Paul walked into the stadium, and went straight to the locker room. He put his wallet and phone in his locker and went over to the gym.
Most of the guys on the team were already there and in mid work-out, which was great because that meant they wouldn't be giving him shit about being late again. He got his own workout started by going over to one of the treadmills and running a couple miles. Once he had slowed down and walked a mile or so to cool down he jumped off the treadmill and grabbed a bottle of water. He drank half before taking a breath, wiping the sweat off his brow with the towel he had thrown around neck.
Then he went over to the weight machines and set them up. He did 10 sets of 20 reps each for his arms and legs and then moved on to the elliptical machine, putting in a good 30 minutes before climbing off, exhausted.
Once he was done with his workout he finished his water and grabbed a new bottle, downing half of it as well, before making his way to the showers. Once there he stripped down and walked into one of the stalls.
"Dang man" Jenkins, the third baseman said. "What the hell happened to you?" he asked.
"What?" Paul asked looking down at himself, not seeing anything out of the ordinary.
"You look like you got into a fight with a bobcat." he teased. "... and you lost. You got claw marks all the way down your back man."
"Shut up." Paul said, turning away, refusing to comment further.
"So what was her name?" Jenkins asked nosily.
"None of your business." Paul said stubbornly, stepping under the flowing water.
"Come on…" Jenkins said. "I didn't see you at the bar last night." he said. "So we know you didn't leave there with anyone, so where did you pick up this little spit fire?"
Paul said nothing, not wanting to egg him on.
"Did you pick up someone on the boulevard?" Jenkins asked. "You don't have to he ashamed man." he teased. "We have all done that from time to time."
"Fuck off…" Paul said goodnaturedly. "Maybe you do that, probably more like ALL the time.…. But I DON'T have to pay for it"
Paul rubbed some shampoo into his hair, and let the shower rinse it away, while Jenkins prattled on.
"What are you two assholes talking about?" Martinez said walking into the showers, dropping his towel and take the shower next to Paul's.
"Narita here picked himself up a date last night." Jenkins razzed "But he won't say from where. I think she must have been from the boulevard." he said again.
Martinez smirked, "Not everybody gets their dates the same place you do, Jenkins." he snickered. "But if that's the case it sure looks like he got his money's worth." he said. "Look at his neck."
"Hey!" Jenkins screeched.
"Both of you can go fuck yourselves." Paul said, wrapping a clean towel around his waist, picking up his dirty clothes, and walking away. He went back out into the locker room, and quickly put on his uniform. He grabbed his phone and checked for missed calls or texts… there were none.
He sat down on the bench in front of his locker and pulled up his messages to text Will, before he realized that he didn't even have his phone number programmed in his phone. He got up and searched through his wallet for his card, but it wasn't there.
He threw his wallet back in his locker in disgust. He looked at his watch, trying to determine if he had enough time to go back to the hotel to see if he was still there before that start of the game. He was almost convinced he did when the head coach stepped inside the locker room door.
"Narita, my office." he said.
Paul put the phone one the shelf of his locker and closed it. Then he went to the coach's office.
"Yes sir, Coach?" he said respectfully.
"Paul, have a seat." the coach said.
Paul sat down and waited for him to continue. "Brayton is having some tendon issues today, I really hate to ask you, to do this especially with the all star game coming up but do you think you could pitch at least the first half of the game today?"
"Yes Sir." Paul said. "I can do it."
"Good!" he said. "-Good, good, this is the last game in this set and we want to sweep them if we can. But we will need you more next week, so If it becomes too much or if you need to come out of the game, I want you to tell me immediately, understand?"
"Yes Sir, understood." Paul said. "That all coach?"
"Yeah that's it, get out of here, they just put some lunch out for you guys upstairs " Coach said.
Paul left the office and went up to the players club. He grabbed a plate and filled it with food, grabbed a gatorade from the table and then went over and sat down with some of the other guys.
Paul was about half way done with his meal when Jenkins sat down beside him. "So you really aren't going to tell me her name?" he asked straightaway.
"Nope." Paul said, continuing to eat.
"Why not?" Jenkins pushed. "Is she pretty?"
"Because it is . ..." Paul said pointedly.
"But as long as you have been with the team, I have never ever seen you leave with a lady." Jenkins said. "I'm just glad you finally woke up, you know, it's time that you got out and lived a little… take advantage of all the offers coming your way.."
"That's your advice, really?" Paul said shaking his head. "Take advantage… is the best you can do."
"Hey man I just meant it's being offered, so why not?" Jenkins said.
"Come on Jenkins, give the guy a break." Martinez said sitting down with them. "If he wants to keep his sexual exploits private, that's his prerogative."
"Who the fuck asked you?" Jenkins groused.
Martinez picked up a chip and threw it at Jenkins. "Grow up…. We aren't in highschool anymore."
