Hotbox (15 page)

Great. Now Jayden will feel bad…

“You have a curfew you’re supposed to follow?” she asked, turning to face me. She looked at her watch. “What time was I suppose to be out of here?”

When I didn’t answer right away she looked at Jesse.

“An hour ago,” he told her. Looking at me he said
, “Sorry, Ty. Coach asked me, too
. I just don’t want you to get in trouble.”

He got up and said goodnight and
Jayden stood
to grab
her purse.

“Don’t go,” I begged her
as I stood
.

“Ty, your coach
could easily
dri
ve by here and see my car. He probably
already
knows they’ve been
covering for you.
Why else would he ask them both?
”

I took her in my arms and kissed her.

“That’s not going to change the subject,” she mumbled. “But…maybe for a…few seconds.”
I
t made me
smile
until she
pushed away from me and
said,
“Tell me what your curfew is, so I can make sure you don’t break it again.”

I sighed, knowing I’d better give in. “Ten on school nights and game nights, midnight on the weekends.”

“And that includes people
out
of your house, right?”

I paused before answering, “Yes.”

She sighed and reached for her jacket. I couldn’t tell if she was upset with me for being dishonest and breaking curfew, or just not telling her about it. I asked her and she said, “Both.”

“I’m sorry, Jay. It wasn’t a big deal to me. I’ve never had a prob
l
em with curfew until I met you—”
That sounded really bad, and t
he look on her face confirmed it. “What I mean is that I’m not really a problem player; the coaches have other guys they worry about more than me—”

“Until now,” she replied. “Because of me, your coach is now checking up on you.”

“It’s not
your
fault; you didn’t even know.”

“Yeah, but
I don’t want you to start slipping with stuff because of me. I couldn’t… I don’t want you to get in trouble, okay? Now that I know, you’re gonna be more careful, right?”

She really did look worried and it confused me.

“I will. I’m sorry.”

She took a deep breath and gave me a hug. “Okay. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Can’t I walk you to your car?”

“No,” she said with a half smile. “That’s your punishment.”

She gave me a kiss on the cheek and headed out the door.

“I miss you already,” I
pathetically announced
from the doorway.

She paused on the sidewalk
for a few seconds, loo
king me over with contemplation. F
inally
she
gave me a
relenting
smile
as she
shook her head
. Then she made her way back to me, took my face in her hands, and gave me a kiss that almost
knocked
my legs right out from under me.

B
efore I knew it,
the rest of the week went by and
it was
May
.
My team
had a big t
ournament we were hosting at our school, so baseball was pretty much what I had going on for
the next
four
consecutive days.

Jayden had invited me to
several
activities
she had plans for
that weekend
, but when she looked at the tournament schedule, she pretty much knew I couldn’t come. We had
opening ceremonies on
Friday night,
two
games
on Saturday,
one game
on Sunday if we were in the winner’s bracket
but two if we were not,
and hopefully the ch
ampionship game on Monday night
.

Our school had two baseball fields.
Friday
night held a game on each field, but first,
every team was required to be
on the main field
for opening ceremonies. As the hosting team, Coach Tucker also wanted us to attend the games
for that night
as well
.

After arriving early to prep the fields and take care
of other necessary things, we
began to assemble
with the other
players
for the National Anthem and the introduction of
teams
.
I noticed
Coach Tucker
grumbling with Coach Farland and a couple of tournament officials below the announcer’s stand. They came our way and announced the ceremony had to be delayed twenty minutes because the anthem singer was running late
, and they hadn’t been able to find anyone to replace him right away
.
Tucker hated it when things didn’t go as scheduled, especially if it made our school look bad, and he was really
ticked off
.

I stepped up to
him
and said, “Hang on, let me see if I can fix this.” Based on what Cali said, this was definitely last minute and I was sure
Jayden
would do it.
She must have left work early to be here; she might regret that now…

I caught Jayden’s attention and waved her
over
. With a questioning look she made her way down the bleachers. I met her at the bottom and had her walk with me.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Do you want Tucker forever in your debt?”

“No,” she smiled.

“Okay,” I said, trying to make her walk quicker. “Can
I
be forever in your debt?”

“Maybe.”

“Then will you do me a favor?”

“If you buy me a hot dog.”

I laughed. “I will buy you hot dogs for the rest of my life. I need you to sing the
a
nthem.”

