The Hitting Zone

"We did have to sacrifice a desk." Kyle added.

"It's okay." I spoke up. "I can do my homework at the kitchen table." I smiled at my collection of bats.

"I'm feeling restless." Noah grinned as he came over to run his hand over the bats. "I think we should go relax at The Cages tonight. It's been so long."

I looked to Dad to see what he would say.

Dad looked thoughtful as he studied me and Noah. "Hmm. How's the ankle, Jake? Noah, have you been kind to your back?"

"We haven't done anything at Grampa's." Noah said. "We were just light aches and pains. We've had plenty of time off. Come on, pleaseee?"

I rotated my ankle generously to show that it wasn't hurting me at all.

"I reject that idea!" Dave spoke up. He raised his right hand still in a brace. "If I can't have fun, you guys can't either."

"You'll get that off on Monday." Dad assured him. "If you don't want to go, we can do something different."

"If we're finally loosening up around here, then I want to go on a date with Marie." Kyle said. "This break hasn't been what I imagined at all."

Dad nodded. "Okay, but if you want to use Mom's car, you have to use extra caution."

Kyle waved him off and pulled out his phone. "No worries. I'll just ask Marie to drive us. We'll probably go to the mall for dinner and a movie." He looked at Dave. "You going to come?"

Dave looked at him, looked at me, then back to his twin and nodded. "Yea, but can I pick the movie? I don't want to watch some sappy love story for two hours while I'm stuck being the third wheel."

Kyle grinned. "Marie can bring a friend. Don't worry."

"Ew. Do not set me up." Dave rolled his eyes in disgust.

Kyle shrugged. "Remind me again who set me up with Marie?"

Dave looked a little guilty. "I did not. Remember, we went to a party." He looked at me and Noah and started to send a signal with his eyes.

I wasn't receiving it though so I turned to Noah.

Noah laughed. "First high school party. Unforgettable." He looked up at Jeremy. "Did we ever tell you about it? We ended the night by getting pulled over by the cops."

Jeremy looked confused and maybe a little upset.

"For breaking curfew. Not because we were drunk driving." Dave quickly butt in.

Jeremy looked at Zeke.

Zeke raised an eyebrow. "Mom and I were visiting colleges down south."

Dad clapped his hands. "Okay, okay. Enough." He looked at the twins. "No parties. If you guys want to go to the mall with Marie, then that's fine but be back home by 11pm." He looked at Zeke. "What do you plan on doing?"

"Cages." Zeke answered.

Dad looked at Jeremy. "Would you like to go with us and have dinner there?"

Jeremy nodded. He hesitated for only a second before saying, "You don't have to go with us if you need to get some work done. I know you've been busy with the room situation this past week."

Dad looked down at me and Noah. It was then that I realized he looked exhausted. He had bags under his eyes and maybe a few more wrinkles that I hadn't noticed before. "Do you guys mind? Your mom and I have been away for too long and there's some work that's been getting put off."

"Yea, Dad, it's fine." Noah shrugged. "We get it. It's been a rough week."

Dad smiled lightly and rubbed Noah's head. "It has. For everyone. All of you need to go out and relax."

"Why don't you relax too?" I asked.

Dad gave a small smile. "Believe it or not, getting things off my to-do list is relaxing. Especially if I get it done before your mom gets home. I don't want her to worry about work stuff too while she helps Grampa settle in." He looked around at us. "All of you will have to help him get accustomed to the house. I don't want him to forget about Gramma, but maybe not think about it so much."

"Of course we will!" Noah agreed immediately.

We talked a little more before we started to break up. Dave and Kyle wanted to shower and change into better looking clothes to go out tonight. Apparently Marie was going to be coming by to pick them up soon. Kyle promised Dave no setups and even texted a few others from their grade that they were going to the mall. Dad cleaned up a little bit before heading into his office downstairs.

"Do you want to sit up front?" Zeke asked me as the four of us approached Jeremy's car parked on the street.

"What? No. I sit with Noah." I said, confused that he would ask.

Noah threw his arm around my shoulders and laughed. "You hear that, Jeremy? I'm his favorite brother."

Jeremy laughed too and Zeke smiled.

I didn't refute his statement. It wasn't like I intentionally picked favorites. I'm just more comfortable with Noah and he was my first true friend.

We put our bags in the trunk and got in.

It had been weeks since we had been to The Cages. Jeremy and Zeke seemed to want to make us eat first, but we had snacked earlier. We wanted to get to the actual cages and just start having fun. At first we had stayed together as a group of four, casually taking turns in the cage hitting 70mph pitches.

At 75mph though, Jeremy started giving Noah professional advice on his hitting. Nothing was wrong with that, but Zeke offered to take me to the 80mph cage so we can keep swinging. We split into two and I went off with Zeke. With him and Jeremy around, there was no way either Noah or I could take it more seriously. It helped that Zeke kept it casual too. His swings were light and carried no power.

I tried to mimic his relaxed movements, not trying to be perfect. Zeke silently expressed approval and we moved on to the 85mph cage...where we came across an unusual scene. Instead of a batter in the cage, getting swings in; there was a catcher. Catching the fastballs coming out of the machine.

"Is that allowed?" I whispered to Zeke. We weren't the only ones watching the guy catch.

Zeke gave a small one shoulder shrug. "If it wasn't, I'm sure someone from the staff would let him know. The owner has cameras for liability purposes."

I looked around to see if Noah and Jeremy were around to see this, but they were still in the 75mph cage, drawing their own crowd. Probably because Jeremy was recognized. We were at a popular spot for baseball players after all.

My eyes went back to the catcher when I heard the machine slow down, signaling the end of his session. The guy got up, dug into his pocket for a coin and put it into the slot for another round. He went back to his catching spot and got set once more. He wasn't perfect by any means. He had one miss that hit him in his chest protector and another went off the knee guard. But for the most part, he was catching them.