Pitcher (Aaron Nola Phillies)

Moments

"Wow." It was the only word Austin seemed to be able to get out of his mouth as he stood with me in the hotel lobby. He had been waiting there for me for a couple of minutes and had been standing like this, staring at me, frozen. 

"Don't be so shocked that a girl like me can clean up like this. Although honestly you look pretty wow too." I retorted sharply which made Angie,  Cody, Cameron and Odubel cringe from beside me. Although my last few sentences came out sharper and weaker as though I had lost my entire way of knowing how to speak. It was true, though, he looked very handsome in dark gray jacket with dark gray pants of the same color and a blue dress shirt under the jacket. It made me a bit weaker and a bit less tough when I saw him dressed up like this. Finally, I did feel a bit more like an actual girly girl. 

"Drop the attitude and we can go ace," Austin spoke sweetly as he struggled to hide a smile that was tugging at the corner of his lips. 

"Okay, tiger. Just remember that I've never gone on a date that isn't in a batting cage or something." Yet again I didn't mention Aaron and I's New Orleans date. 

"Well then without further a due let me take you on your first, real, actual, date, my lady."  Austin held out his arm for me to link my hand around it. I gently linked my hand through his arm. We set out together and for the first time in forever, I was treated like a lady. After a couple of minutes, Austin lowered hi arm and wrapped it around my waist. I turned my head to him and looked up into hid eyes at the exact same moment that he turned his head and looked down into my eyes. It was impossible to not be aware of the space between us that was growing smaller when we stopped. Our lips were just centimeters away from brushing against each other. 

His blue eyes were now the color of the ocean and I allowed myself to get lost in them. I could honestly stare at them for hours. Then he smiled at me, that sweet, genuine, smile. The smile that spanned across his face and made my heart melt. I never wanted this moment to end.  It felt almost as perfect as winning the world series for the Phillies. This moment was as perfect as baseball and much like baseball I never wanted it to end. And yet just like baseball, it did have to end at some point. 

"Oh no! We're about to be late for our reservation!" Luckily we didn't have to speed walk for too long. We were only a half of a block away from where Austin said the restaurant was located. We arrived at the fancy restaurant somehow with my hair still intact and we didn't look that messed up at all. 

"Hi, do you have a reservation for tonight?" The hostess asked Austin when we walked up to her. 

"Yes, it's under Nola," I smirked slightly at the mention of Austin's last name. Given the fact that Austin had only been playing for a couple of days, no one seemed to recognize him. Since we were in Miami and not Philly, no one recognized me, at least if they did they didn't show it. 

The hostess smiled and took us to a table that was set up for the two of us. It was a bit more isolated from everyone else's tables and it had a fancy white table cloth. Austin pulled out my chair for me. I smiled as he sat down across from me. A big smile had spread across his face.

"Why is your smile so dang adorable?" I said to Austin while blushing slightly. 

"Why are you so damn adorable?" He countered and I blushed even more. 

"Your blushing..." 

"I'm aware." 

"You're even cuter when you blush." 

"Shut up Nola." He slid his hand across the table and reached for mine which was already lying across the table. My hand tingled when he took it in his lightly. He began gently massaging it and I smiled faintly with the corner of my mouth. I drew my eyes to the ground suddenly shy and weak with my hand in his softer hand. My hands had always felt rough with blisters from al of the training. His were much softer than mine, it felt calm and soothing to have my hand in his.

"Let's work on something."

"What?"

"I want to make a deal." 

"Okay, what would this deal  be?"

"You lose the tough ass pitcher persona for the night and I'll leave you and my brother alone, never to mess things up again." 

"That wouldn't be fair." 

"Why?"

"What if I don't want you to leave me and that brother of yours? What if you didn't actually mess anything up and you actually made things better?"

"You're basing this on a what if, Ab." 

"But this ain't no what if, soft hands, this is the reality. Stay, don't leave me. You play on your team I'll play on mine and when we play each other we have fun and go on dates." 

"And..."

"And I'll lose the tough ass pitcher persona for the nights that we spend together. Deal?"

"Deal." 

***

"Abigail, let's skip the whole, I had a great time tonight thing and just cut to the chase. Go out with me for lunch tomorrow, before you leave?" Austin said as we stood outside by his car. My heart sunk a bit when he mentioned I had to leave.

"Do I have to leave tomorrow?"

"If you want to continue your career and win the world series then yes." 

"I guess that is important." 

"Just a bit." 

"Mm, Austin, can we please do this again next series we can see each other? Sometimes it's nice to remember I'm a girl for once." 

"Well your night of being ladylike is not over yet." Austin said and pulled open my door, I stepped in gracerfully. "I still have more chances to be a gentleman to you. Step in gorgegous." 

"Why thank you handsome." The drive to the hotel mostly consisted of me stealing a few glances at Austin who was driving us back carefully. I became aware of my hand inching towards him. After he had pulled into a parking spot, we just sat there iin the car staring at each other for a while. A slight smile arose on my face, his lips mirrored mine and our eyes were locked as thoufgh they were stuck in place and neither og us could move. The space between us went from a couple of feet to a foot, to a couple of inches amd finally to centimeters. Centimeters were the only things that were in the way of stopping our lips from meeting.