Chapter 58 I Don’t Care Who’s Watching
-Drew-
Dad agreed to drive me home while Mom gets a hotel and car to stay in Nebraska with Daniel.
Mom is trying to figure out if she can get Daniel any extensions at his college so he can complete his classes.
He’d only been a few weeks away from the end of his semester.
It feels weird returning home without even having my brother wake up, but the doctors said it would be any time now and that Daniel only needed time for his body to finish healing.
On the drive back, I tell Dad that he should fly back and join Mom.
I tell him I’m completely capable of taking care of myself and that I’d be so busy with baseball that I would barely be home myself.
He’d said he would talk to Mom, but that it didn’t seem fair to me not to have either of my parents present for what promised to be a strong playoff run.
Annie texts or calls me multiple times a day while I’m gone.
It’s reassuring each time I see her name pop up on my phone.
***
True to my promise, I have been busy and all-consumed with baseball.
We’d won our district games, then repeated our efforts and won all our regional games to make it into the top eight schools in Oklahoma.
Most importantly, the state tournament. Dad has stayed with me and has shown up for every game, even though I’d told him he didn’t have to.
It was nice having him there to support me.
Mom is finishing up in Nebraska, having helped Daniel finish his classes and enroll in a program to get help for his drinking.
I’ve overheard a little of Dad’s call with Mom last week and her telling him how Daniel had been responding to all the actions and steps they’d laid out for him.
Mom told Dad that Daniel apologized and agreed he needed help, and that he’d gotten out of control before the accident.
I’m missing Mom’s arrival home from Nebraska with our bus departure to drive to the state tournament.
Once we leave today, we either come home champions or we don’t.
All of us guys are ready to get on the road; we even refreshed the numbers in our sideburns.
Since shaving it into my hair, Annie traces it when we get moments alone, snuggled up at her house or mine.
She runs her fingers over the almost bare patches, tracking the one and then the seven.
I may or may not have fallen asleep on her parents’ couch a few nights ago when she’d been doing it.
***
Annie is the best girlfriend through all the craziness that my life is right now.
She finished her soccer season during districts.
Since then, she has been present at every single game: home or away, it didn’t matter, sideline, dugout, or the stands next to Dad.
It didn’t matter where she was, just that she was there at each game.
The state tournament would be the one exception, because she couldn’t get her parents to agree to head out with us to the tournament yet.
She went back and forth negotiating with her parents since we qualified for State.
If I hadn’t already been head over heels in love with her, this would have been the thing to push me to confess my love for her.
She’d started her pitch by telling them how important it would be for her to support me, then for the school to have a reporter to capture all the moments with the team, and finally for her dad to get an accurate story for the Reporter.
She’d finally gotten them to book a room for Saturday night, one for her parents and one for her and Meg, so they could be present at the state championship game.
Now the guys and I have to get ourselves there.
***
Dad drove me and Annie to school today, so we don’t have to leave my car in the lot for the next few days.
From the front, Dad says, “Once your mom is home, we will head out. We may miss the first game, but we’ll make it well before the scheduled second game.
” “Sounds good, I’ll check my phone between games,” I let him know.
Dad parks the car, getting out and heading towards the trunk to grab my bags.
“I’ll meet you at the bus,” Annie says, giving me a quick kiss and moving out of the backseat and off through the parking lot before I can protest her absence.
I join Dad at the trunk and take one of the bags from him before he says, “Drew, no matter the outcome, you’ve made me proud.
This isn’t the end of your baseball career.
Go have fun before this is your job: enjoy how good you are out there and how it feels to be with your friends. ”
This isn’t the first time he has told me he is proud of me for all the efforts I have put into baseball, but it is the first time he has said outright that he believes it will be my career.
It’s always been an “if,” “backup plan,” or “just in case” type of scenario with Dad.
I never thought he didn’t believe I could do it, but he’s the planner of my parents.
He wanted to make sure that I’ve always understood my odds and the other things I have to offer outside of baseball, so to hear him say it will be my career means a lot to me, and I tell him, “Thanks, Dad. It means a lot to have your support.” “Always, Drew.” He gives me a quick hug before handing me my other bag.
“Now go have fun, and maybe win a championship, too.”
***
I drop my bags off with the coaches and they run me through the checklist one more time.
I reassure them that I do have all my gear and my toothbrush.
After doing all the required check-ins, I go to find Annie in the crowd of other players and students ready to give us a pep rally send-off.
I spot her next to Craig, Luke, and Travis in the crowd.
I make my way over and slide my arms around her waist, standing behind her.
She leans back into me and twines her fingers into mine on her stomach.
“You snuggle into any guy throwing his arms around you, Angel?” I ask.
She laughs and looks over her shoulder. “Nope, I could tell your touch from anyone’s, Dimples.
” I lean down and capture her lips in a kiss.
“Ok, OK, I mean it, OK,” Craig mocks us.
“Lover boy, get your last feels, because it’s just me and you in a hotel room until Sunday, and I don’t put out,” Craig laughs at himself.
He continues, “but if you trade places with Liz over there, I could change my mind.”
“Ok, gross, I don’t want to hear who you would and won’t put out for, Craig Mitchell,” Annie says from my arms. We all turn towards the buses and Coach at the sound of the whistle.
He gives a little speech about the team’s hard work and how we’ve earned this opportunity.
He ends with a dramatic “Let’s take State!
” “I think that is my battle cry to head towards the bus,” I say against Annie’s ear.
She spins in my arms and wraps her arms around my neck, pulling me into a kiss, then too quickly pulling away.
“I’ll see you at the Championship game, but I’ll be watching all the streaming coverage I can,” followed by “You are going to do so great, and I love you.” I steal one more kiss from my girl and join the team on the bus, ready to have some fun playing ball with my friends.
***
We’ve done it: we’ve gotten ourselves through our games on Thursday and Friday to make it to the end, to this moment, the state championship game.
The buzz in the locker room is crazy—some guys can’t be still, and they walk around talking with everyone.
Others are quiet and focused, zoning out to the music in their headphones.
I’m somewhere in the middle. I’ve chatted with the guys, but I’m here at my locker now, thinking about what I have to do to help us win this game.
I’ve been on fire the whole state tournament, and my bat and glove haven’t failed me yet.
Here’s to hoping they don’t fail me now.
I’ve recorded great stats, but my home runs have been the most surprising.
I’ve hit a minimum of one a game in all the state tournament games, and last game I had even gotten two.
When I’d video-called Annie in the hotel after the game, she’d been so excited replaying the moments for me, she’d dropped her phone.
Coach breaks into my thoughts. “Let’s take the field for warm-ups.
” We get a big cheer from the stands behind our dugout when we enter the field.
There isn’t an empty seat in the place; it is packed, and the energy is off the charts.
As I walk to my position for warm-ups, I glance over the crowd, trying to find her.
It doesn’t take long before I spot the section of people clad in number 17 gear.
There are all the people I would expect: Mom, Dad, Annie, and Meg, plus the unexpected with Annie’s parents sporting Rams number 17.
I wave at the crowd and see Annie lean over to my parents and point in my direction.
They look over and wave back. I don’t care that the stands are packed, I lift my hands in front of my chest, making the heart shape, and then point at her up in the stands.
She doesn’t make me wait before she does one back at me.
I smile and go back to warm-ups, feeling like tonight is going to be a better night than the other games.