Summer Swing (2 page)

“Hey, I like baseball. How many years have I spent watching David play?”

“Yeah, but you don’t like it.”

“Sure, I do. I just…don’t understand it much, I guess. David claims it’s not interesting to me because I just don’t ‘appreciate’ the game.”

She shrugged. “True it’s not for everyone, but I like it.”

“Because you’ve been watching Wyatt play for, like, ten years now.”

“It hasn’t been ten years,” she laughed. “Four. Four years at PSU
. But I guess it
seems
like ten years,” she added with a frown.

I gave her a sympathetic frown of my own, not sure of what to say. We’d talked about Wyatt’s fear of commitment for hours upon hours, and I knew it was still a sore subject for her.

“Oh, well,” she said lightly. “What we have is good, and if he needs more time to realize he can’t live without me, then I guess I can give it to him. At least
for a few more months
.
”

“Yeah, right. You have no intention of dumping his sorry butt. I think you should make him learn the hard way and
then
he’ll figure it out.”

She smiled and replied, “Well technically we’ve only been together for two years, and that’s really not long enough to freak out over.”

“You’ve known him for four, dated him for two, and he still can’t decide on your relationship?”

“He’s decided. For now things are good the way they are.”

“
For
him
.
But it’s not what
you
want, Dawn. Just...don’t ‘settle,’ okay? Make sure what you w
ant is taken into consideration
too.”

She paused for a few seconds
,
but ultima
tely decided the topic was over when she said,
“So
let’s talk about Gage.”

I
rolled my eyes. “What about him?
”

“Well I showed you
a picture
of him and you barely said anything.”

I shrugged. “He was kind of cute.”

“Just kind of? Why do you have to be so vague, Ellie? I think he’s super cute.”

I sighed because I knew Dawn really wanted to set me up on a date with this guy.
I figured I might as
well indulge her for now so I asked, “H
ave you ever met him?”

“Gage?
Yeah, but just a couple of times.
He’s
a year older than you—twenty-one—and he
plays ball at
Eastern Oregon. It’ll be his last
summer
before he graduates
so he wants to play summer
league
over here. He’ll be living with Wyatt, so you’ll be able to see him all the time.”

“And what about after
summer? He goes back to Eastern
as a senior
.
What’s his major?”

“Oh
, uh…
I don’t really know. But that’s the fun of getting to know him, Elle.
Seriously, I think you should go out with him. Wyatt’s already told him about you—”

“Oh, great. There goes any little chance I might’ve had.”

She laughed. “Oh, come on. Gage was totally interested, so whatever Wyatt told him couldn’t have been bad.”

“I don’t know, Dawn. I’ll think about it, okay?”

“You’re not still hung up on Tim, are you?”

I
almost
over
reacted, but I only said,
“No, I’m not. I just wanted to take a break from it all for now.”

“But you’ve got summer to enjoy before you start school again. Why not fill it with a summer romance?”

She had a silly look on her face and it made me laugh.
Dawn was all about love and romance, and even though I didn’t feel like Wyatt was her knight in shining armor, she was happy with him, and I couldn’t take that away from her.

“I said I’d think about it.”

“Okay, fine. But you like guys over six-foot, Elle. He’s six-
three
, he’s a pitcher,
and he—”

“I’ll think about it,” I growled playfully.

With a laugh she pulled into my pare
nts’ driveway
and pretty much sent me on my way so she could meet up with Wyatt.

Later that night I was on my computer—kind of doing some work, and kind of just messing around socially—and my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number
but decided to answer it anyway
since I thought it might be work or school related.

“Hello, this is Ambrielle.”
There was silence
for a few seconds, so I asked,
“Hello?”

“Oh, uh,
I’m
looking for Ellie. Is this the wrong number?”

“N
o, I’m Ellie.” There was a pause again so I said, “Uh, Ellie is short for Ambrielle. Um, who is this?”

After another brief silence he replied, “Oh, I’m Gage. Gage
Brennan
. My cousin is Wyatt
Brennan
. He uh… Well, your
sister is Dawn, right? She gave me your number. I hope you don’t mind, but she thought… Well, she suggested I call you
.
I hope that’s okay
.
”

“Yeah, sure. I mean
I’m glad you called; I was just thinking about you.”

“You were?”

“Yeah,
I’m online…
M
aybe I can friend you?”

“Oh, yeah.” He paused for a mome
nt but I could hear that he was moving. “Just a sec…”

I had already searched his name and was looking over the information. “Is this you in the Rockies t-shirt?”

He
answered
with a soft chuckle
,
and then added, “Yeah, I’m from Colorado.”

“Oh? What part? I have a few relatives down in Pueblo.”

“I grew up just outside of Colorado Springs.
Black Forest?”

“Oh, sure, that’s just a bit north, right?”

“Yep.” He laughed again and said,
“Well I guess I might have
been able to find you on here—t
he only snowboarding
picture
. That’s
probably
all I know about you.”

