I almost wanted to cry. Until Eddie yelled, "Hey, coach. Is that the first time you ever gave out a jacket before you gave out the uniform?"
Everybody cracked up at that. Even Coach had to chuckle, when he said "Bauer, you’re a wiseass."
"Now, Woodard, we need to find you a place to take a shower, you need to clean up those cuts."
"Shower’s right there," I smiled.
"You didn’t have a separate shower at your old school?" Coach asked.
"Yeah, I did, but that was before I went into The Program. These guys have seen all I’ve got, and they’ve seen it all week. So now they’re going to see it soapy. Big deal. I’ll shower with my teammates. Besides which, I could use some help cleaning out the cuts."
"Hey," Eddie yelled, "is that in a catcher’s job description?"
"Why not?" Mike grinned.
"Not if I ever cut myself up, it’s not," said Frankie Gutierrez.
"That’s OK, Frankie, we’ll find one of those community-property chicks for you," I grinned at him. "Preferably one trained in nursing."
"Well, I hope I never need it, because I’ll tell you one thing," Frankie went on, "if I ever get in the program, you will not see me slide. Ever. I’ll take the L. Jesus, Lily, that was painful to watch."
"Yeah, and it was my fault," Ty said.
"Bullshit, Ty, no it wasn’t," I told him.
"I gave you the slide sign."
"I know you did, but that was just good baseball instinct, wasn’t it?" He nodded. "It was my choice. You didn’t push me down in the dirt. My choice, my cuts, not your fault."
"Thanks," he smiled slightly. "God, I did not enjoy watching that."
"I didn’t enjoy doing it much," I grinned at him. "Believe me, I’ve learned my lesson."
PART SIX FRIDAY EVENING
Well, the shower in a baseball locker room after a victory is always a happy place. When you beat a team you haven’t beaten in six years, it’s a particularly happy place. What I found out that day was, when your girlfriend is there and asks you to help wash up-it’s a very happy place.
Of course, it would’ve been happier if said girlfriend was asking me to help wash something other than some pretty nasty cuts. But, hey, you can’t always get what you want, right?
What was a bit strange was being in a shower with my girlfriend with twenty other naked guys. But, you know what? It was fine.
Frankie asked Lily about it. "I was curious, Lil. You’re naked in a shower with twenty equally naked guys. Forget, for a minute, that your boyfriend’s one of the naked guys. Do you get turned on?"
"Sure," Lily admitted. "Now Mikey turns me on anyway, but I’ve been in gym showers all week, with naked guys and him not there, and, sure, I get turned on."
"How do you stand it?" he asked. "Look, Lily, don’t take this the wrong way-but if Mike weren’t one of my best friends, I’d be trying to get you into the corner." She laughed. "Hell, and you’re just one naked girl in the shower."
"How do I stand it? I don’t, frankly," she admitted. "If I weren’t in pain, I’d probably be pulling Mikey in the corner myself for a knee-trembler."
"Those are fun," Ed piped up.
"And you would know, you pussyhound," Lily retorted with a laugh. "Anyhow, no, I don’t stand it. Look, you guys know how The Program works. I reserve actual sex for Mike, since Wednesday, but I’ve had other hands on my pussy this week. He’s had other hands on his dick. That’s fine. This week makes you horny, that’s a fact, and we have no classes together. If he wasn’t here, Frankie, you could talk me into a double hand-job without much of a problem. And, I’ll tell you, if I were on this team in this shower and didn’t have a boyfriend, I’d probably become your community-property chick with very little convincing." Everyone cracked up at that. "But sex is sex. Sex with love involved is better, and more important. However, you made me think. I don’t mind coming in here and getting all worked up, because I know I have an outlet. I hadn’t thought how it might affect the rest of you guys. If the rest of you would prefer I take my showers elsewhere, tell me. I won’t be offended a bit."
"Ah, naw, Lily, you’re a teammate," Frankie said. "You take your showers right here with us." Everybody else voiced their assent. "Though I’m thinking about bumping Mikey off," he laughed.
"Oh, yeah, Gutierrez, sure you are," I told him. "Who else would catch your dying quails?"
"Baseball is baseball. Sex is sex," Frankie said. "Ah, no, you know I’m just kidding. And, no, Lily, this is your shower too. It’s not your fault I don’t have an outlet."
"Sure you do," Ed butt in. "It’s called your right hand."
"Notice, if you will," Frankie answered, "how scrawny my right arm is. And how bulked up Ed’s is. And you answer for yourself who’s been giving that arm a workout. Hint: it ain’t the pitcher in this scenario."
"Maybe if you worked your arm out better, you’d be able to throw harder," Ed retorted.
"I do just fine with what I’ve got," Frankie maintained. "Well, on the baseball field, anyway."
"I think I just got a new life’s mission," Lily told him. "Find Frankie a girlfriend."
"Oh, that will be fun to watch," Ed said. "And you thought pitching the ninth inning against a great team with your side all ripped to shreds was tough. You don’t know what kind of trouble you just bought."
"Well, maybe I should go for the two-fer, and find you a girlfriend, too, Ed," Lily laughed.
"Ed does not do girlfriends," said Ed. "Ed prefers to play the field. Ed has enough trouble in his life without a girlfriend." He grinned, but I knew what was behind it. "Ed, as you said earlier, is a pussyhound."
Knowing what Lily was like, and knowing what Ed was like, I whispered in Lily’s ear, "Drop that one. I’ll explain later." She gave me a quizzical look, but didn’t bring up Ed and a girlfriend again.
We finally finished the shower, and went to the locker room to get dressed. Lily and I didn’t bother, actually-Lily really didn’t want to put clothes on over that injury, so I decided to stay nude, too. Heck, it was becoming second nature by now. Though, when we went to leave, she did proudly don her new letterman’s jacket.
"You guys hitting The Mariner?" Ed asked.
"I don’t think so," I said. "Sure," Lily said at the same time.
"Are you up to it?" I asked.
"Yeah. I’ll have to grab a seat cushion or something, but I’m up for it. We have to go to my house, first. The problem is, I don’t think I’m up to driving."
"I’ll drive your car."
"How will you get home?" she asked.
"We’ll think of something." We walked out to her car. She flipped me the keys, I helped her in, and then got in the driver’s side.
"Hey, did it bother you what I said in there?" Lily asked.
"No, not at all. Hey, I can see what you mean. We’ve decided to be true to one another-that doesn’t mean your hormones are shut off. That doesn’t mean you won’t find other people attractive. You were surrounded by 20 naked guys in a shower-if you weren’t getting turned on, then I’d worry. And I don’t blame Frankie, either." I sighed. "Frankie Gutierrez has horrible luck with girls. I don’t necessarily understand it-he’s a good guy. I have no capacity to judge a guy’s looks-"
"He’s a decent-looking guy," she interrupted. "He’s particularly decent looking with no clothes on. His arms aren’t scrawny, no matter what he says; his chest and legs are nice; and no girl would have a complaint with what’s between his legs. I say that in the most clinically detached way, of course," she deadpanned.
"Surrrrre you do."
"You doubt me?" she grinned. "Anyway, if he’s not getting girls, it’s not because of his looks. And I like him, so I don’t see that part of it, either."