Hotbox (5 page)

“No, you’re perfectly fine. That’s the best pitching machine there is. It probably even knows how
beautiful
you are—it’s that smart.”

She gave me a f
unny smile
—I
’m pretty sure I
embarrassed her—b
ut she announced, “Okay, I’m ready.”

“All right. Just watch the ball the whole time. Don’t take your eye off it.”

“Okay.”

I started the pitcher and she
watched the first ball go by. When the second ball came around, she
a
ctually got a piece of it
.
“Nice. Keep your eye on it.”
The
third
ball she hit
,
and her swing actually looked pretty good.
“See? Piece of cake.”

After twenty pitches she made contact on
all but
six
, and out of the oth
ers she got at least
five
great hits.

“Nice. We could use you on our team.”

“Yeah, right. Real pitches come twice that fast.”

“Well, let’s see what you can do. Do you want to try faster pitches?”

She looked a little uncertain but shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t
know. If you think I can, then I’ll try it
.”

“I know you can,” I replied, changing the setting on the machine. “Step back in there.”

She returned to the plate and held up the bat. “I’m ready,” she stated.

“Okay, here goes.”

On the first pitch she exclaimed, “
Whoo
!” and let it go by.

“Just keep your eye on it. Swing a little quicker
but keep the bat level
—”

She did and cracked it perfectly.

“Nice. Keep
watching the ball hit the bat.
”

After another twenty pitches she hit
just as good as
the first twenty.

“I’m impressed,” I told her.

She smiled at me and said, “Did I do better than the other girls you bring here?”

I had to l
augh. “Sorry, you’re the first. But
maybe I should bring a few, just to see how you compare
.”

She laughed and pointed the bat at me. “Not if you want me to come back. It’s them or me, buddy.”

“Well that’s an easy choice.”

Our eyes met
,
and
we were both
silent for a few second
s. She seemed embarrassed again—or maybe she was just shy—a
nd even though I felt a little unsure of what was happening,
the moment somehow became significant.
When I looked into her eyes, I could see everything I wanted in
a
girl. I hardly knew her, but there was something in the way we connected that completely blew me away.

“
So, uh,
n
ow it’s your turn,” she
finally
said,
and she sat down
on a nearby stool.

It was then that I realized my pulse was racing. “Oh, t
hat’s okay. I do this all the time. I wanted you to try it.”

“Are you afraid of doing poorly?” she asked with a teasing smile.

I looked at her and returned the smile. “No.”

“Are you afraid you’ll be showing off?”

“Maybe,
”
I chuckled.

“Then let’s see what you got. I want to see how many you can hit.”
             
“
All of them
,” I replied.

She cocked her head. “Prove it.”

I shook my head with a smile and said, “If you insist.” I set th
e
machine
and selected a bat.
After taking a deep breath to calm my heart,
I was done a minute
and a half
later
, hitting every one of them.

When I looked at her she was smiling. “Wow. You almost look mechanical yourself.”

I laughed and said, “Yeah, but it’s a little different on the field.
But
I can set it up
to throw different pitches
too, to make it more challenging
. You want to go again
?”

“Not that fast!” she exclaimed. “I wouldn’t even be able to see them coming.”

“No, I’ll set it for whatever you want.”

“Okay,
I’ll try different pitches. But nothing faster than what I was hitting,
” she added
.

“Sure. Step in there.”

I reset the machine and waited for her okay to start. She still did very well, even though she laughed any time a series of slow pitches would come in, and then a fastball would surprise her. She got the hang of it with the last few, and wanted me to start it again. She did better the second time around.

I’
d never had so much fun with batting practice.
Jayden
was
so
enjoyable to be around
,
and I lo
ved her sense of humor. She
made me smile at anything she said,
especially because
she was
so
witty.
And the most obvious bonus…
she
was way hotter than any of my teammates.

“Okay, I think I’m done,” she said.

“Are you sure? You can go as long as you like.”
I almost admitted to how much I liked watching her, but I figured that might be
admitting
a little
too
much.

“Nah, I’m done,” she replied, taking off the helmet. “
I don’t want to get
too
good and show you up,” she teased.

With a laugh I replied, “That’d be fine with me. I would just take the credit for being a great coach.”

“You are a great coach. And I could easily see myself playing for you again, so
I’ll save some for next time.”

That made my entire year. I looked forward to “next time,” or any other “next times” there might be. I took the helmet from her and put it away, and stuck the bat in my bag.

“Do you need to get back to your friends and, uh, your dad?” I asked her.

