Till We Meet Again

Chapter Seven

"Let us do something," Collin complained, as he bounced up and down on his couch.  

"Like what?" I asked, looking up from my position on the floor, where I was reading. 

He was acting like a 2-year old at the moment.

"We could take Scooby to the dog park," he suggested. 

I sighed, closing my book, and standing up.

"If it will make you shut up."  

He hopped down off the couch, surprising me with a kiss.  

"You are in awfully high spirits today," I commented, as Collin went to find Scooby's leash.  

"The Rival Game is tomorrow," he reminded me, handing me Scooby's leash. 

I'd totally forgotten about that.  

"And I have been headache-free for 24 hours," he added. 

This time I kissed him.  

"That is probably the best news I have heard all day."  

He laughed, reaching down to scratch Scooby behind the ears.

"He already heard the words dog park."  

At the mention of it, Scooby's tail began to wag, and he let out a bark. 

I laughed, heading out to my car, because Collin's therapist still did not want him driving. Collin raced Scooby out to the car, in which Scooby came careening around the corner and crashed into it a couple of steps before Collin did.  

"You are both idiots," I promised, laughing as Collin let Scooby into the back. 

The ride to the dog park was hectic, Scooby excited in the backseat and Collin unable to decide on a radio station.

"Get out," I ordered, once we pulled up. 

Collin laughed, hopping out of the car, and taking Scooby with him. 

I slipped on my sunglasses, following the two of them over to the dog park. Scooby immediately began galloping around, content to be here. And Collin began to climb a tree.  

"You are just as high maintenance as the dog!" I called up, laughing as I watched him climb higher.  

"Ow," he complained, as the branch he was holding out came back and whacked him in the face. 

I could not help but laugh.  After a few minutes I left Collin to join Scooby, running around the obstacle course with him and just playing around with him.  I loved dogs, but my mom was allergic. So, I just took to playing with Collin's. Scooby let out an excited bark and took off running, and I looked over my shoulder to see Collin running full-speed at him. He proceeded to chase the dog around the park while Scooby let out over-excited barks of happiness.  I took a seat on the ground, laughing as I watched the two. 

Eventually Scooby trotted over to me and laid his head in my lap, exhausted.  

"Lazy dog," Collin accused, reaching down, and scratching his stomach.  

"What time is Catherine flying in next weekend?" I asked, as I scratched behind Scooby's ears.  

"Her flight comes in at 7," Collin said, checking the time as if it was coming in now. 

I stood up, dusting off my pants and causing Scooby to stand up as well.

"We should probably get going."  

"Yeah, we pooped him out anyways," Collin said, scratching behind Scooby's ears for a few moments. 

The three of us trooped back to the car, and Collin wove his hand through mine, letting out a sigh.  

"Is Catherine bringing Chris with her?" I asked, naming her fiancée. 

Collin shook his head.

"Chris could not take the time off work."  

That is a shame. I know that Collin likes spending time with him.  

"That is okay though," he said, using his free head to scratch Scooby's head.

"I have still got my buddy."

I laughed, rolling my eyes.  

"Oh, and you," he added, teasingly, before giving me a quick kiss.  

"Don't I feel loved?" I teased.  

"You should," Collin said, sincerely. 

And it is moments like these when I am reminded why I fell in love with him in the first place.  

"Did you do last night's math homework?" Mary asked, as she flipped through her textbook.  

"Of course," I said, pulling it out and dangling it in front of her.  

"I just need the last three," she said, taking it and scanning my paper.  

"So, what did you do last night?" Jessica asked.

"Besides math homework."

 I laughed.

"Collin and I took Scooby to the dog park."  

"You live such an exciting life."  

I could not help but laugh.  

"Where is your boyfriend anyways?"

"He's supposed to be here before the bell rings," I said, checking my phone.

"His mom is dropping him off."  

"Who is?" Collin asked behind me, before dropping into the empty seat next to me. 

I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss.

"Are you ready for today's game?" Kimberly asked, wiggling her eyebrows at him.  

"Born ready," he promised, with a smile.  

"Save the basketball talk for your jocks," I said, rolling my eyes.  

"And what do you propose we talk about?"  

"Take it somewhere else," Mary groaned, as she copied my math homework.  

