Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 60219 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 301(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60219 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 301(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
Steven rolled his eyes dramatically.
“Seriously?” Tamara asked.
“Seriously,” I said. “I’ve had a crush on him for over ten years. I’m not going to ruin that for myself by doing something desperate. He wants to catch up. I want to catch up. The fact that he is incredibly, insanely attractive is completely beside the point.”
Dale had been quiet for longer than usual, and I looked over at him, his forefinger on his chin and his eyes searching the ceiling as if he was deep in thought.
“Dale?” Tamara asked, catching on to what I was seeing. “Dale?”
“Hmm?” he asked.
“What are you doing?”
“Oh, nothing,” he said. “There’s just a ‘rounding the bases’ joke in here somewhere, and I was trying to find it.”
Steven and I both groaned aloud, and Tamara hung her head. Shaking it off and rolling my eyes, I took a sip of the drink they had brought me.
We had been hanging out at the bar for about twenty minutes when my phone vibrated in my pocket. It had a rather intense effect on me since the pants I was wearing were so tight that slipping my phone into my pocket was an act of war with my own body. I jumped a little and then tried to pry it out of my pocket, much to the amusement of my friends.
When I finally got it out, I hadn’t even had time to unlock it before Dale and Tamara were hovering over it.
“What did he say?” Tamara asked.
“I don’t know yet,” I said.
I stared at them until they sat back down, Dale brushing his hand through his hair and downing a tequila shot.
Would you meet me at my hotel bar? Have a drink somewhere other than the stadium?
“He asked me if I would like to meet at the hotel bar for a drink, just like I said,” I said. “Nothing more interesting than two old friends catching up. So there.”
“You mean the hotel where he will be staying? So you will be a few floors below the place where his bed is? His big, lonely bed?” Dale teased.
“Yes,” I said. “At the bar. Where we will have a drink. That’s it.”
“I have my doubts,” Steven said.
“He might ask me to say hello to people back home,” I said. “I’ll give you that as a possibility.”
Send me the address. I’ll let you know how long it says it will take to get there, I typed.
“How long will it take to get to your apartment?” I asked.
“Whose?” Tamara asked.
“Whichever one of you is closest,” I said. “Preferably yours, Tamara, since I don’t think I’d look cute in Hawaiian shirts or khaki pants.”
“You want to change clothes?” Dale asked. “Why? You look amazing.”
“I’m wearing jeans. I am going to a fancy hotel with a superstar baseball player. I need to be wearing a dress,” I said. “Non-negotiable.”
“Fifteen minutes,” Tamara said. “But we have to move, babe.”
We took off, leaving Dale and Steven behind to pay the tab and finish our drinks, which they were happy to do. Tamara and I made it back to her place in record time, and she immediately went into her closet and started tossing everything she could find onto the bed. We wore roughly the same size, which helped, and when I saw a little black dress and black heels that I knew for a fact she had borrowed from me years before, I seized them.
“See, they were waiting for you for right now,” Tamara said. “It’s a good thing they never made it back to you.”
I laughed and started getting dressed while Tamara started working on my hair. It had been in a ponytail most of the game, and while I had it down when he saw me in the clubhouse, it needed some spray and a brush before I allowed myself to be seen again. She helped me get dressed and get spiffy, then I headed out of the door and straight to a waiting Uber. No sense in trying to walk in heels, and the subway in a dress was a mistake I hadn’t made since my first week in the city.
As the car pulled up to the hotel, I tipped the driver on the app and took one last look in my compact mirror. A quick reapplication of lipstick and I was ready. I figured if I was only going to see him once every five or so years, I might as well make the best of it.
10
GRAHAM
I was glad she said it would be an hour or so before she could get to the hotel. It meant I had enough time to get back to my room and freshen up myself. My regular shampoo and body wash that I used in my away game bag was fine and all, but I wanted to go into the evening looking and feeling my best. That meant getting back to the hotel, getting spruced up with some cologne and clothes that looked more presentable than the T-shirt and shorts motif I currently rocked and heading down feeling like I was a functional adult.