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Kelly and M.E. joined me while I ate my sandwiches.
“You should have punched him,” Kelly said, offering her opinion.
“In the short run, that would be satisfying, but it would just make it worse once we combine teams. If he’d approached me in a dark alley, it might have gone differently,” I said with a wistful smile.
I think everyone got the idea about putting on their swimsuits, and we soon had about thirty boys roughhousing in the pool. I noticed that Rich and his supporters were nowhere to be seen. It was noted by the coaches.
I caught M.E. and Kelly checking the guys out.
“Which ones are you interested in?” I asked, startling them.
“They would never be interested in me,” M.E. quickly said.
Allard came up and gave Kelly a knowing smile. The boy had a lot to learn.
“Hey, would you take M.E. out on a date?” I asked him.
“Of course I would,” he said, redeeming himself in my book.
M.E. sank into her chair and wouldn’t look at either of us. My grandpa used to say that for every puzzle, there is a piece that fits. Of course, that was right after my big brother told me I had a face that would scare small children. I thought my grandpa was being mean to me, but Grandma Dawson explained that looks weren’t everything and that I had a winning personality. At the time, I wasn’t too happy with what she said, either. I won’t even repeat what my mom said when I complained to her. It’s a wonder I survived the abuse.
“Come on, Kelly. Let’s leave these two lovebirds alone,” I said with a huge grin.
I made a mental note to keep my distance from M.E. for the foreseeable future.
◊◊◊
Chapter 24 – And the Winner Is Friday July 15
I woke up to Kelly kissing my face. Once she thought M.E. was interested in Allard, he was history.
I wasn’t proud of myself for continuing to spend time in bed with Kelly. I always said that sex changes things, and I was a sucker for liking a girl if I slept with her. Uncle John could probably make a fortune studying the correlation between having sex with someone and how much you liked them. I knew for a fact that you didn’t have to like someone, or for that matter, know them, to have sex with them. I’d done both. The basis of the study would be whether repeated sex made a difference. I would gladly volunteer to be one of his test subjects.
Allard rolled over and gave us an irritated look.
“You two kept me up half the night,” he complained.
“I can’t help that I attract bad girls. Your girlfriend is more long-term,” I teased.
“I believe back in Arkansas, you two are old enough to get married,” Kelly said to join in my fun.
“Not everyone from Arkansas is a hillbilly,” Allard said as he got up to use the bathroom.
“Just you,” I pointed out.
He flipped me off as we smiled at him.
“So, you think I’m a bad girl,” Kelly said.
“After last night, I do. I think you’ve led me astray.”
“I wish.”
“Not that I’m complaining.”
“I know we only have this morning,” she said as she reached down and found my morning wood.
Allard came out and got dressed so he could go down for breakfast. I looked at the clock and figured I could talk Fritz into getting me something once we got to the baseball field. Kelly was right; this would probably be our last time together. I had to leave after the game to go to LA. When I got back, I would only be in town until the following morning, as everyone would be departing then.
With a plan in place, I made sure our last time was special.
◊◊◊
Last night, we’d pasted the Stripes 10–3. I struck out once and was walked four times. It was becoming obvious who the better players were. At this level, that was a relative term, because this was the best-of-the-best in our age group. Certain players seemed to rise to the occasion. I was happy to see that several of the players from Team Pride were among that group. From tonight’s lineup, it looked like Coach Kingwood was putting his best team on the field.
Batting Order / Name / Position
(1) Logan Greene – Second Base
(2) Mitch Underwood – Shortstop
(3) Dave Gordon – First Base
(4) David Dawson – Center Field
(5) Royce Greene – Third Base
(6) Jerry Peoples – Right Field
(7) Tristan Pratt – Left Field
(8) Patrick Welch – Catcher
(9) Mike Case – Designated Hitter
Shane Bays – Pitcher
Jerry, Mike, and Tristan were our young kids. Tristan especially showed a lot of potential. I’d spent a lot of time with Tristan and Jerry since they were my fellow outfielders. Besides being good baseball players, I found I liked them both quite a bit.
Tonight’s game would be played at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, a suburb of Houston. It’s home to the Sugar Land Skeeters of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. It’s not a development league like the A, AA, and AAA teams. Instead, it’s what’s called an ‘open’ classification of play, the highest level of professional baseball other than Major League Baseball. More than 40% of Atlantic League players had played in the majors. Atlantic League clubs paid players to win baseball games, not to apprentice in baseball’s developmental levels.
Before the game, we were given a tour of the facilities. I wished we had a field like this back home. In foul territory behind left field was a picnic area. Over the fence behind left field was a splash area where kids could run around and get wet. It was everything minor league baseball should be, i.e., family friendly.
They were doing something smart tonight. We were the first game of a doubleheader. Our game was free if you bought a ticket for the Sugar Land team’s game with the Long Island Ducks. After the game, they planned a fireworks display. At the beginning of our game, the stands weren’t very full, but by the time the game ended, nearly 7,500 fans were in attendance.
We were up first. We were facing Hagen Holmes, who had red hair and freckles. He’d told me Hagen was a family name, which originated from Agen, meaning ‘youthful one’ in Gaelic. I’d wanted to know if he had any sisters because I liked redheads.
The coaches had made a point later in the week to mix the teams together in practice, eating, and the like. I think they realized that the competition had gotten out of hand, and we would eventually be teammates with each other. About half the Stripes embraced the idea, while Rich and his group made it a point to stay away from everyone else.
In the first inning, I stood in the on-deck circle watching Dave become Hagen’s latest victim when I was accosted by the Skeeters’ mascot. He was a big green mosquito with a baseball cap and team jersey and reminded me of the Phillie Phanatic. The mascot had a giant piece of paper and an equally large black marker. He wanted my autograph, so I made a big show of signing it. That would have been fine, but he became upset when I didn’t want his autograph. It was actually quite funny. I was almost glad that Dave struck out because I wasn’t focused on baseball.
In the second inning, when I was getting ready to bat, the Skeeter was back. This time he was pouting and holding his nose at me. The fans got behind him and booed. I knew when I was beaten. I pantomimed that I was sorry and got on my knees to beg him to sign an autograph for me. That was when the music started. Someone must have Googled me.
AC/DC’s Thunderstruck began blaring out of the stadium’s speakers. I jumped up and began to do my Angus Young air-guitar routine. Skeeter had some serious rock-guitar moves. We should have saved this for the seventh inning stretch because tonight’s umpire was not amused with us delaying the game. Coach Kingwood rolled his eyes at the umpire when he ordered me into the batter’s box. Coach, at least, realized this was just part of minor league baseball. The goal was for the fans to have a good time.