The Fear of Striking Out

July 9, 2011

It was another chilly night game at AT&T Park. The Giants were up 3-1 at the top of the ninth and there were still people cheering in the crowd despite only needing two outs to win. Tessa and Emily sat in the front next to the Giants’ dugout. As the next Mets player walked to the batter’s box, Tessa tried to peer over to the side to see inside the dugout.

“Looking for someone?” Emily asked with a slight smirk as Tessa turned her attention back to the game.

“Brian. I guess he went inside the clubhouse,” she said, settling back in her seat.

“Then who were you waving at?”

“Oh, Tim. He caught me looking in there and waved at me.”

They returned their attention back to the game when Javier got the second out and giving the ball to Romo for the save. Romo got the third out and the save, giving the Giants and Tim a 3-1 win over the Mets. They headed towards the tunnel where the players came out of to leave the stadium. Emily waited for her brother and Tessa waited for Brian.

“You’re coming to my brother’s party tomorrow right?” Emily asked.

Tessa looked at her with an unsure expression. “I don’t know…last time I went to your brother’s place, I got yelled at.”

Emily rolled her eyes and laughed. “No worries, Amber’s visiting her parents in San Diego for the weekend. And she hates it when he has parties at their place, so he throws them when she’s gone.”

“Oh. Well, I guess. If Brian goes, I’ll go.”

“Don’t tell me you’re gonna be one of those girls…” Emily said crossing her arms.

“What are you talking about?” Tessa asked.

“The kind of girl who only goes to places with her boyfriend; or won’t do anything or go anywhere without him.”

“Firstly, Brian’s not my boyfriend. And secondly, I am not one of those girls. I already went solo to one of your brother’s parties, I just think it’d be more fun if I went with Brian,” she explained.

“Okay, okay. But if he doesn’t go, I hope you’ll still come. Though, I am more than sure he is.”

After a couple of more minutes of waiting, Brian was the first to appear from the clubhouse. Tessa was surprised he came out so quickly.

“Hey, thanks for waiting for me. Ready to go?” he asked, tugging on the straps of his backpack.

Tessa smile and nodded and then told Emily goodbye. “You didn’t skip out of talking to the media again did you?” she asked as they walked to the parking garage.

He laughed. “No, not tonight. Just wanted to get home early,” he said quickening his pace.

They left the stadium and began the drive to Brian’s apartment. “Are you hungry? I’m starving,” he commented.

“Yeah, a little. I didn’t eat a lot at the game,” she answered back.

“How about we pick something up and eat at my place?”

“Sounds like plan.”



After a quick drive-thru pick up, they were at Brian’s place. They ate and shared their food with each other and ended it all with sitting on his couch, petting their full stomachs.

“So, Zito’s having a party tomorrow and I wanted to know if you’d be my date for it,” Brian asked, looking down at Tessa as she laid her head on his lap.

She looked up at him with a smile. “I thought you’d never ask.”

“Awesome. I’ll have the most gorgeous date there,” he said, brushing his thumb against her cheek.

“You flatter me Wilson,” she responded, getting up to give him a kiss.

Brian got up to clean up their eating area while Tessa stayed on the couch and played with Dubz, Wilson’s dog. After a minute or two of cleaning up, Brian came back to the living room and sat down next to Tessa. She laid her head on his shoulder and yawned heavily.

“Someone’s sleepy,” he said, resting his arm around her shoulders.

“Long day,” she yawned.

“Do you want me to take you home or…?” he asked, not really wanting her to leave.

“No, I wouldn’t want you to have to drive me all the way back to my place. I’ll just get a cab,” she said getting up.

Brian gently grabbed her wrist and tugged her back down next to him. “You’re not taking a cab this late. How ‘bout you just stay the night?” he asked hesitantly.

Her eyes widened a little at his suggestion. Did he really just ask me to stay over? she thought.

When she didn’t respond, he got up and quickly retracted his proposal. “Never mind, it was a hasty idea. Come on, I’ll take you home,” he said, walking towards his jacket and keys.

