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Tanner shakes his head.
“He called my two best friends in and asked them. Granted, I also had unhealed microfractures in my hand, but you get the point.” Tanner lets out a laugh. “So, you wanna tell me the truth? Or am I gonna have to go through your phone and text your best friends?”
He smiles at me, then nods. “I—I don’t know what’s next for me. Part of me thinks maybe the coaches are right, and I should consider going pro. Then my dad says it’ll be a waste of my time and it’s a frivolous pastime that I need to let go of. My mom gets mad at him and tells me I should try for the majors.” He shakes his head. “I can’t even talk about baseball at home anymore without them fighting. It sucks. And I relate to fucking up with a girl. My best friend was always there for me, but we started dating and my dad… he said we were wasting our time, first loves never last… he basically ran her out of my life, and I let him.”
He puts his head in his hands.
“And all of that is tied to baseball. To how you pitch.”
“Baseball just feels stressful at this point. Then I pitch shitty and it feels more stressful.”
I give him a little grin. “Okay then, we need to make baseball fun again.”
I pull out my phone and text Joel, Miles, and Tommy, asking them to come up to the field.
Fifteen minutes later, they’re suiting up.
“What are we doing?” Tanner whines. “And who’s that?” He points at Miles.
“That’s Miles. Best catcher you’ll ever meet. And yeah, you can tell Eddie I said that. And we are going to remind you why baseball is fun.”
I take a deep breath and look toward the mound.Fun. We’re gonna have fun. I walk toward it, mentally preparing myself. First time I’ve tried to throw a pitch in nine months. We’ll see how this goes.
“Ooh. Superstar over here is gonna throw a pitch.”
Miles lets out a deep laugh. “Don’t challenge him, kid.”
“You know I’m older than you, right?”
Miles shrugs and smirks. Then he looks at me seriously. “You can do this, A. You can.”
I nod. I know it’s not going to be like before. My grip isn’t quite the same. My hand strength isn’t what it used to be, but I know I can still do this. I close my eyes and take a breath. I remember the last time I pitched like, well, anace. The state championships. Rae wore a shirt with my last name on it. Her eyes pierced mine as she told me to calm down. She’d do the same thing if she were here right now.Calm down.
I flash my eyes open, exuding confidence. I take a breath and throw.
It flies right to Miles’s glove, and I breathe a sigh of relief. Of happiness. Ofholy shit, I actually fucking did it.
Then I smile. I have some things to get used to. I still can’t throw like I used to, but it’s better than it was last year. Less stiffness and better grip.
Tanner squints at me. “That was pretty good. Think you can do it again with a batter in the box?” He shoots me a cocky grin and I nod for him to go.
Tanner steps up to the plate. Miles calls a pitch.
I throw a curveball and catch him off guard, making his eyes go wide.
I throw a range of pitches, fucking up a few and nailing some others. It feels good to be on the mound again.
Tommy comes up and attempts to hit some too.
Tanner stands back and watches me, seeming impressed.
“I can see why coach thinks you’re good. If you were on top of your game, you could take my place.”
“Better hope you’ve been drafted before I get there, then.”
Joel steps up to the plate. Besides Miles, he’s one of the toughest to strike out because he knows my pitching style so well.
Joel hits a bunch of pitches and gives me that smirk.
