Strike One

Chapter Seven - The one where Chandler hopes to find his Monica

Chandlers Point of View:

I'm jogging back to Luke the entire time thinking, I could have been too late. What if Nick roofied her and Whitney - well, I just can’t think of that right now. I do know that because a number of people saw him at the party and saw Whitney - he would be booted from the team. That would be amazing for my career, but not everything is about me, and Whitney, she alone in general, is more important than my spot on the field. A person is more important than this game. The second we forget that, is the second that we are playing the game for the wrong reasons.

I play baseball because I love it. It brings me pure joy. When I’m 50, I hope to God my knees are not shot so that I can continue to play softball in the local beer leagues near my home, and coach my kids' teams. I let myself think of that life. I’ve never been able to picture myself getting married or having kids - I’ve always hoped it would happen for me, but it's never really been an option. I don’t even know if it is an option now, but the thought of it being one is enough to get me excited about my future.

Luke looks at me, "Suchy is trouble Deck. He has his motives and I understand that he wants to be drafted, but if this is the guy we are going to be dealing with - roofing girls to take advantage of them, I don't want any part in working with him." I shake my head in agreement, "Yes, but he is part of our team. I suppose the best thing we can do is try and get him on the straight and narrow - otherwise, it will make the rest of our time here miserable. I don't want to be miserable; I also don't want to be the one to go and tattle on him. Hopefully, Jeff will step up as a captain and handle this internally before it gets to the coaches. Although, I still think he should be punished for his actions tonight, because it is not OK", I explained. We both continue to walk in silence for a bit until we arrive in front of our apartment building. We are both caught off guard by the sight of Nick standing there.

He walks towards us, "Listen, if either of you say anything to the coaching staff about what happened tonight, I'll make your life a living hell," he informs us. Luke laughs out loud, "You have some nerve coming here and ambushing us like this. I mean, all I have to say is I saw you jump Chandler here and I got involved and put you down. But I won't do that. Now, turn your ass around and go to your little dorm room and away from us. You are pure scum, you might have talent, but they won't put up with your s**t. You won’t survive a day in the major leagues bro." I nodded in agreement. I am not one to speak unless spoken to directly. Luke knows this.

Suchy looks both of us up and down, clearly trying to determine if he could take us both right here right now, and he knows he can't. So, he turned and walked away without another word to either of us. Luke and I both watch until he is out of sight, just in case he tries to pull a fast one. Once he is gone, both of us head upstairs to our third-story apartment. When my phone rings and it's Alex, so I answer it and place her on speaker phone.

-Hi Alex

-Tell me everything. Did you actually talk to her?

Luke jumps in...

Luke- he saved her life Lex.

Alex - WHAT?! Did she almost get hit by an asteroid? How does Chandler save a life here tonight?

Chandler - The new guy Suchy, the one I was telling you about - he tried to roofie her.

Alex- Holy s**t! You have to turn him in, you're going to turn him in, right? Guys! That type of behavior is not OK.

Luke- we want to, but we also want to see if Jeff will take leadership here. It's his team right now.

Chandler - besides, Whitney doesn't want any more publicity - she clearly doesn't enjoy the limelight.

Alex - how is she doing?

Chandler - I think she has been through a lot, and this honestly didn't seem to faze her all too much.

Luke - Ah, Nah - I think it phased her, but she seems to hide her emotions fairly well. I mean considering her life.

Alex - Holy s**t. That is a lot to take in. You come to a new town, lose your father, basically lose your mother, being away from her and then something like this happens.

Chandler - don't worry, we will keep a close eye on her. She will be safe.

Alex - I want to meet her, i just need to hug the lad.

Luke - Awe, Lex, you can come snuggle me.

Alex - shut up moron.

Chandler - Alright, as much as I want to talk to you, we need to get to bed early lifting and s**t tomorrow.

Alex - Alright, love you Chan. Luke, take a cold shower. Night!

I hang up.

