Stealing Home

Game Day Prep

“Hey, what’s up?” I ask when I get close enough to talk to Carter. Carter jogs the rest of the way to me and tosses a baseball underhand to me. I catch it easily in one hand and then throw it high into the air. I quickly lift my camera and get a photo of the ball as it comes down. The ball continues to fall, then Carter sticks his glove out and it lands cleanly in the middle of his glove. I snap a picture of that as well.

“First game is tomorrow,” Carter says, “you nervous?” He pops the ball up out of his glove and tosses it back to the catcher at home plate.

“More excited than nervous, but yes a little nervous,” I admit and give him a small smile.

“Well, to calm your nerves before the game, we should go out. I mean, all of us, you should come with us, go out with us tonight…” Carter sort of stutters and his cheeks turn a bit red. I look away from him to pretend I don’t see his embarrassment. From all the gossip I’ve heard about him, It’s unusual that he’s struggling right now. I’m flattered.

“Everyone meeting at Celeste’s bar?” I say to move away from him clearly asking me out.

“Yeah, that,” Carter tries to cover from his awkward stumbling over words.

“Sure, I think I will. The game isn't till 7 pm tomorrow, right? Should be a beautiful evening and will give everyone plenty of time to recover from tonight,” I joke with Carter and he rolls his eyes, back on his game.

“Oh please, these youngins recover before their head hits the pillow,” Miles comes jogging over and throws his arm around Carter, “it’s the older fellers that you need to worry about. Like Nolan over there.” Miles points him out across the field and laughs a hearty laugh.

“Nolan could drink me under the table any day,” Carter comments, laughing along with Miles.

“That doesn’t mean he won’t be feeling it long after you’ve stopped,” Miles says and Carter shrugs his shoulders, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

“Also,” Carter catches, “aren’t you technically a ‘youngin’ too?”

“Ah, technically. Maybe or maybe not. Who knows these days,” Miles puts his hands in the air. I laugh and take a picture of the two of them, candidly enjoying each other. “Hey, now, wait a minute. I need to be looking purdy for the camera.”

“Oh, I think you look mighty purdy,” I say to Miles in the same way he’s spoken to me which makes the grin on his face grow.

“Why, thank you kindly, ma’am,” Miles tips his cap to me before jogging backward away from us. I snap a quick picture as he leaves and I catch him mid-wink. I laugh while looking at the picture on the camera.

“Oh, that is going on social media for sure,” I say and turn the camera to show Carter. Carter moves in closer to me to see the small screen. He stands close for a few seconds, cupping his hand over the screen to see without a glare.

“Oh, yeah. I think you should. He would love that. Would have been even better if you had caught him tripping. He always walks backward like that and I know one day he’s going to be doing it to show off and he’s going to trip and fall flat on his face. I sincerely hope you are around when that happens,” Carter steps away from me but he has a grin on his face. I let out a loud laugh and nod my head in agreement.

“That would be awesome. I can definitely see doing a blooper at the end of the season. Honestly, the way you all practice, I might have enough footage to do a blooper reel once a week,” I tease Carter and he laughs it off.

“I’m sure you’re talking about everyone else, but certainly not me,” Carter waves away the idea and I laugh as well.

“Oh, certainly not,” I agree with him and smile. We fall into a comfortable silence and it looks like he wants to say something else but one of the guys on his team calls his name. “You should probably go practice, you do have a big game tomorrow.”

“Oh, right. That’s definitely something important I need to go do,” Carter pauses and I laugh at the way he phrased his sentence. Carter narrows his eyes and looks a little perplexed that he is coming off as lame as he is.

“Bye, Carter,” I say to put him out of his misery. I give a little wave and then I turn to find a better position in the stands. I want to scope out a few more places for the game tomorrow and then make sure I will be able to have access to them.

****

“Hey, Scar! You made it!” Celeste calls out across the bar when I pull the door open. She waves to me and I wave back then she holds her finger up and turns back to make a drink for me. I make my way over to the bar and take an empty stool beside a team member. The rest of the guys are already in their back corner, preparing for the game tomorrow.

“So, do they normally drink this much before their games?” I ask Celeste when she slide my drink across the bar. We look over at the table of guys. They have eight half full pitchers of beer on the table, four empty pitchers and a couple of the guys also have their own glasses with other drinks in them too.

“Ah, normally?” Celeste taps her fingers on the bar before responding, “yeah, they definitely too. Not all of them partake though.” Celeste points over to Nolan, sitting by himself, looking over stats on an ipad. Nolan sits nursing a single glass. A few guys come over to his table every so often, they don’t stay long but I watch them chat while Celeste goes back to work.

