Strike One

Chapter 19: Oldest Bar in Michigan

Chandler's Point of View:

When we get back to Ann Arbor, we un pack all of our equipment and get everything back into the storage off to the side of our field. I watch the girls are too doing the same. Thankfully no one had a phone go off during either of our games so no one is running poles, well that is until I see Nick Suchy out running poles. I chuckle to myself and shake my head because I'm sure he is running poles for being late to the bus this morning.

Coach then comes over to us and informs us that Suchy is running for two reasons, 1. We never disrespect our family (meaning the comments he made about Whitney) and 2. We are never late. Jeff interrupts Coach, which is an automatic no no. Coach, shouldn't we all be running for him being late, we are a team. I look over at Jeff and slap my hand to my face indicating he is an i***t for bringing that up, but he does have a point.

Everyone gets their shoes back on and we take to the field. We wait for Nick to get back to the left field pole where we are for all of us to begin. Jeff informs if that we will be running as a team for his lateness and that this will NOT happen again.

As far as hazing goes this is some psychological s**t we are doing to Nick and the Freshmen. Indicating that this is our consequence in being his teammate, or theirs for that matter. We all push off and start running, this is not exactly how I wanted to kick off my evening. I'm running next to Luke, and he looks over at me, "Nick is going to find this humorous that we all have to run for his mistakes - I'm not sure who Jeff is trying to save here. Nick simply doesn't care," Luke claims. I shake my head in agreement, because I do believe that Luke is right - Nick doesn't care. We've been running poles for at least ten minutes now when coach hollers that we are finished. Everyone slaps hands but avoids Nicks, Nick is already walking towards the building where our locker rooms are. What an asshole.

I have no need to go the locker room nor does Luke, Coach let us all know we were done for the day, so Luke and I take off to our apartment to shower up there. I think it was good I avoided the locker room though, because if I would have seen Suchy I might have punched his stupid face.

Upon getting home I power on my phone and hop into the shower to get the nasty sweat off me from the day. When I exit the shower, I am bombarded with a mass amount of texts/voicemails. This concerns me as I normally don't get notifications at least not like this.

The First Voicemail:

*My grandma: Wishing me good luck on the game.

The Second Voicemail:

*My grandma telling me she is proud of me for the win today and the homerun and wishes she could have been there to see it.

The Third Voicemail:

*My mom: Hey, I thought you might have your phone on, but wanted to ask you about the Suchy kid. I know you couldn't really talk to us but we saw the news and him on it and then Hutch on there and just wanted to know what is going on? I thought Whitney was hanging out with....ah never mind. Just ignore that I called.

I don't even look at my texts, I just call my mom back.

Mom: Hello

Chandler: Hi Mom, Nick Suchy is the bane to my existence he is trying to get in Whitney’s life. He is the guy that tried to roofie her, he's a walking ticking time bomb and doesn't give a s**t about anyone or anything just himself. He is obsessed with the limelight. He is really good mom, probably better than me but he is the worst type of teammate. No one offered him a deal right out of college I guess because he was an ass at one of the 'try outs' for the Cleveland Indians. Word traveled fast and no one picked him up, but colleges wanted him.

Mom: Oh, okay. Poor Whitney.

Chandler: Yeah, she actually hates him I think, hahaha.

Mom: Well, make sure she is okay.

Chandler: I went over there last night to make sure she was ok.

Mom: Oh, you do like her, don't you? She is really good. We watched her a bit today - she is a good ball player.

Chandler: Yeah, I think I do like her... I think I like her a lot.

Mom: Well, be careful and remember her heart is fragile.

Chandler: I know mom.

Mom: Alright, well buddy. Good Game today - let us know when the next time you are coming home.

Chandler: I will. Love you guys

Mom: We love you too.

Chandler: Bye

Mom: Bye

I click the red end button on my phone and end the call. I then look at my Messages.