"Is that due today?" Collin asked, eyeing the math worksheet.

"You did not do it either?" I groaned.

"I reminded you last night!"  

Collin pulled the worksheet out of his backpack, and it was blank.

He shot me an apologetic smile.  

"You are impossible!"  

"I am sorry," he groaned.

"I have just been so caught up in basketball."  

"You owe me," I warned him, as Mary passed me back my worksheet.

"Big time," he promised, as he set to copying it. 

I reached over and took a sip of Collin's McDonald's sweet tea, listening as Kimberly told us about her and Luca's date last night.

"That jersey is so cute," Kimberly gushed, as I plopped down in the stands next to her.

"Do all the basketball girlfriends have one?"  

I nodded, looking out at the courts, where Collin was warming up on the pitcher's mound.  The coach stopped Collin for a moment to talk to one of the guys, and he stepped off the court, rubbing his left arm. This time it was not a regular game of basketball, Collin also played baseball and he was damn good at it too. It has been a while since he played, and this particular game had me nervous as it is the first game of the season.

"He's looking good," Mary said, sitting down on the other side of Kimberly. 

Coach called for Collin to resume pitching, patting the catcher's back before heading back to the dugout.  After a few more pitches, the other team came up to bat, ready to start the game.  Collin struck the first batter out, but the second got a hit and made it safely to second base.  

"Come on Collin," I chanted, crossing my fingers. 

Collin rolled his shoulders as the next batter came up. He struck the next two batters out, the runner making it to third before the third out.  

"What number is Collin in the batting order again? Third, right?" Luca asked me.  

"He was pulled from the batting order yesterday."  

"What?" Kimberly asked, her jaw dropping. "

He's one of our school's best batters!"  

"He'll be back next week," I promised.

"He just wasn't feeling well, and he thought he'd be more of an asset to the team as a pitcher."  

"He's still not feeling well?" Kimberly asked, with a slight frown.  

"He's under a lot of pressure," Luca filled it.

"It's just the biggest game of the year, you know. I guess we expected to have our A-team."  

"Just don't say that to him," I said to Luca.

"He's under enough stress as is."  

The other pitcher struck us out in four batters as well, and Collin took the field again.  He threw a couple of practice pitches before the next batter came up. While he waited, he lightly shook out his left arm, a frown on his face.

"What's he doing?" Jessie asked me.

"Shaking out the nerves?"  

"Probably," I lied, with a forced laugh. 

The first batter up got a hit and made it to first base.  I crossed my right leg over my left, watching as the next batter slammed the ball over the fence, a homerun.  

"Damn," I muttered, as both runners made it in. 

Collin called for a timeout, meeting his team off of the pitcher's mound.  

"They should've never taken him off the batting roster," Luca muttered, as the team dispersed back into their positions. 

Collin struck the next three batters out.  

"He's on fire," Kimberly said.

"If only they didn't have good batters."  

I let out a sigh, taking off my sunglasses.

"I don't know what will happen if we lose."  

"We're not going to," Jessie said, fiercely. 

We scored a run before reaching our three outs. 

Collin came back out to the pitcher's mound with sunglasses.  

"Why in the world is he wearing sunglasses?" Luca asked me.

"The sun's setting."  

It's the first sign of a headache.  

"The sun's probably in his eyes or something," I said, nervously wringing my hands.  

"I guess," Luca muttered. 

As in the past few innings, a few batters made it to the bases, but Collin ended up striking them out before they could score.  As the game went on, we were battling hard, but we could only bring in one run by the time the bottom of the 8th inning rolled around.

"If they don't score here, we might be done," Kimberly muttered, wringing her hands.

"At least Collin's held them at two runs," Hayden said.

"Otherwise, we'd be screwed."  

The cheerleaders were trying to hype up the crowd, but unless they're on the field and in their uniforms, people don't really like to listen to them. 

I let out a sigh, watching as our first batter struck out.

"If we don't score now, we still have the bottom of the ninth," I reminded them, as the second batter struck out. 

Dennis came up to bat, a determined look on his face. He sent the first pitch down the third baseline and took off sprinting for first base.  The crowd couldn't have been screaming louder, half of us for Dennis to make it, and the other half for the other team to get him out. 

