God Blessed the Broken Road. Chapter Fifteen. / First Love Song. Chapter Thirteen.
Written by: lady_lilith and lady_death.
Title: God Blessed the Broken Road. Chapter Fifteen.
Title: First Love Song. Chapter Thirteen.
Fandom: MLB: New York Yankees.
Characters: Nick Swisher, Serena Girardi, Jared Pettitte, Phil Hughes, Andy Pettitte.
Word Count: 6,299.
Rating: PG.
Summary: Serena makes a friend.
Author's Notes: This is set on September 20, 2010. Later, at the ballpark. The Yankees would go on to beat the Rays, 8-6.
"Why would anybody come this early, man?" Groans, spotting Serena, "Look! There is life in the universe."
Looking up from her book, "Hi!"
"Hey. What are you doin' here?"
"We came here so I could practice after they were done running."
"They came to run too? Phil is out there and I can't watch him go back and forth anymore. It's tourture."
"Why?"
"I can't run as much on my knee, gotta save it up for game time. What are you practicing?"
"Um.... did they talk to you?"
"Did who talk to me? Your dad? No I haven't heard from any lifeforms but Phil this morning."
"Oh."
"What are you up to? Don't leave me hanging."
"I wanna play baseball."
"Yeah? Awesome. Why should all the boys have the fun, right? You got just as much talent passed down to you, good genes for it. You takin' up a side of the family business?"
"I don't wanna be a pitcher or a catcher."
"Third baseman?"
Shakes her head, no.
"No? Well I didn't wanna be a catcher like my dad either."
"I wanna be an outfielder."
Grins, "Smart choice. I knew you were the brilliant one in that family. Oh whoa, no, no, no, you aren't gonna practice with Andy are you?"
"Uh uh, he was gonna ask your people."
"One of us outfielders? That's better, if you're gonna learn to be an outfielder you gotta do it right. Pitchers don't even like the ball gettin' hit out there, they don't understand."
"Yeah, he said you-all would help me."
Glances around the room, "Don't see anybody here, but me. Am I a candidate in the running?"
"He didn't talk to you yet."
"Yeah, but do you wanna learn from me? I don't want your dad forcing me on you. I can talk to any of the other guys."
"No! I would pick you, but if you're really busy, then it's okay."
"I'm not busy. I'm the furthest thing from busy. I'm waiting on Phil with absolutely nothing to do. What are you sitting there for, girl? Grab your glove."
Grins, putting her marker in her book, "But I hafta tell my dads first. But I don't know where they went."
"If they're still workin' out, maybe Phil has seen 'em. They can't miss us on a big field."
Jumps up from the couch, grabbing her glove, "I think they're all done. But they'll find us."
"They're smart guys, they'll put two and two together. Why did you decide to join the ranks of us grass nomads?"
"Because I like to throw the ball, but not pitch. My, um, big brother helped me before, but he hadta go to school."
"That blows, but it is common knwoledge the best arms on the team are outfielders. Do you know pitchers can't even really throw the ball? They forget the difference between pitching and throwing, it's easier to toss it for ‘em."
"Yeah, I know, that's why I needed a real outfielder to help me because my family has a lot of pitchers and catchers."
"How do you feel about fielding?"
"It's fun! I like when the ball is up reeeeally high and I run to get it and then wait and it's in my glove!"
Grins at her, "Me too. You're like a psychic bloodhound out there, you can track it right into your glove by getting to the ball before it even knows where it wants to be." Searches for a bucket of balls and a fungo bat.
"Yeah! It's really fun."
"What about falling? Do you care about throwing yourself around in the grass? You gotta be able to put your body out there without caring about getting hurt."
"Did you ever do gymnastics?"
"No, I did yoga once, but never any gymnastics."
"Want me to show you?"
"We gotta stretch out, you can show me on the field all your cool gymnastic tricks."
"Okay. I can show you how to do a cartwheel."
Laughs, "Promise to show me again when I got full use of my knee? You're gonna get me in all sorts of trouble with your dad. I just got back on his good side."
"When your knee is all better, I'll teach you how to do it."
"I'd like that, man. You can teach me some super cool gymnastics stuff."
"That's only fair if you're going to teach me super cool outfielder stuff."
"All outfielder stuff is super cool, them's the rules."
"You have to tell my dads that, so they won't be sad I'm not a pitcher or a catcher, okay?"
"Isn't your brother Dante a catcher? They're lucky they had more than one kid. My dad just has me."
"Yeah, but they're super into like that stuff. Luke's probably gonna be a catcher too 'cause he follows Dante around everywhere. And then my baby sister follows him around. Like ducklings!"
Laughs, "If Luke's following around Dante, maybe he'll be a pitcher. Catcher's gotta have someone to catch or there job isn't much good."
"Before they hadta go to school, Dante was catching Jared."
"Andy's kid? Well he's not here right? So somebody has to throw to Dante with him in Texas."
Frowns, "Yeah."
"He's got teammates from around here doesn't he? And he can teach Luke."
"Yeah, but I wish they didn't hafta go to Texas, that's all."
"You miss 'em? That's a tough thing to deal with. Lets see if we can't take your mind off it okay?" Leads her towards the field.
Nods, following after him.
"Do you know which field you wanna be in?"
Shrugs, "Right?"
"Nuh uh, you can't just pick it out of a hat, you gotta feel it." Keeps walking towards the outfield grass.
"Can I try them all?"
"Of course. That's the best way to find out what you like is trial and error."
"My teacher says that too."
"You ever lay out in the outfield grass?" Grins at her, "Just look up at the whole stadium and the sky and see what it's like to be a ball?"
"No! Can we?"
"Pick what spot looks best to you." Gestures to the whole outfield.
Wanders around for minute, looking up, finding the best view. Plops down almost exactly between right and center. "Here!"
Sets down the bucket of balls than takes the spot next to her, stretching out in the grass.
Watches him, copying every move he makes.
Looks up at the sky, "That's all yours. You're the guardian of the whole sky when you're out here."
"Wow."
"I know, man, isn't it fantastic?! You are in charge of more territory than anybody else on the team."
"That's so cool."
"You have one of the biggest responsibilities for defense. You'd think maybe a first baseman or a second baseman would have more, 'cause like they're in charge of pick-offs, and a first baseman gets to save a lot of outs. But if a first baseman misses a ball, maybe the guy gets a double at most. If we miss a ball you're looking a triple territory, multiple runs scoring. Sometimes it's not even about catching the ball, but knowing the smartest place to throw it afterwards. You gotta believe your arm is faster than any runner and want that resting on your shoulders. If you do it right, your pitchers will love you."
"Whoa that's so important."
"It is. Maybe like in middle school, you might take some shit for wanting to be an outfielder. They think it's so cool to be a shortstop or whatever. But in high school, centerfield gets all the glory, almost as much as the ace on the team."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah, because everybody wants to hit the ball deep which means you're busy busy busy out there."
"That sounds like a really important job."
"It is and everything is bigger out here. Look at all this space! In the infield, you're on top of everything, it's all about reactions. They don't have any time to think. A guy doesn't think about getting his glove on a linedrive, he just fields them over and over and over, until his body is moving before his mind even realises the ball has been hit. Here, you gotta think about each batter. You gotta think about what pitch is being thrown. Is he throwing a high fastball in the upper nineties that a guy isn't likely to pull or is he throwing a curveball that a guy might miss the meat of the ball and end up hitting a sinking line drive out here that's gonna drop in short. You're gonna learn to think about how a batter hits each kinda pitch. And you're gonna learn each batters tendencies and position yourself to go after 'em best."
"That's a lot to know. I don't think even my dads or my brothers know how much stuff there is to learn out here."
"There's a ton, but you have plenty of time to learn it. And it's fun to learn it. You're never gonna be bored out here."
"I think this sounds like the best spot to be."
