The Hitting Zone

"Bro, you look terrible." Dave told me at the end of practice as we packed up our bags. "What did they do to you? Make you roll in the dirt to make sure you weren't afraid of it?"

"That would have been better." I sighed, kicking my cleats off in exchange for my comfortable shoes.

Noah laughed. "C'mon. It wasn't that bad. It was a great practice."

"Define 'great'." I mumbled under my breath.

Noah picked up my bag. "Okay, you big baby. It was a tough workout, but you'll feel good about it soon enough."

"Not soon enough." I rebutted. I dragged my feet as the four of us walked back to the car.

"Be careful. Coach might think you sound tired and out of shape. You wouldn't want to do a bunch of conditioning practice instead, would you?" Kyle nudged me.

I looked up at him. "I would."

The twins laughed as I struggled to get in the car. Everything hurt. I tried so many slides today. A couple of collisions; thankfully weren't serious. Short sprints that didn't matter because I was already out. It was horrible. I rather run and do drills with Drew again.

At home, we took turns with showers and eventually went down for dinner when called by Mom and Dad. I was a little listless as I put food on my plate and finally relaxed into the seat.

"You okay, honey?" Mom asked, eyes on me.

"He's fine. Tough practice." Noah said between bites.

Dave laughed. "Noah's the one that made it tough apparently. Lots of sliding for Jake."

"Hey!" Noah interrupted. "I got to work on hit and runs with him too. Only hit into a double play twice."

"Out of how many tries?" Kyle asked.

"I forgot." Noah coughed. He turned to Dad. "Zeke has a series at home this weekend. Are we going since we don't have games?"

"Wait. What. No." Kyle looked to Dad too. "Don't tell me we're spending this weekend up near Stanford."

"Do you have something else to do?" Dad asked Kyle before answering.

"It's Valentine's!" Kyle exclaimed. "Marie has a tournament this weekend so we can only do something Friday evening after practice."

"Did you come up with a date idea yet?" Dave asked, curious.

"Probably picnic on the beach at sunset." Kyle paused. "If I can convince Coach to end practice a little early. Working on a backup plan if that doesn't work out. Maybe like a revolving sushi bar. Maybe do an escape room? That'll be fun!"

"An escape room??" Noah was interested. "Can I go with?"

"No. It's a date, stupid." Kyle refused.

"Kyle." Dad warned.

Kyle rolled his eyes. "C'mon Dad, you know I can't do a date that often during the season. Even more so with all these guys around." He gestures to us.

"Hey." Dave said, offended. "You eat lunch with Marie every day. How is that not a date?"

"Because it's school! We can't make out without getting caught by a teacher or supervisor. They're so strict." Kyle complained. He looked to Mom. "What do you think, Mom? Do you and Dad really want to go to a baseball game on Valentine's Day? Wouldn't you rather go on a date with him instead?"

Mom looked thoughtfully in Dad's direction. Dad looked around the table. "Is anyone opposed to staying home Friday night instead of going to zeke's game?" He look more pointedly at Noah.

Noah shook his head. "I already checked. His game starts at 6pm. Even if practice ended early, we wouldn't make it in time with traffic and all that. Not really worth the rush. I rather try the escape room that Kyle was talking about."

"You are not trying the escape room with us." Kyle shot down again.

Noah looked at me. "What do you say?"

"Escape room?" I shook my head. "I don't know what it is, but just from the name of it, I don't want to try."

"Oh. Right." Noah looked to Dave. "What about you?"

"Me?" Dave laughed. "Maybe on another day. But one thing is for sure, I am not hanging out with my little brother on a Valentine's Day on a Friday night."

"And where exactly would you plan to be?" Mom asked.

Dave shrugged. "I don't know yet. Maybe have a singles party at the mall? It's not like I've given this a whole lot of thought. I just know what I don't want to do." He grinned at Mom.

Mom squinted at him. "As long as it's not a party-party with alcohol present."

"Sure, sure." Dave agreed.

