Page 31 of Stat: Love In Scrubs
“I need to grab my bottle of water from Maria. I’ll be right back.”
“Hurry, I don’t need Gerald running his mouth.” He said, talking about his rival across the field.
I held in my laugh because that would only send my dad on a tangent I wasn’t in the mood to hear. I rushed from the opening of the dugout, then made a beeline for Doc and Esa. The moment I was in Esa’s sight, she rushed over to me, wrapping her little arms around my leg. I leaned down as much as I could to hug her back.
“I’m glad to see you, too! You ready to watch a good game and get candy on your dad?” I asked, glancing up at Doc, whose brow was now lifted in my direction.
“You take too many balls to the head out there. This child had her fair share of sweets before we got here. The best she can get is a bottle of water or Gatorade.”
“Speaking of. I told my dad I was coming over here to get water. Follow me, Maria is already in a good seat, and I think she saved y’all a spot.” I told him as I held my hand out for his.
His larger one engulfed mine, giving me a flutter in my stomach. We finally made it over to Maria, whose eyes widened at the sight of Doc. Then she looked in my direction and smiled. I couldn’t help but laugh because she was silly.
“Maria, this is Doc—I mean Desmond, and this little cutie right here is Esabella, but she prefers to be called Esa. Doc and Esa, this is my mom, Maria.”
Esa’s eyes widened as she looked between Maria and I. I’m sure she was trying to figure out what features we shared. Doc reached over and shook her hand with a smile. Before Esa could ask me the questions I could see formulating in her mind, my dad was shouting my name.
“Yara! Let’s go!”
I walked over to Doc and tipped my head back. He quickly obliged and kissed me before I rushed off. I jogged around the gate to stand next to my dad, who was now wearing a frown.
“Don’t be fresh because you think you’re grown now.”
I chuckled and ran to my position at first base. The game went on for another ten minutes before Todd, one of my dad’s old friends, twisted his ankle trying to run to first base. Gerald walked over with a smug smirk.
“You might as well just forfeit the game, Leo. You don’t even have enough people on your team to keep playing.”
A couple of our teammates were helping Todd off the field. Doc walked over to stand beside me.
“You need another man?” he asked my dad.
I could tell my dad was caught off guard, but he damn sure wasn’t going to turn Doc down. He couldn’t stand Gerald’s old ass.
“You’re in.” My dad said.
Gerald looked like he wanted to talk shit, but he just stumped back to his dugout like a petulant child. My dad turned to face Doc and held his hand out to shake his, to which Doc returned the gesture.
“You know how to play kickball, right?” he asked.
I almost burst into laughter because my dad was extra confident moments ago.
“Yes, sir. I think I still have my memories from when I was a child.” Doc answered.
They stared at one another, not breaking contact for a moment, before my dad nodded and walked away.
“I hope you can actually play. My dad takes this really seriously.” I told him.
“Just your dad? Baby, I saw you talking shit to the ref just moments ago.”
I rolled my eyes and switched off, then smirked over my shoulder in his direction. It was our turn to kick, and my dad glanced at Doc, telling him he was up first. I knew it was just a test. He wanted to see what he could do in this moment.
He leaned down to whisper in my ear. “Let me go handle this for my father-in-law.”
I rolled my eyes and nudged his shoulder. He smirked at me, then jogged up to the plate. A moment passed as their guy rolled the ball towards Doc. He reared back and kicked the ball to the outfield. He raced to the first base, just in time before they tried to toss the ball his way.
The team shouted and jumped around as I stepped up to the plate after him. I couldn’t fuck this up. Not after Doc had given us a good start to getting a few more points on the board.
I watched him settle onto first base, all confident and relaxed, like this wasn’t his first time jumping in on a game with folks he just met. And then, of course, it was my turn to kick. Because the universe is petty. I exhaled, stepped up, and swung my leg. The moment my foot connected with the ball, I knew two things.