"Some of us anyway." Paul said laughing.
"So, how did your interviews go the other day, I never did hear you say?" Martinez asked.
"They were good, you know the usual." Paul said off- handedly. "Mostly the same questions on an endless loop."
"One was for that magazine Baseball America, right?" Martinez asked.
Paul nodded, "Yeah."
"Was it that Jessica Winters lady? Martinez asked.
Paul nodded again. "Yep."
"Hey, she's hot!" Jenkins chimed in.
"She's alright." Paul said.
"No man, I have to agree with dipshit here." pointing to Jenkins, "she is definitely HOT." Martinez said. "She interviewed me a few months ago." he said. Then his eyes lit up, getting an idea… "You Dog." he said. "Really?"
"Nope, you are waay off." Paul said.
"Sure we are." Jenkins said, starting up again.
"You two fucktards can sit here running your mouth's all damn day if you want, but I have to get warmed up before the game."
"You starting?" Martinez asked surprised.
"Yeah, Brayton hurt his arm." Paul said.
"Wait up, I am starting catcher, I will go with you to warm up. "
"Meet you in the bullpen in five." Paul said.
He threw his trash away and then went to the restroom before heading to the bullpen.
He was stewing over his teammates jerking his chain about the claw marks and the girls name the whole time he was tossing the ball back and forth, warming up his arm.
He couldn't explain it, three days ago it probably wouldn't have bothered him at all, but today it did.
Letting them think he was with someone random girl, made him feel like he was ashamed of Will, and he wasn't. That was the last thing in the world that he was. He sat there the whole time bitting a hole in his tongue to keep himself from blurting out how amazing Will is.
"Something bothering you Paul?" Martinez asked, standing up and tossing him the ball back.
"No, I'm fine." Paul denied.
"Don't let Jenkins get under your skin, or me either for that matter." Martinez said, "We are just giving you shit."
"I know." Paul said.
"What you do, or who you spend your time with is your business." Martinez said, catching the ball Paul tossed him.
"Can I ask you a question?" Paul asked.
"Sure, shoot." Martinez said.
"Do you, well I mean, what if…" Paul started.
The music started and Paul looked around, for the first time he realized that the stadium had filled while he had been busy blowing off steam.
"What if what?" Martinez asked.
"Nevermind." Paul said, "Come on, game time." they ran up on the third base line and took their place in line for the anthem.
Paul made it through the first four innings, without even allowing a hit. He ran off the field and went into the dugout sitting down and pulling his jacket onto his pitching arm.
"Do you wanna talk about who she was now?" Jenkins asked, trying again.
Paul groaned… "Noo, for the last time." he said. "Don't you have to go bat or something?"
"In a minute." Jenkins said. "Was it really Jessica Winters?"
"You really just don't quit do you?" he asked, chuckling despite the anger that was simmering in his gut.
"Okay…. Fine…" Jenkins said. "Don t tell me." he pouted.
Jenkins grabbed his bat and ran out to the on deck circle, taking a few practice swings.
A few minutes later, Paul took the field for the fifth inning, making quick work of the first two batters before giving up a homerun. The coach called time and ran out to the mound. "You getting tired?" He asked. "If you are just say it…" He said. "No shame in it, you just pitched a whole game two days ago."
"Sorry Coach." Paul said. "I just got a little distracted."
"Well, then let's get it together son." Coach said running back off the field.
Paul shook his mood off, pushing his anger to the back of his mind and powered through to the seventh inning before the coach took him out and replaced him with a relief pitcher.
When the game was over Paul hurried to the locker room and gathered his belongings in a hurry to get back to the hotel. He changed out of his cleats in favor of his regular tennis shoes and then shoved his dirty clothes, phone and wallet down into a duffel bag and started out of the locker room.
"Aren't you going to shower and change?" Benford, the first baseman asked.
"I will grab a shower later." Paul said. "I gotta get back to the hotel."
"Hot Date tonight?" Benford asked.
"Something like that." Paul threw over his shoulder pushing the door open and walking out.
When he got out to the sidewalk there was only a few kids standing around with baseballs and ball caps. He stopped and signed them and took a few pictures. He took one last look around. He didn't realize it until that minute, but he had been hoping that Will would be there waiting for him. He got into a cab that was waiting there at the curb, and asked the driver to take him back to the hotel.
On the ride back, he wondered if Will would be there waiting in the room. He had looked for him before the game. He had ran down to the pressbox to see if he was there before he went to warm up, but he hadn't seen him. Maybe he had decided not to come to the game, maybe he was working. He hoped that he planned on coming back to the hotel. He mentally berated himself for not programming Will's number into his phone.
Once he made it back to the hotel he walked into the lobby and looked around, it was mostly deserted, except for the few people sitting in the small bar.
