Whether I'm Right Or Wrong:
I hated waiting in the hallway outside of the locker room at the stadium because it made me feel like such a groupie. GAG. I so wasn't a groupie, but he forgot to leave his key at the designated spot and I couldn't let myself into his place without them or him being there. You'd think that it wouldn't be that hard to get a second or third key cut for just such an occasion, but he hadn't done that. I mean, isn't that a thing that people do? You buy a place, you get some spare keys cut, right? I swear that's a thing.
But no, he's getting old... and senile, apparently, so here I stand and wait. Fuck, he's so old that he'll probably be the last one out of the locker room too. Damn it! And there was nowhere to sit down and be more comfortable while I waited for his stupid ass. Double shit.
There were a few of us standing around the hallway now. We were all doing that awkward thing where you try not to look at each other while also trying to size each other up at the same time. You know the move; when glances out the side of your eye aren't enough, you hold up your phone trying to pretend that you need a better angle to read or see something on it. Lame? Yes. Embarrassing? Definitely. But, I thought that I recognized the blonde glued to her phone standing at the other end of the hallway. For some reason, I just couldn't really place where I might know her from and it was bugging me. So, here I was with my phone held higher than it needed to be so that I could try to get a better look at her.
"If you need a room, I'm sure we could find you one at the Omni," a familiar voice quietly said into my ear.
I was so lost in my thoughts that all I could manage as a reply was a weak sounding, "What?"
"The way you're boring through her with you gaze..." She answered with a chuckle.
I think she wanted to say more, but it got lost in a fit of laughter. That gave me enough time to turn around and face my accuser. I wanted to say something witty back, but what came out was a relieved sounding, "Evie" as I wrapped my arms around her neck.
Evelyn Sanders didn't hesitate before she returned my embrace with a soft, "Surprised to see you here."
I huffed out a laugh before I pushed back to look at her and reply, "I know, right? Not my favorite place to be, but..."
I fell silent as the door to the San Diego Padres locker room opened and one of the players stepped out. If I could have gotten my legs to move, I would have turned around and made a run for it. Instead, I stood frozen in my place. Thankfully my mouth remained completely detached from my brain and I managed to whisper out an impassionate, "Shitfuck."
Evelyn looked at the man who had stepped out into the hall and then back at me. I'm not sure what she saw on my face, but she quickly grabbed my arm and turned me around so that my back was facing the locker room door as she asked, "You aren't here to see him?"
"What? Fuck no!" I replied automatically, but with a lot of feeling.
I tried to turn my head to look at him, but Evelyn caught my chin in her hand to force me to keep my eyes on her, "So, you two are really over?"
I couldn't verbally reply because of how she was still holding my face, so I just nodded. That seemed to be the response she was looking for because she released my chin and saying, "Good because you deserve much better than him."
I gently gripped my chin and moved my jaw from side to side to try to get the circulation flowing through my face again.
"Thanks Evie, but next time could you please not crush my jaw?"
She smirked and then her eyes went unnaturally wide. I didn't move, but I did ask her, "Is…? Is he coming this way?"
She tried to keep a nonchalant air about her movements and facial expressions as she shrugged and replied, "Sort of."
That was all I needed to hear to get my feet moving. Before I got too far away from her, I squeezed Evelyn's shoulder and said, "He's expecting me… well not HIM, but… uhh… y'know. Could you…? Uhh… Just tell him I'm at my favorite place at the park, okay?"
She gave me a sad smile then replied, "Yeah, okay. Go. I'll tell him or if worse comes to worse I'll send Blip in to tell him if he's taking too long."
I had just enough time to give her a grateful smile before I sprinted towards the hallway that lead back up to the stands and the field. Although I knew there was a possibility while waiting for Mike that I would see… HIM… I was somehow deluded into thing that it wouldn't actually happen. FUCK! Why couldn't he have pitched today and have had to ice up just like their stupid catcher? But no, they only had to use two stupid pitchers to get the win and now I was hiding away in the stands like a mistress in the closet when the wife came home.
As soon as that comparison formed in my mind, I let out a loud grown and flopped into one of the seats behind home plate. It was bad enough that I was running away from him like a scare little… whatever… But to think that? EW! NO!
Luckily, I knew this place. THIS, right here, this seat? THIS I knew and it was my safe place. MINE! Fuck him and his stupid…
"Miss? The stadium is closed," a voice called out from the direction of the field.
I lifted my face from my hands. Shit! When did I do that? Well, at least I wasn't crying.
I took in a deep breath and yelled back, "Yeah, Sope, I know. I'm… I'm just waiting for…"
"Brie?" Michael Soper, one of the members of Petco's grounds crew inadvertently interrupted as he moved towards the backstop so that we wouldn't have to continue yelling at each other. "I didn't know that you were visiting."
"Well," I replied. "Technically I'm not… visiting that is. I'm hoping that the move will be permanent… umm… in the near future."
"Really?"
"Yep," I answered with the first genuine smile since the game had ended. "We'll have to see how the next few months go before I know for sure."
"Well, either way it'll be good to see you in the stands again. I've gotta get back to work, but we'll chat soon, right?"
"Of course! And thanks, it feels really good to be back."
He gave me a brilliant smile and then turned to sprint towards third base. He then moved to pick up each of the bases to save them from being damaged by the sprinklers that would soon be turned on. First, though, one of his coworkers had to run over the infield and outfield with a rider mower to make sure that the grass would be the perfect length for tomorrow night's game.
Fresh cut grass. That scent hit my nose and I closed my eyes to fully take it in. This is why this seat at this time of day would always be one of my favorite places. So many good memories were evoked by that scent and, more importantly, so many bad ones were erased.
