Age Is But a Number

“Charlotte I thought you hated the Jonas Brothers,” one of her teammates, Carly, said. “What happened? Now you‘re playing a game of softball against them.”

Charlotte took a deep breath in, and then out. She tensed her muscles and swung her arm around, threw the ball, and watched it get to the catcher, Anna, in the blink of an eye. She smiled. Though she was sad their actual pitcher, Destiny, could not come due to Fourth of July plans (the game had to be rescheduled once again), she was glad because she was going to have her opportunity to pitch.

“Hate is a strong word, Carly,” Charlotte replied. “Plus, Kevin saved my life. The least I can do is play a game with them.”

“I‘m not complaining!” Anna shouted, lifting up her helmet. Charlotte giggled.

“But Charlie, we know you‘re not gonna let them win,” Carly told her. She had a smirk on her face. “Which I‘m not complaining about. I‘ve missed softball.”

“So have I.”

.:-:.

Joe watched Charlotte pitch one ball after another, some going so fast that if he blinked, he would nearly miss it. He gulped.

“Guys,” he called to his brothers. “I don‘t know about this.”

“What do you mean?” asks Nick, catching the ball Kevin threw at him.

“I mean Charlie is some kind of softball maniac. Watch her pitch.”

Nick and Kevin walked over and watched as Charlotte pitched again and again and again, their jaws dropping. She stopped, took swig of her water, and then looked over in their direction. They waved nervously as Charlotte smirked and tossed a softball up and down, smug as ever.

“I think we’ve underestimated your girlfriend, Kevin,” Nick said.

“Can‘t argue with - she‘s not my girlfriend, Nicholas,” Kevin argued.

“Who‘s not your girlfriend, Kevin?” Greg Garbowsky, the boys’ bass player, asked as he came over to the brothers.

“Charlotte, the girl who‘s throwing fast balls over there,” Joe answered, pointing over at the red haired girl. With the sun shining on her hair the brown was a bit more visible. The red was still there, no doubt, but the brown shined in the light.

“Oh, that Charlotte?” asked Greg. “Your dad told us about your new crush, Kev. She‘s cute. And athletic. I approve.”

“Why does everyone keep saying that?!” Kevin shouted, picking up a bat. He went off to a secluded space where he would not hit anyone as he swung the bat a few times, warming up his muscles, and his heart pounding from the talk of Charlotte.
-~-
After watching Charlotte warm up, watching her catch, throw lightning fast pitches, and throwing the ball perfectly, Kevin realized he wasted his time when he should have been warming up more. He squeezed in a few batting warm-ups before the teams were announced.

The Road Dogs were first to bat. He was glad he was not batting first, feeling sorry for Ryan, his band’s keyboard player, who was batting first. He breathed a sigh of relief when a different girl who Charlie introduced as Hannah came to the pitcher’s mound. But, after he watched her warm up, he realized she was still a great pitcher. Not as great as Charlotte, but she threw fast balls.

“Hey Kevin, look at this,” Nick said to him. “Cady!”

Caitlyn smiled and went over to Charlie. Kevin raised an eyebrow and watched as Caitlyn abruptly turned Charlotte around, watching Charlotte become confused.

“Look at your girlfriend‘s number,” Nick told him.

She had the same number as Kevin, number eight.

“Her favorite position to play is right field, too.”

“So?” Kevin asked nonchalantly.

Nick just chuckled and went to stand aside to warm up more. He was up next to bat.

Charlotte turned around, smacked Caitlyn on the arm and stormed off to grab her glove. She was a lefty, he noticed. She stomped over to her position on right field, punches her fist into the glove a couple times, then crouch down and got ready.

Kevin just whistled, smiled, and went into the dugout, waiting his turn.

.:-:.

Charlotte tried to let out her anger at Caitlyn for making her blush on the game. So what if Kevin had the same number as she? It did not really matter. It was not a big deal. But why did it make her blush?

She punched her fist into her glove, growing impatient.