She shook her head. “Nah, I have a few more hours if you do.”

“Uh, yeah. Definitely.
Are you hungry?”

“I’m starving.”

“What do you feel like eating?”

She shrugged. “Well, I had so much fun here, I
’ll let you choose where we eat
as well.”

I was a little unsure about that. I hated picking restaurants…

“What’s the matter?” she asked.

She was studying me curiously and her eyes seemed to try and read me. I wasn’t sure what to say, but I decided to just be honest and let her know how unsophisticated I really was.
I wasn’t exactly a charmer, and I knew she already picked up on that. It was evident
when
she
had
watched me squirm, trying to explain what I meant about her
hips looking nice
(for batting, I meant!)

“I’m…n
ot good at picking restaurants. I just…really can’t read your mind
and choose where
you
would
want
to go.”

She stared at me for a few seconds
before she smiled and said, “You can’t read my mind? Thank goodness for that,” she sort of murmured
.
“
Well I’ll make it easy on you.
I’m not very picky
. I’m even fine with fast food.
In fact, I’m kind of addicted to it. All the
drive-
thru restaurants
recognize my voice when I order.
”

It made me chuckle, but I couldn’t help but glance over her body again. If she ate stuff like that often you would never be able to tell. She was slim, but definitely athletic. I didn’t know how toned the rest of her was, but I could see the definition in her arms when she was batting. I wasn’t sure if she was joking or not, but
I carefully considered what she said as
I picked up
my
bag and headed out of the barn
with her
.

“How about we make a deal?” she asked me
. “You take me somewhere that’s
very much
you
, and next time I’ll take you somewhere that’s very much
me
.”

Next time. Those words gave me a thrill. Her smile was expectant and I had no choice but to agree. I definitely wanted there to be a next time.

“Okay, I think I can handle that. So if it’s a deal, I’m guaranteed at least one more date with you, right? Even if you are completely horrified with where I take you?”

She laughed as we got in the truck. “I’m
dying
to be horrified.”

She actually had a huge smile on her face when I pulled into
Time Out
, a sports bar downtown. I thought she was letting me know that
I was being totally predictable, so I said, “What can I say?
I’m a jock.”

She laughed and said, “I m
ust be
as well. I’ve been here
dozen
s of
times.”

I couldn’t hide my surprise when I asked, “Really? With which boyfriend?”

Again she laughed
,
but she didn’t answer the question. Instead she got out of the truck while I sat there in thought. She tilted her head
with a smile
as she waited for me, so I finally got out and met her at the bumper.

“That wasn’t a rhetorical question,” I informed her as we walked to the entry.

“Oh? Which questio
n? ‘Really
?
’ or ‘which boyfriend
?
’
”

I gave her a
look and said, “You’re a little feisty.”

“I am?” she replied, pretending to be shocked. “Hmm. Am I too much for you
to handle
?”

I
smiled and gave her a side-glance. “I surely hope not, but I’m ready for another challenge.”

She smiled as I held the door for her,
and
then
led her inside
.

I recognized the waitress that seated us
, and she seemed to know Jayden
as well
. After a short conversation she pointed at Jayden and knowingly said, “Water for you,”
and she turned to me and said, “Now I’m pretty sure you’re not one of the drinkers, right?”

“
Right
, water’s great.”

When she left Jayden smiled at me. “You don’t
drink during baseball season?”

“No, not ever.”

She
seemed to think
over
my answer, eyeing me carefully. It made me a little nervous because I thought she was trying to read
further into it
. Finally she replied,
“Good for you. I think it’s nasty stuff.”

I nodded my agreement, not wanting to get into the real reasons why I wouldn
’t touch
alcohol
. She would probably run the other way.

“I don’t think many people hang out at sports bars on
Easter
,” she
glanced around
with a little laugh
.

“Just a few other jocks,” I noticed. There wasn’t a female in sight, and the guys that
were
in there had their eyes on
my
date. I guess I couldn’t blame them
,
though, because Jayden was quite a sight. But I felt a little ashamed about being so attracted to her physically without knowing much about her. I understood that it was how things worked, but after getting to know her
just
a little, I was fully convinced that true beauty really was on the inside.

Just then
her ph
one rang. “Oh, sorry about that,” she smiled, seeming embarrassed.
“Let me put it on mute— O
h, wait, I should take this
or we’ll both be sorry
. Do you mind?”

I shook my head no.

“Hey, what’s up?” She paused for a bit. “Oh, sounds fun… Me? Oh, I’m actually at
Howard’s
—
”