Grins, "I think it is. And you're gonna get to learn to dive for balls. After a while it will feel instinctual, you'll just know where the ball is comin' down, but at the start the trial and error makes for a grand ol' time. Do you like sprinting?"
"Like running really fast? Yeah."
"You're gonna be doin' a lot of that. First thing to learn is catching a ball hit behind you. Forget all the stuff I said, we're gonna strip it down to bare bones."
"What's that?"
"Learning to do an over the shoulder catch and reading how the ball comes off the bat. First you just gotta learn to catch the ball and throw it back with good momentum behind it."
"Will you show me how to do that?"
"Oh yeah, but we got stretch your arm out first. Long toss is gonna be your best friend for strengthening your arm."
"How do we do that?"
Gets to his feet offering her a hand up. "You do gymnastics, yeah? How do you stretch your upper body for that? We just need to get your arm loose. I don't want you pulling anything."
Grabs his hand, bounding to her feet. "We do stretches."
Runs a little back and forth before starting in on his own stretches.
Copies everything he does as best as she can, never taking her eyes off him. "Is this right?"
"You can do the stretches you know from gymanstics, you just gotta feel like your muscles are warmed up."
"We just do the same as the teacher."
"You don't know 'em by heart by now?"
"Mm mm."
"Okay, you can just follow me then."
Nods, "I'll try to remember them."
"It'll be second nature after a while, no worries."
"I know it's important to get warmed up so you don't get hurt."
"Exactly, we don't want you to get hurt. Let me know when you're ready."
Takes her stretching very seriously, trying to remember what each one is. "Can you do jumping jacks? We do that at gymnastics."
"That's good, 'cause it's dynamic and it gets your muscles warmed up. You can do a couple, but I can't bounce that much on my knee. Good thinkin' though."
"What does 'dynamic' mean?"
Laughs, "In this instance, it means you're moving. A static stretch means you're still, and a dynamic stretch, you're moving your body while you stretch."
"Oh. So that's good?"
"Yeah, some people say dynamic stretching is better for you."
"So can I do jumping jacks?"
"Go for it." Grins at her, "Give me 20."
"Twenty?! That's a lot." Takes a deep breath, counting them out as she does them.
"How about ten? We'll split the difference, work up to twenty."
Panting a little, "I can... do twenty.... seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty!"
"Damn girl, I don't think some of the boys on this team could do twenty."
Grins brilliantly, proud of herself, "We can ask them to and see if they can."
"Well we don't want to embarrass some people, but we can get Phil to do it."
"You wanna embarrass him?"
"I think Phil can eek out twenty. If we cheer him on hard enough."
Giggles, "But maybe not?"
"Maybe not, but I'm pretty good at cheering him."
"Well, yeah, 'cause you're his boyfriend."
"Even you know that, huh? He's my pitcher too, I'd cheer him on even if he wasn't my boyfriend."
"There are a lotta boyfriends on our team, even my dad now!" Giggles.
"That's true, and what about you, did you get another parent out of this deal? How are you doing with it?" Picks up his glove and a ball.
"Yeah, it's really cool. He usta be Uncle Andy, but we had a meeting and now we hafta come up with a new name and he's gonna think about it because we already have Dad, you know? And like Luke and Josh are my brothers 'cause I want them to be, and Lexy. But not Jared."
"Is Jared kind of a d---, uh, do you not like him? That he's not gonna be in the family circle of trust." Backs away from her to give enough space to ease into throwing.
"No! It's just that...." Blushes brightly. "Josh said you can like pick what you want someone to be, if you want them to be your brother or something."
Nods, "I can get behind that. If my dad or mom hooked up with somebody who had kids at this point, I'm not sure if I could think of 'em as a sibling. And on the other hand I have people who are my family who aren't even related. You ready?"
"Yeah, there's like different levels of family. 'Cause you're not like my for-real uncle, but you're still an Uncle, you know?" Holds her glove up.
Glances down at himself, giving himself a poke, "I look real. I feel pretty real too."
Giggles, "I mean for-real not real real."
"Do you think I'm an android? Would a robot, know its a robot?"
"No, you're not made of metal."
"I don't think I am. Pretty sure I don't have any wires." Throws the ball at her, careful to actually start slow.
Concentrates on catching it, grinning proudly when she does.
"Let me have it. Nothing tricky, lets just concentrate on building up your arm for now. We can work on a drop step next."
Focuses on the throw, her expression very serious, determined to get it right.
"Awesome. But do me a favour? Try talking while you throw, it helps keeping everything loose."
"Talking about what?"
"What's going on with you at school? Are your friends gonna play baseball too?"
"My friends don't mostly like baseball. But I'm gonna show my best friend and maybe she'll wanna play like me. Who's your best friend?"
"Oh that's a hard one. Do you have anything where like you love a lot of it? And you have a really hard time picking between 'em?"
"Well, you can have a lot of friends, but like one is the best."
"I'd say--you know I can't answer that. Phil is, but I feel really close to my dad lately. And I got other friends who are really dear to me. I don't wanna rank 'em."
"One of my friends made a list and she put all of her friends in order of how she liked them best. It was a long list."
"Really? But how do you even do that? Is there a point system?"
"Yeah, she like would move people up or down if they gave her something."
"What a bitch. Oh--probably shouldn't say that. Strike that, lets back up. But that's not real friendship, saying you like people more if they give you shit."
"She wanted me to give her a pencil and I could move up to number six, but I said no. And she made me go down to number eleven." Shrugs, "I said that my friend on the team had number eleven on his jersey and she got mad and said I wasn't supposed to be happy being eleven because it's not like way high on her list. And I said I didn't care."
"Good for you! Who is she? The empress of the universe? Is she gonna banish you from her kingdom? That's some power trip she's going on."
"Someone said one time that they thought I was gonna be snobby 'cause my dad is famous, but I'm not snobby."
"You're the least snobby person ever. You're real. Making list of your friends, is like fake and shallow. When she needs a hand up nobody is gonna be there for her if she treats 'em like that."
"I didn't think it was very nice."
"That's okay, you have cool friends here."
"Yeah, I like my team friends the best. We all can play together and it's really fun."
"Do you got other hobbies besides baseball stuff?" Takes a step back.
"Like gymnastics. And I like to read. And I watch movies and TV. Um, I like to dance." Thinks. "What else?"
"You dance? Like ballet? I've got a friend who does ballet."
"I did that in fourth grade, but I didn't like it very much. Does your friend like it?"
"Yes, he does. He even tried talking me into it, but that's not really my kind of dancing."
"A boy does ballet?"
"Of course, who is gonna play all the princes and toy soldiers if they don't? Not that you couldn't be a toy soldier if you wanted."
"In my ballet class it was all girls and some of them had to play boy parts. But my teacher said sometimes in dance that happens. Did you know Peter Pan is a girl?"
"No, I didn't. I kinda always thought of myself as a Peter Pan type." Laughs, "Wonder what that says about me."
"You're not a girl!"
"That I figured. I'm missing a lot of essential parts and I'd be really ugly in a dress."
Giggles, "Well, yeah. You make a better boy."
"I don't think I'd make even a very good butch girl." Shakes his head, "No curves in the right places."
"What does butch mean?"
"Uh boyish, tough, not like all princessy. A girl who can wear combat boys, and have short hair and piercings."
"Oh. Like a girl that says pink is dumb?"
"I guess. I've never been a butch girl. Do they have pink biker chicks?"
Shrugs, "There's a girl in my class that says that girls that like sports can't like pink."
"That's not true at all. I coloured my goatee pink once."
"Really?!"
"Yeah, when I was in Oakland. I kinda did it for my mom, but it wasn't like I was embarrassed or anything."
"That's really cool. I like when they have the pink bats."
"I did that too, the whole thing. You can like whatever colours you wanna like and play baseball. You wanna know who was in the ballet besides my friend Barry?" Grins, "It was somebody on our team."
