Hiding Place

The first game of the 2013 season was in the books. It was a gorgeous late summer afternoon, there was some cloud cover for the game but the sun was finally breaking through again now that the match was over. We didn’t exactly get the result we were looking for, but we didn’t get a loss either. To start the season with a tie was a positive thing for the San Francisco State University Gators, especially considering how the 2012 season ended.

After the game, we had our brief team meeting outside on the far side of the pitch away from the bench and away from the stands. Our coach went over a couple of things from the game and clarified the schedule for the upcoming weekend as the team went through its post-cool down stretch routine. We had a morning working tomorrow, Saturday afternoon there was a team run schedule and Sunday was an off day. Then the focus would be getting prepared for the week ahead – another out of conference opponent – and then we were right into conference play. It helped that we were starting the season at home this year; we have a six game home streak to start before we were on the road to round out September.

“Hey Kens!” I was making my way across the pitch to head towards the locker rooms, which were just past the stands. Kens is my nickname on the team. Like with most sports teams, everyone gets called by their last name or some variation of it. My last name is Kennedy, so naturally it got shortened to Kens.

I stopped in the middle of the pitch and squirted more water into my mouth. I wasn’t too exhausted from the game – all the summer training I did paid off immensely and even coach noticed that I was in the best shape of my career – but I always made sure to hydrate after a game. I glanced behind me to see Danielle jogging towards me so I waited. The crowd had mostly disappeared. Our home openers usually drew some attention but keeping the attention was entirely dependent on how our season went.

Danielle looped an arm around me when she got to me. Her momentum carried us forward a little bit, “Great game today.”

My lips curled into a smile as I nodded in agreement. “You had an amazing game.” Like I predicted, and expected, Danielle was named captain of the team for our final season at SFSU. She set up the game-tying goal and had several chances of her own, despite being a defender. “So far undefeated as captain.” I teased and gave her a slight nudge.

She laughed and shook her head, “You’re ridiculous. I have to go talk to coach and I might have some captains meetings to go to tonight, for athletics.” I pulled my gaze away from her and back towards the stands. “I know this messes with our usual routine for our first home game.”

Every year after our first home game, Danielle and I went to this hole in the wall place called Tony’s that was amazing. We’d gorge ourselves with a large pizza and totally regret it every year, but we did it anyways. Even with a morning workout usually scheduled for the next day.

“It’s our last season. We’ll save Tony’s for when we get our first home win, okay?” I smiled and clapped her shoulder. “And if that takes too long, we can always go whenever.” Danielle nodded, laughed and took off back across the field to where our coach was standing with some other members of the coaching staff.

I continued to make my way back towards the locker room. The stands were almost empty, except for a handful of people. Some I could tell were parents – we got a lot of parents who came out to their daughters’ first game of the season regardless of if they played or not. Several couples stood together waiting and then there was just one guy sitting by himself. None of the girls mentioned that they had a boyfriend coming to the game today, and if they did, they usually met them by the entrance to the locker room. Not in the stands.

As I got closer to the stands, and the door to the locker rooms, the guy in the stands stood up and made his way closer to the field. The gap between us was getting smaller. He was walking diagonally towards the side that I was heading towards. Just as he got to the front row, I stopped immediately in my tracks when I recognized him.

I couldn’t believe it.

He had a smile on his face and a bright yellow SFSU Gators t-shirt on. His hat was backwards on his head. I had no idea how to react. We were five feet apart, including the wall at the front row of the stands.

My heart was starting to thud loudly in my chest. After that drunken Skype conversation, things got weird between us. We still talked, but with my season starting and him getting ready to move back to California, it wasn’t always as frequent in the last couple of weeks. Neither of us acknowledged what we talked about when we were drunk.

I licked my lips. “What are you doing here?” I couldn’t help but smile back at him. I had no idea he was coming here. Plus he looked good. Really good.

Logan shrugged, “Surprising you.” It was like it was the most obvious answer on the planet.

A nervous laugh escaped my lips. “Obviously. But seriously, what are you doing here? I had no idea you were coming. Did Danielle know?” I didn’t mean to ask him a bunch of questions at once but I had to keep talking.

“I won’t get banned if I hop this right?” He completely ignored my question. I shook my head as he hopped over the barrier from the front row and landed right beside me. The gap between us was now a mere two feet. “Hi,” his voice softened and was meant for only me to hear.

“Hi,” I mimicked. I didn’t know what to say next. I was in shock. I didn’t know how to act with him or around him… Especially after that conversation we had. It was running on repeat through my head. Even so, nothing was set in stone between us. As far as I took it, we were just friends. I think.

Logan kept staring at me.

