Page 56 of Caught Stealing

“Like a real conversation, or shouted insults to one another?” I tease.

“An actual conversation, believe it or not. Some of what I learned is kind of personal so I won’t repeat it, but I think I got to the root of his attitude issue. He agreed to let me mentor him and help him ease into the pro level a little more.” He shrugs. “Plus, I’m pretty sure raking up two losses in a row made him enemy number one with the guys, so he needs me on his side.”

I realize he’s still rubbing my hand, so I put my other one on his and smile. “That’s really good. Maybe all he needed was someone to confide in all along.”

“I guess we’ll find out tonight, won’t we?” Andrew chuckles and glances down at our pile of hands. This is so much more than friendship, and maybe I knew all along I’d never be able to maintain such a ruse. Whatever the reason, I’m glad I didn’t walk away and never look back.

Music begins and the teams head out to the field amongst cheers and chants. Andrew quickly runs down what to expect, but this much I remember from childhood. A waitress enters the lounge and takes our food order, and I note there are no other patrons with us. Maybe it’s a super private lounge? Or maybe he set it up so we’d be alone? Who knows, but I’m not complaining.

By the time our food comes, we’re in the third inning and I’m pretty confident I can figure out this game. I nibble a chicken finger while Andrew shovels down three corndogs and half of my French fries.

“I’ll get you more, I promise. I didn’t think I’d want any, but those are actually really good,” he says after swallowing four fries.

“I don’t mind sharing, honest. I’ll never eat them all.”

He winks at me and stands. “Let’s go down to the row seating and watch for a while. From there, I can teach you about the different kinds of pitches and we can even discuss…wait for it…” He holds up his hands as if he’s about to offer me something extra exciting. “Are you ready?”

I freeze with anticipation. “Hit me.”

“I can list out our player stats.”

“Statistics? Oh, do tell me more,” I say and wiggle my eyebrows. This earns me a hearty laugh, so I add, “Are you trying to reel me in even more, Rossi?”

He slips an arm around my waist to lead me to the seating and leans in close to my ear. “Is it working?”

“Math is the way to my heart. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.” My cheeks don’t flame like the usually do, so I take it as a win. I’m getting more comfortable with him, and he’s clearly testing my boundaries. He tucks my hair behind my ear, brushes his hands over mine, keeps me snug by the waist…all of the touching. All. Of. The. Touching. And everywhere he brushes his fingers springs to life under his light pressure. Chills run up my spine when he shifts his hand to my lower back, guiding me into the seat before settling beside me.

I like this side of him. His trustworthiness was cemented when he kept most of Marco’s story private. He wouldn’t divulge gossip even to me, which makes him a good friend. I like it, and I want to know more about the inner workings of his moral code.

Several more innings pass while I learn everything I could ever want to know about baseball statistics, pitching style, and how Marco was doing much better tonight than he did in the last two games. He’s almost fatherlike in his shouts of support and in the way his eyes light up when Marco throws strike after strike.

“He is on fire tonight,” Andrew admits. “I guess I can retire knowing the team is in good hands after all.” Andrew settles back in his seat while the team swaps on the field in preparation for the second half of the sixth inning.

I’m not sure how touchy of a subject it is at this point, so I dip my toe in with an easy question about his possible retirement. “How is your shoulder?”

“Mmm, still sore in the morning but overall it’s improving. Doc said I might be able to play in another week or so.”

“That’s great, Andrew!” I’m admittedly excited to see him pitch but my excitement is mine alone. Andrew lowers his head and bites his lower lip. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, really. Part of me thinks that even if my shoulder is better it’s only a matter of time before it’s injured again. I don’t want to have permanent issues with it, so I’m contemplating retirement more seriously now.”

Guilt spreads through me like wildfire. Retirement means he won’t be traveling, but it also means he’ll be unhappy. Besides, he made it pretty clear that he’s not the cheating while on the road type. My fears are entirely unfounded, and what’s worse is they’re detrimental to his happiness.

“Andrew, I hope you know I’ll support you through this. Whatever you decide, I want you to be happy.”

His eyes connect with mine and he finally grins. “Thanks, Lottie.” He intertwines our fingers, and that’s when it happens.

The kiss cam.

The awful, horrible, must be at every sporting facility in the world, kiss cam. It lands on us and the crowd goes crazy. I glance at the mega sized screen across from us, all the way on the other side of the stadium, and can’t help but sink deeply into my seat. Andrew chuckles at my embarrassment and pats my arm before waving the camera away. Rather than follow his instructions, the camera man zooms in on us and adds little popping heart bubbles to the screen. It’s obvious he’s not going to pan away until we kiss. The jerk.

I’ve kissed Andrew’s cheek before, so it’s probably fine to do it again. Hopefully that will satisfy the raving audience and convince the cameraman to move on to another unsuspecting couple.

“This is insane. I’m going to kill Tony for this. I swear I did not ask him to do this.” Andrew’s cheeks turn red as he shakes his head and motions for the camera to go away again. I giggle and reach deep down into my gut for some courage.

I sit straight in my chair and lean over, ready to leave a sweet peck on his cheek.

“You do not have to kiss me. Just ignore them. The game will start back in like ten seconds and he’ll have to stop,” he says and turns his head to look at me just as I go in for the cheek kiss.

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