The Story of You and Me

Chapter 20

I finish curling my hair and then check my reflection in the mirror one last time. I smooth down my flannel shirt and adjust my necklace before heading downstairs.

Cole is waiting in the foyer and a smile lights up his face as I appear. I return his smile before quickly bounding down the stairs. Once at the bottom he takes my hand and leads me outside, calling a quick goodbye to Kyle, the only other person home.

He holds my door open as I get in and then heads around to the drivers side. "So, I figured we'd grab dinner and then see where we go from there?" He says, questioningly, as he pulls out of the driveway. I nod, "Sounds good."

I reach into the glove compartment and pull out a Pearl Jam cd and put it in the player. Cole shoots me a look but doesn't say anything. I only listen to Pearl Jam when I'm upset.

He drives to our favorite diner, not the one that everyone in town goes to but one 20 minutes away in the next town over. It's your typical diner that serves your typical diner food but everything there is great.

We walk through the door and find a booth near the window, a waitress immediately coming over and handing us menus. We don't really say anything to each other until after she's taken our order a few minutes later.

"You're very quiet tonight." Cole comments, taking a sip of his sweat tea. I shrug, "It's been a long week and it's not even over yet." He nods, knowing why it's been a long week without me having to say anything. "Yeah, I guess it has been a long week."

He reaches across the table and takes my hand, giving it a tight squeeze. "Kyle's right, she'll come around. If not, well then screw her, you don't need that kind of negativity in your life. I for one am very proud of you for getting into Hopkins, it's a great school."

I give him a smile, he's so confident and supportive, maybe it will rub off on my mom. "Thank you." I say, squeezing his hand back. He offers me an easy smile, "Anytime Dyl, anytime."

Before either of us can say anything else the waitress brings our food out. "Here you go, BLT for the young lady and a burger for this fine gentleman you've got here." She says, setting our food in front of us. I give her a smile and Cole thanks her.

Once dinner is over we head back out to the truck. "Where are we going now?" I ask Cole as we climb in. "I have somewhere in mind." He says with a mischievous grin. I raise my eyebrows but don't say anything as he takes several turns, easily navigating the small town.

When he pulls into a parking lot I give him a look but he just shakes his head, a smile playing at his lips. I shrug and slide out of the car. He goes to the bed and grabs a duffle bag. I give him another look but he just laughs and takes my hand, "Patience grasshopper, it shall all make sense in a minute."

I hit his arm, "You're such a nerd." He laughs again, kissing my temple, "Well, you're one to talk." I hit him again as he holds open the door for me. We step through into what looks like a waiting room except for the row of lockers lining one wall.

The woman at the desk positioned in the center of the room looks up when we enter. She smiles at us, "Hey Cole." She says, causing me to look at him again. "Hey Danny." Cole says cheerfully, "We'll take a 1 hr session." He says, pulling out his wallet and handing her his card.

I tug on his sleeve, "What are we doing?" I ask, now dying to know, not only what we're doing here but also why she knows him by name. He just smiles and takes his card back from Danny. "Come on beautiful." He says, gently nudging me towards a door on the back wall.

I open the door and suddenly it all makes sense. Inside there is a row of batting cages, each complete with a pitching machine and two buckets, one filled with baseball and the other softballs.

I turn to Cole with a huge smile on my face as he sets the duffel bag on the ground outside one of the cages. He unzips the bag and pulls out my bat and helmet. I grin and go over to him, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Thank you, this is exactly what I need." He smiles down at me, "I figured you might need to take your anger out on something and I figured the best way to do that was to stick a bat in your hand." I stretch up and kiss him.

He pulls away after a long moment and gestures towards the batting cage. "Hit away my dear, hit away." I laugh but take his advice, grabbing my bat and helmet and stepping into the cage. Cole goes over to man the machine."Ready?" He calls.

I square up at the plate and then nod. The first ball comes flying towards me and I swing, feeling the bat connect and sending the ball flying to the opposite end of the cage. Cole lets out a whoop, both of us knowing a good hit from a bad one, and that was a good hit.

I feel another smile play at my lips as the second ball comes my way. I swing and, once again, the bat and ball connect. Already I'm losing myself in the sport that I love so much and it's never felt so good.