I'm not sure how long I had been sitting there with my eyes closed before I heard, "Oh! Oh… umm… sorry. I didn't think anyone else would be up here."
As I opened my eyes, I turned my angry gaze towards the intruder. Once she came into view my glaring turned into a wide-eyed look of awe as I stuttered out, "Oh, no… no… If… Uhh… If you want to sit up here, it's all yours."
I tried to stand up and give her my seat, but somehow, I stumbled over my own feet and almost fell as I moved up the stairs towards her. She foolishly reached out to try to catch me to keep me from falling, so I grabbed the chain link fencing of the back stop to save myself from falling.
"Hey! Are you okay?"
I smiled answering, "No. Not at all. I told myself that I wouldn't act like a star-struck teenager when I met you. But, here I am… fucking tripping over my own feet."
That made her throw back her head in laughter which made me smile. He told me she was way cooler than the media made her out to be, but I didn't really believe it until now.
After she had been laughing for a few seconds, she sobered slightly then thrust her right hand forward saying, "Well, I guess that means that you know that I'm Ginny Baker and you are…?"
"Me?" I questioned, still in a bit of a daze. "Me…? I'm… I'm…"
I let out a soft groan as I shook Ginny's hand. "I'm Brie and I'm with him… unfortunately."
Ginny continued to shake my hand until her battery mate came into view. Mike looked slightly confused which made Ginny laugh heartedly before she released my hand. I wasn't sure what to do, so I just gripped my left wrist with my right hand behind my back and waited to hear what Mike had to say.
"Baker!" He barked out in surprise before he caught himself. "I… I mean… she isn't bothering you Baker, is she?"
I let out a not so quiet scoff that brought Ginny's attention back to me. When she saw the look on my face, she let out another chuckle before she answered, "No, we were just introducing ourselves to each other." She then turned her attention back to me and added, "Brie, right? It was nice meeting you. Hopefully we'll be able to chat longer next time."
I gave her a weak smile and replied, "Thanks. It was beyond awesome to meet you too. Sorry if we're making you face the reporters before you wanted to."
She smirked then said, "Nah, it isn't all that bad. I'm sure that Amelia has dealt with the worst of them by now."
With that she turned and sprinted up the stairs. She only paused for a brief moment as she passed her teammate. She said something to him that kept him silent for a whole five seconds. I marveled at that feat and vowed to remember to ask her what she said to accomplish that feat. He, of course, recovered quickly and then replied with something that looked like it made her laugh and shake her head.
Great! Now I've lost my chance to be friends with… I started to think until I looked up and saw Ginny Baker waving down in my direction. I quickly looked behind me to make sure that she wasn't waving at some from the grounds' crew. (What? It wasn't as crazy as it sounds, especially after I found out she really was as down to Earth as I had heard she would be.) But, no. She was waving at me.
I raised my right hand to wave back, awkwardly and lamely. Seriously, it was like I had never met a famous person or major leaguer before in my life. I was tongue tied and beyond graceless. AND Mike Lawson was standing there, ready to bust a gut at my expense.
After Ginny had disappeared Mike slowly made his way down the uneven stairs of the stands towards where I was standing. If I was a more charitable person, I would have made an effort to meet him half-way to try to save his aging knees. But, he had that stupid smirk I loathed on his face, so I was really feeling like being a vindictive bitch right then.
At least I thought he was wearing a shit eating grin on his face until he got closer to me. Damn it! Maybe I did need glasses because as he closed the distance between us I realized that he actually had a worried look on his face that was nearly overshadowed by an angry glower. I could only hope that the first look was the only one directed at me, but I wasn't sure I wanted to find out the truth.
"What did he say to you?" He demanded as he passed the fifth row of seats while en route to where I was standing.
I instinctively shrunk back against the backstop as I sheepishly answered, "Nothing."
"What?" He asked as he grabbed my left arm to pull me forward. "What was that?"
"OW! Mike! STOP!" I tried to move away from him, but I wasn't willing to hurt either of his hands in order to free myself. Instead I just went as limp as possible while meekly repeating, "Nothing. He didn't say anything to me."
His grip actually loosened as he asked, "Are you sure?"
I stepped out of his hold and moved a couple of steps away from him answering, "Yes, I'm absolutely sure that I ran away like a scare little bitch and told Evelyn where you could find me before he had a chance to see me."
"Brie…" He started in an exasperated tone. "Don't say that."
"What?" I asked as I let him pull me into a hug.
"Don't call yourself that, Brie," he answered as he pressed my head against his chest.
"But I did run away like a…"
"Brianna! Stop that! Now!" He interrupted. "You left and that's a good thing because at least now I won't have to break his jaw."
"What? Mike! No… No! You wouldn't!"
I pushed myself out of his embrace so that I could see his face. His mouth was in a hard line and I'm pretty sure his jaw twitched but I couldn't tell with his stupid beard obscuring the majority of his face.
"I told him that if he ever thought about saying another word to you that I'd knock his teeth out."
I grabbed Mike's right hand, his throwing hand, that was balled up in a fist and said, "Well he didn't come near me, let alone speak to me, so you don't have to worry about doing anything stupid. You know, like punching a teammate and risking having your contract voided by Major League Baseball? I'm fine Mike, so just let it go. Please?"
I'm sure that last 'please' did the trick because he wrapped his arm around my neck answering, "Fine, I'll let it go… for now. And here, you might need this."
I snatched the keys out of his hand and nearly shouted, "MIKE! How long have you had these? Why didn't you just leave them in your hide a key rock?"
"What? I… I thought…"
"Whatever!" I interrupted. "Let's go before I punch YOUR teeth out, okay?"
He smirked and wrapped an arm around my shoulders to lead me up the stairs without saying another word.
