Running The Bases

Chapter 1
The sky was a bright blue, not a cloud in sight. The grass was freshly cut and glistening from the morning sprinklers. I sat by the fence listening to the sounds of little white balls being flown into the air by a piece of metal. Ping! I rested my head against the metal fence and closed my eyes. I listened to the shouts of the players and the sound of the ball hitting a mitt. I opened my eyes and looked up to someone towering over me. I couldn’t tell who it was for the sun was sitting right behind them, casting a shadow over their whole body.
“You done daydreaming about baseball?” the person leaned in so I could see better.
“Uh, yeah.” I said. Mariah stuck her hand out to help me up. I took it and pulled myself up.
“I don’t see why you won’t apply for the role as their team’s manager.” Mariah said putting her face against the fence to watch the baseball team in their clean white uniforms. I shrugged leaning my back up against the fence. I slid my hood up over my head and leaned back even more causing the fence to stretch out a little.
“Ooh, he just hit a far one.” said Mariah as I heard the sound of the ball colliding with the metal bat once again. I don’t turn around. It was silence for a moment as Mariah continued to watch. I closed my eyes once again, but opening them just in time to see a white object fly right above my head.
“Holy shi-“Mariah said as she whipped her head around to watch the ball land a good 10 feet in front of us. I lean away from the fence and slowly turn my head to see the catcher of the team jog over to us.
“Hey.” he said giving us a half smile. “Could you get that for us?” He pointed to the baseball.
“Sure.” I said. I walked over to the ball and bent down. I stared at it for a good five minutes or so it seemed. I picked it up and squeezed it as I wrapped my hands around the ball. “Here it comes!” I called out as I lifted my leg up and wound my arm forward as I threw the tiny object over the fence. The team’s catcher held out his mitt and I heard the sound of my pitch meet his mitt.
“Nice arm you got!” he called out waving. “Thanks!” I nodded at him and took my hood down. I walked back to the fence. He was still standing there. I dared not to make eye contact.
“You know if you have an arm like that you must really like baseball?” the catcher raised an eyebrow at me.
“I guess.” I shrugged. “I’ve played for a while.”
“Hey Andrei! Come on, we’ve got our first game next week. No time to flirt with pretty girls!” I saw the first baseman jog up to us. He took his mitt off and slid it onto his head.
“Jeez Michael.” Andrei said waving his hand at his teammate. His cheeks grew the color of a slight red. “I was actually going to ask this girl over here if she wanted to become our team’s manager.”
I could just then see the sparkles forming in Mariah’s eyes. Andrei turned to me. Damn was he tall. He towered the first baseman. “What do you say?” he asked me.
“She says yes!” Mariah shouted.
“Really?!” Andrei asked.
“W-wait-“
“No, you’ll do it.” Mariah said pushing me forward into the fence. I grunted and took a step back.
“I guess.” I said quietly turning my head to the side.
“We could really use your help.” Andrei said. I shrugged and nodded. I looked down at my beaten up Converse and then back up at Andrei and Michael.
“We’ll see you tomorrow morning then at seven.” Andrei held a thumbs up. I nodded and smiled slightly.
“Alright.” I said barely above a whisper. The rest of the team began shouting at the catcher and first baseman.
“You can talk to your girlfriends some other time!” I heard the third baseman shout at them. I looked ahead to see him standing at third base, cupping his hand like a megaphone to make his voice louder I assume as he yelled at his teammates.
“Okay you bastard! We’re coming!” Michael yelled at them.
“Well see you tomorrow.” Andrei said waving. “Oh, I’m Andrei by the way.” he pointed to Michael “and this is Michael. But don’t pay attention to him though.”
“Hey!” Michael yelled. “Watch it!”
“I’m Julia.” I said stuffing my hands into my pockets not sure what to do. The two baseball players nodded and waved good bye then ran back to their positions to resume practice.
I didn’t say a word after they left not even to Mariah, but just began to walk. My feet hitting the ground with a hard thunk each step. The sun began to go down, as so the weather.
“Hey, wait up stupid!” I heard Mariah far behind me trying to catch up. I didn’t stop. After I reached the main building of the school I decided to stop. I took a step back to see if Mariah was still behind me. She wasn’t. I shrugged and started for the convenience store which a good ten minutes by foot away. I glanced at my phone to see the time. It was a quarter past six. I sighed and pretended I didn’t notice. I slipped my phone into my back pocket and began to walk even slower. About twenty minutes passed and I walked inside under the bright fluorescent lights of the convenience store. I headed straight to the back of the store and went straight for the energy drinks.
“Oh.” I stopped halfway to the sliding door of the drinks to see who was standing next to me. He hadn’t notice me until I stepped back. He turned as he was doing something with his phone. He stared down at his phone then looked back and finally recognized me. He put his phone into his hood pocket.