"Who?"
Grinning more, like he's sharing a secret he shouldn't be, "CC."
"No way!"
"Yeah, huh. He was in the Nutcracker. Ask him about it sometime."
"Can I? Do his kids know? They'd never believe me in a million years."
"I don't know, if they don't you can get him to tell 'em."
Giggles, "Will I get in trouble?"
"No, there is even footage of it. If he didn't want people to know he shouldn't have done it."
"Jaxon's never ever gonna believe me. Do you have pictures? I can e-mail him pictures and then he would hafta believe me."
"I'll ask Zito, he'd have all the pictures of that."
"Okay."
"Do you think you could get Andy to do ballet?" Grins. "Or your dad?"
Giggles, "Maybe. Sometimes pitching is like that. You know when ballerina's do like this?" Brings one leg up so her foot is against her knee. "That's like a wind up."
"And maybe that's why all those pitchers wanna go dance. I think you're on to something there."
"But that's silly for outfielders!"
"You don't think we can bust a move?"
"Like the good kind of dancing, not like ballet."
Grins, "Now I know you're meant for the outfield. Back up, I wanna see how far you can throw the ball."
Takes a couple jumps backwards, "Really far. Me and Josh practiced."
"Did he show you a crow hop?"
Shakes her head, no.
"Okay, we'll start by seeing how far you can throw from a standstill and then we can work on that if you want. It helps you throw farther, quicker."
"Yeah, I wanna learn to do that." Takes a deep breath and throws as hard as she can.
Listens to the satisfying thud in his glove, not even having to move to catch it, "Oh yeah, we can totally make you into an outfielder."
"Yeah? Did I do it right?"
"It was accurate and well thrown, damn right you did it good. We'll work on getting the ball out of your glove quicker in the future." Walks towards her, "Now the art of the crow hop, the first thing you gotta know is that you gotta have your target in mind, before you catch the ball."
"Like... throwing to second base?"
"Yes, or third base or your cutoff man, well woman, as the case may be."
"Why woman?"
"You may not be the only girl on your team."
"But there aren't girl Yankees."
"Aren't you gonna be a girl Yankee?"
"Yeah!"
"We got other girls around here that might wanna join. Phil's niece Petra may be visiting us."
"What grade is she in?"
"She's a 6th grader."
"Like me!"
"If she comes out here could you show her the ropes about being a Yankees kid?"
"Yeah! I'm really good at it. There's like not a lotta girls that are sixth graders, I could help her for sure."
"That would be a really big help to me, I'd owe you one."
"But I already owe you for teaching me, so we would be even."
"Nope, you said you'd teach me a cartwheel, I still owe you a favour."
"Oh well, I can save it up."
"Consider it a blank check to cash in on an rainy day."
"I have an idea for that."
"Do I get a hint right now or are you gonna hit me with it later?"
"Are you good with boy stuff?"
"I've given a lot of advice over the years, I think I'm pretty good helping other people sort out what's going through their head."
"Do you know about pitchers really good?"
Laughs, "I'd say I'm like an expert, as long as you aren't talking about Phil, in which case I get all mixed up about it. Hard to think clearly."
"Because he's your boyfriend?"
"Yeah." Grins, "When I'm around him all I can think about is that I love him."
Giggles, "Awww!"
"Zip it, you." Messes her hair, "Now do you wanna field some balls or should we grab some water and talk boys?"
"Can you keep secrets from everyone?"
Holds up the three finger salute, "Even from Phil."
"Okay, then maybe we should have snack time and talk."
"Sounds good, you're gonna wanna save up your strength for all the running you're about to do fielding balls. And maybe I can round up one of the other guys to demonstrate." Slings an arm around her shoulder, steering her in the direction of the clubhouse. But before they can get going holds out a fist bump, "Outfielders rule, yeah?"
Grins brilliantly, bumping his fist with hers, "Totally."
"We gotta come up with our own handshake." Grins back at her, "Now what problems are you having with pitchers?"
"I kinda like one."
"As you can see, I highly approve of outfielder-pitcher relationships. Don't let 'em fool you into thinking they can only date one of their own."
"Yeah, I know because your boyfriend is a pitcher. But you're the only one I know that is."
"I know a catcher with an outfielder. It's not totally rare."
"But that's not a pitcher."
"It's been my experience that they don't care where you play so long as you take the time to try and understand them. That's the important part."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm positive, they just wanna know somebody gets 'em."
"How do you know if they like you or someone else?"
"I think the best indicator of that is first seeing what it's like to spend time with them one-on-one. See if both of you are having a good time."
"What if they don't live in New York?"
"That gets trickier. Hmm, do you get to text and stuff?"
"I could but I don't know what to say."
"How about start with what you got in common. You both like baseball."
"Yeah.... what would you say?"
"What did you think of yesterday's game?"
"It was really exciting that he got to pitch but then we didn't win."
"That's something to talk about. It always feels better when you got someone to bitch with."
"Well, yeah...."
"All it takes to start a conversation is something simple like that."
"What would you say?"
"How is his day going? Is he going to watch the game tonight? Does he wish he was here? If it were me, I'd offer to keep him up to speed on what is going on around here."
"But like other people already do that."
"Other people aren't you. They don't have your perspective on things."
"Would you like someone that's in a different grade than you?"
Grins, "Do you know me and Phil aren't the same age?"
"How much different are you?"
"Six years, but he acts like he's the older one, even though he's not." Shakes his head laughing, "Man, most people probably think he's the more responsible one. We make it work even if sometimes he doesn't have any idea what I'm talkin' about."
"Six years? My dads are seven years. That a lot. That's like almost as many as Dante is old."
"Well when I was your age, I wouldn't date somebody who was that much older than me. I say two grades older tops."
"If someone was a seventh grader, that's okay?"
"And you're a sixth grader? That's definitely okay. No high schoolers or I'll have to kick their ass."
"That would be like Josh!"
"None of that now, I'm serious about beating up any high school kids who look at you wrong."
"No way, my brother would too."
"Good, but a seventh grader is totally different. That's hardly older than you at all."
"Just one year."
"You probably like a lot of the same stuff." Opens the fridge in the clubhouse, "Water or gatorade?"
"What color?"
"We've got green, purple, and I think that's blue way back there."
"Purple, please."
Hands a bottle to her, "What about talking about school stuff with him?"
"Thank you." Takes a drink. "He likes the same books I do."
"Why don't you ask him what he's reading right now?"
"Yeah, I could do that."
"There you go, that'll get the ball rolling." Holds out a bag, "Sunflower seed?"
Takes a few, "Thank you."
"You gonna text him?"
"Should I right now?"
"Up to you. But I don't think there's a reason to wait. I text my friends all the time, and you gotta start somewhere with this guy. Everybody loves knownin' somebody is thinking about them."
Goes over to her bag, digging out her cellphone, "Can I say how I got to skip school and come learn with you?"
"Of course, you're having an awesome day, right? That's a good thing to talk about."
"Totally." Concentrates on the phone. Text: I got to skip today and learn to be an outfielder. How is your day? Shows the phone to Nick, "Is that good?"
"Looks good to me. Go for it, girl."
Presses send. "Thanks."
Grins at her, "Are you spending the whole day here?"
"Uh huh, they said I could."
"Do you wanna hit in the cages a little?"
"Yeah! Can I?"
"Hell yeah, maybe Phil will even find us and we can tease him about his inability to swing a bat. Silly pitchers."
Giggles, "Pitchers don't hit! Except for interleague."
"I got a few friends that switched to national league, and I try to look after 'em, help their hitting long distance."
"I don't think pitchers should hit anywhere, it's not fair they hafta."
"Especially when nobody practices with them a lot. They could hit as good as everybody else if they actually got some work with the coaches and took some BP. Not treating 'em like they’re a stained glass relic."