I looked at Luke, "You know I will kill you with my bare hands if you ever touch Alex," I reminded him. He laughs, "Calm down brother. I wouldn't dream of it. Or would I? She is so fricken awesome, I don't know how you haven't broken the friend zone at all with her. She is a perfect woman." I laugh, and then frown because she really is the perfect woman. That being said, she also has never once even appealed to me in such a way. "She's too good for you Luke, so do us a favor and don't even dream of it," I told him.

I headed into my room and shut the door behind me. I lay upon my well-made bed and stared off into the abyss. I keep thinking what could have happened to Whitney tonight if i hadn't shown up. I mean, how I would have reacted - I feel oddly obsessive and protective of her and I barely know her. I also know my parents raised me to be a gentleman on top of being a good human, so part of me thinks I would feel this way about any girl on the team. I'd protect any of them, because it's the right thing to do. I try and wash it off as just that - a mutual feeling. Then I started to wonder if she could be thinking of me right now. That makes my heart flutter.

I wish I had her phone number. I just wanted to check on her and make sure she was OK. I thought about that for a while and decided to text Jeff asking him to get Whitney's phone number from Abi on her team. A couple of minutes later, he replied with her direct contact information. Welp, here goes.

Text to Whitney B (Softball Team) - how I have it on my phone.

Chandler: Hi Monica, Bing here. I had Jeff get your number from Abi. Don't be mad at her, I just wanted to make sure you were doing OK.

After 5 very long minutes she responds.

Whitney: Thank you for doing that, although you really didn't have to. I am ok. It sucks that pervs like him exist, but at least now I know what his true motives are. Allows me to put him further at a distance. Also, I've already told my entire team to watch out for him, so no worries on that front in the future at least.

-She is a genius. She told her entire team she was such a great teammate. This will definitely get back to the coach and the staff then. He will be punished.

Chandler: That is good to hear. I'm truly sorry that this almost happened to you regardless. Not all of us baseball players are like Suchy.

Whitney: I know that. You seem to have a good head on your shoulders.

Chandler: My mother would love to know that.

Whitney: Thanks again, Chandler, for essentially being my knight in shining armor tonight. Please tell Luke I said that to him as well. I will find a way to thank you guys.

Chandler: I will let him know, there is no need to thank us - we are just happy you are OK.

Whitney: fefsfdfs

Chandler: Umm?

I waited a couple of minutes, and then kind of freaked out that something might have happened to her. So, I decided to call her just to make sure.

The phone is picked up

"Whitney, are you OK?"

"Ope, Sorry I fell asleep."

"Oh, ok. good. Sleep. I was just worried something had happened. You sent me a weird text."

"Sorry, literally a face text."

" OK, get some sleep. I'm sure we will talk to you soon."

"Night"

"Night"

She’s ok. I lay my head back on my pillow and drifted off to sleep in my clothes I had worn to the party, clearly exhausted after the evening events that took place.

My alarm is blaring my favorite workout song, "Till I collapse" by Eminem and Nate Dawg. Wake up time. For once, I actually feel rested. I check my alarm, 7am - time to shower and go for a run before I head to the weight room.

After my shower, I head out to the kitchen to grab a shake and a meal bar that I place into my backpack that I throw on my back and head out. I know damn well that Luke is not up, he has never been a morning person. As far as I'm concerned, I shouldn’t need to wake him either. He is a grown-ass man who should be able to get up for his alarm clock.

I throw my air pods in and listen to my melody as I run through the streets of Ann Arbor. Running has always been a stress reliever for myself, but even more so during the season. It keeps my body loose and my endurance up, all good things for me in every avenue of my life. I turned a corner heading toward the three main dormitories of student athletes, hoping that I might get lucky and catch a glimpse of Whitney in her dorm.

Of course, I don't. In fact, I didn't really see anyone out and about this morning, which is odd. Most of the fall athletes are on campus and have been for a couple weeks now, even before we got back. I shrug it off and continue running, it's not like I missed the weight room or anything. If anything at all, I'm up before any of them are anyway.