“Oh hey it’s you again!” he smiled slipping his hand behind his head rubbing it.
“Um, yeah.” I said putting one foot behind the other. “Here to grab a snack for the ride home?”
“Sort of. What about you?”
“Dinner.” I said.
“Parents out tonight?” he asked me shaking his curly hair.
“You could say so.” I said. He raised an eyebrow at me.
“Which direction do you live in?” he asked me.
“Uh, west.” I said.
“Well so do I.” Andrei smiled at me. “You hungry?”
“Yeah, I haven’t eaten since breakfast.” I said.
“I think there’s a meal called lunch, dumbo.” said Andrei. He laughed. I looked up him to see his brown eyes staring down at me. I shifted my body around to get into a more comfortable position.
“I wasn’t feeling the mood to eat then.” I said looking back down.
“Well how about we go get some dinner then together?” he asked. I glanced up at him again to notice his face had no expression. “It’s not like a date or anything though, if that’s what you’re wondering.” he said. “Just teammate to teammate huh?” I nodded and took my phone out. I flipped it open to look at the time. I pressed the ‘End’ button and waited for my phone to turn off.
“Ready?” Andrei asked. I nodded and he led the way out. “I know this small restaurant up ahead. I know the owner so we might be able to get a discount.”
“That’s cool.” I said.
“Yeah, I use to go this restaurant whenever I had nowhere to go.” Andrei said. He looked back and down at me as I was walking slowly behind him.
“It’s hard to keep up with your long legs.” I muttered. “Cut me a break for being short.” Andrei laughed and grabbed my shoulder. He gave a small tug which caused me to stumble next to him.
“Just try to keep up.” he said smiling. I kept my head forward but looked at him from the corner of my eyes.
“We just met today.” I said.
“Your point?” Andrei asked. He held the door opened for me as we entered the small restaurant.
“Oh Andrei!” A short and chubby elderly man came running up to Andrei. “It’s been a while!” he shook hands with Andrei and patted his arm.
“How are you Marvin?” Andrei asked.
“Oh, I’m well. So is business.” Marvin shifted his attention to me. “Oh who’s this pretty lady? Did you finally get a girlfriend Andrei?” Marvin nudged Andrei in the arm.
“Eh! No Marvin!” Andrei said grinning and shaking his hands. “Just a friend. That’s all!”
“Ah kids these days.” Marvin muttered.
“I’m Julia. It’s nice to meet you sir.” I said being as polite as possible.
“I’m Marvin. It’s nice to meet you too young lady.” Marvin said shaking my hand. “Please get whatever you guys want, it’s on the house.”
“Thanks Marvin.” Andrei smiled.
“No problem Andrei!” said Marvin. “You’re always welcomed. Grab a table, and Andrei?”
“Hmm?” Andrei asked while grabbing my arm.
“Treat her nice.” Marvin then left while giving us a wink. Andrei let go of my arm then, how I wished I knew what he was going to do with my arm in the first place.
“Follow me.” Andrei said. I walked behind him watching his long curly hair bounce with each step he took. He guided me to a booth that was tucked away in a corner.
“Are you going to rape me here?” I asked taking my hoodie off.
“Ha funny.” said Andrei sliding into the seat across from me. “It’s just a habit to go back here I guess.” I stared at the wallpaper that surrounded the room. It was a pale green color with a shade darker stripes. I got lost in the lines until Andrei called for my attention.
“Anything is good here so pick whatever you want.” Andrei said. He didn’t even look at the menu.
“Ooh, I haven’t had a burger in a long time.” I said to myself. I could just feel my mouth salivating from the thought of a big juicy burger. I’ve been living off Ramen for the past week.
“I always get the burger too.” said Andrei.
“Oh.”
“We’ll both get a burger then?” he asked.
“I guess.” I said.
“Hey Andrei. You haven’t been here in a while.” a girl, about eighteen or so dressed in a black apron with jet black hair said. She held a pen and paper and had straws in her pocket.
“Hey Melanie.” Andrei said. “This is Julia.” he pointed a finger at me.
“Hi!” she said smiling.
“Hello.” I said putting my hands at my sides. I picked on a piece of thread that was coming from my shirt.
“Anyway, we’ll both take the usual.” Andrei said.
“Alright. I’ll be back soon.” she giggled then practically skipped off.
“Owner’s daughter.” Andrei said.
“Oh. She seems very happy.” I said.
“I guess so.” said Andrei. For a few minutes I sat there not knowing what to say. Andrei finally began to talk.
“So how long you’ve been into baseball?” Andrei asked.
“For a while.” I shrugged. “I was in little league.”
“No shit, seriously?!” asked Andrei leaning in. “I could tell by your throw. Damn.”