"But they hafta work really hard on pitching all the time, they don't have time to work on hitting in there. There's a lot to do when you're pitching."
"They could squeeze it in. If I were ever a manager, my pitchers would be able to crush the ball."
"They could be pinch hitters!"
Grins, "Wouldn't that be awesome? Nobody would ever expect that, man. Out walks a pitcher to the plate."
Text: First period is -lame-. Mom says I got 2 pass or I can't play football. Want 2 skip 2. Outfield?
"That would be--" Jumps up to grab her phone, grinning at the text. Text: I'm an outfielder! Getting lessons from the best one. Shows Nick her text, still grinning.
Grins too, "I could get used to having a student if this is the kind of advertising I get in response."
Giggles, "He's gonna wish he could be here too." Presses send.
"You ready to go do more baseball? Hitting? Fielding? Or do you wanna help me hunt down Phil?"
"All of it! I wanna learn all that stuff."
"Lets head towards the cages, maybe we'll run across Phil along the way."
Text: Who's the best? Who you hanging with?
"Okay!" Shakes her head, "He doesn't even know who the best one is." Text: The best YANKEE outfielder. LOL!
Text: LOL. Swish, huh? Biggest ego EVER.
Laughs, "Maybe you wanna stay here and chat?"
Laughs, showing Nick the text, "He guessed!"
"I don't have a big ego at all. Other people think I'm cool!"
"I know you don't, he's being silly." Text: I think he's cool, he's helping me!
"We do that a lot, we're a silly bunch."
Text: Uh huh. U a outfielder for him?
Reads the text over a few times, furrowing her brow. "What that mean?" Shows the text to Nick.
Groans, "He thinks you're crushing on me and that's why you want to be an outfielder."
"But you're old."
Laughs, "Yeah, I'm gonna need a walker soon. Sounds like your boy is jealous anyway."
"Really? How do you spell that?"
"Spell what? Jealous?"
"Yeah."
Writes it out in the air, "J-e-a-l-o-u-s."
Giggles as she's typing. Text: He says u r jealous. LOL!
Text: Me?! I don't want him! Gross!
Shows Nick the text, errupting in giggles again.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get no love from either of you."
"You’re my most favourite uncle!"
"You can tell him I don't want him either, so we're even." Grins, "I'll take being a good uncle."
Gives him a quick hug before going back to typing. Text: He says he doesn't want u! lololololol
Text: Good. Really not my type.
Text: U don't like outfielders?
Text: No. Old guys my dad's age.
"Are you as old as my dads?"
Laughs, "No I think they've got like ten years on me."
Text: He's not that old. 10 years too many.
Text: He's like 30! It's pervy.
"Are you like thirty?"
"That is the sad truth of the matter. I will be thirty in November."
"Is that pervy?"
Bursts out laughing, "A twenty nine year old guys and a middle schooler? Yeah, it's not above board. Did he say that?"
"Uh huh. He said you’re like dad-aged and that's pervy."
"Luckily, Phil has long since graduated middle school. We're okay."
Text: His BF isn't in MS!
Text: What BF? Swish flies solo.
Text: Nuh uh. He has a BF. Pitcher BF.
Text: Which pitcher?!
Text: U don't know?!
Text: Out of the loop here.
Text: Srry. Phil is his BF now.
Text: They're finally doing it?
Text: Uh huh.
Text: Tell him congrats. How come you aren't learning pitching from Phil?
"He says congrats to you, for having a BF." Text: b/c I'm an outfielder.
Text: Sigh. Guess u can be one.
"I shoulda sent out an announcement."
Laughs, "You do that when you get married." Text: :P U friends with outfielders?
"They should have one for official boyfriends too. It would make it easier than telling people person by person."
Text: Depends on the outfielder.
"Yeah, my dads coulda used that too." Text: Me!
Text: I'm already friends w/U!
Text: I'm an outfielder now. Just checking.
Text: Not a gymnast?
Text: Nope, but Nick says he'll learn 2 do a cartwheel.
Text: I can do a cartwheel. U gonna do both?
Text: Maybe. U gonna?
Text: Was looking into it.
Giggles. "He's gonna do gymnastics like me." Text: Really?!
Grins, "Oh is he? That's a big commitment to make."
Text: Looked cool. U not doing it now?
Grins, "Mmhmm, he's saying if I'm still doing it. Do you think he wants to do gymnastics with me?" Text: I am still. U srs about it?
"If he's worried about you skipping out on it? Yeah, I'd say he wants to."
Text: Maybe. Got to see if I'm any good.
Text: Dad says u gotta practice 2 b good.
Text: Got 2 fit it in with football.
Mumbles, "Football is lame." Text: Ok.
"Hey, what's wrong with football?"
Text: Good indoor sport. Better than just lifting.
"He plays it a lot. I don't know anything about it. And it takes up a lot of time." Text: More fun!
"Your dad doesn't watch it with you?"
Text: For sure!
"My new one does, but I don't like it really. It's a Texas thing." Rolls her eyes. Text: More fun than football?
"If you wanna learn, you can come hang out with the pitchers. We are always watching on Saturdays and then sometimes on Sunday too. CC is a big Oakland Raiders fan and I can get behind that."
Text: I don't suck at football.
"Do you like the Texas team?" Text: U don't suck at gymnastics.
Laughs, "No. But I like beating up on the Texas teams."
Text: 5 year olds know more than me!
Giggles, "That would make them sad. That's not very nice." Text: They have been doing it longer. Practice makes perfect.
"I have to beat them or my Texan friend will gloat and gloat some more until the cows come home."
Text: I'll get better.
"Are all Texas people like that?" Text: Yea u will. Then it will be more fun than football.
"I think it's genetic. They can't help but be totally fanatical."
Text: LOL. We'll see.
"I wonder how they got to be like that." Text: I'll show you!
"Texans are weird, unusual animals."
Text: Maybe we will be back for post-season.
"I like how they talk though. It's nice to listen to." Text: U HAVE TO! Dads need u.
"I won't let you meet Huston, then, you might fall for him."
Text: I KNOW! I miss dad.
"Is he old?" Text: We all miss u all.
"He's timeless." Laughs.
Text: G2g. Stupid English presentation. BLEH.
"What's that mean?" Text: GL!
"He doesn't look like he has any particular age. He's older than you, but you might not care."
Text: Text u after?
Wrinkles her nose, "Is he like thirty? That's pervy." Text: Yup! I get 2 b at the park all day.
Laughs, "I'm gonna find Phil."
Text: -That- I am jealous of. l8r
Text: LOL! Puts her phone away, "I'm all done, I promise."
"You can help me hunt him down. He's gotta be somewhere around here."
"I don't know where my dads went either."
"And you don't want to know where they went either. Trust me."
"There you are. I thought you got eaten by something and I'd have to get the Scooby gang together."
"That woulda been better."
"I didn't even see you running when we were out on the field, how long does it take to shower, man?"
"I had to wait for them to be... done." Shudders.
Takes in his face and bursts out laughing.
"Oh shut up! You didn't see it."
"What?"
"They were... they had.... it was---"
"Private time?"
"In public."
"Phil, not really the place to go into details."
"I wasn't!"
Wandering into the room, his hair still wet, "Serena, you still readin'--oh, good mornin'."
"We had outfielder practice."
Smiles, "I'm sorry I didn't get to talk to Nick for you. But you found Nick on your own?"
"I did. She makes a great little outfielder."
Beams, "Wonderful. Do you wanna tell me all about it? Your daddy's gotta do today's paperwork."
Nods, grinning, "Can we play catch? And then I can tell you about it. We already had snack and then we talked and," Blushes, "He helped me with some stuff."
Looks over at Nick.
"Completely innocent stuff, don't give me the parental death glare, man."
To Serena, "Of course we can. You can tell me all about what it's like playin' in the outfield."
