Pitcher (Aaron Nola Phillies)

Good game

Following my amazing game we won a the rest of the games that road trip. Before we knew it we were on a flight back to Philly. The best part was that Aaron was returning to the team in a couple days, I still missed him like crazy. The bad news was that Austin had to head back to New Orleans. 

"Bye Ab! Bye Aaron!" Austin waved goodbye as he got on a plane to New Orleans. 

"So... I saw you had your first kiss a couple nights ago." Aaron said turning to me.

"Yeah, he and I were drunk."

"Ok..." 

"I know what you're thinking and we're not dating." 

"Well anyway , guess who's returning from the dl!"

"Oh my god! No way! You're better!" I squished  him.

"Well it's all because I had the best reason to." He said shyly.

"What?" I wasn't sure I heard him right. 

"I meant nothing! But you did help me a lot!" I stared at him trying to put together what just happened. My gaze was moved to where a clock was, it was nearly game time. 

"Game time!" 

"I'm pitching today!"

"Now I'm super excited!" We went to the field and not shockingly everyone was surprised to see Aaron. When we arrived the tv was on and everyone was watching. The surprise was they were talking about me. I set my things in my locker, my eyes still on the screen. There was a spot next to Aaron so I sat next to him. Our hands nearly touching, it was hard not to touch him since we were all being squished. They turned up the volume so we could hear what was happening. 

"So this season could be the first with a female starter for the national league, Phillies ace Abigail Smith seems to be the top decision for the national league right now. But she wouldn't be alone her teammate Odubel Herrera is still leading the ballots for center field. Well that's the update on the all star game tomorrow we'll announce who's in. ." I was shocked for many reasons first of all I had never  been called an ace. Second of all the all star game had never occurred to me as a possibility. Odubel smiled, he could be terrible that year and yet no one would care because he was a fan favorite. Aaron smiled at me warmly and took my hand, squeezing it for good luck. I blushed and looked at the ground.Everyone got up for practice except us we just sat there awkwardly holding hands..

"Good luck." He whispered in my ear.

"Good luck." I whispered in his ear and we got up for practice.

"Odubel!" I yelled after practice before the game.

"Yeah?" 

"When's the all star game?" 

"A week." I guess I hadn't been paying attention to how soon it was. I knew for a fact that it was in Tampa bay. Before I knew it it was game time, Aaron was super excited for it and I couldn't wait to see him pitch again. Something magical happened, In the first pitch of his first at bat he swung a powerful swing and the ball made a loud sound as it hit the bat. Everyone in the stadium went silent as we all watched the ball fly towards the outfield seats in fair territory. Aaron dropped his bat and ran around the bases with a proud smile on his face. The bell rang and everyone cheered. Aaron came into the dugout and everyone congratulated him. I hugged him tight and bravely kissed his cheek. He turned red but smiled back.

"What do ya know we both hit homers back to back." 

""I know it's awesome!" We won that game too which put us ten games above 500 and in second place, one game below the first place nationals, our rivals. Aaron got 12 strikeouts, a season high for him. The best part was Aaron finally pitched a complete game. While the team was celebrating a crazy idea popped into my head. Maybe in this moment of happiness I could tell him the truth. I walked up to him and gathered all my strength. We all had champagne to celebrate. 

"Hey! This is great right?" He asked slightly drunk but not to drunk to not remember this. 

"Yeah. Um, Aaron there's something I want to tell you." I struggled to get the words out of my mouth.

"Is everything ok?"

"I... Li-Think you're a great pitcher!" Who am I kidding I can't tell him!

"Thanks!"   We got back to celebrating then he and I went out for gelato in south philly near his apartment. 

"Ab, why don't you just stay at my place tonight?" 

"Sure." He took me to his apartment which was pretty cute. It was completely Louisianaified.  The apartment was huge, it had a view of the city and a comfortable looking couch in the center. The kitchen was moderately sized and neat, everything about his place was neat. I eyed two fishing rods in the corner. 

"You fish?"

"Yeah, you should come with me sometime."

 "I personally think it's boring."

"I'm offended! That's my favorite thing aside from baseball! What do you do when your not playing?" 

"Run, write, read, violin."

"Violin?"

"I can play New Orleans violin."

"Tell you what, if you play for me then I'll catch you a crawfish." My mouth watered at the word crawfish.

"Crawfish? How'd you get crawfish here?"

"Well ab I was wondering if you'd like to come to Louisiana for the break with me? We could go to my house fora day then spend the rest of the time in New Orleans."

"I would love to!" He smiled and disappeared to his room he appeared again ready for bed he tossed me a t-shirt to throw on. It was basically a dress on me. 

"You wanna sleep on the bed, couch or with me?"

"I could sleep with you. That sounded wrong! But you get what I'm saying!" He nodded and I quickly got changed in the bathroom.