Page 27 of Untouchable Player
“It’s a surprise.”
Nate puts a jacket and his shoes on and follows me outside.
“How are we getting there?”
“The bus obviously. Unless you have a sweet car like Jones?”
Nate shakes his head, “my parents won’t let me have one until I turn twenty-one.”
That’s smart. A surprise, but it’s smart. Maybe that’s why Nate doesn’t act like a spoilt brat even though his parents are rich and he practically lives in a mansion?
“You do know how to catch the bus don’t you?” I tease.
He cocks his head, “obviously, I get the bus to class every day.”
“Okay, good.”
We walk in silence for a few minutes. The gravel driveway leading out of Nate’s parents’ house going on forever.
“You’re really not going to tell me where we’re going?”
I laugh. “If I tell you, you won’t come.”
I see him swallow hard and want to reassure him.
“Don’t worry. Do you think your brother would let me put you in danger?”
Nate seems to relax and I realise he actually was considering that I might let him get hurt.
We don’t have to wait long for the bus and when we get on, it’s so busy, we don’t even get a seat next to each other. At least it saves us having to make conversation I guess, but I was looking forward to sitting next to him. So he’s Jones’ brother and off-bounds. I can look, can’t I?
I have to nudge him to let him know we’re getting off and when he follows me, I realise he’s putting a lot of trust in me and I hope he doesn’t regret it.
The building I lead him to from the bus stop must look super sketchy. From the outside it just looks like a big garage or storage units. I push the big fire doors open and the sound of balls thunking against baseball bats hits me right away. The smell of rubber and wood.
I was never very good at baseball, but I always loved hitting balls with my dad. It was hockey my dad had played in high-school, and so hockey he focussed on with my training, soon pushing baseball out altogether.
When I look at Nate, he looks like he’s going to turn around and run.
I force a laugh, though I’m seriously wondering if I’ve made a mistake bringing him here - he looks like he’s about to have a panic attack.
“Don’t look so scared,” I say, “it’s just for fun.”
He follows me around the perimeter of the cages where I go to pay and collect our bats and balls. He flinches when a baseball catches in the net near his face.
“Don’t worry,” I say, stopping in front of him, “I won’t let you get hurt.”
He looks up at me, his eyes huge, and nods.Fuck he’s cute.
We take a free cage at the end of the row and I put the bucket of balls down by the wall and take my jacket off. Nate is just standing in the corner and I don’t know whether to laugh or carry him back to the car before he starts crying.
I hold the bat out to him and ask him if he wants to go first. He shakes his head.
“Okay, I’ll go first.”
I set it up and wait for the machine to send me a ball. When the ball comes flying towards me, I swing and my bat makes contact with the ball and sends it flying with a satisfyingthunk. Fuck that feels good!
When I look at Nate, he’s still looking awkward and I know if I don’t get him involved now, he’s going to hate every second of this and I’ll have made a big mistake.