"He's the best uncle ever." Takes Andy's hand, tugging him towards the field. "He told me all about how important it is to be an outfielder..."
Title: God Blessed the Broken Road. Chapter Fifteen.
Title: First Love Song. Chapter Thirteen.
Fandom: MLB: New York Yankees.
Characters: Nick Swisher, Serena Girardi, Jared Pettitte, Phil Hughes, Andy Pettitte.
Word Count: 6,299.
Rating: PG.
Summary: Serena makes a friend.
Author's Notes: This is set on September 20, 2010. Later, at the ballpark. The Yankees would go on to beat the Rays, 8-6.
"Why would anybody come this early, man?" Groans, spotting Serena, "Look! There is life in the universe."
Looking up from her book, "Hi!"
"Hey. What are you doin' here?"
"We came here so I could practice after they were done running."
"They came to run too? Phil is out there and I can't watch him go back and forth anymore. It's tourture."
"Why?"
"I can't run as much on my knee, gotta save it up for game time. What are you practicing?"
"Um.... did they talk to you?"
"Did who talk to me? Your dad? No I haven't heard from any lifeforms but Phil this morning."
"Oh."
"What are you up to? Don't leave me hanging."
"I wanna play baseball."
"Yeah? Awesome. Why should all the boys have the fun, right? You got just as much talent passed down to you, good genes for it. You takin' up a side of the family business?"
"I don't wanna be a pitcher or a catcher."
"Third baseman?"
Shakes her head, no.
"No? Well I didn't wanna be a catcher like my dad either."
"I wanna be an outfielder."
Grins, "Smart choice. I knew you were the brilliant one in that family. Oh whoa, no, no, no, you aren't gonna practice with Andy are you?"
"Uh uh, he was gonna ask your people."
"One of us outfielders? That's better, if you're gonna learn to be an outfielder you gotta do it right. Pitchers don't even like the ball gettin' hit out there, they don't understand."
"Yeah, he said you-all would help me."
Glances around the room, "Don't see anybody here, but me. Am I a candidate in the running?"
"He didn't talk to you yet."
"Yeah, but do you wanna learn from me? I don't want your dad forcing me on you. I can talk to any of the other guys."
"No! I would pick you, but if you're really busy, then it's okay."
"I'm not busy. I'm the furthest thing from busy. I'm waiting on Phil with absolutely nothing to do. What are you sitting there for, girl? Grab your glove."
Grins, putting her marker in her book, "But I hafta tell my dads first. But I don't know where they went."
"If they're still workin' out, maybe Phil has seen 'em. They can't miss us on a big field."
Jumps up from the couch, grabbing her glove, "I think they're all done. But they'll find us."
"They're smart guys, they'll put two and two together. Why did you decide to join the ranks of us grass nomads?"
"Because I like to throw the ball, but not pitch. My, um, big brother helped me before, but he hadta go to school."
"That blows, but it is common knwoledge the best arms on the team are outfielders. Do you know pitchers can't even really throw the ball? They forget the difference between pitching and throwing, it's easier to toss it for ‘em."
"Yeah, I know, that's why I needed a real outfielder to help me because my family has a lot of pitchers and catchers."
"How do you feel about fielding?"
"It's fun! I like when the ball is up reeeeally high and I run to get it and then wait and it's in my glove!"
Grins at her, "Me too. You're like a psychic bloodhound out there, you can track it right into your glove by getting to the ball before it even knows where it wants to be." Searches for a bucket of balls and a fungo bat.
"Yeah! It's really fun."
"What about falling? Do you care about throwing yourself around in the grass? You gotta be able to put your body out there without caring about getting hurt."
"Did you ever do gymnastics?"
"No, I did yoga once, but never any gymnastics."
"Want me to show you?"
"We gotta stretch out, you can show me on the field all your cool gymnastic tricks."
"Okay. I can show you how to do a cartwheel."
Laughs, "Promise to show me again when I got full use of my knee? You're gonna get me in all sorts of trouble with your dad. I just got back on his good side."
"When your knee is all better, I'll teach you how to do it."
"I'd like that, man. You can teach me some super cool gymnastics stuff."
"That's only fair if you're going to teach me super cool outfielder stuff."
"All outfielder stuff is super cool, them's the rules."
"You have to tell my dads that, so they won't be sad I'm not a pitcher or a catcher, okay?"
"Isn't your brother Dante a catcher? They're lucky they had more than one kid. My dad just has me."
"Yeah, but they're super into like that stuff. Luke's probably gonna be a catcher too 'cause he follows Dante around everywhere. And then my baby sister follows him around. Like ducklings!"
Laughs, "If Luke's following around Dante, maybe he'll be a pitcher. Catcher's gotta have someone to catch or there job isn't much good."
"Before they hadta go to school, Dante was catching Jared."
"Andy's kid? Well he's not here right? So somebody has to throw to Dante with him in Texas."
Frowns, "Yeah."
"He's got teammates from around here doesn't he? And he can teach Luke."
"Yeah, but I wish they didn't hafta go to Texas, that's all."
"You miss 'em? That's a tough thing to deal with. Lets see if we can't take your mind off it okay?" Leads her towards the field.
Nods, following after him.
"Do you know which field you wanna be in?"
Shrugs, "Right?"
"Nuh uh, you can't just pick it out of a hat, you gotta feel it." Keeps walking towards the outfield grass.
"Can I try them all?"
"Of course. That's the best way to find out what you like is trial and error."
"My teacher says that too."
"You ever lay out in the outfield grass?" Grins at her, "Just look up at the whole stadium and the sky and see what it's like to be a ball?"
"No! Can we?"
"Pick what spot looks best to you." Gestures to the whole outfield.
Wanders around for minute, looking up, finding the best view. Plops down almost exactly between right and center. "Here!"
Sets down the bucket of balls than takes the spot next to her, stretching out in the grass.
Watches him, copying every move he makes.
Looks up at the sky, "That's all yours. You're the guardian of the whole sky when you're out here."
"Wow."
"I know, man, isn't it fantastic?! You are in charge of more territory than anybody else on the team."
"That's so cool."
"You have one of the biggest responsibilities for defense. You'd think maybe a first baseman or a second baseman would have more, 'cause like they're in charge of pick-offs, and a first baseman gets to save a lot of outs. But if a first baseman misses a ball, maybe the guy gets a double at most. If we miss a ball you're looking a triple territory, multiple runs scoring. Sometimes it's not even about catching the ball, but knowing the smartest place to throw it afterwards. You gotta believe your arm is faster than any runner and want that resting on your shoulders. If you do it right, your pitchers will love you."
"Whoa that's so important."
"It is. Maybe like in middle school, you might take some shit for wanting to be an outfielder. They think it's so cool to be a shortstop or whatever. But in high school, centerfield gets all the glory, almost as much as the ace on the team."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah, because everybody wants to hit the ball deep which means you're busy busy busy out there."
"That sounds like a really important job."
"It is and everything is bigger out here. Look at all this space! In the infield, you're on top of everything, it's all about reactions. They don't have any time to think. A guy doesn't think about getting his glove on a linedrive, he just fields them over and over and over, until his body is moving before his mind even realises the ball has been hit. Here, you gotta think about each batter. You gotta think about what pitch is being thrown. Is he throwing a high fastball in the upper nineties that a guy isn't likely to pull or is he throwing a curveball that a guy might miss the meat of the ball and end up hitting a sinking line drive out here that's gonna drop in short. You're gonna learn to think about how a batter hits each kinda pitch. And you're gonna learn each batters tendencies and position yourself to go after 'em best."
"That's a lot to know. I don't think even my dads or my brothers know how much stuff there is to learn out here."
"There's a ton, but you have plenty of time to learn it. And it's fun to learn it. You're never gonna be bored out here."
"I think this sounds like the best spot to be."
