Page 97 of Clichés & Curses

She gave me a smile of her own. ‘You’ll tell me when you’re ready?’

‘Always,’ I said, putting an arm around her and giving her a side hug, silently letting her know how grateful I was for her.

The song that was currently playing through the speakers slowly faded out. It was replaced with the sound of trumpets, followed by our college’s own sports commentator announcing the game was about to begin.

‘Welcome folks to another exhibition game during this off-season! And this time, we’ll be playing in the home of last year’s Men’s College World Series champion, our very own Dust Devils!’

The crowd gave a massive cheer for our beloved team, while they waved around for us as they got ready in the dugout.

‘Today’s game will be against another one of college baseball favourites, the Raptors!’

Applause sounded all over the stadium for the away team.

As the crowd started to settle down, our college baseball players started making their way to the field and got into position. It seemed that the away team was batting first.

My heart couldn’t help but speed up seeing Colton taking his place right in front of our stand at first base.

His eyes started to dart across the stadium—from his right side, before coming over to the left.

My side.

For a moment, I gave in to the temptation of the fantasy that he was looking for me.

But it seemed my fantasy wasn’t far off, when he went a little over from where I was sitting, before bringing his eyes back to me.

Remembering that he might not have read my text, I thought of the next best thing I could do, while I still had his attention.

‘Good luck!’I signed to him.

A massive grin instantly appeared on his face. He tipped his hat at me before signing a little ‘thank you’back, not wanting to alert anyone who might have perceived it as Colton giving a flying kiss to someone in the stands.

He turned his attention back to the game as the first batter from the opposing team stepped up to home plate.

And so, it began.

The game kicked off to a good start with our team leading, managing a score of 2-0 in the first inning. But the other team was starting to catch up to us, which led to a tie score of 4-4.

A slight strain of worry filled the air in the crowd at the score, though it didn’t last too long as Jack, our team’s pitcher, managed to pull three strikeouts in a row. Soon, we were back to being the batting team. As each player managed to swing a good shot, we now had all three bases loaded. While that didn’t necessarily bring in points, it did mean things were starting to look up for us.

But as the next couple of batters got struck out, the tension was back in the atmosphere. Everyone started to feel nervous again, since we were only left with one last player to bat, if we wanted to take advantage of the loaded bases. The nervousness instantly switched to excitement, when we heard the name of the next batter being called out.

‘And next up to bat is the star player himself, Colton Reed!’

I immediately leaned forward in my seat. I’m pretty sure I heard Nina chuckling at my actions, but I wasn’t sure. My mind was solely focused on Colton.

‘Colton has managed to hit a home run at every single exhibition game the team has had so far this off-season. Let’s see what he can do for them tonight!’ the commentator announced enthusiastically.

My right knee started bouncing as Colton prepared himself to bat. ‘Come on, come on,’ I muttered to myself.

Once Colton was in his stance, the rival’s team pitcher let out an exhale, demonstrated by the rise and fall of his shoulders, before throwing a fastball that was within the strike zone.

Colton swung.

And he missed.

‘Strike one for Colton,’ the commentator declared.

Stepping away from home plate, Colton rolled his shoulders and readjusted his gloves. When the ball was back in the pitcher’s glove, he stepped up, his hands gripping the bat handle as he got back into position.

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