Make it to Me - Ender Inciarte romance

Chapter 20

Charlotte's POV

As a Braves fan, it sucked when the team lost. As a girlfriend, it REALLY sucked. And when the score is 17-2 at the end of the game...well, there is no words for that really.

Ender didn't talk much after getting back to the hotel room in Colorado after a complete blow out. I knew better. He never was angry towards me, but he took the game seriously and when he was mad, it was better to let him simmer.

I got ready for bed but instead of getting in bed, I went out and sat on the balcony.

"Can I join you?" The balcony door slid open and Ender came outside.

"Hey baby," I turned and smiled at him, motioning for him to come sit in front of me. He sat on the ground in front of my chair and I wrapped my arms around him from behind and rested my chin on his shoulder.

"Well....?" He asked. He knew I was always up to give him my opinion on the game.

"Y'all look defeated in the 2nd inning. That's awful early to be giving up."

He knew that I hated when the Braves seemed to defeat themselves. I can deal with a loss if they battled the whole game, but to see the looks on their faces and see them look done with it before it was over, I couldn't handle that.

"Well, we were pretty defeated." He leaned his head back so that it was resting in my lap, his sign for me to play with his hair. I ran my fingers through his growing out hair for a few minutes before moving my hands to his neck and shoulders, trying to workout some kinks and knots that built up there.

"Thank you, mí amor."

We sat there in silence for a little while. It was so quiet that I even thought I had put Ender to sleep with my massage.

"Are you awake?" I stopped rubbing his shoulders and wrapped my arms around him from behind again. He nodded so I continued with what I had been thinking of during the silence.

"You have the talent, you have the heart, and you have the brain to play baseball and you need all three of those to be good. Sometimes you don't put enough faith in all of those equally. You think about things too much. You are incredibly hard on yourself and you get lost inside that brain of yours. You have the most heart out of anyone on that team and I don't just say that because I'm biased. What
I'm trying to say is just go out there and play the ball you love and know how to play. Play the ball that you fell in love with playing back home with your dad and brother. Win or lose, that doesn't matter. Don't overthink things. I'm rambling and
I'll stop, but just think about what I said, okay?"

Ender stood up snd pulled me to him, wrapping my arms around his neck before moving his hands to hold my face. He leaned forward and placed the sweetest kiss on my lips before resting his forehead on mine.

"I'm not sure what I have ever done in my life that convinced God that I deserved someone like you in my life. But I'm not complaining. I don't deserve you but I don't know what I would do without you."

I smiled and pulled him in for a hug. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned on his music.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Dancing with you, what is it look like? You mean to tell me you've never danced on the balcony of a hotel room with the Rockies in the background in your sweatpants?"

I laughed and buried my head in his chest as he pulled me back into him, slowly swaying to the song coming from his phone.

"I love you," I looked up at him, my hands playing with the chains around his neck.

"I love you the most," he replied, leaning down for another kiss.

We stayed on the balcony for another hour dancing slowly to the music. Ozzie had text Ender asking if we wanted to go out for a little while and get some dinner. Ender had declined but told him thanks for the invite. So there we stayed, both in our sweatpants with messy hair, me with no make up on, and somehow I couldn't have imagined a better end to the night.

————————————
"Way to go, baby!! Way to be patient!" I yelled later that next night as Ender got walked at his first at bat.

I hated to see him walk instead of getting a hit, but I knew that if was patient and wasn't swinging at anything and everything, that meant he was in a good place mentally for the game.

Lucy had flown in earlier in the day so she and I had enjoyed a girls day on the town before heading to the game, loading up on every junk food imaginable because that is what we did at games. We were enjoying the nice Colorado weather and were hoping the boys felt more like themselves tonight.

She was just about to reach into the popcorn I was holding when Ender knocked a ball over the wall for him 9th home run of the season. The popcorn went flying as I jumped up and cheered loudly for him.

"That's what I'm talking about!!" I yelled, waving to Ender as he rounded the bases. "That's my Gold Glover, hitting bombs!"

"Sheesh!!" Lucy grabbed my arm, pulling me back down to my seat. "If you wanted to share popcorn with the whole section you could have just said so nicely instead of throwing it."

"I'm sorry," I said, out of breath from jumping and telling. "I'm just proud. He needs a good game."

"He usually does have good games, what are you worried about."

"He's just in his head some after the loss last night. He's ok. He's good. I can tell."

"Are you okay, though?l She gave me the side eye, trying to be seriously but failing miserably.

"I'll behave," I laughed with her. "Promise!"

(Later that night)

"Babe!!!" I ran up to Ender after the game, jumping into his arms and wrapping my legs around his waist. "I'm so proud."

The Braves had pulled off a 10-2 win over the Rockies and Ender had recorded 3 hits with back to back homeruns.

"I listened to what you said. I remembered the reason I play and just went out to have fun."

I pulled him in for a kiss, which unfortunately did not last long thanks to Dansby and Ozzy making noises like they were throwing up.

"Real mature guys," I said rolling my eyes.

"Oz is just jealous you're kissing me and not him," Ender joked, messing with Ozzie's hair.

"It's true," he shrugged. "I'm ready whenever you want to ditch him, Charlie. Just let me know."

I laughed and smiled at my circle of friends that I had been adopted into, so to speak, when I started dating Ender. This is what it was all about. Win or lose, the boys we're growing and learning every day and it made me so happy to see them happy with themselves.

It was going to be a happy plane ride leaving Colorado tonight!