Mrs. Chicago Cub

Your Not Anthony?

The  Next morning seem to come to fast. I didn't sleep at all last night. I thought maybe a shower would help. So I got in the shower and got the water as hot as I could. I got out of the shower and settled on a grey v-neck and yoga pants, it was Saturday after all. Put on some light make up and went to the battling cages.

"What are you doing here?" I here from behind me.

"Good morning to you to Kristopher." 

"I'm not a morning person." Kris said as he brushed by me and set his stuff down. " You didn't answer my question. What are you doing here?"

"Joe asked me to help you."

"He said Rizzo was gonna help me and your not Rizzo"

"Oh well he asked me and I am a Rizzo too. I can leave if you want."

"No. I need to get out of my head before the game tomorrow. So guess if you can help then I'll take all the help I can get."

"Ok. Well jump in and we will start from there."

"Ok." He said. I started the pitching machine and then watched as Kris hit almost every ball. His stance was great, a little wide, but if he was comfortable it would work. 

"Lower your back elbow just a hair." I said. He smiled and did as he was told. He hit the next ball with such force that it would of sent the ball into to the stands. There was nothing wrong with him. He looked great. What was Joe talking about. The more he hit that more he began to relax. The only thing I could see was the nervousness of performing but that started to melt away as Kris started to relax.

"Like the view." He smarted off as he swung. 

"For sure." I giggled and he smiled.  Kris hit close to 100 baseballs while we were there. I shut the pitching machine off and walked towards Kris. "I don't see anything wrong. Your stance, swing, follow through all look good. Maybe you were just having a bad couple days." 

"Maybe."

"Do you feel good about it."

"Yeah kinda." I could see the doubt in his eyes. He still was all in his head. This wasn't about baseball.

"Hey, why don't we go to coffee or something. Like a reward for coming in on a Saturday."

"Ok. Sounds good"

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I took Kris to the only coffee shop that I knew off. It wasn't very far from Wrigley so we walked down. On the way down he told me where he was from, about his siblings, and how he worked his way through the minors. 

"Wow you didn't have it easy." I said as we sat down at the little coffee shop

"Yeah, but I would rather work for it than it be handed to me." Kris said

"Good point."

"So I noticed that my car was the only one in the parking lot. Do you live close to the field?"

"Yeah like 4 or 5 blocks down. It's just easier to walk instead of fight the traffic."

"I get that. Your girlfriend must like being that close to Wrigley too."

"She did."

"Did?"

He cleared his throat and ran his hair through his head, "She moved about about a month ago. Right after the last series with the Mets"

"Kris, i'm sorry. I didn't know."

"It's ok."

"Can I ask what happened?" I said not trying to pry, yet testing my own theory. 

Kris started to tell me what happened and I could see a certain relief in his eyes. This is what had been bothering him. It wasn't the fact that he got hit, he got his heartbroken when the played the Mets, so know the second Mets series is coming up and all those feelings are coming back. 

"So basically she had been cheating for almost 4 months." Kris said at the end of his story. 

"How long were you guys together?" I asked

"3 years. I had a ring picked out and everything."

"Oh my good Kris. I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault Casey." There was a small silence. "Thanks for listening to my sob story. I told Anthony but he didn't say much. You are so much different from your brother. Your not Anthony that's for sure."

"I'm sorry. Anthony is not the heart to heart type of guy. He's the i'm going to kill you for break my loved ones heart and then puts his hand through a wall."

"Are you talking about that Tyler situation from last summer? Anthony told me all about that last night when we were in the locker room. I asked why you hadn't been around and he told me all about Tyler"

"Yeah, not my proudest moments"

"Guess we both have a past."

"Builds character." I said and Kris smiled. 

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After we were done with our coffee, Kris and I walked back to the field. 

"Hey thank for today. It really helped. I feel a lot better about the game tomorrow." Kris said

"Anytime. That's what team mates annoying little sisters are for right." I said with a smirk. 

"See you tomorrow."

"Yeah. Bye." Just as I turned and started to walk to my car, I saw Joe. "Joe!"

"Damn, Casey. I didn't see you. Scared me half to death." Joe said breathing heavily standing in the dimly lit parking garage. 

"So I worked with Kris in the cages today," Joe looked up to meet my eyes and stop fiddling with what was in his hands, "And their was nothing wrong."

"I know." Joe said 

"Ok? And he wasn't messed up about baseball. He got dumped before the last Mets series and that's why he was all upset. All the other feelings."

"I know." Joe said again now messing with his tie

"You know?"

"Yeah. Anthony told me."

"Then why....." As I started to ask why it hit me. Anthony is the second person to meddle in someones love life and he learned that from the master meddler himself, Joe Madden.

Joe starts to chuckle when he realizes that I put the pieces together, "Listen to my logic before you yell at me. Kris is really nice and he did everything for Taylor. He would bend over backwards for anyone so that tells me that he is a stand-up, all around gentlemen. Plus, I knew that you were a sweetheart and would take care of him. Double plus, I kinda overheard you two the other day and thought there was a little chemistry so I planned a win-win situation. You get a sweetheart rookie for your arm candy and I get my power hitter back."

I stood there for a second and let it all sink it. Joe didn't really do anything wrong. He did meddle a little but I was so use to it, that I hardly noticed. "You should of just told me Joe."

"Yeah but I didn't know what your whole situation was since you moved back here and are now closer to Tyler."

"Tyler is in jail Joe. He can't hurt me or any of us anymore. As for sympathy, I have non for him."

"Ok well give, Bryant a shot. Just see where it goes?" Joe said

"Alright, alright, but no promises." I said as Joe was almost skipping to his car. Sometimes I wonder about that guy...