Smile (Kris Bryant)

Chapter One| The Call Up

Kris

"Look out world! The next big thing coming through. He was the NCAA player of the year, minor league player of the year, and now he's here to save us all" Anthony yells as we walk around the clubhouse at Wrigley. I trail behind him with my face in my hands just shaking my head.

"Hey bud, I love you. I really do. But you know how much I hate attention" I remind him and he scoffs at me.

"You're an amazing, and admittedly attractive, player on a universally known baseball team where fans are just waiting for someone like you to do good things. I don't think you've thought this through if it's privacy that you want" he admits.

"I have thought this through. I belong here, I know I do. But I don't need all the hype and crap from you too" I laugh.

"You don't have a ego to inflate so my words only get me so far in your head, and if you're not going to do it then someone's gotta tell the world how great you are" he shrugs.

Being only 23 and supposed to bring a historically terrible team to glory is a lot of pressure. History is rich in this city and more specifically this team. But the harder the pressure the better the diamond, right? When it comes to doing great things you have to do something huge and the opportunities here are endless. There's not another team I would rather be on. Important people are here, like my best friend Anthony Rizzo, guys like David Ross and Jon Lester. People new and old all under the influence of one Joe Maddon, there's not another team I would rather be on. But it's my first day here and I don't need to give these guys a reason to give me a hard time. No thanks to Anthony anyway.

He introduces me to a bunch of people but it will take me a little to remember everyone's names. Everyone was super nice to me and was happy I was here. I met most of them at spring training so I knew most of them pretty well anyway, but I'm so bad with names.

"Oh, there she is. You're going to love her. There's someone I need you to meet" Anthony insists pointing into seemingly nowhere. He weaves in and out of people and I almost lose him in a group of reporters. He finally stops moving and I nearly run right into him. He turns to me with the brightest smile on his face, like he just hit a walk off home run.

"Hey Alexandria, over here" he calls and I roll my eyes.

I've only known Anthony for some time now and I've learned he has a lot of lady friends. Like a lot. And they're nice and all, but then they "magically" get my number asking to hang around or go out somewhere and I feel like a ass hole for every excuse I've given to one of his friends as to why we can't. I'm not here to make relationships, I'm not that outgoing guy like he is where everyone is my friend. I'd much rather do what I need to with the least amount of humans possible.

Eventually a girl about the same height as Anthony comes up to us and I get frozen in my spot. I couldn't move if I tried. I don't know why, but I started smiling from ear to ear and I couldn't stop. I didn't want to stop. She wore a wide smile showing off her perfect teeth and a pair of plump pink lips to compliment them. Her auburn hair long and everywhere, like a controlled fire that I could get my fingers lost in. She had these insanely huge grey eyes all dark and stormy, but still beautiful nonetheless. They meet mine and I watch her eyes sparkle. I think what stuck out most was that she was so fit. I mean her ass looked amazing. Not important, but damn. I think she might have bigger arm muscles than me, that's not saying much because for a professional athlete I sure wasn't the biggest guy around here, but still. I can see her six pack through her Cubs tank top she was sporting. I don't usually get swept off my feet, but I felt like I was flying.

"Okay so Alexandria, this is my friend Kristopher Lee Bryant" Anthony smirks knowing I hated when he introduced me like that. "Kris, this is Alexandria or Alex or the most bad ass girl you will ever meet. Pretty smart too, so you guys will get along nicely" he claims pointing between us.

"Nice to meet you" she smiles putting her hand out for me to shake. I finally muster up the courage to move and shake her hand, that smile still plastered across my face. Her touch was so nice. Inviting yet firm. I could see us tangled up with each other. I could see us doing fun couple things. I could see... a beautiful engagement ring sitting on her left ring finger. The smile fades as soon as I realize that I just let myself so easily fall for a girl who is already taken.

"Nice to meet you too. What is it you do here" I wonder as our hands break apart. I liked it better when they were together.

"I'm a personal trainer, I work with the infielders mainly. I specialize in athleticism and muscle usage. I can help you generate power, run the bases more effectively, and if you want to get embarrassed I can beat you in a arm wrestling contest. Twice" she chirps to Anthony.

"I let you win" he claims.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night" she laughs patting his shoulder.

I don't know was so attractive about her, was it her eyes? What about her extremely toned body? Maybe it was that smile that is so contagious. Or perhaps it was the fact that all these guys didn't phase her. I'm not sure, all I know is that I'm no home wrecker and I can't let myself get feelings for her. Well... more feelings at this point.

"How long have you been working here" I wonder.

"This is my second year" she smiles causing me to smile too. Damn it.

"Wait how old are you" I ask.

"22" she replies and my eyes nearly pop out of my head. She was training professional athletes ten to fifteen years older than her. That's impressive.

"So are you excited to get started up here" she asks as we walk around. Anthony forgot his lucky underwear so he ran back home to get them for the game. To waste time until the game started we were just walking around and I was letting myself down hard. I was doing a terrible job of suppressing my feelings and I haven't failed at something this bad since I was in middle school.

"So excited. You know, I've waited my whole life for this moment. Every little kids dream is to be in the majors one day. To finally be up here with the big boys" I sigh dreamily.

"I've heard a lot about you, you're gonna do great things. There's not a doubt in my mind that you can't turn this place around. But I'll admit, for the longest time I thought you were in a relationship with Anthony because he talks about you so much. That was until I learned that he talked about everyone like that. But you're defiantly his favorite" she claims nudging my shoulder. I look down as she looks up at me and can't help but feel that she likes me too. The whole time we were walking together she stood incredibly close making me feel like I was going crazy. And I was, because I was falling for a girl who was engaged to another guy.

"Anthony is a cool dude. He's taken me under his wing and is showing me the way. He's someone that I would want to help me pick up this franchise and give people something to smile about" I admit.

"I feel like you guys will. With due time" she says. I turn to her as we stop walking and try to figure her out. I just couldn't.

"What makes you think that" I wonder.

"Because some things are just meant to be" she smirks. I wonder what she meant by that?

Eventually Anthony finds me again and we go get ready for the game. Alexandria is gone from my sights but her face was already etched in my brain. I was infatuated with her and it sucks that I couldn't be with her.