Playing The Hot Corner

Anyone Else But You - Moldy Peaches

I was nervous. Don’t ask me why. Joe was just taking me out for dinner on my birthday. Simple, right? But for some reason, I had this odd foreboding feeling that something was going to go down, and I didn’t like it. All I could really do was try to ignore it and enjoy my night out with Joe.

I was walking down the hallway to Joe’s and my room when I saw Justin poke his head out of the doorway.

“She’s coming!” he shouted, and slammed the door.

“Really, spaz?” I said, rolling my eyes. “You guys are making way too big of a deal out of this.”

“Don’t look!” I heard Justin yell. “She’s pretty, but don’t look!”

“Oh my God, Justin, settle down.” I got to the room door to find it locked. “I have a key, you know.”

“He’s holding the door shut, Jess,” Joe called.

I ran the key card through the slot. “He must have forgotten about how strong I am, then,” I said, giving the door a good, hard shove. I heard a thud as Justin fell back and I slipped inside before he could get up again.

“Ready to go, J…” Joe trailed off, not even moving on to the vowels of my name. He looked pretty shocked to see me dressed up – it was a rare occasion.

“Ha!” Justin laughed once from the floor. “Told you she was pretty.”

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” I pleaded with the fist baseman. He smiled and stood up, giving me a hug.

“Yeah, I’m out. See you guys later.” He left the hotel room and I sighed.

“So he’s a closet spastic. He shows the fans this calm, cool exterior, then everywhere else he’s tweaking.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

“You look good, Joe.” He did. He was wearing a gray button-up with a pair of black slacks, both of which fit him perfectly. It seemed a little strange to see him dressed up like this, probably the same as I had looked to him. Both of us had stepped a little out of our comfort zones for each other, and I loved him to death for it.

“You look better,” he said, acting a little shy.

I rolled my eyes.

A big smile on his face, he took my hand. “Let’s go. We’ve got reservations to keep.”

~

“No way, Joe. Nuh uh. You’re taking me to The Italian Village?”

“Yeah, I am. And you can’t back out, and I am paying in full.”

“No, I can’t let you pay.”

“Jess, you’re going to let me pay,” he insisted. He knew full well that I hated other people paying for me or spending money on me, so he did it all the time.

We were led to our table in this absolutely gorgeous restaurant. They didn’t let us at the wine list, but being there was a game the next day, it wouldn’t have been a good idea anyways. We started with the minestrone soup and house salad course.

“So, what did you do about…you know…” Joe started. I knew what he was talking about – Charlie and me.

“To say the least, he wasn’t terribly happy with the discussion. He knew that we had to talk about it though. He wanted me around, but that can’t really happen. So, I guess we called it off.”

“Sorry. I know that was probably your most serious relationship so far.”

“It’s fine, Joe. I haven’t even really been thinking about it.”

“Really?”

I looked up at Joe, and there was this look in his eyes that said, ‘You better tell me, girl, cause I’ll hurt you if you don’t.’

“Really, Joseph,” I giggled. “I promise.”

“Okay.” He leaned back in his chair, still disbelieving.

“You don’t believe me.” I folded my arms and leaned on the table.

“Elbows off the table.”

“Shush, jerk,” I laughed. The waiter brought us our main courses (lasagna for Joe, chicken penne for me), and I debated flicking a noodle at Joe. I decided against it, being this was one of Chicago’s oldest and nicest restaurants. Anywhere else, I would have.

“Okay, so I was thinking about what to get you for the longest time.”

“Joseph, no, not more money you spent,” I groaned, putting my head in my hands and blushing. I had no idea why I blushed, but whatever.

Joe pulled a medium-sized box out of his pocket and slid it across the table. “This is part of it. The other part is still back in the hotel room.”

I opened the white box to find a necklace, not long but bigger than a choker by a little bit, with a square pendant on it. The pendant was cut and finished glass – the maker would design a piece, then fire it and the glass would sort of melt together. This one had a black base with an aqua blue square on it, and a royal blue square placed on top at a rotated angle so the corners were touching the straight edge of the aqua. Another thin, rectangular strip of aqua glass was on the royal along the edge.

“Joe, it’s beautiful.”

“Hand-cut and fired. I saw it sitting there and could just imagine it on you.”

He was right. I planned on wearing the necklace often. I was already thinking of what to wear it with.

~

Joe’s bluish eyes glinted with excitement as I held the other, slightly larger gift in my hands.

“Well, open it,” he urged, watching my face closely for my reaction.

I tore the paper off and a small book, about 5 x 6 in size, was revealed. I knew it wasn’t a novel or anything, but I didn’t know what exactly it was until I opened it up.

It was a scrapbook of sorts. As I flipped through it, I saw pictures of Joe and me when we were super young, of our first baseball game, our first home run swings, or us at graduation in each other’s arms. On the back page of every photo was a note from Joe saying something about the event. The last page with a picture was the one that Justin had taken of us earlier that day. The note on the back of that one was longer than the rest.

Jess,
I’ve known you about 16 years now, and they’ve been entirely too short. Everyone always says how well we go together, and I think they’re right. Those few months that we didn’t talk that much, I felt like something major was missing. Then you showed up in that dugout in Florida and that something was back. There’s room left in this book, of course, for more pics and memories of the J duo. I love you more than you’ll ever know.
~ Joe

I was suddenly overwhelmed with love for my Joe. I slipped my arms around his neck and he pulled me close. Everything was so perfect in that moment, and it seemed endless.

“You know what?” I whispered, moving so that Joe and my noses were brushing. “I love you more.”

I don’t know who initiated it, or is both of us did, but our lips grazed each other, just barely. It was just the tiniest taste, but in it, I felt more emotion than I ever have before. It sent shockwaves through my entire body, and I almost gasped.

I don’t even know how it happened. Before either of us knew it, the two of us were falling asleep in each other’s arms with just a sheet to cover us. It was then that I realized that we could have just made a huge mistake.