He went upstairs and opened his door, disappointed to see that the room was dark. He went in and closed the door behind him.
He tossed his bag into the bottom of the closet and laid the rest of his things on the table. The room was clean and the bed was made, so clearly the maid service had been in and cleaned up. There were no scraps of paper or cards lying around.
He sat down on the edge of the bed and took his shoes off, and then went to shower. Once he was dressed in some basketball shorts he came back out and called down to the desk ordered room service.
He turned on the tv and flipped through the channels until he found a comedy show and left it on to keep him company while he ate his pathetic dinner for one.
He ate, not really tasting the food, too preoccupied with wondering where Will was and what he was doing to really enjoy the meal. He had said he was coming to the game. Paul couldn't understand what had happened.
His phone rang out and he leaned over and grabbed it off the table. The whole time telling himself how ridiculous this whole thing was, he had only know Will seventy two hours, it wasn't as if he was in love…. But you are in very deep like… his brain argued ... . He looked down at the screen "Goddddd." he groaned, seeing Martinez's name on the continually ringing phone.
"What?" he said putting the phone to his ear. Not really in the mood to deal with him.
"You disappeared pretty fast after the game." he said.
"Yeah, so?" Paul said.
"We are going out for drinks in five." Martinez said. "Meet us down stairs."
"Nah, you go ahead." Paul said. "I'm staying in."
"You have to come out with us." Martinez said. "You being the star pitcher and all, the girls will flock to us with you there."
"I'm not going." Paul said again, exasperated.
"Why not?" Martinez said. "You got that hot reporter in your room?" he asked.
"Nope" Paul said "Definitely NO hot reporter in my room." he snapped.
There was a knock on the door. … Immediately he thought of Will, and his pulse sped up.
"I gotta go man." Paul said clicking the end button without waiting for a reply.
"Coming." he called. He went over and opened the door.
"I was ... what the hell man?" Paul asked when he saw Martinez waiting there. "I told you I'm not going."
"I don't believe you." He said walking around Paul into the room.
"Believe me about what?" Paul asked.
"Where is she?" Martinez asked, walking into the bathroom and coming back out, comically opening the closet door and looking inside.
"Seee… I told you there is no one here." Paul said, following him into the room swinging the door closed.
"Come on man, get dressed, shake a leg, it's not like you have anything better to do anyway." Martinez said crossing his arms looking at Paul expectantly.
"No." Paul said flopping down in the chair. "I mean it, I am not going."
"What's wrong with you today anyway?" Martinez said. "You were gonna ask me something earlier before the game, you still wanna talk about it?"
"No, It's all good, it wasn't important." Paul said. "Go on, get out of here, go have fun."
"Okay okay…" Martinez said. "See you in the morning?" he asked.
"No, I am not flying back tomorrow, I moved my flight to Sunday." Paul said. "But I will see you back home."
"What, why?" Martinez asked, "What do you have…no... you know what, nevermind. Have fun." he said heading to the door. "See you in a few days."
Paul watched the door close behind him, and laid his head back against the chair. Only half watching the TV.
Half an hour later, he was flipping through the channels looking for something else to watch when the door opened and Will walked in, carrying his messenger bag and a small duffel bag.
Paul stood up and walked over, taking the duffel and dropping it next to his on the floor. "What, where…?" he interrupted his own self, to kiss him before the door was even closed behind him. He twisted his fist in his shirt and pulled Will further in the room. Will followed him willingly and kicked the door closed behind him.
Will dropped the messenger bag and wrapped his arms around Paul's back, kissing him just as eagerly.
When they broke apart Will grinned at him. "What was that for?"
Paul shrugged "I missed you."
"Mmm, missed you too." Will said.
"I didn't see you at the game." Paul said. "What happened."
"I was there." Will said. "In the press box, right where I said I would be."
"I looked for you." Paul said, sliding his hands down Will's arms to his hands, tangling their fingers together.
"Well I was there." Will said. "And I would have been here sooner, but I really thought you would be late, you know after stopping to sign autographs for the fans and then I figured you may want to go out and celebrate with the guys. And I had some calls to make for my next article and a phone interview with one of the pitchers from the Indians."
"No, I came straight here after the game." Paul said. "I didn't have your number to call you. Wait, you would have been okay with me going out with the guys?" he asked.
"Umm yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Will asked, "You do have a life outside of me right?"
"Nevermind." Paul said, still trying to wrap his head around the differences in his current situation.
"I'm sorry I was late." Will said. "I was just trying to give you some space and I really did have to make those calls."
"You weren't late." Paul said, "Of course you have stuff to do, and you just got a new job and we just met and there's no reason that you….."
"Stop." Will said smiling at him. "It's okay, I feel the same way. I missed you soo much today."
Paul smiled back and pulled him close. "Good." he said. "That's real good."
