“Thanks,” he looked up as the boys approached. “Hey, guys.”
“Mind if we join you?” asked Parker.
I glanced up. “We’re not in high school, King. You don’t need to ask permission.”
“You looked like you were having a deep and meaningful, that’s all,” he shot back with a boyish smirk, then sat down next to Stone, who looked longingly at the pile of hash browns on Parker’s plate. “Didn’t want to interrupt anything important.”
“The only thing it looks like we’re interrupting is the way Fields is eye-fucking your food. Here, man,” Ace tipped half his plate onto Stone’s. “Go nuts.”
The expression on Stone’s face had me chuckling behind my cup of matcha as I sipped it. “Dude, just eat them.”
He didn’t need to be told twice, and two had disappeared before I’d even put my cup down.
“Hey, do you guys know what baseball science is?”
I pushed my empty plate away and started on my granola, which was far more interesting than anything Ace had to say. “Nope.”
My mind went back to Marnie.
Maybe I should go and see her, just see if she’d talk to me.
How was I going to convince her to talk to me? Um…
Would it be weird if I waited outside her office? Yes, it would.
Maybe.
“Did you guys see the email about the new chick?” Ace asked through a mouthful of avocado toast.
“We’re all new.”
“No, she’s super new, like from last weekend. We just ran into her in the hallway and man, she’shot. Her ass is…” he lifted his fingers to his lips and burst them open in a chef’s kiss. “Fuck, I love older women. And this one is so… peachy. She looks smart too, wearing glasses like she meant business, instead of just… you know.”
Stone and I both stared at him, making it clear we, in fact, didn’t know. But that was not unusual with Ace, and we’d all learned quickly to filter the important stuff.
“He’s right, she was,” nodded Parker, with more enthusiasm than he needed.
Stone and I went back to our breakfast. Even if I wasn’t thinking about Marnie, breakfast was also seen as a time of quiet contemplation, and a look ahead to the day’s game,
something these two had yet to learn.
“I can’t wait until Monday.” The tone of Ace’s sigh had all three of us looking at him.
“What’s happening on Monday?” Stone asked, once he’d swallowed his current mouthful.
“We all have appointments to see her over the next few weeks. Coach scheduled them in our calendars.” He picked upa piece of toast and crunched down on it. “She’s the head of baseball science.”
My ears pricked up, the important subject filter doing its job properly. “Who’re you talking about?”
He looked at me like I hadn’t been listening to him for the last five minutes, which of course I hadn’t.
“The new chick.” He scratched his head, obviously trying to remember. “Marnie, I think her name was.”
I stood up so quickly I almost got head rush. Parker grabbed my chair before it hit the floor. “Marnie Matthews?”
He clapped his hands together. “Yes! Her, she’s fucking hot. She’s got…”
My hands slammed down on the table so hard Ace’s orange juice toppled over and spilled all over the table. He jumped out of the way before he was covered in it too.
