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“You dumbass,” Devin said.
“Why are you trying to get
Ty
going?”

Aaron only laughed again.

I tried to shake it off and just focus on the game.
Thankfully
Jayden smiled at
me and blew a kiss, and
I was able to relax after that.

“Hey, son,” a voice called from the fence. It was my father
,
and I was completely blown away to see him there. “You have girls blowing you kisses from the stands, huh?”

I smiled
as I made my way over
. “Uh, j
ust one
.”

“Your girlfriend?” He returned his eyes
to the bleachers and smiled. “Wow, s
he’s a
beauty
. What’s her name?”

“Jayden.”

“Jayden?” he asked. “Isn’t that a boy’s name?”

I chuckled. I had no idea and I didn’t care.

“Will I get to meet her?”
he asked eagerly.

I quickly considered it. He was completely sober, dressed decent, and was presentable
. It was a rare occasion
.

“Yeah, sure,
Dad
.”

I looked to th
e stands and Jayden was looking my way
. She smiled
when
I waved her over, so she excused herself past Cali and Megan and made her way down.

“Wow, she’s
even
prettier up close,” my dad
murmured
just before she arrived.

“Hi,” she said to my dad. “You must be Ty’s father. I’m Jayden.” She shook his hand.

“
Cliff,
”
he replied with a big smile.

“It’s very n
ice to meet you.”

The game was called to begin, so
while she was down there,
I made sure I got a kiss from
her
before I joined
my team in
the dugout.
It put
a
nother
goofy smile on
my dad’s
face
, and I realized that he had probably never even seen me with a girlfriend before. Growing up, I’d hardly
even
had
any of
my friends around him
.

He and Jayden stood
there talking for another minute after I left
, and f
inally I could tell she invited him to
go
sit with her. I was okay with it because my dad was a pretty nice guy when he wasn’t drunk. And I was also comforted
by
the fact that he would never make her go through anything close to what
I
went through with
her
father.

There was a lot of tension during the game; you could feel it in the air. Coach Tucker heard about what had happened earlier from a parent in the stands. We got a nice chewing out
two
hour
s
before the game in the batting barn. Not for what had transpired in the stands, but as a warning for the upcoming game: “If I see anyone starting any kind of trouble, even just a word of trash talk, you will sit on the bench the entire game. I don’t care if we lose; I will not have it on my team.”

Jonah
had a great pitching game
,
and he struck out six of their first
e
ight at-bat. I got out on my first hit, a pop fly to center field.
Jesse and
D
evin
both got on base, but we weren’t able to get them
all the way
around.
The game was still scoreless in the fourth inning. I finally
got a base hit
,
and
Jack
—being the fifth batter
that night
—g
ot
a walk
. It put me right next to Garrett Freeman off of second base.

“I met up with your girlfriend earlier,” he said, just loud enough
so I could
hear. “She was a pretty good
score
behind the bleachers. You
gettin
’ any of that action, Huntington?”

I concentrated on Alex at bat.

“Don’t be surprised if she screams out my name from now on. Sorry about that.”

Strike one. I walked back to my base. I glanced at
Jack
at first base and I could tell he
knew Garrett was talking crap
.
H
e was plotting his slide into second base if it came to that, and Garrett would have to watch his legs.

“She’s pretty kinky. You know what she likes me to do?”

The ball was hit so I took off
running. It was foul. With
one
out, I saw coach signal for a bunt. It was time to get around these bases.

Garrett
ended up saying
something more vulgar than I was used to even hearing from Aaron. I was so glad that ball was bunted perfectly
as I took off for third base, and
Alex took the sacrifice out at first
.
I took a deep breath, glad for the break from Garrett’s filthy mouth.

I looked down the line to home plate and almost wished Jesse or Jack was in my place instead. They were quicker than I was.
I wasn’t slow—I fourth on our team for speed—but either of them would have made this next play look a lot easier.
I glanced at Jayden in the stands. She had her hands clasped together against her mouth, nervously waiting to see how the inning played out.

Paul
was up to bat next. He had to get a hit, any kind of hit, for us to
even have a chance at scoring.
On the 3-2 pitch, he
blazed a grounder past the pitcher. I’d already taken off on contact, watching the catcher’s reaction to the incoming ball
.
He was just about to receive it, so I dove for the plate to the outside of him, and stretched my hand for the base as I slid.
It hurt like hell
when he
came right down on me
a second late
, but al
l I wanted was to hear that four-letter
word…

“Safe!”