Grins, "I think it is. And you're gonna get to learn to dive for balls. After a while it will feel instinctual, you'll just know where the ball is comin' down, but at the start the trial and error makes for a grand ol' time. Do you like sprinting?"
"Like running really fast? Yeah."
"You're gonna be doin' a lot of that. First thing to learn is catching a ball hit behind you. Forget all the stuff I said, we're gonna strip it down to bare bones."
"What's that?"
"Learning to do an over the shoulder catch and reading how the ball comes off the bat. First you just gotta learn to catch the ball and throw it back with good momentum behind it."
"Will you show me how to do that?"
"Oh yeah, but we got stretch your arm out first. Long toss is gonna be your best friend for strengthening your arm."
"How do we do that?"
Gets to his feet offering her a hand up. "You do gymnastics, yeah? How do you stretch your upper body for that? We just need to get your arm loose. I don't want you pulling anything."
Grabs his hand, bounding to her feet. "We do stretches."
Runs a little back and forth before starting in on his own stretches.
Copies everything he does as best as she can, never taking her eyes off him. "Is this right?"
"You can do the stretches you know from gymanstics, you just gotta feel like your muscles are warmed up."
"We just do the same as the teacher."
"You don't know 'em by heart by now?"
"Mm mm."
"Okay, you can just follow me then."
Nods, "I'll try to remember them."
"It'll be second nature after a while, no worries."
"I know it's important to get warmed up so you don't get hurt."
"Exactly, we don't want you to get hurt. Let me know when you're ready."
Takes her stretching very seriously, trying to remember what each one is. "Can you do jumping jacks? We do that at gymnastics."
"That's good, 'cause it's dynamic and it gets your muscles warmed up. You can do a couple, but I can't bounce that much on my knee. Good thinkin' though."
"What does 'dynamic' mean?"
Laughs, "In this instance, it means you're moving. A static stretch means you're still, and a dynamic stretch, you're moving your body while you stretch."
"Oh. So that's good?"
"Yeah, some people say dynamic stretching is better for you."
"So can I do jumping jacks?"
"Go for it." Grins at her, "Give me 20."
"Twenty?! That's a lot." Takes a deep breath, counting them out as she does them.
"How about ten? We'll split the difference, work up to twenty."
Panting a little, "I can... do twenty.... seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty!"
"Damn girl, I don't think some of the boys on this team could do twenty."
Grins brilliantly, proud of herself, "We can ask them to and see if they can."
"Well we don't want to embarrass some people, but we can get Phil to do it."
"You wanna embarrass him?"
"I think Phil can eek out twenty. If we cheer him on hard enough."
Giggles, "But maybe not?"
"Maybe not, but I'm pretty good at cheering him."
"Well, yeah, 'cause you're his boyfriend."
"Even you know that, huh? He's my pitcher too, I'd cheer him on even if he wasn't my boyfriend."
"There are a lotta boyfriends on our team, even my dad now!" Giggles.
"That's true, and what about you, did you get another parent out of this deal? How are you doing with it?" Picks up his glove and a ball.
"Yeah, it's really cool. He usta be Uncle Andy, but we had a meeting and now we hafta come up with a new name and he's gonna think about it because we already have Dad, you know? And like Luke and Josh are my brothers 'cause I want them to be, and Lexy. But not Jared."
"Is Jared kind of a d---, uh, do you not like him? That he's not gonna be in the family circle of trust." Backs away from her to give enough space to ease into throwing.
"No! It's just that...." Blushes brightly. "Josh said you can like pick what you want someone to be, if you want them to be your brother or something."
Nods, "I can get behind that. If my dad or mom hooked up with somebody who had kids at this point, I'm not sure if I could think of 'em as a sibling. And on the other hand I have people who are my family who aren't even related. You ready?"
"Yeah, there's like different levels of family. 'Cause you're not like my for-real uncle, but you're still an Uncle, you know?" Holds her glove up.
Glances down at himself, giving himself a poke, "I look real. I feel pretty real too."
Giggles, "I mean for-real not real real."
"Do you think I'm an android? Would a robot, know its a robot?"
"No, you're not made of metal."
"I don't think I am. Pretty sure I don't have any wires." Throws the ball at her, careful to actually start slow.
Concentrates on catching it, grinning proudly when she does.
"Let me have it. Nothing tricky, lets just concentrate on building up your arm for now. We can work on a drop step next."
Focuses on the throw, her expression very serious, determined to get it right.
"Awesome. But do me a favour? Try talking while you throw, it helps keeping everything loose."
"Talking about what?"
"What's going on with you at school? Are your friends gonna play baseball too?"
"My friends don't mostly like baseball. But I'm gonna show my best friend and maybe she'll wanna play like me. Who's your best friend?"
"Oh that's a hard one. Do you have anything where like you love a lot of it? And you have a really hard time picking between 'em?"
"Well, you can have a lot of friends, but like one is the best."
"I'd say--you know I can't answer that. Phil is, but I feel really close to my dad lately. And I got other friends who are really dear to me. I don't wanna rank 'em."
"One of my friends made a list and she put all of her friends in order of how she liked them best. It was a long list."
"Really? But how do you even do that? Is there a point system?"
"Yeah, she like would move people up or down if they gave her something."
"What a bitch. Oh--probably shouldn't say that. Strike that, lets back up. But that's not real friendship, saying you like people more if they give you shit."
"She wanted me to give her a pencil and I could move up to number six, but I said no. And she made me go down to number eleven." Shrugs, "I said that my friend on the team had number eleven on his jersey and she got mad and said I wasn't supposed to be happy being eleven because it's not like way high on her list. And I said I didn't care."
"Good for you! Who is she? The empress of the universe? Is she gonna banish you from her kingdom? That's some power trip she's going on."
"Someone said one time that they thought I was gonna be snobby 'cause my dad is famous, but I'm not snobby."
"You're the least snobby person ever. You're real. Making list of your friends, is like fake and shallow. When she needs a hand up nobody is gonna be there for her if she treats 'em like that."
"I didn't think it was very nice."
"That's okay, you have cool friends here."
"Yeah, I like my team friends the best. We all can play together and it's really fun."
"Do you got other hobbies besides baseball stuff?" Takes a step back.
"Like gymnastics. And I like to read. And I watch movies and TV. Um, I like to dance." Thinks. "What else?"
"You dance? Like ballet? I've got a friend who does ballet."
"I did that in fourth grade, but I didn't like it very much. Does your friend like it?"
"Yes, he does. He even tried talking me into it, but that's not really my kind of dancing."
"A boy does ballet?"
"Of course, who is gonna play all the princes and toy soldiers if they don't? Not that you couldn't be a toy soldier if you wanted."
"In my ballet class it was all girls and some of them had to play boy parts. But my teacher said sometimes in dance that happens. Did you know Peter Pan is a girl?"
"No, I didn't. I kinda always thought of myself as a Peter Pan type." Laughs, "Wonder what that says about me."
"You're not a girl!"
"That I figured. I'm missing a lot of essential parts and I'd be really ugly in a dress."
Giggles, "Well, yeah. You make a better boy."
"I don't think I'd make even a very good butch girl." Shakes his head, "No curves in the right places."
"What does butch mean?"
"Uh boyish, tough, not like all princessy. A girl who can wear combat boys, and have short hair and piercings."
"Oh. Like a girl that says pink is dumb?"
"I guess. I've never been a butch girl. Do they have pink biker chicks?"
Shrugs, "There's a girl in my class that says that girls that like sports can't like pink."
"That's not true at all. I coloured my goatee pink once."
"Really?!"
"Yeah, when I was in Oakland. I kinda did it for my mom, but it wasn't like I was embarrassed or anything."
"That's really cool. I like when they have the pink bats."
"I did that too, the whole thing. You can like whatever colours you wanna like and play baseball. You wanna know who was in the ballet besides my friend Barry?" Grins, "It was somebody on our team."
"Who?"