I shook my head, “I can’t believe this.” I took a slight step back to create some more distance between us. I didn’t like the anxious feeling that was bubbling in my stomach and making my heart feel like it was trying to escape out of my mouth. “You’re here in San Francisco. Of all the places.”

He shrugged once more like it was no big deal. “Well training camp starts down in San Jose next week, so you know…”

I nodded. I knew he had training camp soon and I knew that he was going to be back in California soon. The two of us were kind of trying to figure out a time to meet up, to catch up from the summer so we emailed our schedules for September to see when would work best. But then that awkward video chat happened. More like tequila happened.

“But,” Logan continued. “There was also this girl I really wanted to see in San Francisco so I came back to California so I could see her for a couple of days before I have to go back to San Jose. If she’s alright with that, of course.”

My eyes widened. A couple of days? I ran a hand through my sweaty hair and didn’t know where to look. I sure as hell couldn’t look at Logan right now. He had this whole thing planned out. I had no idea.

He kept going, “If you’re busy that’s cool. I can always go back to San Jose. I have to set up my place again and get things organized.”

“No,” I shook my head. “I mean it’s okay. I’m just, I’m still so surprised, you know?” I squirted more water into my mouth to stall. “It’s just, um, I have a morning workout tomorrow and two classes…” Suddenly spacing out on my schedule this semester sucked.

“What classes?”

I looked up at the sky as I tried to remember my schedule. It was the first week of classes so it most likely wouldn’t take up the entire class, but I didn’t want to guarantee that it wouldn’t. “Um, therapeutic exercise and biomechanics I think. The workout is at seven until eight-thirty and then I have class from ten until one-thirty.”

Logan nodded. “That’s not too bad, right?” He looked at me curiously like he really had no idea what I was talking about.

“No, it’s not too bad. I’m in my last year so it’s going to be a lot of work this year.”

“What’s your degree going to be again?” Logan and I had discussed this before but it didn’t surprise me that he didn’t remember what I was studying. My overall degree had a fairly complicated name – bachelor of science in kinesiology with a concentration in exercise and movement science with an emphasis in neuromuscular science – it was a mouthful.

I wasn’t in the mood to explain or go into the complicated aspects of my degree. I shrugged, “It’s a bachelor of science in kinesiology.”

Logan raised an eyebrow at me. “So that lets you do what?”

It didn’t seem like the right time to be discussing this. I was still sweaty and gross from the game. And I was starting to get a chill from the breeze. I wanted to get changed, shower and get home. I sighed and answered his question from the book. “I could work in programming, sports media, fitness, consulting or go on and do more advanced study in the area. I’m not really sure what I want to pursue yet. I’m only twenty-one.”

His eyes widened. “You’re only twenty-one?”

“Don’t give me shit for it, okay?”

He laughed. “I promise, I won’t.” He leaned against the wall in front of the stands. “So, do you want to hang out?”

“Um, I can in a bit?” I scrunched my nose up and tilted my head to the side. I wondered if Logan was completely oblivious to the fact that I was still in my kit and that I was still sweaty.

“Oh, okay. I shouldn’t have assumed you wouldn’t be busy…” He shoved his hands into the pockets of his shorts.

I shook my head, “No. I can hang out. I just,” I gestured towards my soccer uniform. “I should probably shower and get changed. I just played ninety-five minutes you know.”

He laughed. “Oh. Um, yeah, that would probably be a good idea. I don’t know how you play that much though. That’s impressive.”

“So I need maybe an hour? I want to go home and shower. Do you want to meet somewhere or do you want to come over?”

Logan shrugged. “Whatever is easier for you.”

This was a time where I wished he would just make a damn decision so I don’t have to. There were pros and cons to meeting him somewhere and having him come over. I had no idea if Danielle was coming back any time soon and she had her captains meeting tonight so she would need a shower as soon as she got home. So it would be just me and him, in my apartment, alone when it’s already awkward between us – at least I think its awkward. Or there’s meet him somewhere, he gets lost possibly, someone helps him out and he decides he’d rather hang out with that person.

He laughed, “Okay I can see the gears in your head literally turning right now. If it’s all right with you, can I just come back to your place and then we can go do something? I don’t really want to get lost in San Francisco tonight. I’m lucky you play at a pretty big university.”

I shook my head and laughed. “We’re div two. It’s not like we’re div one and have crazy support. The crowd we had today? That’s probably the biggest we’ll have all year.” I squirted some more water into my mouth. “Okay see the building over there?” I pointed to where the locker rooms were. “I’ve just got to run over there and get my stuff. Then you can follow me back to my place?”

“Sure,” Logan simply agreed. “Don’t take too long.” He laughed again as I took off jogging towards the building.

---

After probably one of the fastest showers in my life, thanks to the fact that Logan was parked on my couch in the living room, I quickly dried of and made myself look presentable. Rather than worry about drying my hair, I braided it and would worry about it later.

