Chapter 36

David
David picked up Milena, and they took a trip to the grocery store. He let her pick out steaks while he hit the deli and produce aisles to figure out what would go with them. David spotted fresh asparagus, so he grabbed a couple of bunches, along with two lemons. At the deli, he bought pasta salad and baked beans.

They then picked up Allard and Seamus, both of whom knew Milena from the Baseball House parties with Alpha Mu, so no introductions were needed. When they arrived at the townhouse, they could hear Precious complaining. Someone had gotten smart and put her in her crate before leaving for the day. Her pitiful cries had Milena feeling sorry for her.

“You’re just the cutest,” Milena cooed.

“That’s Precious. She’s a straight-up badass,” Allard shared.

“But she wants out of her crate,” Milena said.

“Of course she does. She can’t make you bleed if she’s in there,” Allard speculated.

“Are you a bad kitty? No? You just want some loving. I think we’re going to be friends,” Milena predicted.

“Don’t be stark ravers. That cat is mental,” Seamus said, adding his doubt about letting Precious out.

“It’ll be okay,” Milena said as she reached for the latch.

“What are you doing!?” David barked.

Everyone was on the roof, sitting around the table as David cooked. They all had stunned looks on their faces as David tried to hold in his chuckles.

“That was different. Precious just blasted out of her crate and pissed right on you. I’ve never heard of a cat pissing in someone’s face before,” Milena said to Seamus.

David couldn’t hold it in any longer and erupted with a belly laugh. Seamus glared at him. David would’ve bet a large sum of money that Seamus would have preferred that Precious had clawed him.

“Uh,” Milena continued. “Sorry, you really took the brunt of it. I would’ve guessed you had better reflexes since you play baseball.”

“Do you think that was a defense mechanism that she pissed right in your face? Does that go back to caveman times?” Allard asked.

Seamus turned his glare on Allard, who was trying valiantly to hold in his laughter.

“I’m really sorry. I should’ve listened to David,” Milena said to apologize for the tenth time.

David didn’t think Seamus bought it because she would break out in giggles every so often. David now knew what his mom was talking about when she said a house smelled like cat piss.

Cassidy and Pam joined them on the roof.

“Who let Precious out?” Cassidy asked.

“I’ll tell you later,” David said. He introduced the girls to Milena. Then he had a question. “Where’s Tracy?”

“She’s busy working on her interviews from today. Channel 11 plans to pick up her coverage of the fundraiser as filler,” Pam answered.

“That’s great news. I hope Tracy has footage of some of my better dance moves.”

David ignored their snarky responses about how well they thought he could dance. He decided to change the topic.

“I have an extra ticket for tonight’s game.”

Both Pam and Cassidy put together that Milena was taking the other seat. They wanted to talk to her because David was showing interest in her. David worried they might duke it out, but they decided on a game of rock-paper-scissors. Cassidy won.

David dropped the girls off at the Will Call booth so that they could get their tickets. He then pulled around to the players parking area. As the three guys walked toward the door, David had a question.

“Did Milena ever hook up with anyone at the Baseball House?”

Allard and Seamus looked at each other.

“Before you make a smart comment, I have more than enough dirt on both of you to make your lives miserable,” David threatened.

“You’ll not be having anything on me, yeah?” Seamus asked or said; David wasn’t really sure. The Irish confused him.

“Do you want to be known as ‘cat-piss boy’ for the rest of your life?” David asked.

Allard had roomed with David when they tried out for Team USA a couple of summers ago. He already had figured out that the shenanigans he’d gotten into then were better left unsaid.

“I honestly don’t know. It wasn’t like I kept track of who did what with the Alpha Mus,” Allard finally said.

“I was busy,” Seamus said with a smirk.

David suspected that if anyone had hooked up with Milena, one of them would have heard. It wasn’t like there were many secrets within this team.

They walked into the locker room where Andres was talking to the press. When David got to his locker, Tracy was there.

“Why aren’t you with the rest of the press corps?”

“They haven’t figured out yet that you’re the story on this team. I was hoping you would give me a couple of quotes.”

“How about you just write something and attribute it to me?” David suggested.

“You’re so lazy sometimes.”

“I’m about to change,” he warned her.

That didn’t faze her, so he did just that. Tracy was fine until Seamus took David’s lead and started to get undressed. David’s reporter friend decided she would get a quote later. Andres came over and stopped and sniffed the air.

“What is that smell?”

“Jaysus Christ, keep your yap shut,” Seamus said as he went to take a shower.