Grinning more, like he's sharing a secret he shouldn't be, "CC."
"No way!"
"Yeah, huh. He was in the Nutcracker. Ask him about it sometime."
"Can I? Do his kids know? They'd never believe me in a million years."
"I don't know, if they don't you can get him to tell 'em."
Giggles, "Will I get in trouble?"
"No, there is even footage of it. If he didn't want people to know he shouldn't have done it."
"Jaxon's never ever gonna believe me. Do you have pictures? I can e-mail him pictures and then he would hafta believe me."
"I'll ask Zito, he'd have all the pictures of that."
"Okay."
"Do you think you could get Andy to do ballet?" Grins. "Or your dad?"
Giggles, "Maybe. Sometimes pitching is like that. You know when ballerina's do like this?" Brings one leg up so her foot is against her knee. "That's like a wind up."
"And maybe that's why all those pitchers wanna go dance. I think you're on to something there."
"But that's silly for outfielders!"
"You don't think we can bust a move?"
"Like the good kind of dancing, not like ballet."
Grins, "Now I know you're meant for the outfield. Back up, I wanna see how far you can throw the ball."
Takes a couple jumps backwards, "Really far. Me and Josh practiced."
"Did he show you a crow hop?"
Shakes her head, no.
"Okay, we'll start by seeing how far you can throw from a standstill and then we can work on that if you want. It helps you throw farther, quicker."
"Yeah, I wanna learn to do that." Takes a deep breath and throws as hard as she can.
Listens to the satisfying thud in his glove, not even having to move to catch it, "Oh yeah, we can totally make you into an outfielder."
"Yeah? Did I do it right?"
"It was accurate and well thrown, damn right you did it good. We'll work on getting the ball out of your glove quicker in the future." Walks towards her, "Now the art of the crow hop, the first thing you gotta know is that you gotta have your target in mind, before you catch the ball."
"Like... throwing to second base?"
"Yes, or third base or your cutoff man, well woman, as the case may be."
"Why woman?"
"You may not be the only girl on your team."
"But there aren't girl Yankees."
"Aren't you gonna be a girl Yankee?"
"Yeah!"
"We got other girls around here that might wanna join. Phil's niece Petra may be visiting us."
"What grade is she in?"
"She's a 6th grader."
"Like me!"
"If she comes out here could you show her the ropes about being a Yankees kid?"
"Yeah! I'm really good at it. There's like not a lotta girls that are sixth graders, I could help her for sure."
"That would be a really big help to me, I'd owe you one."
"But I already owe you for teaching me, so we would be even."
"Nope, you said you'd teach me a cartwheel, I still owe you a favour."
"Oh well, I can save it up."
"Consider it a blank check to cash in on an rainy day."
"I have an idea for that."
"Do I get a hint right now or are you gonna hit me with it later?"
"Are you good with boy stuff?"
"I've given a lot of advice over the years, I think I'm pretty good helping other people sort out what's going through their head."
"Do you know about pitchers really good?"
Laughs, "I'd say I'm like an expert, as long as you aren't talking about Phil, in which case I get all mixed up about it. Hard to think clearly."
"Because he's your boyfriend?"
"Yeah." Grins, "When I'm around him all I can think about is that I love him."
Giggles, "Awww!"
"Zip it, you." Messes her hair, "Now do you wanna field some balls or should we grab some water and talk boys?"
"Can you keep secrets from everyone?"
Holds up the three finger salute, "Even from Phil."
"Okay, then maybe we should have snack time and talk."
"Sounds good, you're gonna wanna save up your strength for all the running you're about to do fielding balls. And maybe I can round up one of the other guys to demonstrate." Slings an arm around her shoulder, steering her in the direction of the clubhouse. But before they can get going holds out a fist bump, "Outfielders rule, yeah?"
Grins brilliantly, bumping his fist with hers, "Totally."
"We gotta come up with our own handshake." Grins back at her, "Now what problems are you having with pitchers?"
"I kinda like one."
"As you can see, I highly approve of outfielder-pitcher relationships. Don't let 'em fool you into thinking they can only date one of their own."
"Yeah, I know because your boyfriend is a pitcher. But you're the only one I know that is."
"I know a catcher with an outfielder. It's not totally rare."
"But that's not a pitcher."
"It's been my experience that they don't care where you play so long as you take the time to try and understand them. That's the important part."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm positive, they just wanna know somebody gets 'em."
"How do you know if they like you or someone else?"
"I think the best indicator of that is first seeing what it's like to spend time with them one-on-one. See if both of you are having a good time."
"What if they don't live in New York?"
"That gets trickier. Hmm, do you get to text and stuff?"
"I could but I don't know what to say."
"How about start with what you got in common. You both like baseball."
"Yeah.... what would you say?"
"What did you think of yesterday's game?"
"It was really exciting that he got to pitch but then we didn't win."
"That's something to talk about. It always feels better when you got someone to bitch with."
"Well, yeah...."
"All it takes to start a conversation is something simple like that."
"What would you say?"
"How is his day going? Is he going to watch the game tonight? Does he wish he was here? If it were me, I'd offer to keep him up to speed on what is going on around here."
"But like other people already do that."
"Other people aren't you. They don't have your perspective on things."
"Would you like someone that's in a different grade than you?"
Grins, "Do you know me and Phil aren't the same age?"
"How much different are you?"
"Six years, but he acts like he's the older one, even though he's not." Shakes his head laughing, "Man, most people probably think he's the more responsible one. We make it work even if sometimes he doesn't have any idea what I'm talkin' about."
"Six years? My dads are seven years. That a lot. That's like almost as many as Dante is old."
"Well when I was your age, I wouldn't date somebody who was that much older than me. I say two grades older tops."
"If someone was a seventh grader, that's okay?"
"And you're a sixth grader? That's definitely okay. No high schoolers or I'll have to kick their ass."
"That would be like Josh!"
"None of that now, I'm serious about beating up any high school kids who look at you wrong."
"No way, my brother would too."
"Good, but a seventh grader is totally different. That's hardly older than you at all."
"Just one year."
"You probably like a lot of the same stuff." Opens the fridge in the clubhouse, "Water or gatorade?"
"What color?"
"We've got green, purple, and I think that's blue way back there."
"Purple, please."
Hands a bottle to her, "What about talking about school stuff with him?"
"Thank you." Takes a drink. "He likes the same books I do."
"Why don't you ask him what he's reading right now?"
"Yeah, I could do that."
"There you go, that'll get the ball rolling." Holds out a bag, "Sunflower seed?"
Takes a few, "Thank you."
"You gonna text him?"
"Should I right now?"
"Up to you. But I don't think there's a reason to wait. I text my friends all the time, and you gotta start somewhere with this guy. Everybody loves knownin' somebody is thinking about them."
Goes over to her bag, digging out her cellphone, "Can I say how I got to skip school and come learn with you?"
"Of course, you're having an awesome day, right? That's a good thing to talk about."
"Totally." Concentrates on the phone. Text: I got to skip today and learn to be an outfielder. How is your day? Shows the phone to Nick, "Is that good?"
"Looks good to me. Go for it, girl."
Presses send. "Thanks."
Grins at her, "Are you spending the whole day here?"
"Uh huh, they said I could."
"Do you wanna hit in the cages a little?"
"Yeah! Can I?"
"Hell yeah, maybe Phil will even find us and we can tease him about his inability to swing a bat. Silly pitchers."
Giggles, "Pitchers don't hit! Except for interleague."
"I got a few friends that switched to national league, and I try to look after 'em, help their hitting long distance."
"I don't think pitchers should hit anywhere, it's not fair they hafta."
"Especially when nobody practices with them a lot. They could hit as good as everybody else if they actually got some work with the coaches and took some BP. Not treating 'em like they’re a stained glass relic."
"But they hafta work really hard on pitching all the time, they don't have time to work on hitting in there. There's a lot to do when you're pitching."