First Unread message:

*Lexi: Dude, not to go all lesbian on you, but Whitney’s butt looks good in baseball pants. HAHA

Second Unread message:

*Lexi: I know your phone is off so I'm texting you this now: I was walking Mia along the side of the field, and I think I overheard Nick Suchy's dad talking to some scout about not getting playing time because he was being punished or something. I didn't hear anything specific, but the guy said he was going to go after your coach publicly if he doesn't get playing time. The Scout guy though said Coach would be stupid to pull you because based on how you are playing today, you are an asset to the team. I don’t know, I didn't like how it sat with me, so I wanted to text you it so I didn't forget. Also, if your phone goes off and you have to run, at least show coach this.

Third Unread Message:

*Whitney: Text me when you are cleaned up - lets go do something.

The last two messages make my hear drop then race. I message Lexi back:

To Lexi: "Thank you for telling me. Honestly, I'm not going to say or do anything - I think my game will speak for itself and Suchy isn't fooling anyone with his motives especially coach - he will get rid of him before he lets Suchy ruin his career. Thank you for looking out of me though."

To Whitney: "I'm out of the shower and just powered on my phone. What do you have in mind?"

I dry myself off and get dressed in a casual Michigan T-shirt, jeans and my converse. I plop myself on the coach and look at my phone. Whitney responded back, "Be ready by 7:15pm" I look at the clock, its 7:10 right now. I text back: "I'm ready, but what is going on?" She then texts me, "s**t, what’s your address?" I provide her my address though and laugh because she was trying to surprise me or something and failed tremendously at it.

A text comes through a couple minutes later, "I'm here, come outside!" So, I grab a sweatshirt and head out the door. To my surprise she is outside in a Black Toyota Camry. Not at all what I pictured her in, then again, I'm not exactly sure what I pictured her driving. I open up the passenger seat and take a seat. "Hey, you," I tell her. She smiles, "Buckle up, Slugger!" I do so and she takes off, I see she has her phone mounted on her dashboard delivering her the GPS to where we are headed. I glance over at it, she smacks my shoulder and tells me not to cheat. I laugh, this is cute.

Instead, I ask her how her game went? She responds, "It felt good to be back on the diamond, winning is always a bonus when you have a pretty decent game yourself," she adds in. I nod, "I heard you did really well. My parents said they watched a bit of your game." She smiles, "That was very nice of them to come over and watch, they didn't have to do that. But yeh, I did alright for my first college fall ball game." I smile, I sure do wish that fall ball games were included in regular season games because this would be a great start for us coming out on top. But that’s not the case, these are essentially practice games for us.

"Alright, so where are you taking me," I finally just ask her. "I'm taking you to a place that my dad used to talk about. I've been there before but I only remember it because the cheese curds reminded me of home. So, I'm taking you there," she tells me. I'm alarmed because I literally have no idea what restaurant would have that type of specific food other than a chain. Oddly enough she gets off at my parents exit, "You do know you're driving right by my parents’ house, right?" She laughs, "Honestly, no. I couldn't remember exactly where they lived. We talked the entire ride, so I wasn't really paying attention," she tells me. I laugh at her honesty but continue to let her take the rein here. After about ten more minutes she pulls into this biker bar New Hudson Inn restaurant in New Hudson, MI.

This is not at all what I was expecting. "Ha, yes this is it. I remember it looked like a house and had a band playing and stuff. I remember it from when I was a kid, but I do recall them having amazing Cheese Curds. I'm dying for some of those, so please... let’s go," she hollers at me! She grabs my hand and leads me into the door. It's a rustic old place with modernize touches. We get seated near the back of the house/bar and on the wall, I notice old time photos of the current establishment and to my surprise it’s the oldest bar in Michigan. How amazing is that? It's really loud in there though as they do have a live band playing, being that it is a Saturday night.

When the waitress comes, we both order a water, and she orders the Cheese curds. I look up from my menu at her and she is glancing around, people watching in awe of her surroundings. She speaks up, "I cannot believe I found this place. I googled best cheese curds in a house bar, and this showed up. This is it!!!" She looked overjoyed and incredibly youthful in that moment. I leaned over the table and kissed her; I couldn't help myself. She looked back at me surprised, "Hey! I was supposed to kiss you, remember our deal," she joked.

I nodded, I remembered our deal, but if it were my way, I'd never stop kissing her. Tonight, would be a test to see what type of self-restraint I had on myself while around her. She makes me think and do things I would never imagine doing... yet here I am.