Out of the Park

Bomb ✔️

Bomb: Another word for a home run.

~Joey~

I have no idea what one does on a date.

We were completely silent on the ride over to the restaurant. I feared that if I even caught a glimpse of him that I would accidentally crash the car. He looked way too good in his "casual" outfit, his curly hair perfectly styled in a way where it looks not styled at all but in a "I woke up this way" look. 

God I can go on for hours about how amazing his hair looks. Not to mention, his slim fit shirt was fitting him in all of the best ways-

"I suggest you keep your eyes on the road, Joey," Sammy cut in, "as much as I appreciate the admiring, I'm too hot to die in a car crash."

"Sorry, you uh- you look really nice in that shirt," I started, rubbing the back of my neck with my free hand, "I'll try to keep my eyes on the road from now on."

"Just shut up," he smirked, his annoyed tone clashing with his red face. "You can stare at me more when we're not in a moving vehicle, buddy." That damn smile of his is going to drive me crazy.

"Whatever you say, buddy," even though I was mocking him the word feels weird coming out of my mouth. "Ugh please don't ever make me call you that again, I'd rather have Coach yelling at me while I do suicides." 

(Authors note, if you are unaware, suicides are a form of conditioning in sports where players have to run back and forth, a lot, so using this word in this sense should not raise any concern or worry.)

Sammy's beautiful laugh broke his "I'm amazing and too hot for you" facade to laugh at that comment. "You're an idiot, you know that?" He lightly shoved my shoulder as I pulled into a parking space.

"Oh shut up," I responed, putting the car in park.

~~~

We walked in with our hands linked. I set the reservation for 7 o'clock exactly, luckily for us, we had made it with a few minutes to spare, I'm sure the restaurant appreciated us being a whole three minutes early for the reservation. As the host led us to the table, I could'nt help but look at Sammy as he stared at the patrons around us.

"Are you sure this place isn't too fancy?" Sammy asked, fiddling with his hair with he free hand. "I feel like everyone is dressed so much nicer than we are, oh my god should I have styled my hair?" He tried to pull his hand from mine to "fix" his hair but I pulled his hand back.

"Sammy, your hair looks great, you don't need to fix it, lets just calm down and enjoy our dinner. Okay?" He was about to argue but I just pulled him towards our table, shutting him up quickly. "Plus, no one here is actually dressed fancy, you're just overthinking."

"Wow, thank you for that," he rolled his eyes and gently shoved me before taking a seat on one side of the table. 

"Oh I mean it, I can tell that you overthink anything that doesn't involve baseball," I pointed out as I picked up a menu. "Tell me, how many outfits did you go through before deciding on that one?"

"Asshole."

~~~

~Sammy~

I'm actually shocked at how well the date went, I was so nervous going in but it was like all of my nerves melted away the second I slid into that car with Joey. I never once worried about playing this part of being the perfect guy.

Joey likes me for me.

After we finished dinner, we picked up some ice cream, found an empty parking lot, and decided to just sit and chat with each other.

"Wait so you're telling me that he never gets in trouble? Like ever?" Joey asked in an astonished tone, mouth agape before he slid in another spoonful of his plain vanilla ice cream in his mouth.

"Yeah, Mom's too scared to punish him, he's so quick to pull the transgender card, he takes advantage of the fact that she doesn't know the difference between diciplining your child and being transphobic." I roll my eyes as I dug into what Joey called a monstrosity of an ice cream cup. I guess he just doesn't like coconut and watermelon.

His loss.

"Wow, I am so sorry, that sounds awful," Joey said before pausing, "almost as awful as that ice cream combination you have there."

"Oh my god, you did not just-" I shoved him and that dumbass smirk of his when he knows he's being an asshole.

I made sure to get a nice big scoop of both coconut and watermelon and put it in front of his. "C'mon, Joey, just try it."

"Are you kidding, no way, it just looks disgusting," he distanced himself as far as he could while trapped inside a small car. 

"Pleeeeaaaaaasse, it would literally make me so happy if you tried this," I poked the spoon closer to his face as I watched his poorly hidden look of disgust.

"Sammy..." He trailed off, staring down at my spoon, he looked as if he were contemplating his entire life. "Ugh, you're so lucky you're cute." He rolled hisw eyes before snatching the spoon from my hand and sticking it in his mouth.

I could tell that he really tried to enjoy it but his face has a way of being out of his control. He reached over for the napkins he keeps in the center console, spitting out the ice cream before wrapping it up and dropping it in his empty ice cream cup. He coughed as he reached for a water bottle stashed in the backseet, trying to get the taste out of his mouth.

"Ohohoho I can't believe you actually did that," I chuckled to myself as Joey looked on the verge of tears.

"Never again," he coughed out. "Please don't ever make me do that again," he begged, resting his head on the headrest. 

"Okay okay, got it, never make you try delicious ice cream again," I quipped, crossing my arms as I watch him stare at me in disbelief before laughing to himself.

"Has anyone told you how ridiculous it is that you're so much cuter than you normally are when you're actively being a menace?" 

"No, but I'm glad to know that you think I'm cute," I smiled before leaning over to the drivers seat. Joey rolled his eyes before pulling me over onto his lap; the seat jolted as he slid it as far back away from the wheel as it could go.

"Can I kiss you?" He asked, tangling his fingers in my curls. 

I smiled before leaning in, connecting my lips with his, and just like every other time that we've kissed, it has felt like absolute magic.

omg its been too long since i publish this story and i am so sorry, and whoops, i've signed myself up for five classes in the fall semester so unfortunately it will get worse before it gets better