Chapter 9
Oscar
We had a few days off between games, and I could not have been happier to have a reprieve from all of the chaos.
I feel like one second I walked in on the end of my world as I knew it, and when I blinked, everything had changed.
There was no time to process what had happened, before she burst into my life and occupied my thoughts.
No time to adjust. Everything around me just keeps moving and everyone just expects me to keep up—even her, and she doesn’t even know it.
I’ve spent the last few days locked in my room sulking, dreaming of her, and missing Tatum. It’s been a fucked up rollercoaster. I needed time to work through it without distraction, searching desperately for my new normal.
“Holy shit!” Jax exclaims when I emerge from my bedroom. “I didn’t think I had a roommate anymore. I was worried you rotted straight through your bed.”
His laugh echoes through the small room, but I don’t find it all that funny.
“And you didn’t come check on me? I thought we were closer than that.” My tone is dry but clear that I’m joking even if I’m not really in the mood.
“Well, we do share a wall, so I could hear you moving around every once in a while,” he adds.
“Oh, just like I can hear the porn you watch at night.” This makes me laugh well before he can join in on the laughter himself.
“All jokes, aside, man. Are you ok?” His tone turns serious.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I just had to hide away for a bit to finally give myself a chance to process everything.”
“Ok, but now you’re done.” He looks me right in the eye waiting for my response. “Don’t let her live rent free in your head when you don’t occupy any real estate in hers.”
Don’t let her live rent free in your head when you don’t occupy any real estate in hers. Those words hit me like a punch to the gut. Is that what I’m doing?
When I don’t respond he hands me a cup of coffee. “I’ll drive to the facility today. Grab your shit so we’re not late.”
Jax and I live close enough to walk to the field.
Do we?
Never.
We’ve convinced ourselves that it conserves energy, but in all honesty, we’re just lazy.
Today, we are starting on the field to learn our team dance. Then weights, then practice. After lunch, we have to come back to the field to make a few social media videos, and then more dances.
As I walk through the tunnel to the dugout and my last interaction with Maren comes flooding back.
I was meeting Jax in the locker room to grab the buckets of balls for the fan relay when I saw her.
All I wanted was to complement her and she snapped.
I was so taken off guard that I got pissed, and it never really registered. Then I had to go back to the game.
Shit, she was pissed at me, and I didn’t know why until this moment.
When I get to the edge of the dugout fence the chick standing near the pitcher’s mound takes my breath away. Not from attraction or admiration, but complete shock.
Right there on the field is a petite brunette with shoulder length curly hair. Her stature, her coloring, everything about her is the exact opposite of Maren.
“This is who Horner hired?” I whisper to Jax. “The routine she put together was so off the mark for what we do here.”
“Guess they saw something in her.” He sounds like he’s trying to convince himself this will go well.
“Rikki said working with Lilly was a shit show. He was complaining after the game that that was the least prepared he’d felt to perform.” I add, “Horner thought we were fighting over Maren.”
Jax shakes his head in regret, but there’s nothing either one of us can do now.
Sure enough Rikki was right, learning a routine from Lilly is difficult.
She changes the counts and motions every few minutes.
There are guys on this team that have very specific talents in addition to baseball, and while I see the sheet on her clipboard on the ground in front of her, she hasn’t looked at it once and keeps asking guys to do shit they don’t know how to do.
“You see that clipboard right in front of you? That was given to you for a reason. Someone listed out all of our special talents, almost as if they wanted to make choreographing these routines easier on you.” I can’t help myself, she is completely incompetent, and I can’t stand that.
“There is a lot of information, it’s hard to keep it all straight.” She flashes me a weak smile.
“That’s why it’s printed out for you,” I deadpan.
She ignores my remark and starts the music.
We all start moving, and to be blunt, it looks like shit.
I watch her when we take a water break and she is obviously star struck. Anytime one of the other players walks up to her to ask a question, or even just tries to shoot the shit with her, she stutters, gets all doe eyed, and loses all train of thought.
“This is a fucking joke,” I mutter under my breath.
Things only got worse from there. We all have shit to do, like play baseball. It’s her job to track and coordinate all of the player related entertainment for the game.
Including the entrance to the parade before the game.
Before every game the grounds are open to fans to spend the day in Mango Nation.
Orbit is wandering around signing autographs, there are event staff everywhere, helping fans navigate the biggest tailgate party in sports.
There are tents with merch, mango themed food vendors, and a stage with entertainment from the Hot Mango Men, the all male cheer squad whose number one job is to hype the crowd up.
Just before game time the entire team, Horner and staff join the Hot Mango Men on stage and do a celebratory gig to welcome guests. Part of it is tradition and never changes, but the end is choreographed special for each game so returning fans get a different experience each time.
The fan experience is top priority in Mango Nation.
Only problem… Lilly forgot to choreograph it and none of us realized it until we were parading up to the stage.
We all froze like a pack of idiots until Rikki grabbed the stack of Mango Moons and started hurling them into the crowd. Luckily, they all started cheering, and we all followed suit, creating a memorable moment for the fans, trying not to let it show that none of that was planned.
Now as I sit in the dugout waiting for the game to start, Horner signals for me to meet him in the tunnel.
“What the hell was that?” He looks pissed, for the second and only time ever.
“Your girl forgot to choreograph it,” I snap.
“Working with her is a nightmare. You asked us about working with them at the end of their audition day. Rikki isn’t one to hold back, so I’m positive he told you what a shit show she was.
Is she a friend of your daughters, an old neighbor?
Who are you doing a solid by hiring her?
We can’t go from Tatum to this.” My words just keep coming in rapid fire and I’m not sure why I’m so fucking passionate about this. I’ve never given a shit before.
“Ozzie, you aren’t going to like anyone in this position, because it’s not Tatum, but we can’t have another scandal, and Maren and Jax were already stirring up drama with you.”
Shock washes over me, even though I suspected it, and I pause for a moment before continuing, “So you hired someone under qualified?”
“I’m planning on talking to her after the game. We’ll repost.”
“Repost? Just offer it to Maren. We only had three applicants the first time. There isn’t a plethora of choreographers in Mango Bay to choose from. I mean, fuck, we only have one coffee shop and one fucking bar. We’re one horse short of being a one horse town.”
Maren was the better choreographer.
He looks at me and I can’t read his expression, but I know he can read mine, because we both burst out laughing.
“I’ll call her tomorrow.”
I’m not sure why he gives a shit about my opinion, but he does, and honestly it makes coming back to the place where my world fell apart just a few days ago a little easier.