Getting Closer

Chapter Twenty Six - Charlie

To avoid homework that has been piling up recently, Seth, Max, and I all go head to the baseball diamond near my house to get out frustrations. Though Max swears that he'd never walk on the field again, he still joins us nonetheless. When we walk up to the diamond, I can tell he's nervous about straining something or the memory alone of his injuries is causing him discomfort.

But still, we warm up together, take a few laps, stretch out our muscles until we're ready to hit some balls. Seth had always played little league with us but he never really cared about playing for more than two innings. He likes watching the game and will stay the entire time if he's on the bench or in the stands. So now that we're older and not officially in a game, we can go at the pace we want.

While I go up to bat, Max goes to second base - his original position - and waits for Seth to stop fucking around. "I swear if you fucking hit me," Seth swears as he psychs himself up to throw a pitch in my direction.

"I could say the same to you," I laugh as I take a couple practice swings.

Behind Seth, I can see Max stretch out his shoulder which never really recovered like he wanted. "Throw a fucking pitch, Montgomery!" Max shouts suddenly.

"Oh shut it, Torres," Seth whines. "Go easy on me, Charlie, please. For my sake."

I snort, "Just throw."

He groans but still readies himself. I wish my dad were well enough to join us because he would always give us the best advice to improve our skills. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't even be as good as I am.

When Seth makes his first pitch, I don't even have to swing. "What was that?" I laugh as the ball is thrown two feet above my head.

"I'm warming up! Pitchers get to warm up!"

"Just lob the ball, dumbass," Max yells at Seth. "No need to get fucking fancy."

Seth turns to Max. "I want to give him a challenge."

"Challenge him by actually giving him something to hit," Max says hotly.

Before the two of them argue for the rest of the night, I defuse the situation by saying, "Seth give me a slow one, down the middle."

"I don't have your accuracy, Evans," he says as he kicks dirt around.

"I'll swing if you give me something to actually hit." I watch as Seth rolls his neck around and take a few deep breaths in. When I see him get into the zone that I myself like to fall into, I ready myself. Seth's body goes into motion and I lock into all of my senses. Judging the speed of the thing, judging the trajectory, I swing my bat in an easy motion, the ball going right over Max's head and into center field.

"Show off!" Max yells at me.

"I'll show you a show off!" I smile and motion for Seth to give me another one. This time with a little more oomph, Seth winds up for the pitch and throws the ball in a bigger arch. But hitting baseballs all my life, this is nothing. Swinging in one fluid motion, I swing harder and faster to hear the satisfying whack of the ball hitting my bat. The three of us watch the ball sail in the October air and fly towards the left field fence. Easily clearing it, I flip my bat around in triumph.

Seth pouts. "I asked you nicely to take it easy on me."

"Come on. Another."

***

We stay there for just over an hour, enough that my skills are still in shape and enough time to have Seth dick around with a bat while Max still refuses to swing a bat. He did attempt to catch some of my ground balls but he never pushed himself like he used to because of his knee. After taking a water break for ourselves, I lay back on the bleachers and let the last bits of sunlight soak into my skin.

When was the last time I played baseball for fun especially with these two idiots? Because of Max's injury, I haven't played a real game with him for a little over two years now. And Seth? Fuck, he hasn't played since middle school. And now that we're seniors, what will next year at this time even be like? Are we still going to be brothers?

"Do you fuckfaces want to go to a party next Saturday?" Max asks suddenly, slicing the silence between us up.

"Can't," Seth says after chugging the rest of his Gatorade down. "We're having a family reunion this weekend and we're all going to my aunt's house in St. Paul for it."

"Where is it?" I ask. I have nothing planned but that doesn't mean I want to go.

"Howard's throwing it."

I roll my eyes. "Howard's a prick."

"But he throws bitchin' parties." Max leans forward and gives us that mischievous smile of his. "You guys should have went to the one in July. I've never been so fucked up in my life."

Seth laughs. "I remember you were fucked up for days afterwards."

I frown. "You're not helping to sell this party, Torres."

"What if I invite Jules to come? Would you go then?" Max asks nonchalantly. Sitting up, I watch his movements for a moment, but he still acts like there's nothing there between him and Jules. And maybe there isn't anything and I'm just being too critical of him. Max meets my glare. "I know you're not going to ask Kate."

"We both know she'll deny going. She only went to the last party because it was our birthday."

"And you should come," Max urges. "Live on the wild side for once."

I frown. "If I'm caught doing drugs..."

"Then don't do drugs," Max says quickly. "I'll stay mostly sober for you." Just as I'm about to bail out, Max hits Seth in the shoulder. "Don't you agree he should join me for fucking once?"

"If Jules goes then I want to go myself," Seth pouts.

Max sees his way in. "You should bail too. Say you're sick and can't go this weekend."

"Jenny will see through that," Seth counters.

Standing, Max looks at us credulously, "You two fuckers wanted to live your life to the fullest this year. And getting fucked up with me is on that list. So either you both cross this off your lists now or later is up to you. But just fucking do something once out of your comfort zone!"

I crack my jaw. Now that we're in the school year and it gets closer to the baseball season, more and more people are going to see how I'm going to behave, how I'm going to react to the spotlight. If word got out to colleges that I've been doing drugs and partaking in underaged drinking... "We stay at most an hour," I grumble.

"Fuck yes, Evans," Max smiles.

Seth stands as well and throws an arm over Max's shoulders. "You are a terrible influence on us."

And I couldn't agree more.