Swing

Chapter Nine

Though it was still a few hours before the baseball game, Fi and I decided to go find the seats that we wanted to sit in. We decided to sit home plate because that was where you could see everything.

We set our stuff down and started walking through the rows of chairs as we horsed around by pushing each other. We ran up the aisle and up to the hotdog venders stands. We were running around and goofing off thinking that nobody else was there. That’s why when we heard someone yell “Hey, what are you kids doing” we froze.

“Should we run or should we talk to him” I asked in a hush whisper.

“Let’s just go talk to him” Fiona said. “We have every right to be here.”

We turned around and saw a security guard walking towards us. Nervously I waited but Fiona took over saying that her dad works in the technical room and that he allowed us access to get into the stadium to get comfortable and meet the players. Soon after saying it the security guard realized who it was and then asked us to keep it down a little bit.

We started back to our seats when Fiona grabbed my arm and told me to follow her. She lead e down a few flights of stairs and threw a couple of tunnels before she asked me to close my eyes.

“Why do I have to close my eyes” I asked.

“Because I asked you to” she responded.

Realizing that I wasn’t going to win this battle I shut my eyes before hearing her say “I’ll be right back.”

I heard a door shut and then I heard it open again. She grabbed my hand and led me through the door she had just been in. Once we were completely inside she led me a few more feet before saying I could open my eyes. I opened my eyes as I heard her say “I give you, the Dodgers.

The entire team was there in uniform. They all greeted me as if I was a friend of theirs that they had known since grade school. They all found something that they liked and signed it by themselves. I ended up with a new glove, a new ball, a new bat, and a few other oddball things that all had different signatures on it.

They told me to enjoy what I had left as a kid because the real world was harsh. I thanked them for everything as Fiona and I walked out of the room. We walked back to our seats because it was about an hour before the game started. We got to our seats and started getting settled when I realized that we haven’t had anything to eat all day.

“Are you hungry” I asked her.

“Yea actually, I am” she said.

We left our seats again and went back to the hotdog vender when she said this wasn’t where we were eating. Confused I asked her what she meant and all she said was to follow her. We ended up at one of the most expensive places in the baseball park. As soon as I looked at the menu I blurted out “I can’t afford this!” She told me not to worry about it. As we walked up to the counter the guy said; “Fiona baby! You’re usual?”

“Yea I’ll take my usual but make it two” she said. “I’m on a date.”

Embarrassed because she was taking care of it when I was supposed to be the one paying, I heard the guy say “Not a problem, it will be right up.”

“Thanks Joe” Fiona said.

She grabbed my arm and walked me toward the other side of the booth where Joe handed us our food.

“You guys enjoy” Joe said as we walked away.

I hung my head the entire way back to the seats. Fiona caught on when we sat down and she saw that I wasn’t eating.

“What’s wrong” she asked.

“I’m not use to people doing things for me” I told her. “I’ve always believed in buying things for the other person in the relationship. It bothers me that you did all this for me and when it came to something as simple as buying you lunch I couldn’t even do it.”

“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable” Fiona said. “It’s just” she started trailing off. “You do so much for me. You are the only person that has ever cared for me when I really needed it. After the post I put on Facebook I told myself that if someone didn’t respond in some way that I was going to kill myself. I was just getting up to go find my mom’s anti depressants when I heard the ding of someone messaging me. You saved my life Rob. I just wanted to repay the favor.”

“I didn’t know” I told her. “I knew that when I saw you for the first time that I wanted to get to know you but you were always around your friends or always working on math or English. I was so afraid to talk to you because I thought that if I said anything to you, you were going to think that I was just an everyday asshole that didn’t deserve a chance.”

By this point she was looking at me like I was saying all this to try and make her feel better. When I looked up I saw that she could see that I was being one hundred percent serious. Neither of us knew what to say anymore because we were both emotionally a wreck so instead of apologizing or talking to make things better we leaned toward each other and we kissed. It was the longest, sweetest kiss I have ever had and it was the best feeling in the world.

When I finally pulled away I saw that there was something special in her eyes. It was the glimmer of true love.

“I love you” Fiona said softly.

“I love you too” I told her as I pulled her in for another kiss.

For the first time in my life I realized that the time I spent with her was the best time of my life. She made me feel something that I haven’t felt since I was a young kid. She made me happy.

“I love you Fiona. I love you” I said as I watched tears of joy run down her face.