The Fear of Striking Out

Zito swished around the ice in his once filled glass and tapped his foot impatiently. Tim looked back and forth between his menu and Zito.

“You okay?” Tim asked looking towards Barry.

Zito stopped what he was doing and looked at Tim. “Yeah. I’m just wondering where the hell my sister is. She probably saw me and is hiding out for a bit. God, she’s so immature sometimes,” he rambled.

Tim chuckled and returned his attention to his menu. “I’m sure she’s on her way to take our order,” he assured Zito.

Zito huffed and continued to look out for his sister, Emily. “So, how do you think the Twin’s series is gonna go?” he asked Tim, not looking at him.

Tim shrugged his shoulders, eyes still on the menu. “Hopefully well and hopefully I pitch well too. I’m tired of having these mini-slumps,” he confessed.

“Yeah I getcha; I can’t wait to be done with my rehab and start again,” Zito added, now staring at his glass.

“Do you know when you’ll be back?” Tim asked looking at Barry.

Zito shook his head and looked at Tim. “Nope, but I’ll talk to Bochy about it soon.”



Tessa looked back at the two men, who were conversing amongst themselves, then back at her co-worker. “Okay,” she answered still slightly confused.

The waitress gave Tessa an “are you for real?” look and placed her hands on her hips. “Come on Tess, if you’re gonna be living in San Francisco, you have to at least know who the Giants are.”

Then it clicked and Tessa nodded her head understandably. “Oh I see; they play for the Giants. And since they won the World Series, I’m guessing they’re even more famous.”

“More like local heroes. But at least you know who they are. Anyways, if you can, snag me an autograph,” she said giving Tessa a wink.

Tessa laughed to herself and then let out a sigh before heading over to Tim and Zito’s table. She approached the pair smiling. Zito looked up at her slightly confused, wondering if she was a fan looking for an autograph; he gave her a “what do you want?” look.

She ignored his facial gesture and continued to smile. “Hi, welcome to Michael Mina’s. My name is Tessa and I’ll be serving you tonight,” she greeted. “What can I get –,” she began, but was cut off by Barry.

“I’m sorry, but um, where’s Emily?” he asked.

Tessa was a bit taken aback by Barry’s sudden abruptness, but composed herself before answering him. “Oh, she called in sick tonight. I’m covering for her,” Tessa explained.

Zito didn’t seem too please with her answer and muttered something incoherent to her and Tim. But he smiled up at her and waited for her to continue. Tessa felt the atmosphere become slightly awkward and thought Zito to be a little strange, almost wishing she hadn’t taken Emily’s shift after all.

“All right, well um, what can I get y’all to drink?” she asked, placing back a friendly face.

Zito gave her a puzzled look and she figured she should get used to this throughout the night. “I’m sorry, what did you ask?”

“Uh-um…what can I get y’all to drink?” she asked almost unsure if that was what he was referring to.

Zito smirked and chuckled a little to himself. Tim looked over at his friend, unsure of what he was up to, then looked up at Tessa, and saw how uneasy she was at the moment. He felt kind of bad that she had to put up with Zito when it should’ve been his sister.

“You’re not from here are you?” he asked, knowing the answer would be ‘no’.

Tessa gave a subtle smile and shook her head. “No, I just moved here. Is it that obvious?”

Zito held out his hand and pinched his index finger and thumb together. “Just a little. Where’d you move from?”

Tessa thought the situation strange to say the least. Since she had been working there, no one was interested in her personal life – had asked her question like these. She wondered why the sudden interest?

“From L.A.” she answered coolly, knowing that wasn’t the answer he was looking for.

Tim still looked between the two confused, not really sure what to do himself. But no one paid any attention to him, so he sat and waited for the two to finish their conversation.

Zito gave a skeptical look, one Tessa was expecting from him. “Oh.”

Tessa laughed to herself. “Well, I moved to L.A. from Texas, if that explains anything. Why do you ask?” She was curious.

“Now that makes a lot of sense. And it was the way you said ‘y’all’, but you don’t really have a Texas accent either,” he commented.

“You’d be surprised how many of us actually don’t,” she answered, smiling at Barry, then at Tim, who froze when she did. “Well, as much as I’m enjoying answering your questions, I have other tables to get to, so what can I get y’all to drink?” she asked again.

Zito held up his sweaty glass. “I’ll have another one of these,” he said shaking the glass so the ice made a “cling” sound when he shook it.

Tessa nodded and turned her attention to Tim. “I’ll just have a coke for now,” he responded, smiling at her.

She returned one back and left the pair to get their drinks. Tim watched her leave and then gave his full attention to Zito, who looked pleased with himself.

“What the hell was that about?” Tim asked, wondering what was going through his friend’s mind.