"They could squeeze it in. If I were ever a manager, my pitchers would be able to crush the ball."
"They could be pinch hitters!"
Grins, "Wouldn't that be awesome? Nobody would ever expect that, man. Out walks a pitcher to the plate."
Text: First period is -lame-. Mom says I got 2 pass or I can't play football. Want 2 skip 2. Outfield?
"That would be--" Jumps up to grab her phone, grinning at the text. Text: I'm an outfielder! Getting lessons from the best one. Shows Nick her text, still grinning.
Grins too, "I could get used to having a student if this is the kind of advertising I get in response."
Giggles, "He's gonna wish he could be here too." Presses send.
"You ready to go do more baseball? Hitting? Fielding? Or do you wanna help me hunt down Phil?"
"All of it! I wanna learn all that stuff."
"Lets head towards the cages, maybe we'll run across Phil along the way."
Text: Who's the best? Who you hanging with?
"Okay!" Shakes her head, "He doesn't even know who the best one is." Text: The best YANKEE outfielder. LOL!
Text: LOL. Swish, huh? Biggest ego EVER.
Laughs, "Maybe you wanna stay here and chat?"
Laughs, showing Nick the text, "He guessed!"
"I don't have a big ego at all. Other people think I'm cool!"
"I know you don't, he's being silly." Text: I think he's cool, he's helping me!
"We do that a lot, we're a silly bunch."
Text: Uh huh. U a outfielder for him?
Reads the text over a few times, furrowing her brow. "What that mean?" Shows the text to Nick.
Groans, "He thinks you're crushing on me and that's why you want to be an outfielder."
"But you're old."
Laughs, "Yeah, I'm gonna need a walker soon. Sounds like your boy is jealous anyway."
"Really? How do you spell that?"
"Spell what? Jealous?"
"Yeah."
Writes it out in the air, "J-e-a-l-o-u-s."
Giggles as she's typing. Text: He says u r jealous. LOL!
Text: Me?! I don't want him! Gross!
Shows Nick the text, errupting in giggles again.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get no love from either of you."
"You’re my most favourite uncle!"
"You can tell him I don't want him either, so we're even." Grins, "I'll take being a good uncle."
Gives him a quick hug before going back to typing. Text: He says he doesn't want u! lololololol
Text: Good. Really not my type.
Text: U don't like outfielders?
Text: No. Old guys my dad's age.
"Are you as old as my dads?"
Laughs, "No I think they've got like ten years on me."
Text: He's not that old. 10 years too many.
Text: He's like 30! It's pervy.
"Are you like thirty?"
"That is the sad truth of the matter. I will be thirty in November."
"Is that pervy?"
Bursts out laughing, "A twenty nine year old guys and a middle schooler? Yeah, it's not above board. Did he say that?"
"Uh huh. He said you’re like dad-aged and that's pervy."
"Luckily, Phil has long since graduated middle school. We're okay."
Text: His BF isn't in MS!
Text: What BF? Swish flies solo.
Text: Nuh uh. He has a BF. Pitcher BF.
Text: Which pitcher?!
Text: U don't know?!
Text: Out of the loop here.
Text: Srry. Phil is his BF now.
Text: They're finally doing it?
Text: Uh huh.
Text: Tell him congrats. How come you aren't learning pitching from Phil?
"He says congrats to you, for having a BF." Text: b/c I'm an outfielder.
Text: Sigh. Guess u can be one.
"I shoulda sent out an announcement."
Laughs, "You do that when you get married." Text: :P U friends with outfielders?
"They should have one for official boyfriends too. It would make it easier than telling people person by person."
Text: Depends on the outfielder.
"Yeah, my dads coulda used that too." Text: Me!
Text: I'm already friends w/U!
Text: I'm an outfielder now. Just checking.
Text: Not a gymnast?
Text: Nope, but Nick says he'll learn 2 do a cartwheel.
Text: I can do a cartwheel. U gonna do both?
Text: Maybe. U gonna?
Text: Was looking into it.
Giggles. "He's gonna do gymnastics like me." Text: Really?!
Grins, "Oh is he? That's a big commitment to make."
Text: Looked cool. U not doing it now?
Grins, "Mmhmm, he's saying if I'm still doing it. Do you think he wants to do gymnastics with me?" Text: I am still. U srs about it?
"If he's worried about you skipping out on it? Yeah, I'd say he wants to."
Text: Maybe. Got to see if I'm any good.
Text: Dad says u gotta practice 2 b good.
Text: Got 2 fit it in with football.
Mumbles, "Football is lame." Text: Ok.
"Hey, what's wrong with football?"
Text: Good indoor sport. Better than just lifting.
"He plays it a lot. I don't know anything about it. And it takes up a lot of time." Text: More fun!
"Your dad doesn't watch it with you?"
Text: For sure!
"My new one does, but I don't like it really. It's a Texas thing." Rolls her eyes. Text: More fun than football?
"If you wanna learn, you can come hang out with the pitchers. We are always watching on Saturdays and then sometimes on Sunday too. CC is a big Oakland Raiders fan and I can get behind that."
Text: I don't suck at football.
"Do you like the Texas team?" Text: U don't suck at gymnastics.
Laughs, "No. But I like beating up on the Texas teams."
Text: 5 year olds know more than me!
Giggles, "That would make them sad. That's not very nice." Text: They have been doing it longer. Practice makes perfect.
"I have to beat them or my Texan friend will gloat and gloat some more until the cows come home."
Text: I'll get better.
"Are all Texas people like that?" Text: Yea u will. Then it will be more fun than football.
"I think it's genetic. They can't help but be totally fanatical."
Text: LOL. We'll see.
"I wonder how they got to be like that." Text: I'll show you!
"Texans are weird, unusual animals."
Text: Maybe we will be back for post-season.
"I like how they talk though. It's nice to listen to." Text: U HAVE TO! Dads need u.
"I won't let you meet Huston, then, you might fall for him."
Text: I KNOW! I miss dad.
"Is he old?" Text: We all miss u all.
"He's timeless." Laughs.
Text: G2g. Stupid English presentation. BLEH.
"What's that mean?" Text: GL!
"He doesn't look like he has any particular age. He's older than you, but you might not care."
Text: Text u after?
Wrinkles her nose, "Is he like thirty? That's pervy." Text: Yup! I get 2 b at the park all day.
Laughs, "I'm gonna find Phil."
Text: -That- I am jealous of. l8r
Text: LOL! Puts her phone away, "I'm all done, I promise."
"You can help me hunt him down. He's gotta be somewhere around here."
"I don't know where my dads went either."
"And you don't want to know where they went either. Trust me."
"There you are. I thought you got eaten by something and I'd have to get the Scooby gang together."
"That woulda been better."
"I didn't even see you running when we were out on the field, how long does it take to shower, man?"
"I had to wait for them to be... done." Shudders.
Takes in his face and bursts out laughing.
"Oh shut up! You didn't see it."
"What?"
"They were... they had.... it was---"
"Private time?"
"In public."
"Phil, not really the place to go into details."
"I wasn't!"
Wandering into the room, his hair still wet, "Serena, you still readin'--oh, good mornin'."
"We had outfielder practice."
Smiles, "I'm sorry I didn't get to talk to Nick for you. But you found Nick on your own?"
"I did. She makes a great little outfielder."
Beams, "Wonderful. Do you wanna tell me all about it? Your daddy's gotta do today's paperwork."
Nods, grinning, "Can we play catch? And then I can tell you about it. We already had snack and then we talked and," Blushes, "He helped me with some stuff."
Looks over at Nick.
"Completely innocent stuff, don't give me the parental death glare, man."
To Serena, "Of course we can. You can tell me all about what it's like playin' in the outfield."
"He's the best uncle ever." Takes Andy's hand, tugging him towards the field. "He told me all about how important it is to be an outfielder..."