Strike One

Chapter 15: 3 Strikes your out at the old ball game

Chandlers Point of View:

(I'm not going to kiss her, I'm not going to kiss her, I'm not going to kiss her) I have to keep telling myself this. I knew I was into Whitney Brown. I knew that what I didn't realize was that I was REALLY into Whitney Brown and bringing her to my parents’ house and seeing her with my family and watching her play with Mia - truly, I found one hell of a woman.

In the car on the way home she is very quiet, and I believe she is just trying to decompress the events from this evening. My mom was incredibly supportive of her and also told her that her and my father would be there for her if she needed it. My parents knew of Matthew Brown and were incredibly supportive of the type of player he was on and off the field. I hope she knows just how much my parents and I would do for her. I know we all just met her, but Whitney is good people, my parents are too - and I hope that in some way shape or form this delivers her comfort.

As we coast into Ann Arbor, I notice that Whitney’s shoulders slug down. "What’s the matter," I ask her? She laughs, "You told me you were taking me out to your favorite restaurant..." I interrupt her, "I did, my parents’ house is my favorite restaurant." She smiles, "Nice save. It was really good, your father and mother put out a really nice meal," she tells me. I nod along with her, because they do typically have a really nice meal for me when I come home.

We enter into the parking lot of her dorm; I get out and unpack the bike from the back of the Jeep and place it down next to her where she got out of the Jeep. She smiles and places a hand on top of mine which is on the bike, "Thank you for the bike, for today, for allowing me to meet your parents and sweet Mia." She kisses my cheek in the most sensual way as if that was her thank you for the evening, I provided her. She moves her hands to both handlebars and begins to walk it away toward her building, I grab the back of the seat and pull it back toward me leaving Whitney a bit unbalanced. I grab her elbow and pull her to me (the bike seat between us) and I kiss her. I place my other hand to her cheek and lay one right on her. I felt it in my bones that if I hadn't done it then I may never.

She receives the kiss, regains her balance throughout it and deepens it. She places one hand upon my chest and the other around the back of my waste. I move my hand that was holding her elbow and push the bike between us and let it fall to the ground and return that hand to her, this time placing it opposite the cheek my other hand is on. Holding her face between my hands and providing her the most passionate first kiss I could muster. She slightly opens her mouth allowing me access with my tongue. I explore her mouth with mine for what seems like forever. But, In reality its very brief. She pulls back out of breath, probably not just from the kiss but from being caught off guard as well as being off balance in the beginning.

"I'm sorry, I just, If I didn't do that...I might never find the courage to. I just needed to know what it felt like to kiss you," I fumble out. "No, don't apologize, it was nice. It was spontaneous though, which doesn't seem like you. You seem so well thought out and planned," she tells me. "Oh, I am. I literally have told myself no less than 100 times not to kiss you this evening," I deadpan. She smiles, "Why, would you tell yourself not to kiss me if you wanted to do it? I thought your motto in life was always to take the opportunity to do something great. What if this was your great opportunity," she asks? I smile, "That’s why I ended up doing it," I say with confidence.

"I like you Chandler Bing Decker. Thank you for today, for the bike, again," she says shyly. I smile and lean into gently peck her lips one more time before she departs me. I don't say anything more afraid I might make a further fool out of myself. She walks toward her dorm building and I escape to my Jeep. I sit there for a minute to regain my composure before driving the whole 3 minutes to my

apartment.

When I get to my apartment and into my building, I notice that Luke is not anywhere to be found, which is fine I decide to embark on some last-minute homework before bed. We have a game tomorrow so; I need to get to bed soon. I'm about 30

minutes into studying and cannot get her off my mind. Was she embarrassed by our kiss, was it bad? All of these thoughts could kill me. She literally told me she liked me though. I decide to scroll through f*******: and notice I have a friend request from Whitney, I immediately accept. The newest update to her page was a picture of sweet Mia with the caption: "Everyone gets the opportunity to do something great... she is my opportunity, and we will in fact do something great together." It delivers a thrill through me; she is going to be spending more time with my family to see sweet Mia.

I continue scrolling and I notice that Nick Suchy updated his profile picture to be a picture of him and Whitney. This makes my heart stop. I look at the background and try and determine where this photo was taken. It appears to have been taken the night of the party that we both attended - the one where he tried to roofie her. The caption of his profile picture, "Two Catchers are better than One." I taste vomit in my mouth. I hate him, I hate him so much. Why would he post a picture with her after what he tried to do to her, is

he that stupid? He must be. A couple of girls have commented on there, "She is so lucky." "Wished I was her." My god do these

women know who Nick really is?

Luke walks into the apartment, and I come out with my phone in hand and show him the picture, he just laughs. "How is this funny man," I ask him? He shrugs his shoulders, "Because he is pathetic and its obvious am I right? He knows he can't get her, and it pisses him off," he states. I laugh. I brush near him to get to the fridge and notice a very familiar smell. Lexie.

Don't freak out, "Why do you smell like Lexie," I decide to just ask outright. He looks completely shocked, almost like I caught him in a lie. He stutters, "How, I'm, umm... whoa. Alright, I took Lexie out for dinner. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings, we got some wings, we talked, that was it," he deadpans. I look at him, "Why?" His shoulders slump, "Because dickwad I really like her. I think part of me always has. I just was too immature for her and never gave her the time of day. She has always hit on me, and I just pushed it off as a sister vibe that was similar to you and her. It's not similar, and we both have feelings for each other and are trying to see what happens. We both agreed to try and that if it doesn't work out that we need to be able to figure out how to be friends, but we are doing ourselves a disservice if we don't try. Bro, we don't want to wake up one day and wonder what could have been." He tells me honestly.

I pace for a minute, I look up to him, "I abruptly kissed Whitney tonight. I think I scared the s**t out of her," I inform him. He looks at me, grabs two waters out of the fridge and we sit around the island. "Ok, did she respond," he asks me? I shake my head yes, "she kissed me back," I tell him. He shakes his head. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I didn't kiss Lexie, nor did she kiss me." In a weird way it does make me feel better knowing that he is being serious about trying with her. Strange enough, it makes me happy for the both of them to try. They have always had some weird tension between the two of them, but I always got defensive about it and protective, but who am I to stand in the way of my two best friends?

"Dude, she probably is just overwhelmed. I wouldn't take it personally. Just be chill. Tomorrow on the bus I will sit with you, so it looks like you’re ok. We are the dynamic duo tomorrow starting so I need your head out of this s**t and into baseball. Let’s go watch some sports center," he moves toward the couch in the living room.

He turns to Fox a local sports channel in Michigan, and it shows the Detroit Tigers attempting a playoff run. They are in the seventh inning against the White Sox from Chicago. They are up by 3 runs, which is not a steady lead with the White Sox. It appears to be the seventh inning stretch where the everyone gets up and sings, "Take me out to the ball game" and well, stretches. They are showing memories of previous 7th inning stretches and happen to show one of Matthew Brown and his daughter Whitney Brown. The commentator cuts and informs the camera that Whitney begins her career at UofM tomorrow playing softball for Coach Hutch and the Wolverines as their starting Catcher against the Michigan State Spartans tomorrow in East Lansing.

Oh s**t, publicity. Exactly what Whitney doesn't need.