Zito was still staring in the direction Tessa had left and continued to stare that way as he spoke. “I think she’s the girl my sister was talking about.”

“And?” Tim didn’t really understand why Zito was interested in their waitress.

“Well, you should hook-up with her. What? It’s been almost a month since you and Lisa broke up. Time to move along my friend,” Zito told Tim casually.

The “are you for real” look was plastered across Tim’s face after what Barry told him. “You’re joking right? I’m not hooking up with her; you know I don’t do that. You can if you want.”

Zito shook his head. “Nah man, she just moved here for school. That means she’s like eighteen or so. That’s too young for me.”

“And it didn’t occur to you that eighteen wouldn’t be too young for me?” Tim asked.

Zito looked up and noticed Tessa walking towards them. “Shhh she’s coming back,” he whispered.

“Here ya go,” Tessa said placing Barry’s drink and Tim’s coke on the table.

“You know, I think I’ll have one of those,” Tim said pointing to Barry’s drink.

Tessa nodded. “You got it. And are you two ready to order?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips.



Barry and Tim were halfway through their meals – Zito on his third drink and Tim on his second. Zito had dropped the conversation they were previously having about Tim moving on from Lisa, at least for a while. But from the time Zito had mentioned it, Tim kept thinking about it more, trying to shun away from the idea. He had never been attracted to brunettes, but he was with her, figuring it probably had something to do with her blue eyes.

“I think I’m gonna tell Emily to invite her,” Zito said.

Tim snapped away from his thoughts, having not really been paying attention to anything Zito had said the last few minutes. “What?” he asked.

“I said, I think I’m gonna tell Emily to invite, um, Tessa,” Barry repeated.

Tim had forgotten Zito was throwing a party that upcoming Wednesday. Majority of the Giants guys would be there, along with their significant other, and of course for those who didn’t, random girls who were unknown to them all.

Tim shrugged his shoulders. “If you want; I’m still not hooking up with her though,” he protested.

Zito rolled his eyes and pushed his plate away. “Whatever man. If you don’t, I’m sure Burrell will,” he partially joked.

Tessa came back with their bills in hand and placed them next to their respective owner. “I’ll be your cashier when you’re ready. Can I take these plates out of your way?” she asked looking at Tim and Zito.

Zito motioned for her to grab his plate and Tim did the same, smiling at her. She came back to take their bills, almost choking when she saw how much tip they both gave her, and returned back.

“It was a pleasure serving you. Thank you for dining with us and have a nice night,” she smiled.

Zito nodded at her and grabbed his phone and keys from his pocket as he walked towards the doors. Tim smirked and waited for Zito to be out of earshot.

“I’m sorry about my friend, he’s not usually like that,” Tim apologized.

Tessa wore a friendly smile and for the first time that night actually looked into his eyes. She noticed their green, almost hazel-like, appearance, which caused her to grin wider.

“It’s fine really. Don’t even worry about it.”

“I’m Tim by the way,” he said randomly, holding out his hand.

Tessa looked down at it and then back up at his face, thinking how strange this was and how strange the whole evening went. “Nice to meet you Tim,” she almost laughed, shaking his hand.

Tim nodded his head and gave her a small wave good-bye. “Well um…see ya around.”



June 21, 2011

Emily and Tessa were sitting at one of the back tables in the closed section of the restaurant, eating their lunches before it opened for the day. They had been talking about the awkward encounter Tessa had with Emily’s brother the night before and for the most part laughing about it.

“They don’t call him ‘Planet Zito’ for nothing,” Emily laughed. “But speaking of my brother, he texted me this morning telling me to invite you to his party tomorrow. I mean, I was gonna invite you anyways, but I guess he just wanted to make sure I did.”

Tessa quickly chewed her food so she could speak. “A party?” she asked.

“Yeah, my brother likes to throw parties. Most of the Giants players will be there and some are single,” Emily said wiggling her eyebrows.

Tessa chuckled at her actions. “I don’t know. I have orientation the next day and I don’t want to be late or make a bad impression with my advisor.”

“Oh come on Tess, you haven’t done anything fun since you’ve been here. All you do is work! Stay at least for an hour, then I’ll drive you back to your place,” Emily suggested.

It was true. All Tessa did was work, go home to her apartment, or walk Tuck at the park. Here she was, a twenty-one year old woman in one of the most exciting cities in the USA and she wasn’t taking advantage of that.

“Okay fine, I’ll go, but I’ll drive myself so you don’t have to leave to take me home.”

“No-no, I’m driving us. It’s hard to get to Barry’s place. And I promise to get you home after one hour there. Promise,” she repeated.

Tessa, for reasons unknown to her, agreed.