Swing

Chapter Three

What was that for? I thought to myself. Did it mean anything, or was it just a friendly gesture for the pizza? I decided not to think about it too much, but I did send Fi a quick text asking what it was for. I started jogging back home realizing that if I wasn’t home by ten my mom would probably freak out and I wouldn’t be able to go to my baseball game in the morning. I realized that in order to make it home on time I was going to have to pick up the pace. By the time I got to my house, I was starting to sweat because I had to sprint the last few blocks. I walked in just as I saw the clock turn to ten. I just made it! I thought.

“Robert, are you here yet?” I heard my mom shout from her room.

“Yeah, I’m here!” I responded loudly.

I ran up to my room where I flopped down onto my bed before hearing the annoying ring of my phone. I quickly got up and grabbed my phone from my dresser where I had slung it when I walked in. As I was walking back to my bed I stopped dead in my tracks. Fi had responded to my text message from earlier.

“I had an amazing time tonight and I couldn’t have asked for anything better. I was only expecting you to come and stall things. I wasn’t expecting you to come ask me on a date. Because of you my mom went to bed drunk out of her mind and my stepfather is home. He just got back from the dodgers stadium. He works as a tech guy in the booth. I think you would like him with all your baseball and stuff. Well, I’ve rambled on longer then I meant to. Sorry about that but I’m off to bed now. I’m going to try and come watch your game tomorrow. Well, that’s it. Goodnight.”

I was amazed. I had no idea that just showing up and being friendly could ever show someone how much they really care. Not wanting to take too long to respond, I replied with a quick, “I enjoyed our date too and maybe we could have another soon.” I shut my phone off and went to bed.

“The next morning, I woke up, turned my phone on, and sent “Good morning beautiful,” to Fiona. Then I hopped in the shower and got dressed for the big game today. We are the only two teams who are left in the league that are undefeated.

Buzz! Buzz! I heard my phone go off. I looked quickly hoping it was from Fi, but it wasn’t.

“Good luck today,” the text from my father said.

I knew he was never going to show up because he always had some excuse, like he had to work, or he was cleaning, or his dog got sick. I never let it really bother me because I was used to it.

I left my house and started jogging down the street to warm up for my warm ups. Don’t judge me, I’m not like most kids. I was about six blocks from the park when I heard my phone go off again. I stopped jogging long enough to read the text.

“Look behind you,” the text from Fiona said.

I quickly turned around to find her smiling at me with a grin that could out shine the sun.

“What are you doing?” I asked awkwardly.

“Well I’m not normally into baseball but I know how big of a game this is for you. I know your parents don’t come and thought that after last night...,” she trailed off. “I owe you one.”

I couldn’t help myself. I started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Fi asked innocently.

“It’s nothing, really,” I said honestly. “I mean, out of the last twelve years I’ve played baseball I’ve never had anyone there for me. Just seems odd to have someone start now.”

Without hesitation, she walked up and hugged me while saying she was sorry. I told her she didn’t have anything to be sorry for, but she wouldn’t listen to it. She told me that since I was there for her when she needed it, she was going to be there for me. I looked down at her because she was shorter than me. She saw that my eyes had started to water and instead of saying anything she put her lips up to mine and kissed me. It was the sweetest kiss that I could ever have imagined. After that, she jogged with me to the baseball park and I hugged her before I jogged onto the field. I started warming up with Tom before coach Macco ran onto the field and told us that he doesn’t care about winning or losing. It’s all about trying your hardest and having fun. After he finished talking we all looked around and screamed together “Winning is better than losing and losing is better than giving up! Now let’s go kick some ass!”

We all ran out to our positions and I took my position as pitcher. I started warming up throwing mostly heat and curveballs. The one thing that this team doesn’t know I have is a slippery slider.

"Play ball!" I hear the umpire call. The first three batters went down swinging and like that, it was our turn to test their defense.