AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Sure you can,” I said. “It’s only a walk of shame if you let it be shameful.”
She laughed.
“What about you?” she asked. “Aren’t your teammates going to talk?”
“Let them,” I said. “I have no reason to be ashamed.”
I opened the door for her, and we walked out together. As we got in the elevator, we both sniggered at the memory of how we’d barely made it out of it the night before. When it reached the lobby floor, we got out and made it past the bar and toward the doors. I had already pulled up a rideshare program and ordered her a ride, so when we got to the door, we could see it waiting.
“Day game?” she asked, turning to me one last time.
I nodded.
“One o’clock,” I said. “I can leave as soon as we get to the locker room, though. I won’t be pitching today.”
“Good,” she said, leaning up on her toes to kiss me one last time.
I held the door open for her, she climbed inside, and I waved as she drove off. Then, turning and going back inside the lobby, I saw a couple of my teammates all standing by the bar drinking various protein shakes and orange juice concoctions. They were all staring at me.
“Graham Miller finally took a girl back to his room,” Cortez, one of our outfielders, said.
“I was starting to think you were a monk,” Javier said. “She was hot, man.”
“I know,” I replied. “She’s not some groupie, though.”
“Yeah, uh huh,” Cortez said, downing the rest of his shake.
“Was that the same girl with the sign?” Ricky asked, piping up from the chair he was sitting in. I didn’t even see him there. He was with the shortstop from the minors, Tobias. “Looked like her.”
“It was,” I said, getting a chorus of taunting sounds.
“The high school sweetheart?” Tobias inquired.
“We didn’t date in high school,” I corrected him. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
“He’s married in a week,” Ricky joked. “I’ve never seen Graham with a girl during the season. Not since we started together in Rochester AA.”
“All right, all right,” I said. “That’s enough. Do I need to start pointing out the girls you guys have dated?”
“Good luck,” Ricky said, rolling his eyes. “Chicks don’t dig catchers.”
“Come on,” Javier said, “let’s get to the stadium. I heard Coach was bringing in a magician this morning. I can’t miss that shit.”
“A magician?” Tobias asked. “Why?”
Javier shrugged and looked over at me. I had been with the current coach the longest of us.
“Coach is nuts,” I said, and the group laughed.
I arrived back at the hotel just after five. The game had been brisk, another low-scoring affair, and we were on the winning end of it. Taking two from New York was big, meaning we at least split the series before we headed to Boston, then back to Montreal.
Yet, none of that mattered as I headed back into the lobby, walking briskly toward the elevator. All that mattered was the excitement or potential disappointment of Mallory either being in my room or not. The elevator seemed to take forever to get to the top floor, in direct opposition to how it had felt the night before when it couldn’t move slow enough.
When the door opened, I flew out, past the upstairs bar and down the hall to my room. I stuck the key in the door and took a deep breath. When I opened it, a moment of sadness filled me as it looked pristine and empty.
Then I heard shuffling in the bedroom.
I smiled and shut the door behind me, dropping my bag right there and kicking off my shoes. I was unbuttoning the sleeves of my shirt when I walked into the bedroom and stopped cold.
