her time. I'd be pissed about a call like that too." Freddie said, looking over at Ashlyn, who was walking over to us after she'd changed. "I'll see y'all later, alright." Freddie said, walking away.

"Have you decided where you're going to stay yet?" Ashlyn asked as we walked to our trucks. "If you don't care, I'll stay with you." I replied, seeing Ender waiting on me. "No that's fine." Ashlyn said, getting in her truck. "I'll just grab some clothes and come over in a little bit." I said, shutting the door and watching Ashlyn pull out.

"She is not very happy is she?" Ender asked, looking at me. "Not at all," I replied as we pulled out of the stadium.

After I'd grabbed some clothes to last a few days, I passed by a Mcdonald's and got me and Ashlyn something to eat, hoping it might cheer her up. I pulled into her driveway and got out of the truck. When I got to the door, I knocked and walked in to see Ashlyn on the couch with Lou, on her phone. She looked up when I walked in, and I could see it looked like she'd been crying. "Will you please tell me if you're actually okay." I said sitting down beside her. "Honestly, I don't know right now. My mom called again, and you know did her thing." Ashlyn said. I knew her mom had probably yelled at her about the way she acted after that call. "I'm sorry. I know this is kind of lame, but I got you food in case it would cheer you up." I said, holding up the bag. "Thank you." Ashlyn said, smiling. "Yeah, of course," I replied.

After we'd ate, we were laying in bed, Ashlyn on my chest just letting me hold her. "So when are your parents coming tomorrow?" I asked, looking down at Ashlyn. "Ummm I think daddy said they weren't going to be able to make it before I had to be at the field, so they'd just meet me at the game." "Oh okay. Do I get to meet them?" "Well you're going to be staying here, so I think you'll run into them once or twice." Ashlyn said looking up at me smiling. "Yeah that's a fair point," I said laughing.

"I think we might need to go to bed soon," I said looking at the time. It was almost midnight. "Yeah I'm getting tired anyways," Ashlyn said, sitting up. After about 10 minutes of trying to sleep, Ashlyn spoke up and said, "I just want you to know how thankful I am of you. Usually if something like that happens to me, I'm pissed off for days, but you made me get over it in a few hours,"

I didn't know how to respond, so I acted like I was asleep till Ashlyn got still. I laid up half the night thinking of what an idiot I was for not answering.

When I got up in the morning, Ashlyn wasn't beside me, so I walked into the living room to see her cleaning. "Why are you cleaning at 8:30 in the morning?" I asked rubbing my eyes. "My mom." she said, coming over and giving me a hug. "Theres some bacon and stuff in the fridge if you want to make some together." "Yeah that sounds good." I said walking in the kitchen.

While the food was cooking, I grabbed Ashlyn's hands and started slow dancing with her around her kitchen while Thomas Rhett was playing softly. "Now I want you to be completely honest with me, are you actually going to be okay seeing your mom?" "Probably not, but I'm going to have to be." Ashlyn said, looking at me as I spun her. I stopped
and just looked at Ashlyn. "Listen, my entire life has been like this. You're either actually fine or you act like you are because there's usually something more important to do." Ashlyn said, turning back to the bacon. "That's insane," I said, just looking at her. "Yeah, well what are you going to do?" Ashlyn said, grabbing some plates for us.

After we'd ate, we just hung out for a while before we had to be back at the stadium. We were eating lunch in the cafeteria when Snitker walked up with a upset look on his face. "What's wrong?" Ashlyn asked, instantly sensing something was up.

Ashlyns POV
As soon as Snitker walked up, I could tell there was something up. "What's wrong?" I asked. "When Heredia twisted his ankle, he tore a tendon and we didn't know. I let him start last night and made it worse. He's out for 6 weeks." "Are you serious?" Dansby asked, putting his head in his hands. "He's one of our best players right now, but we can work around it," Snit said as he looked at me. "That's where you come in Ashlyn. I'm going to need you to start in center for a little while and I think you can handle it. We'll start you hitting cleanup, moving Freddie to lead off, Ozzie to second, and Austin to third in the lineup." "Sounds good to me," I said.