Pitch It

⚾ Strike 1

⚾ Strike 1 : 

"Are you going to just sit there with my sister or are you going to come along?''

Dylan's voice snapped me out of my momentary reverie, and I swivelled around to face my best friend of five years. His light brown hair was windswept due to the sea breeze, his blue eyes were trained on my face while one of his hands clutched his surfboard. I looked away from him and stared instead at the horizon, debating on my options.

At the moment, I was lounging on the sand with my younger sister, Rebecca, and Dylan's older sister, Alison, conversing casually about the baby Alison was expecting. Her bloated stomach was jutting out alarmingly over her jeans, but the bright grin that was plastered on her face posed an equal match with the size of her abdomen. Hitting the seventh month of her pregnancy seemed to have triggered a growth spurt in the unborn baby, because at the moment, Alison looked as though she had swallowed a watermelon. We had all taken to eyeing her with an incessant caution, knowing that it wouldn't be too long until the baby decided that it needed to get a move on.

I had always harbored a brotherly affection towards Dylan's older sister, and had been giving her some company as she relaxed on the sand. Her husband, Rob, was at the moment away on a business trip, and she had decided to come along with us on our trip because otherwise, she would be lonely.

Not that we minded of course. Alison was great company.

On one hand, I wanted to tell my friends to shove off while I sat down with Alison and observed the ocean. I wasn't exactly in a mood to surf today, favoring the prospect of a nice chat instead.

But on the other hand, I knew well that I would always give in to my friends.

"I suppose," I replied, hesitating. My two other friends, Aiden and Casper, had already taken possession of their surfboards from Dylan's old Volvo and were heading enthusiastically towards the sea. Truthfully, I had no idea why I was hesitating. Having always been the outgoing type, it took me by surprise that all I really wanted was to stay away from something I usually enjoyed. I was apprehensive.

"Is everything alright?" asked Dylan, staring intently at me.

"I'm fine," I mumbled, my lack of enthusiasm apparent. Dylan frowned, tucking his yellow surfboard under his right arm. After giving me a fleeting, unconvinced look, he turned around and headed in the direction the others had gone mere moments ago.

"Go ahead," said Alison with a smile. I eyed her warily, and my gaze unconsciously flickered over to her stomach.

Sadly though, that didn't go unnoticed.

"For God's sake, Kian, this baby isn't due for another two months, you guys don't have to watch me as though I'm a bomb that might explode any minute," said Alison with a laugh. I grinned sheepishly at her and ran a hand through my dark hair.

"We'll make sandcastles!" said Becky excitedly. Alison grinned at her.

"You can just call out if you need anything," I said, picking up my blue surfboard from where it lay discarded on the sand. "One of us will hear you."

"I'll be fine," she insisted. "Besides, I'm hungry for some sandwiches."

I shook my head fondly as I surveyed the various assortment of sandwiches she had packed. Besides the fact that her appetite had increased tenfold, her pregnancy hormones sometimes skyrocketed to the point of insanity.

Dylan would sometimes entertain us with stories about the struggles he has with Alison's hormonal mood swings. Apparently, one day, she had spent one full morning baking butter cookies with Dylan, but after two hours of arguments, laughter, and a hell load of flour, Alison had scanned the finished products and then decided that she preferred chocolate chip cookies instead.