Hitting the Curve by Regina Wade

Author:Regina Wade [Wade, Regina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-06-02T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Levi

Swingin’ where we want, cuz there aint nobody home. Swingin’ to the left and swingin' to the right. If I think about baseball I’ll swing all night. — Warrant, ‘Cherry Pie’

The crack of bats meeting balls fills the air as we step out of my car. A lot of guys on the team use their scholarship money to get a nice new ride, but I’m still driving Dad’s old Chevy.

For the first time in my life, I wish it were nicer. I’ve never been one for fancy cars, but Charity deserves the very best. Cars, houses, rings.

I want to give this girl the world.

The thought is intrusive, and I bat it aside like a foul ball.

“Levi, where are we?” Charity asks. As flustered as she was this morning, she’s once again schooled her expression. Her calm, cool, collected front has returned. Not a hint of what she’s thinking now.

“This is the private batting cages. Thought that was pretty obvious.” I answer, giving her my best smile. Dimple and everything.

She rolls her eyes, one corner of her mouth going up in a sardonic smirk.

“I meant,” she says slowly, as if speaking to a small child, “why in the world are we at the batting cages? We need to be doing research for our presentation. If you brought me here just so I could watch you practice, you should have let me bring my things so I could get real work done.”

Her tone is so acidic I’m amazed I don’t melt under the assault. This girl is quick with a quip, and her tongue is razor-sharp.

That’s alright. No pain, no gain.

“It is research. We’re researching the effects of a home-run first date on, you know.” I make a vague gesture towards Charity’s hips “The overall effect of things.”

“You mean, if you sweep a girl off her feet, will she come for you?” Charity asks, one eyebrow arching up perfectly. “That’s pretty well established.”

I take it in stride, shaking my head. “No, no. It’s a well-known anecdote, but we need hard data. Does it increase quantity, quality, both, or neither?”

Charity’s lip twitches for a moment in amusement at my enthusiastic love of the scientific method.

“Well, this is a bust. Not exactly my idea of romance,” she says, but she doesn’t move back towards the car.

“Give it a shot,” I sigh. “Trust me, Charity. How many first dates have you been on?” I try to make it sound casual.

She stiffens up a bit at that. “No good ones, so you’ll at least be in good company. Alright, DiMaggio, lead the way.”

I guide her into the far end of the cages and close the gate behind us. There are a few guys getting in some early morning swings, but none of them are dumb enough to antagonize me by saying something.

Coach might run me, but I run the team.

“Alright, Char. You ever swung a bat before?” I ask as I walk out to the pitching device, lifting up the big crate of balls and feeding it into the hopper up top.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.