“No.”

He turned around to look at her. “No?”

“I mean, I’d like to stay over,” she smiled.

“Really? Are you sure?” She nodded and got up, walking towards him.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and tiptoed to place a kiss on his lips. “We’ve been dating for a few weeks now and I think this was bound to happen soon.”

“You think so?” he asked with a smirk.

“Mmhmm. Now come on, I wanna see how comfortable your bed is to sleep on,” she said, pulling him along behind her.

“Oh, it’s comfortable for more than just sleeping,” he replied.



July 10, 2011

Tessa opened her eyes and realized she wasn’t in her room back at her apartment. It took her awhile to figure out she was at Brian’s place. She got up and stretched her arms and back and then ran her fingers through her messy hair.

“Well good morning sleeping beauty,” Brian said, walking out of his bathroom.

“Morning,” she replied back.

“Sleep well?” he asked.

“Yeah. Very comfortable for sleeping,” she said, smoothing out the comforter.

“Good to hear,” he said, walking towards his closet to change shirts as soon as the doorbell rang. “Could you get that, please?”

She got up and walked towards the front door and forgot to see who it was before opening it.

“Tessa?”

“Tim!” she said, a little shocked he was there.

She suddenly realized all she was wearing was one of Brian’s Celtic shirts and a pair of his boxers. She blushed and hid behind the door a little.

“Hey! Timmy! Come on in,” Brian said, waving Tim in as he walked into the living room.

Tessa opened the door a little more for him to enter and then excused herself to go change.

“So, what brings you here so early in the morning?” Brian asked, grabbing water from the fridge.

“Cy woke me up early and I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I thought I’d come by and see if you wanted to go grab some breakfast. But I’m sorry if I interrupted anything; I didn’t know she was here…” Tim said, scratching the back of his head.

“No worries dude. You didn’t interrupt anything, she just stayed the night. As for breakfast, I wish, but I ‘m actually meeting my agent in a bit, but I’m sure Tessa is hungry, you can ask her,” Brian suggested.

“Ask me what?” Tessa asked as she walked into their conversation.

“Oh, Tim came by to see if we’d like to have breakfast, but I can’t because of a meeting with my agent. I told him you might wanna join him though?”

She looked at Tim, who just gave her a small smile. “Um…sure. I could go for some breakfast, but I didn’t bring my car. Would you mind giving me a ride back to my place?” she asked.

“I don’t mind at all,” he replied with a smile.

“You two have fun. I’ll see you later?” Brian asked Tessa.

“Hmm…I won’t be able to make it to the game –working, but I’ll text you when I get out and see if you wanna do anything. Oh and Zito’s party is tonight,” she reminded him.

“That’s right. Then I’ll text you when I’m on my way to pick you up,” he said, giving her a kiss – making Tim feel more uncomfortable than he already was.

Tessa and Tim made their way to his car and began the drive in silence to wherever Tim had planned on taking them to breakfast.

Most times Tessa was good in these types of situations, but this time the silence and awkwardness was killing her.

“So, um…How was your night?” she asked, brushing back a few strands of hair.

Tim took a quick glance at her and then back on the road. “It was okay. I just fell asleep watching T.V. like most nights.”

“You do that too? My mom used to get so mad at me when I left the T.V. on. She’d come into my room during the night and say, ‘Marisol! Por qué no apagar la televisión?’” she laughed.

“Marisol?” he asked, a little confused.

“Oh, yeah that’s my middle name. When my mom would get mad at us, she’d use our middle names and when she was pissed, she’d use our full names,” Tessa explained.

Tim smiled at her explanation and after a few more minutes of small talk, they arrived at the small café near the Fisherman’s Wharf.

“Have you ever eaten here before?” Tessa asked as they got out of the car.

Tim shook his head. “No, my agent told me about it. Have you?”

“Yeah, a couple of years back when I visited. We stayed at the Holiday Inn across the street, so it was just a few steps away,” she said as they walked towards the café.

“So, is it any good?” Tim asked.