"Okay, sounds like we won't leave Friday." Dad took control. He glanced at his phone. "Saturday's game is in the afternoon so let's leave early enough to eat there. Sunday is another afternoon game, and we'll come home after dinner with Zeke." He looked around the table. "Make sure homework is brought if needed. If I see any grades slipping during the season, then I'll be looking into mandatory supervision with a tutor."

"Does that mean we're just going to be with Mom and Dad for Friday night? Grampa too." Noah asked, glancing at the twins. "Kyle clearly wants to be with just Marie. Dave sounds like he'll be with friends."

"You can hang out with your friends too." Mom offered.

I looked to Noah. My friend.

"I'm going to the senior center for a get together." Grampa spoke up, unwilling to be the only one without plans.

Dave laughed. "I don't think Mom and Dad want you crashing their date either, kids."

"We'll find something fun to do too." Noah said confidently.

"Ten bucks say you two end up at the batting cages." Kyle said.

"Easy money." Noah nodded. "We'll go to the mall and movies instead."

"How are you going to get there?" Kyle asked. "I need the car for my date."

"Dave can borrow my car." Dad suggested. "As long as he's responsible to bring Noah and Jake to their destination and back home. Your mother and I will give Grampa a ride to and from his event."

Dave nodded. "Okay. I'm willing."

The weekend plans started to take shape and it was just Monday. The next day I moved slowly and stiffly as we got settled in class.

"Tough practice yesterday?" Kaylee asked, eyebrow raised.

"Meh." Noah shrugged. "Coach just wanted to work on some play scenarios. Jake's just getting used to sliding."

"Bet you scraped up your thigh." Kaylee looked sympathetic.

I gave a small nod. "No bleeding. Just rubbed some skin off."

"The struggles of an athlete, my friend." Kaylee patted me on the shoulder. "It gets better. Then worse. Then better. Then eventually, you retire."

"That's the dream." Noah grinned. "Unlike you though, we get to play a little longer."

Kaylee sighed and rested her chin in her hands. "Must be nice to be a guy. Even if it's nearly impossible to make it to the pros, at least there's the option. Softball is popular, but not worth billions."

"At least you're good enough to play in college. That's an extra four years." Noah actually comforted her. "Have anyone interested in you yet?"

"Not specifically me." She sighed again. "Just teams that are interested in Marie and I'm just collateral. Like a plus one invited to the party for convenience."

"That's annoying." Noah said. "Hasn't she picked one yet?"

"She did...but didn't officially sign since she was waiting to see what Kyle would do. But obviously, Kyle isn't planning for school." Kaylee added. "Our parents are trying to push her to commit though. If she holds out any longer, she might lose the full ride."

"Just stay local. Go to Stanford." Noah shrugged. "Zeke goes there and likes it. Good campus. Great school. D1. Top sports programs."

Kaylee lips twitched. "That's not local. That's nearly two hours away."

"Hour and a half." Noah corrected. "Your parents could see her games still."

"It's not up to me." Kaylee brushed him off. "She'll have to make her own decision soon enough." She looked between us. "What are you guys doing Friday?"

"Probably the mall and movies." Noah sighed. "I was interested in this escape room thingy that Kyle was talking about, but he said he wanted to do it with Marie only."

Kaylee laughed. "No duh." She leaned back in her seat. "We can do it. As a group. You two. Me. Alisha."

Noah sighed and shook his head. "Jake won't be able to do it."

Kaylee looked to me. "Ah, claustrophobic...right."

I gave a tight-lipped smile, trying to appear apologetic.

"Another time then." Kaylee said. She tapped the table mindlessly. "We can probably do a movie night at Alisha's. Maybe play board games."

Noah looked to me for my opinion.

I helplessly shrugged, hands up. "I don't know how to play any board games."

Noah slapped the table and grinned. "Alright. Let's ask Alisha. We have to teach Jake the cruel realities of the world of board games." He nudged me. "This is how friendships are built. And lost."

"I don't think it's that serious." Kaylee rolled her eyes.