When I came around the corner from the hallway towards our rooms and the bathroom, I stopped and smiled. I didn’t know what I was so worried about having Logan in my apartment by himself for a period of time. He was sprawled out on the couch with the MLB network on.

“Hey,” I softly called so I wouldn’t startle him.

He turned to look at me and had this smile on his face. “Hey,” he called back just as soft. I wasn’t sure why he was speaking quietly. I watched as he moved to sit up on the couch and patted the spot beside him.

I could feel the heat radiating off my cheeks. My heart was pounding in my chest and it made me worried that Logan would be able to hear it. I made my way over to the couch and left a considerable gap between the two of us. I didn’t sit down where he had been patting.

Logan turned to face me and I squared myself to him. “So,” he smiled and rubbed his hands together. He took a deep breath and glanced at his watch. My gaze found the clock in the apartment, it was only six-twenty, I made amazing time in my shower and getting changed. He licked his lips. “So I took a big risk coming here to surprise you.” I nodded. “I know things got a little weird between the two of us after that Skype conversation we had last month. I hate how weird things got. It felt like I kind of lost you and I didn’t like that.”

I nodded again. I really had no idea where he was going with this conversation other than to acknowledge that things are weird between the two of us. I didn’t know what to say in response. I suppose it was nice to hear that he didn’t like how things had gotten weird between us either but shouldn’t the focus be on fixing things rather than simply acknowledging it? Besides, what exactly is weird between us?

“Its kind of spur of the moment. It’s also why I was asking you about your classes tomorrow. But I got us tickets to see the Giants play the D-Backs in forty-five minutes. I wanted to make it up to you for what happened a month ago.” He took another deep breath. “So are you in?”

My lips curled into a smirk before I threw my arms around Logan without thinking. He wrapped his arms around me and held me close to him. “Of course I’m in. Thank you. I’m not sure what surprise is better though, you being here or tickets to see the Giants in September?”

When I pulled away from him, he held me at arm’s length with both of his hands on my shoulders. “Hey now, I can probably easily find someone to give these tickets to, Emma.”

“That wouldn’t be very nice, Logan,” I teased then smiled at him. “But really, I’m glad you’re here. It’s a pretty awesome surprise.”

His cheeks darkened ever so slightly. “I’m glad I’m here with you too.”

My eyes flickered over to the clock. “Shit, we better get going. Thankfully, I don’t live too far from the ballpark. It’s like a ten-minute drive. But before we can go anywhere, you need to look like a Giants fan.”

Logan’s eyes widened. “What? I can’t wear Giants stuff.”

I shook my head, “Yes you can and you will. You are not wearing that Jays hat to the game. I have one you can borrow or you can wear one of the shirts my brother left here. Take your pick Couture.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “What if I pick both? Will that make you happy?”

“Of course it would. Any time I can get someone to support the Giants, it makes me happy. But it would make me even happier with you because you like the Jays.”

He sighed. “Lead the way Giants fan.”

I couldn’t help but smile as I grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hallway to my room. It was kind of messy, but that didn’t bother me – not when I was going to a Giants game – nothing really bothered me. “Black hat or orange hat?”

“Black.”

I tossed the hat at him and went straight to my closet. “So that means you’re getting an orange shirt and I’ll wear a black one. Oh you have a hoodie right? It gets kind of chilly by the water.”

Logan chuckled as he sat down at the foot of my bed. “You’re cute when you’re all over the place.”

It felt like my heart skipped a beat. I knew if I looked at him, I would lose my focus. I knew that if I lost my focus we wouldn’t make it to the game on time. So I quietly laughed and continued to dig through my closet. “Okay here,” I tossed an orange t-shirt at him. “The bathroom is right –”

I didn’t get a chance to finish what I was saying. My eyes were wide as I stared and it took everything in me to not let my mouth hang open. Without a thought about it, Logan pulled off his t-shirt and put the Giants one on right there. With a smirk on his lips, he asked, “So how does it look?”

“Shut up you know you look good,” I rolled my eyes and slightly smiled. I was satisfied with my comeback. “Now go to your car and get that hoodie. I’ll meet you down there. I need to get changed.”

Logan nodded and made his way out of my room. I quickly got changed and grabbed my hat and hoodie before I looped my bag over my shoulder. I practically jogged to the kitchen and scribbled a note for Danielle on our white board that I was out with Logan at the Giants game. I told her to text me if she needed me.

After locking the door, I ran down the hallway and to the stairs rather than wait for the elevator. Tonight was probably going to be the last Giants game I would be able to attend for the 2013 season – with the soccer schedule and classes – it was almost impossible. So tonight was definitely a treat and a surprise I couldn’t be happier to have, watching live baseball with someone who surprised me today in more ways than one.