“Don’t ask,” was all David said to Andres.

“I’ll let it go for now, but he smelled like he rolled around in cat piss.”

David couldn’t help but laugh. He made a zipping motion over his lips and grabbed his gear to head to the dugout.

When USC came up in the bottom of the third, they were in growing shock that an honest-to-goodness pitching battle had broken out. The games so far had pretty much seemed to be more like batting practice. To date, USC had averaged just under eight runs a game.

Washington’s pitcher had struck out the side in the first two innings. To his credit, Rex had only allowed them one hit so far against the Trojans.

Leading off USC’s half of the inning was Scott, the Trojans’ left fielder. He was one of the players Coach Burris had been working with, and he’d started to see the ball better. Scott had become good at battling pitchers. He worked the count to three and two and then hit four straight foul balls.

The Huskies’ pitcher tried to get him out with a big sweeping curveball but put it in the dirt a foot in front of the plate. Scott hustled to first as the catcher tried to track down the ball that had slipped between his legs. Coach Hob was waving his arm to indicate that Scott should run to second.

Washington’s bench was going crazy, pointing to where the ball was. The idiot had pulled his mask off, and it had landed on the baseball, covering it. Scott was halfway to second when their catcher uncovered the wayward ball. He didn’t bother trying to throw Scott out.

Micah was up and crowded the plate. Washington’s pitcher threw inside to brush him back and clipped his forearm. Micah could tell it wasn’t intentional, so he trotted to first without comment.

Seamus came to the plate. Since he’d walked on, he was probably USC’s most improved hitter. He crowded the plate, knowing that the Huskies’ pitcher wouldn’t risk coming inside. Seamus did his job by making the Washington pitcher work. In the end, the guy blew a fastball by Seamus to get the strikeout.

David was up. The last few pitches showed that the Washington pitcher had gotten over whatever had caused him to allow the first two Trojans to reach base. David expected to see his best stuff, though David hadn’t necessarily expected the pitcher to challenge him.

On the first pitch, the Huskies’ hurler threw probably his hardest fastball of this game right down the center of the plate. If David hadn’t dropped into the zone and reacted as soon as the ball left the pitcher’s hand, it would have gotten by him. David focused on taking a level swing and let the ball speed take care of how far he hit it.

At the sound of the bat striking the ball, the Huskies’ pitcher’s head snapped around, and he watched the towering shot go down the first base line. David slowed down when he was almost to first because he wanted to see whether it would stay fair. When it cleared the fence just inside the foul pole, the first-base umpire signaled a home run. As David rounded the bases, the pitcher stared David down.

“That’s all you’re getting today, Dawson,” he challenged.

“We’ll see,” David shot back.

David made it back to the dugout and received congratulations from his teammates. One of the team managers tracked him down to let him know that he now led the team in both RBIs and home runs. Not bad for not playing most of the first games.

Rex tired in the seventh and gave two back to make the score 3–2, Trojans.

Their opponents’ pitcher had shut the rest of David’s teammates down to this point. So, when David came up first, the Huskies’ pitcher had an intense look. David took his spot in the box and focused on the task at hand. The first two pitches were sent as a message, resulting in David dusting himself off from hitting the dirt to avoid getting drilled.

One of David’s greatest strengths was that he’d learned to play in the moment. He had the ability to forget what had just happened and focus on what he had to do right now. That didn’t mean he didn’t strategize. What it meant was that David didn’t worry that he might catch the next pitch in the ear.

He settled into his usual stance and waited for the pitch. The pitcher shook off his catcher twice. David guessed he wanted to throw his big curve. None of USC’s hitters had been able to handle it so far. David had hit a home run off his fastball, so it made sense he would go with what was working for him.

When the ball left the pitcher’s hand, David held up for a fraction of a second to adjust for the slower speed of the curveball. If it had been a fastball, David would never have hit it. Instead, he saw the rotation of the ball as it came to the plate and knew he’d guessed right. This time, instead of just meeting the ball with his bat, he ripped it through the zone to create the energy required to smash it. David sent a towering shot to left field.

He made a little hop as he went down the first base line. David watched the ball leave the park. When he saw it was good, he put his head down and ran the bases to make the score 4–2, which was how the game ended.

After the game, David had been called to the press room to answer questions with Coach Deneau. He smiled when he saw Tracy in the back with both Cassidy and Milena.

Coach Deneau started by giving a brief description of the game. He made a point of complimenting Washington. Then it was time for the press to ask their questions.