Dennis safely crossed first base with less than a second to spare. 

I jumped up and down with Kimberly, both of us squealing in delight. 

The next batter sent it out to the outfield, getting himself to first base and Dennis to second.  The pitcher threw a ball, and Dennis stole third, the other runner stealing second.  The pitcher looked at Dennis uneasily before calling for a timeout.  The third base coach talked to Dennis while the pitcher chatted with his team.  

"We have to get at least one run," Kimberly said to me.

"Just at least to tie things up."  

The pitcher threw a ball, and Dennis went sprinting for home.  We were all on our feet, screaming at the top of our lungs as Dennis safely slid in.  Our team's dugout came running out, everyone wanting to be the first to congratulate Dennis.  

"Where's Collin?" Kimberly asked, once the chaos calmed down.  

"No idea," I answered, sitting back down.

"Just because we're together doesn't mean we have telepathy."  

We had one runner on third base and two outs as the last batter in our batting order stepped up to the plate to resume batting.  

"Come on Jackson," Hayden chanted. 

A pitch came across home plate, and Jackson didn't swing.  

"Strike!" the umpire called out.  

"Damn," I muttered, crossing my right leg over my left.  

"I'll kill that kid, I swear," Luca muttered. 

The pitcher looked over at the runner on third base before turning his attention back to the batter, Jackson. He threw another strike, which Jackson swung at and missed.  I crossed my left leg over my right, clasping my hands together.  

"We're so close," Kimberly whispered.  

"We still have the 9th inning," I reminded her, as the pitcher wound up for the next pitch. 

Jackson's bat connected with the pitch, and it went down the first base line.  The runner on third sprinted for home as the first baseman scooped up the ball, throwing it to the catcher, who was waiting at home plate. The runner slid safely into home just before the catcher caught the ball.  

"Safe!" the umpire called. 

My jaw dropped, and I could hear Kimberly's shrieks of excitement.  Our team's dugout came running out once again, and Collin wasn't with them, again.  The pitcher struck out our next batter, leaving us ahead by one as we entered the 9th inning. 

Collin was the first one out of the dugout, talking to the catcher as they walked to their positions.

He was still wearing sunglasses.  

Collin took a couple of warm-up pitches, all of them strikes. They tossed the ball around the infield for a minute before the batter stepped up to bat.  

"This is so stressful," Mary whispered to me.  

"Tell me about it!" I uncrossed my legs, nervously bouncing my right leg as I waited for Collin's first pitch.  The batter smacked the ball just over the head of our third baseman.  

"Well s**t," Kimberly muttered, as the batter made it safely to first. 

Collin rolled his shoulders as the next batter came up, a determined look on his face.  He struck the next batter out before calling a timeout.  

"I bet he'd pitch better if he took off those damn sunglasses," I heard Luca say to Hayden.

"How could he pitch better exactly?" I asked Luca.

"He hasn't walked a single person this game."  Luca didn't answer me.  

"Two more outs and we win," Kimberly whisper-squealed.  

"I've never been more nervous," I said, crossing my right leg over my left.  

"If you change your leg position one more time," Mary teased. 

Collin threw the first pitch to the next batter, which was a ball. The next three followed in the same suit.

"You were saying?" Luca asked, as the batter walked to first and the batter on first base moved to second. 

Collin took in a deep breath, letting out a sigh before winding up to pitch. It was a strike, and the catcher threw the ball to the third baseman as the runner on second slid in.  

"Out!" the umpire called. 

I cheered as the ball was tossed back to Collin.  Collin turned the ball in his hand a couple of times before winding up for the next pitch.  

"A ball," Hayden muttered, as it flew over the plate.  The umpire confirmed Hayden's assumption.  

"Come on Collin!" I called out. 

The batter smacked Collin's next pitch, and it headed straight for Collin.  Collin caught it with ease.  For a moment, the stands were silent. Then we all erupted in cheers.  Our entire team ran out to the fields, cheering.  

"Why isn't he coming off of the pitcher's mound?" Kimberly asked, laughing as she noticed that Collin was still standing on top of the mound. 

The catcher reached up and shook Collin's arm. He took a step off the pitcher's mound before falling limp into the catcher's arms.