C h a s i n g D r e a m s ➮ C a r r i s o n

• 14 •

"Carrie, what's yours?"

"Jake," he answered with a smile. "And it's nice to meet you." 

"Nice to meet you too," she said quietly.

Just as he was about to say something else, Carrie stood up. She tossed a few dollars on the table for her drinks. "I appreciate the gesture, but I really should be going."

"Where you going?" he called after her. "I haven't had the chance to meet you yet!"

"I'm engaged," she answered. "I'm not interested in whatever this is."

"Who are you engaged too?" he questioned.

"It's not really any of your business."

"I just bought you a drink and you're going to shut me down like that?"

He had now followed her into the parking lot. "Listen, it was a nice gesture, but I'm not interested."

"Come on."

Carrie showed him her engagement ring. "You have good game but next time you gotta look a little harder."

And with that, she left him in the parking lot and walked to her car.

⚾︎⚾︎⚾︎

Carrie answered Harrison's FaceTime call on the first ring. "Wow, you excited to talk to me or what?" he asked.

Usually he would have to call her multiple times before he got an answer. And that was due to the fact his games went so much later since he was two hours behind her. Carrie often found herself falling asleep at the end of games and waking up almost two hours later when he was finally able to leave and call her.

But Carrie just laughed. "I have to tell you what happened earlier."

"What happened earlier?" he asked.

"Well I went for a drink before your game started and got hit on by this cute guy who was very, very persistent."

She couldn't help but laugh at his face. He looked so jealous and it was absolutely hilarious. "And what did he say?"

"Not too much, he was just trying to get to know me."

"What did you say?"

"I told him that he had good game and I was engaged and I told him to look a little harder next time."

Harrison smiled. "You should've told him that if he really had something to say he can come talk to me."

"Easy there. I took care of it myself."

"I know you can hold you own but this hasn't happened in a while. And last time I had to get involved."

Carrie playfully rolled her eyes. "I had that one under control too."

"Yeah but I still had to get involved."

She shook her head. "No but it's fine." Then she asked, "how was the game today?"

"We scored at least a run every inning and it was awesome. I was a triple short of the cycle."

"I saw that. You would've made it if you would've tried to stretch that second double into three."

"Yeah but I didn't want to get out."

"Come on you would've been safe by a mile."

Harrison disagreed. "If I could run like you, I would've, but I don't so they would've had me on the relay."

"I'm just saying, you missed out on the cycle."

"Cody almost had it too. Except he was short a home run."

"Could've had that triple."

"That's enough," he teased. "I do have to say I really like playing with these guys."

"You think they're going to offer you a contract at the end of the season?"

"I hope," he answered. "I really like playing here."

"I was thinking about retiring pro and just playing for Team USA in the summers now."

He let out a deep breath. "I thought you were going to say retire and only retire."

"No," she answered. "We would practice and play a lot right in Irvine which isn't too far from LA. They told me they really want me to play next season."

"It's up to you Carrie. I'll be supporting you with whatever you decide to do."

"Thanks Harrison. I love you."

"I love you too."