She stopped. “Ty…”
             
“Please, Jayden. I know you can. We really,
really
need somebody right
now
.” I did my best to plead with my eyes and she finally sighed.

“Fine.”

“Yes! Come on…”

The only bad thing was that they really did want her to stand on the mound to sing, and I felt terrible about that. I could tell she
was really apprehensive
, and s
he
didn’t want her name announced
either, but there was no way she could get out of that one.

At five-oh-five we were ready to go, and each uniformed team faced the flag to hear
our
nation’s a
nthem. When Jayden’s name was announced, she received loads
of applause from the spectators. Over the last couple o
f weeks I had
come to realize
how well
known she really was in this town, and
I was sure many people
in the stands
knew her.

I had a different feeling as I stood there and listened to her sing a song I hear performed
twice
a week. The singing of the anthem was always a reflective tim
e for me. It gave me the
opportunity to appreciate
my
country and celebrate the great sport of baseball. I always prayed before every game
during
the anthem
, particularly for the safety of the players and the ability to do my best. This time, I found myself thanking God for the incredible girl standing on the pitcher’s mound.

When s
he was done, the stands roared with applause
. I wished I could go to Jayden and give her a hug, but I was stuck on the field for the duration of team introductions. When we were dismissed and the playing teams went to their dugouts, I walked with my team to the stands to watch the first game
that started at six
.

“I owe you one, Ty,” Tucker said
on my way
to find my girlfriend
.

“No, you owe Jayden a hot dog.
I suggest you go get her one
.”

He laughed. “
Will do
.”

I trekked the bleachers and found her sitting with Cali again. Jayden slid over and patted the spot next to her, so I sat down, put my arm aroun
d her
,
and gave her a kiss
.

“You were amazing. Can’t you do that for every home game?”

She smiled and replied, “I don’t know, t
hat was pretty intimidating.”
             
“We don’t normally have people sing from the mound—that’s a tournament thing—but if you hid somewhere…would you do it?”

She laughed and said, “Maybe.”

“Come over and sit with me,” I told her, motioning to where my team was.

“With the elite?” she joked. “Am I allowed?”

“Of course. This is a free country, right?”

“Right.”

“
And
you said you were going to stay and watch the game with me.”
I stood, pulling Jayden up with me. “Come on, Cali, come sit with Devin.”

We headed for the team and Cali easily took a place by Devin. Megan was
also
there with Jack, and a few friends of the other guys. I took a detour
,
though, and led Jayden down a set of stairs to the backside of the bleachers.

“W
here are we going?”

I dragged her over to the batting barn and slipped inside the door, shutting it behind us and leaning her up against it. She put her arms around my neck as I kissed her.
It wa
s all I wanted to do and I was glad for the privacy.

“Where have you two been?” Cali asked when we returned to the
stands
.

Jayden only smiled
as
we sat down together. Cali looked at both of us before finally shaking her head
with a smile
and turning
her attention
back to the field. It was six-oh-five
and the game must have just
begun
.

“Hey, Ty, remember these guys?” Jack smiled
knowingly
. “Check out
your buddy at short
.”

I looked onto the field and had to
smile
. Garrett
Freeman
.

“
Think he’ll say something the
next time we play ‘em?” he asked.

“Nah
, I doubt it,” Aaron replied.
“
I think beating them in regionals
last year
was enough to shut him up.
”

“I don’t know,” Devin chuckled, “I think he’s out
for blood this year. I heard he’s
still
bitching
about what Ty did to him.”

“W
hat happened?” Jayden asked
.

“
Collision at
home plate
our first game of the season,” Jack answered. “
Garrett
didn’t really
appreciate
the
contact. He hurt his wrist on the slide
and had to sit out half
of the season.”

“He blamed it on me,” I told her
with a shrug
.

“He also said he was gonna kick your ass,” Aaron laughed. “Has that happened yet?”

Coach Tucker arrived and handed Jayden a hot dog and a drink.
He must have heard Aaron’s comment because he gave him the famous Tucker glower, but then he turned to Jayden and said,
“I waited in a very long line for this.
”

“Thank you,” she said with a smile. “I’m starving.”

“Hey, how ‘bout us, coach?” Aaron asked. “Where’s
my
dinner?”

“You
for sure
don’t have a
voice like an angel,
”
he scowled at him
again
.
He handed a bunch of condiment packets to Jayden and said, “I didn’t know what you wanted on it
, sweetheart
.”