The Fear of Striking Out

June 25, 2011

Tessa woke up early for her date with Brian. She didn’t know where he would be taking her at eight in the morning, but she had to admit, she was excited for whatever he had planned. As she finished getting ready she heard her phone go off and saw it was her brother.

“Hey, Clayton,” she said cheerfully.

“Hey, Tess. How’s my baby sister doing?” he asked.

She made her way towards the kitchen to make herself some toast with butter and jelly. “I’m doing great. Everything’s been going just fine,” she said honestly.

Clayton knew she wasn’t telling him something by the tone of her voice. “Why? What are you up to?” he asked suspiciously.

Tessa bit her bottom lip. “Nothing,” she laughed. “I’m just finally settling into this city. I’ve met some nice people, made great friends, work has been going well, and I think I’m going to have a fun semester in grad school,” she said smiling.

“Okay,” he said, almost not convinced. “Glad to hear everything has been going well for you over there.”

“Thanks,” she said before taking a bite of her toast. “I saw y’all lost yesterday. I hope y’all get a win today and tomorrow since you pitch,” she said, muffled by the food in her mouth.

“You know your big bro has got it locked down for tomorrow.” She rolled her eyes at his statement. “Oh, hold up, Elle wants to talk to you. But, I’ll talk to you later. Love ya,” he said, handing the phone over to Ellen.

“Hello?” Ellen answered.

“Hey, Elle!” Tessa replied back excitedly.

“Tess! I miss you so much!

Tessa laughed. “I miss you too. I wish I had time to go visit, but my schedule is pretty hectic right now.”

Ellen sighed. “I’m sure we’ll be up there soon when the Dodgers play the Giants and we can have dinner or something. I know you’re super busy. Speaking of which, shouldn’t you be getting ready for your date right now?”

Tessa blushed a little. “Elle! Not so loud. Clayton might hear you. I don’t want him to know I’m seeing someone yet.”

“Oh, he’s in the shower. Don’t worry he doesn’t know anything. Now, what on Earth is this guy doing taking you out this early in the morning?” she asked.

It was a question Tessa had been pondering on since Brian had told her about the date, but at the same time she didn’t want to know – she liked the thrill of the surprise.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.

“Okay, well, let me know what he does! I’ll talk to you later sweetie. Have fun,” Ellen said before hanging up.

“I will. Bye,” Tessa answered, pressing the end call button.

After finishing her breakfast and feeding her pets, Tessa put on her shoes and sat on her couch. She stared idly at her television, rethinking getting cable, but the thought always got chased away when her bills came in. She could always catch something online was her reasoning.

As she was about to get online, she heard a low knock at her door. She turned her head towards the door, wondering who it could be. She peeked through the peephole and saw no one. She slowly opened the door and frowned, figuring that someone was playing ding-dong ditch on her.

“Tessa! Hold up!” she heard as she was closing the door and saw that Brian was running towards her.

His breathing was heavy, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he tried to catch his breath. Tessa smiled at him and invited him inside. “You okay there?” she asked with a small laugh.

He let out a long breath and nodded his head. “I just went back to my car to grab this for you,” he said, pulling out a beautiful red hibiscus flower from behind his back.

Tessa gasped a little. Hibiscuses were her favorite type of flower and she didn’t know how he knew. “Thank you so much,” she said, taking it from him. “How did you know I love these?” she asked curiously.

“A little birdy told me,” he said.

Immediately, she knew it was Tim. On their morning walk, she spotted some in the park and commented on how they were her favorite.

“Oh, my gosh!” she squealed.

Tim and the dogs looked at her with concern. Tessa quickly walked toward the beautiful bush of hibiscus flowers, bending down in front of it and gently gliding her fingers against their soft petals.

“Like them?” she heard Tim ask from behind her.

She nodded her head and stood up, turning towards him. “They’re my favorite,” she smiled.

Tim handed her Cy’s leash before he bent down and pulled one of the flowers out. He placed it behind her right ear and smiled at her. “A pretty flower for a pretty woman.” She blushed and thanked him.

Tessa placed the flower in a tall glass of water and sat it down on her kitchen table. “I didn’t know you were on your way,” she said after smelling the flower.

“I know. I’m sorry. I had sent you a text and I just checked my phone and saw it never went through,” he frowned. “Crappy service,” he muttered, but then he looked at her and his facial expression brightened. “So, you ready?” he asked excitedly.

She nodded her head. “Lemme just grab my purse,” she said, walking towards the kitchen table.

Brian gently grabbed her wrist and shook her index finger at her. “No, no. You won’t be needing your purse. I have everything covered,” she smiled.

She eyed him curiously. “You sure?” He nodded his head in response. She shrugged her shoulders and went to grab her phone and keys. “Be back soon guys,” she told her cat and dog as they left her apartment.

“Here, put this on,” Brian told her as he tossed a blue bandana on her lap.

She picked it up cautiously. “You want me to be blindfolded?”

Brian laughed as he started the car. “I’m not gonna kidnap you or anything like that. I just want it to be a surprise.”

She complied and wrapped the bandana over her eyes and tied it around her head. “I’m excited,” she beamed.

“Good,” he said, taking her hand in his and squeezing it gently.



“When are you going to tell me about your date with Brian? I want details!” Emily said as they she drove them to her brother’s house.

She turned her head towards the window and watched the lights of the city swift by. “Why are we going to your brother’s house for dinner?”

Emily rolled her eyes at Tessa’s avoidance of her question. “He likes to cook and invited us and others over for dinner. I don’t know, I thought we already established my brother was weird. Now. What did you two do on your date!”

Tessa smirked at her friend’s impatient backlash. “He took me on a helicopter ride around the whole city. It was absolutely amazing and I loved every minute of it,” she smiled, remembering this morning perfectly.

“Wow. He did all of that for your date?” Tessa nodded. “Then, he must really like you. I don’t think he’s ever done anything that extravagant for any of his dates.”

Tessa blushed and smiled, feeling warmness swell her heart hearing that comment. “Yeah, he was really sweet too. He got me a hibiscus flower, my favorite, and blindfolded me until we got there. Afterwards, we had a nice breakfast and then he took me back home.”

“Did he kiss you?” Emily asked eagerly.

Tessa laughed, but shook her head. “Not on the lips. I got a sense he was nervous about it. He just kissed my cheek.”

“So, you really like him huh?”

Tessa shrugged her shoulders. “Sure, I like him. He’s a great guy. I think we’d need to go out more though. I feel like we don’t know each other yet; like we haven’t gotten a chance to talk.”

Emily nodded her head understandably. “So, he just happened to know your favorite flower?”

“I think Tim told him. I think he may have even given him the idea to show me the city,” Tessa confessed what she had been thinking since her date ended.

“Tim knew all those things?”

He did and she was more than sure he had told Brian those things. She and Tim talked a lot during their morning walk together and he actually listened to what she said.

“Yeah. I mentioned that those were my favorite flower and that I wished that I could see more of the city.”

Emily parked by the side of Zito’s house. There were two other cars already parked in his driveway – one Tessa recognized as Tim’s.

“Now I’m convinced he has a thing for you,” she told Tessa as she rang the doorbell.

Barry opened the door and greeted them as they entered. Tessa stopped in her tracks when she saw the scene in front of her. There was Tim sitting on one of the bar stools with a pretty blonde woman on his lap as they talked to Barry’s fiancée, Amber.

Tessa leaned towards Emily and whispered, “Still convinced?”