Carter on the other hand is downing his own pitcher of beer while the other guys cheer him on. I laugh and take a sip of my drink. Once he downs the beer, Carter looks up and sees me sitting at the bar. I haven’t decided if I want to join the team yet but Carter makes that decision for me. He approaches me at the bar and takes the seat next to me.

“Hello,” I say when he just smiles at me. I chuckle and take another sip of my drink. “Can I buy you a drink?” I tease him and his smile grows.

“Ah, you saw that, huh?” Carter chuckles and pushes his hair out of his face, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink, his nose too. “Don’t worry. I will be okay tomorrow for the game. It’s an evening game, plenty of time to recover before then.”

“Don’t y’all have to be on the field like three hours early? At least?” I laugh and Carter shrugs.

“That’s still plenty of time before then,” Carter continues to defend his actions and I just laugh. “Not all of those empty pitchers are from me, just so you know.”

“Sure, I believe you,” I laugh more and nudge him playfully. Carter chuckles and pushes me back a bit. He reaches over and takes my glass, finishing it off in one swift movement. “Hm, yeah because finishing my drink is definitely a great way to convince me that you haven’t had multiple pitchers of beers.”

“Whoops, oh well. What is that drink? That was really good. Celeste?” Carter starts talking faster and I wonder if all the drinking has made him hyper, even more hyper than usual.

“Yes, sugar?” Celeste asks once she’s standing in front of us.

“What drink did you make Scar because god dam, that was good,” Carter whistles his appreciation and leans back away from the bar. He leans back a little too far and I have to grab his arm to keep him from falling off the stool. Not that I would have actually been able to stop him from falling, his weight would have dragged us both down.

“So you’re admitting you stole this young woman’s drink?” Celeste fixes him with a stern look and his cheeks once again darken with a blush. Celeste smiles and waves her hand to show she’s just messing with him. I laugh and Carter laughs as well. “I’ve been feeding her new ideas. She’s my guinea pig.”

“Oh, so that’s why you look so happy to see me and have a drink in my hand as soon as I enter the bar?” I tease Celeste. “And here I thought that I was just one of your favorite patrons but no you’re testing these drinks out on me.”

“Well,” Celeste says with a grin on her face. “Everything has been pretty damn good so far, hasn’t it?”

“That’s fair,” I admit and Celeste nods her head sharply, proud of herself. “Alright. Well, one drink was good enough for me. I should get home and prepare for the first game tomorrow. I have a few ideas that I still need to work out.”

“Alright, sweetie. We’ll see you after the game, right? Bar will be packed so I’ll save you a seat,” Celeste asks and answers her own question before I can say anything in response, so I just have to laugh and nod my head in agreement with her.

“I can save her a spot at the team table,” Carter speaks up, putting his hand on my leg under the bar top. Celeste raises her eyebrow at me and I give her a look back that frankly says, I have no idea what his game plan is. “If that’s okay with you, Scar?” Carter asks, looking over at me. He looks drunk and his hand feel hot and heavy on my leg. I pat his hand then stand up, gathering my things to leave.

“Sure, Carter. Make sure you grab another one of Celeste’s drinks for me to taste test!” I laugh and Carter sits up, puffing out his chest a bit, looking pretty pleased with himself.

“I’ll have one waiting for both of you,” Celeste promises and she hurries off to jot down new ideas. “Bye, Scar!” She calls out from across the bar once she realizes she’s dashed off without saying goodbye. I laugh and wave to her then turn to Carter who is still watching me.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Carter asks and I nod.

“I’ll be at the stadium probably before you are. I have to get a few things set up,” I say and mentally run through a checklist of things I need to do tomorrow. Carter nods and stands up to go back to his teammates. When he stands up, I notice movement over his shoulder and see that Nolan has gotten up too. He’s watching us closely. I turn my attention back to Carter and take a step away from him. “And if we don’t get to speak before the game tomorrow, good luck!” I say to him and he grins, back to his normal cocky self.

“It’s going to be a great game!” Carter cheers and the rest of the team joins without knowing the reason. Carter grins at me then returns to his cheering teammates. I laugh and make my way to the door of the bar. I look back before I leave and see that Nolan still has his eyes on me but they no longer look as steely as they did when Carter was with me. I head out of the bar before I can think anything further of it.

Going to my car in the dark is not ideal but the bar crowd is mostly baseball fans so I feel safe enough and the bar is packed full of guys I know would be out here in a second to protect me if I needed it. With that in mind, I strut out to my car and make my way back to my little house. The floors creek under my feet and the couch moans as I sink into it. I pull my laptop into my lap and continue constructing my plans for the opening game tomorrow.