Swing Away (Ashton Irwin AU) [completed]

Chapter 24

Can we all just take a moment to bless Louis Tomlinson lately? Goddamn boy, first making me all sad cuz the Rovers deal fell through and then the day at Mercedes-Benz World (I'm sweating just thinking about it) and then looking like a mother frigging angel in that navy suit at his momma's wedding. I can't cope.

Anyway! Dedicated to quokkacalum for reading this whole story in like two days and voting on every.single.chapter. Bless your heart.

Love you all, enjoy! xx

Chapter 24

It was the last inning of the second game of the tournament, and our team was winning by five runs. It was a pretty comfortable lead and the team seemed confident that when the opposing team had their last at-bat that they wouldn’t overtake us in runs. Ashton was up to bat first and Katherine, Rosa, and I cheered loudly for him, laughing when he saw him giggle slightly before stepping into the batter’s box. The first pitch was in perfect position for him to swing and hit it far into the outfield, which is what he did. I rose to my feet, as did many other spectators, to watch the ball in its journey as Ashton began running. When the ball soared over the fence, signaling a homerun, I screamed happily as the crowd around me let out their own victory whoops. I wasn’t the only fan Ashton had in the audience, it seemed he’d won them all over at this point in his baseball career, and the smile on his face as he jogged around the bases was enough to make my heart melt. As he was rounding third, the third baseman there stuck his foot out just enough that Ashton didn’t notice and tripped, sending Ashton into the dirt, causing a gasp to ripple through the audience. I cheered as he popped back up and finished his jog to home plate, cheering extra loud when the umpire pointed at the third baseman to signify interference and then motioning for the player to go to the dugout; he’d been ejected for tripping Ashton.

My attention moved to the dugout, where Ashton was holding his left wrist close to him and talking to the assistant coach, Bill. He held his arm out towards Bill, who touched the wrist in several places, Ashton wincing each time. I frowned and told Rosa and Katherine I’d be back.

“Ellery, you shouldn’t be over here during game time,” Bill said to me. Upon hearing my name, Ashton looked up and smiled at me, but I could tell that he was in pain.

“I want to know what’s going on.”

“Coach Jameson, she’s fine,” Ashton defended me.

Bill shrugged and turned to Ashton. “I’m not a doctor, but that’s probably a sprain. You’re not to play for the rest of this game, and you need to ice that when you get home. If it still hurts in a couple of days, see a doctor and get it checked. We can’t let you play with a sprain; that would only make it worse.” He clapped Ashton on the back as he walked away.

My boyfriend turned to me looking distraught. “What if it’s a sprain? I can’t just not play in States!”

“If you play with a sprained wrist, you might never play baseball again. You could do some serious damage, Ash. It could be better by the time the States games are here. If you want, I could ask my mom to look at it for you, but I’m pretty sure they have to do some sort of test to make sure it’s actually a sprain.”

Bill walked back over with one of those ice packs that you broke to make cold and a towel and handed them to Ashton. “If I were you, I’d end this conversation pretty quickly. Forrester isn’t happy that you might be out for a couple games.”

“Thanks, Coach,” Ashton nodded at him and wrapped the ice pack in a towel before wrapping it around his wrist. He turned back to me when Bill walked away. “I’ll come over after the game and talk to your mom, and if she says I should see my doctor, I’ll give him a call tomorrow.”