Page 104 of Diamond Ring
Jake
Jake spends game one of the Fall Classic in the bullpen, trying not to freeze in October weather, trying not to let the insults of the Gothams’ fans bruise his ego too much.
Johnson is sitting next to him, bundled comically against the cold, face barely visible between the collar of his zipped-up jacket and his pulled-low hat. They spend most of the game talking about what bullpen guys talk about—nothing in particular, though Johnson spends much of the time rotating his wrist.
“You okay?” Jake asks the fourth time he’s done it.
“This cold makes everything ache.”
“Welcome to getting older.”
“Zach says the same thing. He said it’s worse if you’re a catcher.”
Something Alex occasionally grumbled about, though he’s mostly been too tired to complain, even if it’s obvious he’s aching.
“Might need to get this worked on again,” Johnson adds. “If I can find the time.”
“What’re you doing in the offseason?” Even mentioning it feels like a curse.
“Fixing my wrist. Picking out law schools, maybe.” Said simply, like those things are in fact simple.
“Any particular kind of law?” Jake asks, because it’s polite, and because it’s not Johnson’s fault that he’s doing something more than play ball, and because Jake has possibly, probably, learned to let it go.
“Labor law. Might get some practice soon.” Johnson smiles like it’s an inside joke.
The inning ends. A few fans are yelling at them in a mix of languages Jake can only somewhat parse. One says something in Spanish that makes Johnson take a ball from the bucket of their warmup ones and toss it up to their delighted thanks.
That’s as much throwing as either of them does, Charlie pitching like his Hall of Fame case depends on it. The Gothams can’t do much with it, other than Morales, who works a walk on an eleven-pitch at-bat and strolls to first.
Johnson cups his hands, giving a long yell of approval that blends with the crowd. He shrugs when Jake looks at him in question. “Zach told me I had to.”
What’s going on with them?Jake doesn’t ask since it’s not really Johnson’s business to tell. Though if Johnson knows and is cool with it, maybe he wouldn’t get hives at the idea of Alex and Jake together. Nothing he can ask in a frigid bullpen, so he slouches further in his chair and focuses his attention on the field, which seems particularly distant.
Charlie falters with one out in the ninth, giving up a single that puts the tying run on base. The crowd, sensing the opportunity for a walk-off win, intensifies its encouragements. But the Elephants closer goes in and secures an undramatic strikeout and flyout. With that, Oakland’s game one victory—made even sweeter by the accompanying hail of New York insults.
After the game, Jake lies in his room for an hour, held by the strange gravity of hotel beds and by all the things swirling in his brain. Alex is only a few rooms away. He might be asleep, deservedly, or just not up to dealing with Jake’s bullshit any more than Jake is.
They won. It’d been a good day. Jake shouldn’t feel like this, even if he does. At least he contributed to getting them here.And I helped, he thinks slightly hysterically in the tone of a late-night commercial for chicken seasoning. That gets him up.
A few minutes later, he’s standing outside Alex’s room, holding nothing but his own hands stiff at his sides, the familiar grind of nails against his palms.
Alex opens the door, then yawns expansively.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you,” Jake whispers, glancing up the hall to see if he’s disturbed anyone else.
Alex smiles. “Don’t be.”
“I almost didn’t come.”
Alex doesn’t reach for his hand, doesn’t stroke soothingly up his arm, doesn’t do any of the things he might have years ago, like he can sense Jake still needs space. But his eyes are warm, fond. “I’m glad you did.”
“You like sneaking me in after curfew, Angelides?”
And Alex laughs and steps back from the door frame to admit him.
Inside, Jake paces, aligning a few things on Alex’s dresser—an extra set of room keys, a bottle of cologne Alex travels with but never uses—before stopping himself.
“You can if you want,” Alex says.