“Yeah well, my whole family plays baseball.” I said.
“Oh, so it’s like a family thing then?”
“It used to be yeah.”
Melanie came back with a tray of food and sodas.
“Here ya guys go.” she said handing each of us a plate piled high with fries and a burger. She sat down the two glasses of soda and left without another word.
“Enjoy.” Andrei picked up his burger and bit into it. “Just like usually. Delicious.” I stared down at my burger examining it. I flipped the top bun over and looked at it. I put the bun back and pressed me hand down to make it flatter and easier to eat. I could see Andrei watching me from the corner of my eyes. I picked up the burger and took the biggest bite I could.
“Mmm.” I said closing my eyes enjoying the juicy burger. “Delicious.”
“See?” Andrei said grinning. “Never go wrong when you’re with me.” I took another bite savoring every last flavor that was in this burger.
Before I knew it we were both down with our burgers and had knocked off fries and sodas.
“God, that was delicious.” I said. “Uh, thanks.”
“No problem.” Andrei smiled. “I love this place. It’s like my second home!”
“I wish I could have a place like this to come whenever something happened.” I muttered to myself as I looked at the green wallpaper again.
“Now you do.” Andrei slid out of the booth and stood up. He stretched and yawned. “Sucks we have practice tomorrow.”
“It sucks I have to go.” I said following his lead to the front of the restaurant.
“Thanks Marvin! I’ll be back another time!” Andrei called out to the kitchen. We exited the restaurant and began walking down the sidewalk.
“Earlier you mentioned how we just met, what was your point in that?” asked Andrei as the two of us walked together in the darkness, except for streetlights guiding us.
“Do you usually take girls out to dinner the day you meet them?” I asked grabbing my phone from my back pocket.
“Well, I mean it’s not we were complete strangers until today.” Andrei said. “You are in the classroom next to mine, and we did have gym together back in middle school.”
“Oh, really? I don’t pay attention.” I said slouching my shoulders.
“Come to think of it…you mentioned something about little league earlier right?” Andrei asked. “I think I remember going up against a team back then, and they had a girl pitcher-“Andrei paused. “You were also really good when we played baseball in gym class I recall…”
“It wasn’t me.” I said turning my head. I slipped my hood over my head.
“I think it was you, and I’m just going to keep on thinking that.” said Andrei. “I don’t know why you hide the fact that you love baseball.”
“I don’t love it.” I said. We walked in silence. I still had my phone in my hand yet I hadn’t turned it on yet. I slid my finger over the ‘End’ button and held it there.
“Right.” said Andrei. “Hopefully your just as cheerful at practice.”
“Listen, you know I never wanted to be the manager.” I confessed.
“Oh I know. I ran into your friend Mariah earlier, before I went to the convenience store.” said Andrei.
“What?!” I asked. “Seriously? Damn.”
“I know you secretly want to do it though so we’ll just leave it off at that.” he patted my shoulder. “So where do you live?”
“It’s up ahead.” I said. It was more silence after that until we reached my street.
“I live down here.” I said. “I can walk alone from here.”
“Oh okay then.” Andrei stopped in his tracks and turned to face me. He looked down while I craned my neck to see him. He leaned in and this reminded me of those movies or manga books where they always have that one scene in the beginning where the two just meet and the guy walks the girl home and the guy kisses the girl on the cheek or something and then they fall in love.
That’s not going to happen here is it? No instead, he lifts his hand to wipe something off my face.
“You have ketchup on your face.” he laughed.
“Aw gee, how embarrassing.” I said rubbing my face. Andrei leaned back and laughed.
“I’ll see you tomorrow manager. Seven.” he nodded and halfway spun on his heels.
“Bye!” I called out as I watched his walk down the sidewalk. I sighed and pressed the ‘End’ button on my phone waiting for it to turn on. As I was waiting I headed in the direction towards my house.
Beep! I looked down at my phone to see I had three new messages. The bright LED hurt my eyes against the pitch black sky. I clicked on the first message.
Mariah- I ran into the catcher guy from the team. Seems your type…
I didn’t reply responding. The other two were from my sister asking where I was and what time I was going to be home. I didn’t bother responding to those either.
I entered my house feeling like a stranger. I took my shoes off and slipped them away into the closet. I quietly tiptoed upstairs and entered my room knowing everyone was already passed out somewhere in the house from their daily parties. I kept the lights off in my room and found my way to my bed. I didn’t even bother changing into my pajamas knowing I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight. I kept replaying the same scenes over and over in my head.
I slipped my phone under the pillow and laid there. About an hour or so past of nothing. I looked at my phone to see that it was around eleven. I closed my eyes and pulled the covers all the way over my head being enclosed in complete darkness. I soon fell asleep.