“Oh, yeah. Very good. I had to beg my brother to let us come back the next day,” she replied as they crossed the street.

“What do you get here then?”

She smirked at him. “You’ll see,” she said as she led the way inside.



“Belgium waffles. I pegged you more as a pancakes kind of girl,” Tim commented as he dug his fork in his food.

“Usually I am, but these are too good to pass up. And I didn’t see you as an omelet kind of guy,” she commented back.

Tim laughed. “I’m not really a breakfast guy period. If I wake up for it, I’ll go for tacos.”

Tessa stuck her fork full of waffles out towards Tim. “Here, try them. Maybe I can make you a waffle guy.”

He looked at the food in front of him and then back at Tessa. “You’re going to feed me?” he asked.

“Oh, I’m sorry, is this weird?” she asked.

But before she could retract her fork, Tim gently grabbed her wrist and pulled the food towards his mouth, taking a mouthful of waffles.

Tessa stared at him wide-eyed and jaw slightly open. She wasn’t expecting him to do that. When Tim noticed her reaction, he quickly swallowed the food and began to frantically apologize.

“Sorry. Sorry. That was so rude. You probably didn’t want me to just grab you and take a bite off your fork. I’m sorry,” he repeated.

After a few seconds of silence, Tessa couldn’t help but laugh. Tim smirked as he watched her –noticing things about her that he never knew before. Like how she tilted her head back right as she began to laugh; how she covered her mouth with her hand to muffle her laugh, only to move it away to reveal the dimples on the sides of her cheeks; and when she finished laughing, how he longed to hear it again.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, after she regained her composure.

“Your face. I mean your reaction. You just seemed so terrified of what I’d do. But don’t sweat it, I don’t mind. I offered anyways,” she said, taking a piece of her waffle with her fork and taking a bite and then smiled at Tim.

He smiled back and continued eating his omelet.



After they finished paying, and as they walked back to Tim’s car, Tessa’s phone rang. She smiled when she saw it was Brian.

“Hey,” she answered.

Tim took a glance towards her and saw her smile had faded.

“Oh, really? That sucks,” she said, bringing her thumb nail to her lips. “Yeah, no, I understand. I’ll just see you when you get back.” She put on a fake smile as if he were there in person. “Okay, have a safe drive. Bye,” she said before hanging up.

Tim couldn’t help but to wonder why she was suddenly sad. “You okay?” he asked as they got into his car.

Tessa looked up at him and gave him a half-hearted smile. “Yeah, I’m fine. It was just Brian. He called to tell me he can’t make it to Zito’s party after all. Something about going to L.A. after the game,” she sighed. “Guess I’m going to the party solo,” she said shrugging her shoulders.

“Maybe you and I could go together? I mean, you were my date at Zito’s last party, remember?” he smiled.

She laughed remembering that night and how it sparked their friendship. “That’d be nice. Thanks,” she smiled.

“No problem. It’s nice to see you smile again. You looked so disappointed when you got off the phone with Brian,” he commented.

Tessa looked out the window as they continued to her apartment. “Yeah,” she sighed, “I was looking forward to going with him, but I’m very happy to be going with you,” she smiled at him.

After a few more minutes, they were parked in the apartment complex parking lot. “So, what time do you get out tonight?” Tim asked.

“I should get out at ten, but if it’s slow tonight, maybe nine. I’ll text you or maybe I could meet you at your place?” she suggested as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

Tim nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah, that’d be good. I’ll text you my address.”

“Great! Then I’ll see you later tonight. Oh, and hope y’all win today.”

“Thanks and see you later,” he said before she closed the car door.

He watched her as she walked towards her apartment. The light wind gently pushed her hair to one side until she became fed up with it and tied it back into a ponytail. When she got to her door, she searched through her purse for her keys and when she found them, she waved back at Tim before unlocking her door and going inside.

Tim waved back and laid his back on the headboard. He smiled knowing that he was going to Zito’s party with Tessa and mentally thanking Brian for bailing out of the party.