“And now you know my full name is Ambrielle Abbott.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes two things. And your name is pretty, by the way. Ambrielle. I like it.”

Sheesh, had he been face to face with me he’d see me blushing right now. “
Oh, uh,
thank you.”

“
You’re welcome.
You like to go by Ellie, though?”

“Uh, it doesn’t really matter. My family calls me Elle or Ellie.
Except when my mom is perturbed with me. Then she uses my full name.
”

“Hmm, I guess I’ll have to see you in person to decide what I should call you. And there’s not much to do with the name Gage, so I guess you’re stuck without any options.”

“Hmm, I guess I’ll have to see you in person before I decide that,” I replied. I’d been looking over his photos online and decided he was definitely as cute as Dawn claimed. Maybe being stubborn ab
out it had been a waste of time.

“So is that a possibility, then?
” he ended up asking.
“
Can I see you sometime? I mean can I take you out one of these days?”

“Yeah, sure,” I found myself replying right away.

“How about next Saturday? I’m moving in with Wyatt so I can play baseball in Portland this summer, and I’ll be getting there next weekend.”

“Sure, that sounds perfect.
I’ll be working that day but I’m off at four.”

“
Okay, that sounds great. Uh… Well, I’m
kind of
familiar with the area
but not entirely
, so forgive me if I need to do a little research first. I’m sure Wyatt can help me out, but if you have an idea of what you want to do…”

I was smiling as he spoke. “What if I just took you on a little tour. I can show you some of the
sights
, and
point out
some of my favorite places. You’re kind of talking to the right person since it’s actually my job to know these things. I
conjure up the
Slice of the City
blip each week for our radio station. I research different social scenes, restaurants, and other things and just find that one thing I want to share with listeners for that
week
.”

There was a brief pause before he said, “Wow. Sounds like I have a date with the queen of the social scene.
That’s
kind of exciting.”

I laughed. “W
ell
yeah, it can be fun. But I don’t go clubbing every week
end
, or dine out every night. I’m definitely not a party girl, so don’t get the wrong idea.”

“No, your sister said that you’re a ‘nice girl’,” he chuckled. “I didn’t really get the impression that you partied a lot.”

“Well that’s true, but I wouldn’t take what my sister says too seriously. She tends to over-romanticize life in general.”

“Yeah she seems a little…”

“Spacey?”

He laughed. “No, I was going to say something along the lines of ‘quixotic.’ ”

“Ah, yes, that too. Goes right along with unrealistic and dreamy.”

“Oh, so you’re saying you and I aren’t a feasible combination?”

I had to pause for a second. Is that what I meant? His tone was of the teasing sort, but I went with, “Yeah, probably not. But I’ll give you a chance anyway.”

Chapter Two

I had never built a friendship with a guy through technology before meeting him first, but that seemed to be the case with Gage. The following week we talked on the phone everyday, texted in between our busy times, or sent emails or other comments to each other online. I really liked my time with him, even if it wasn’t in person.

But maybe that’s what made
him
easier to talk to. I felt more comfortable divulging things about myself when I didn’t have to do it face-to-face. I guess that confidence kind of takes over your insecurities when you don’t feel so pressured to act just right. I had less to worry about while I folded laundry during our phone conversations, or did research online for my j
ob. I wondered if that’s why so many people did online dating and stuff.

But as the weekend drew closer, I became more nervous for Saturday. It really bugged me because talking to him on the phone hadn’t made me feel uncomfortable at all, and now that I
was going to see him in person, I was
feel
ing
really anxious.

Dawn occasionally mentioned Gage. She knew we were going out on Saturday evening, and she was even more exc
ited for us than I imagined. O
f course
I
played it down. Sometimes she just went overboard with guys and dating, and it was especially hard to hear her embarrassing comments when I was the one directly involved.

However, there was one bit of information that I’d kept from her, so when I got home from taking my last final on Friday afternoon, and Dawn was
over at the house
to pounce all over me, she hit me with, “You little wretch! You didn’t tell me you’ve been talking to
Gage
every day this week
!”

She was standing in
my parents’
kitchen with her mouth gaping open with
disbelief
. It was kind of funny, so I couldn’t help it when I smiled.

“What’s so funny?” she almost squealed. “You’ve been…
phone dating
him all this time and didn’t even say anything?”

“Phone dating?”

“Ellie, why did I have to hear this from Wyatt?”

“Because you make a
big deal out of everything. W
e’ve been talking. So what? Should I have broadcasted it on the air?”

“No, but you could have told your sister.” Her dramatic flair had disappeared and she actually looked hurt.

I sighed and said, “Well I’m sorry, but I just didn’t feel like it I guess. It’s actually been really nice just…talking to him all week. I know a lot about him, he knows a lot about me, there’s been no outside influences to
interfere
,” I emphasiz
ed
,
to be
sure she got my drift.
“It’s just Gage, me and…whatever it is we’re talking about.”