Finally, after waiting for so long, Ryan, a man with dreadlocks she was introduced to earlier, went up to bat. He wasn’t a lefty so she knew the ball was coming to her. Hannah pitched, but he did not swing. It was a ball. Hannah pitched again and he swung, but it was too late. Kevin cheered him on as Hannah pitched and Ryan hit it, a cracking sound as the ball made contact with the bat.

The ball flew towards Charlotte and she calculated where the ball would fall, where she would have to go to catch it. It went a little bit above her head and tipped her glove. She quickly scooped it up and threw it to first base once it touched her glove. Carly was on first base, ready to catch the fast ball. She caught it and touched Ryan as he slid to try and make it in time. He did not make it and was declared out.

Charlotte giggled when she saw Joe’s and Kevin’s jaw drops and Nick eyes widen. She had scared them and felt smug.

Nick hit it on the first pitch and it went towards center field, farther out. The person who played that position, Dana, hurried out to get the ball. Charlotte called for her to pass it, and she did. Charlotte quickly grabbed the ball and threw it once she turned around, watching it head to third base.

Nick was almost there, stuck in-between third and second, and he tried heading back to second, but the girl got the ball and forced him to return to third. But he faked it, the girl threw it, and he made it back to second safely.

He smirked at Charlotte and waved at Caitlyn as she cheered: “Yeah, good job Nick! Way to - sorry Charlie!”

Charlotte was already fuming and Caitlyn just had to say that little phrase: Sorry Charlie. Nick was not going home on her field.

Another man, introduced as Garbo (Charlotte had no clue why), came up to bat. He hit the ball the second pitch straight to Charlotte’s glove. She threw it all the way from where she was to Anna, hoping it would get there before Nick did. But it didn’t, and Nick got high fives from his teammates.

“Dang it,” Charlie muttered.

Nick’s point didn’t amount to much after he watched Joe get out in a matter of seconds. He had ticked Charlotte off when he shouted, “Try and catch this one Charlie!” He paid for it when Charlotte caught the ball in mid air, threw it to second base, and got a man whose name she had forgotten out.

When she was going to her dugout, she smiled at Joe whose jaw was still open. “I caught it, Joseph,” she told him.

She heard her teammates laughing in the dugout and went to join them.

She was third to bat. By then, her team had already gotten two runs. The last girl to hit, Sharon, had gotten out the way Nick almost did, was now stuck between third and second. She tried to get back to second but Nick, who plays shortstop, caught the ball when it slipped out of their second baseman‘s hands and touched Sharon‘s leg. She got out.

After she warmed up and got up to bat, her heart was pounding, and she felt out of breath already. Caitlyn noticed this and became worried as she watched Charlotte stumble a bit when heading up to the plate. She was lightheaded.

Charlotte decided to mess with the three brothers a bit. When the first ball was pitched she purposefully swung early. Second pitch and was didn’t swing, though it went down the middle.

The three brothers were starting to think she was a weak batter.

Then Charlotte, noticing the way the pitcher threw, planned out her hit. He went down the middle, throwing a perfect pitch, which was her chance to hit her famous home run hit. She swung the bat at the right time, heard the crack of the ball, then dropped it and was running before the bat hit the ground.

From the corner of her eye she saw Joe running to get the ball that flew passed him. Since she’s a lefty, it goes towards left and left center field. She made sure it went towards Joe. She grinned, and pushed herself harder to pass second and get to third. By the time the Joe reached the ball, she was already halfway to home. His attempts at throwing it there in time failed and Charlotte made it home.

The three boys were once again blown away by Charlotte’s amazing skills. And she knew it.

Her grin never left her face when she watched her teammates hit the balls, one after another, and watched as the points added up. After Charlotte hit a ball out to left center field, where Joe was, and got out at second, Caitlyn called her over.

“Sweetie I think you should take it easy out there,” she told her. “I notice you‘re stumbling around a bit.”