I peeled myself off the
ground
and spit the dirt out of my mouth. It’s always nice to hear the crowd cheer for a great play, but it was especially nice to see Jayden standing up like she always did. And my dad was standing there clapping with her. It was an odd
scene
because I was suddenly thinking about the rest of my life with her. Married.

I was in somewhat of a stupor when I brushed myself off and returned to the dugout. Maybe I
’d
had the wind knocked out of me. Probably. I was hallucinating if I thought Jayden would marry me. I hadn’t even told
her
that
I loved her; how would I ever have the courage to hand her a ring?

What was I even thinking, anyway? I’d known her for
about
four
weeks and I already wanted to marry her? I was losing it. There were never any girls that I even wanted to
date
for
four
weeks.
I would probably scare Jayden away if she knew
what
was
in my head
.
Besides, her father would probably have me dead before that ever happened.

“You oka
y, Ty?” Coach asked. “You look
a little…distressed.”

“No, I’m fine. Just a bit sore.”

“You okay
to catch?” he asked with concern
.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I assured him.

He paused for a moment before patting me on the shoulder. “Nice play, Ty.”

I put on my catcher’s gear and was ready to go just as we received our
third
out.

By the final inning
we were up
2-1. Every play became a battle and the game was very intense. I had been walked twice
—once because the pitcher pegged
me with the ball. Their
relief
pitcher
was Todd
Whitman
, one of the guys that had stopped Jayden on the bleachers the day before. H
is
smugness
was unmistakable;
he wanted
me
to
know he did it intentionally. I
had to listen to more of Garrett’s comments both times
around the bases
.

When Jesse was up to bat,
I could see it in his eyes that he meant business. It was no surprise that he cracked one past the center fielder. It hit the fence and bounced back
in, but
Jesse
was already heading to
second base. The ball came into
second
as
Jesse
slid under the baseman and the umpire called him safe.

After Aaron struck out, I stepped up to the plate, prepared for another walk. I was surprised that I was
actually going to be pitched to
instead.
I guess Todd thought I would be
so
worried
about being
peg
ged
again
,
so
he was hoping for a strikeout.
That first throw was a
n inside
curve ball, and
it came right at me before it curve
d over the plate for a strike—a
s I knew it would
.
But
I wanted the
inside
fastball that he would be throwing next, and sure enough, it came right
to my liking
. All it took was
perfect timing,
and the ball sent itself out of the park.

Garrett didn’t say a single word on my way past him.

We held the game at 4-1. It was great
that we took first place, but it was even more gratifying
that it was
them
that we beat.
We closed up the tournament and gathered our things. Coach Tucker let us skip an after game meeting and even told us to take Tuesday off. Our next regular game was scheduled for Saturday.

Jayden was waiting for me at the railing, and even my father was still around.

“Wow! Great game, kid!” he said to me.

Jayden smiled, waiting for me to kiss her. I tried not to get too
close because I was so filthy, b
ut she gave me a
big
h
ug anyways
.

We
talked about the game for a little while
until my
dad said he needed to go so he could get up for work in the morning. He gave me a hug and
whispered
, “She’s amazing; don’t let her go.” He turned to Jayden and told her he enjoyed getting to know her.

“You, too,” she replied. “I hope to see you soon.”

“Dad,” I
called
, just as he was
leaving
. He turned to face me and I said,
“
I’m glad you could make it.”

He knew what I was really saying
,
and he paused for a moment before
he
left with a nod
.

I looked at Jayden and smiled. “Did you get
the inside scoop
on me
?”

“Oh, you have no idea,” she smiled back, wrapping her arms around my neck.

“I’m really dirty, babe. You might want to—”

She shut me up by kissing me, so I put my hands on her waist and enjoyed every second of it.
Most of the stands were empty except for a few people here an
d there, but I didn’t care. E
arlier thoughts flooded my mind and I knew I could
easily
spend the rest of my life with her.

Finally she slowly pulled back and put her hands on my chest. “You taste like Gatorade,” she smiled.

“You’re lucky I rinsed my mouth out. It was the only
way to stop tasting dirt
.”

We walked toward the nearly empty parking lot hand in hand. Most of my team was gone, but I did see Jesse and Aaron nearby, and a few others that I knew. I also saw Garrett Freeman and
two
of his
buddies, and I knew he was waiting for me. I wasn’t sure if he just planned on spouting off more trash, or if he would go even further, but I couldn’t avoid him before he saw us.