“No, I‘m fine,” Charlotte lied, looking down at her cleats. Caitlyn gave her a look when she brought her eyes up. “Oh whatever, I‘m at the top of my game right now! I‘ll be fine. Stop worrying.”

“You hardly ever get out and when you do it‘s because you push your heart and yourself too hard. Just be careful okay?”

“I said stop worrying, I‘ll be fine!”

Charlotte stormed off to the dugout, reaching for her water bottle. Her heart pounded and she was becoming light headed from hyperventilating. She almost choked on the water she was chugging.

She did not like people fussing over her when it came to her heart, though she knew Stage 2 Congenital Heart Failure was pretty serious. Still, she was not used to anyone fussing over it. No one did at home. The only people who did were Caitlyn, Mrs. Matters, and her coach.

Finally they got one last out, and the Road Dogs got up to bat. This time Charlotte decided to pitch. Kevin, Joe and Nick gulped, and prayed that Charlotte did not throw any curve balls that could go astray and hit something other than the bat.

Charlotte pitched perfectly: fast and precise, getting it down the middle but getting it too fast for the batter to hit. Nick watched as Ryan struck out in no time at all.

He and Charlotte had a staring competition when he came up to bat. She twisted the ball in her hands behind her back, staring Nick down, trying to intimidate him. He just stared back, eyes intense. The corner of Charlotte’s mouth twitched into a smirk and pitched suddenly.

Nick swung too late.

“Strike one!” the umpire shouted.

Nick breathed deeply and got into his batting position, getting ready to hit. He sees how she pitches, so he should know when to hit. And when she pitched, he swung just in time, and dropped the bat as he began to run.

But the person in right field caught the ball before it hit the ground and he stomped at the ground like a five-year-old having a tantrum. He was very competitive.

Charlotte got ready to pitch when Kevin came up to bat. She watched as his usually smiling face turned intense and focused. He was ready to bat, ready for Charlotte’s lightning fast balls.

But Charlotte wasn’t sure if she was. She began to feel lightheaded again, her heart pounding so fast from going over its limit without breaks. She tried to ignore it and pitched, watching it nearly hit Kevin.

“Whoa now,” said Joe. “I know you don‘t like the guy but you don‘t have to hit him, Charlie.”

Nick and Caitlyn snickered. Kevin and Charlotte kept their composures.

Charlotte took a deep breath, which turned into shorter, quicker breaths, and pitched again. It went far left. Another ball.

Caitlyn noticed this and became worried. Charlotte usually messed up like this when she was becoming weak.

“Charlie, come on, take your time,” she reminded her.

Charlotte was determined to beat the exhaustion and hyperventilating and pitch again. And again. If she pitched another ball, Kevin would get a free run. She would not have that. Not on her watch.

Her vision became blurry, blackness forming around Kevin. She felt herself fall back and hit the dirt and heard Kevin’s voice shout her name. Then the crushing darkness that is unconsciousness consumed her and she fainted.

.:-:.

“Charlotte!” Kevin shouted, immediately dropping his bat and ran to her. He wanted to get to her before she fell but she hit the ground before he got to her.

“I told her to take it easy, gosh darn it!” Caitlyn shouted, rushing over to her. “Nick! Come help Kevin get her into my car. We need to get her to a hospital.”

“I knew something was up when she got out earlier,” Anna said, coming over to Charlotte’s limp body.

“What? What‘s wrong?” Kevin asked as he lifted Charlotte up. He cradled her in his arms and shooed Nick off.

Caitlyn knows that Charlotte doesn’t want everyone to know she has a heart problem, but she would have to deal with it. “She has congenital heart failure.” The boys did not expect that. “She pushed herself too hard and her heart just couldn‘t take the work.”

Kevin began to worry even more and hurried over to Caitlyn’s car, explaining to a worried and flustered Mrs. Jonas what happened.

“Gosh, Kevin,” Joe said, trying to lighten the mood, “she‘s going to be a handful now isn‘t she?”