Baseball Lover

by Croft, Rose

  “How? A hologram of yourself on the field?”

  “Not quite, but that’s a really good fucking idea, Rose. I like how you’re thinking.” Damn, I was going to lose my head over this girl. My dick was already trying to slither out of my shorts and reach out and touch her through the phone. “I’ll tell you later. Just trust me okay? Have an open mind.”

  “This doesn’t involve me getting naked does it?” She asked skeptically.

  “No. But I wouldn’t rule it out completely,” I half-teased.

  “No FaceTime or role-playing?”

  My body shook in humor as I tried to keep my mouth from twisting up. “That was your idea, lush. And, no, it’s not anything like that.”

  “Whatever, you knew I was drunk. You should’ve told me to go to bed.”

  “I did tell you that, but you didn’t want to,” I argued although I knew I could have been more adamant about it. That was not a highlight in my charmed life. And, she was only talking about her showing me her tits, I’m sure. If she knew I jacked off like a perv she would permanently block my number. “I’m sorry. I should have insisted you go to bed.”

  “Just know that won’t happen again.” That sounded kind of like a threat. But, she added in a nicer voice. “Okay. I’m game.”

  “Great. Can I let you go, so I can make some calls to put this plan in motion?”

  “Sure. Talk to you later.”

  After we hung up, I called my brother. Since I was injured, I knew he would be agreeable and help me out. He was truly a softie, who would do anything for anyone, even though he acted pissed off most of the time.

  The food arrived, and it took a lifetime to carefully eat the fettuccini alfredo. I called Rose back after I ate.

  “Did Loren call you?” I specifically told them to not tell her why they were coming over.

  “Yes. They wanted to stop by.”

  “Good. Are they on their way?”

  “Yeah. Did you eat? How was the food?”

  “It was good. Just very difficult to open my mouth and make sure nothing touches my lips—sadistic actually.”

  “Wow. You can use big words. Loren did tell me you were smart in high school.”

  “That’s right, teacher. I would shine in your class. In more ways than one.”

  “Oh, they’re here,” she said.

  “Saved by the bell.”

  I heard her greeting them as she opened the door.

  “PlayStation and a baseball game?” She said in disbelief. I could just imagine how her face scrunched up in confusion.

  “That’s right. You and I are going to play baseball on PS4. You wanted to learn about the game, and I’m a very good teacher too. Give me a week, and you’ll be my protégée.”

  “You’re joking right?” She laughed out as though I told her to get naked.

  “I don’t joke about video games. There are two things that I excel at in this world—baseball and video games. Well, actually there are three things, but I’ll leave the third one for later.”

  “I’m sure you’re right. I don’t know about the third thing…”

  “Stop trying to make me laugh. Is Andrew setting it up?”

  “Yes. Wow, your brother is so smart and sweet. How are you two related?”

  “Rose are you trying to piss me off?” I heard Andrew laughing in the background. Dammit, I wished I were there.

  “I wouldn’t dare hurt someone who was already injured.”

  “Yeah, remember I just got out of the hospital today.”

  “I’m sorry, John.” Her voice dripped with remorse. Yeah, I wasn’t above playing the sympathy card. Rose asked, “Andrew has the game hooked up. What’s the headset for?”

  “That’s how we’re going to communicate while we play.”

  “Are you sure I’m going to be able to do this?” Jeez, it’s just a video game, it’s not like I was asking her to perform open-heart surgery.

  “I have all of the confidence in the world in you Rose,” I reassured her anyway and walked over to the console and turned my game on. “Is the game turned on?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “All right, when Andrew sets up your profile, I’m gonna invite you to play me.” I clicked on the controller inviting her to play. “Put the headset on and make sure it’s turned on.”

  She spoke into it, and I heard her. I told her to hang up her cell, and we’d talk through the headsets.

  “You ready for class?” I was getting excited about this. Maybe a little too excited. Shit this was almost like a wet dream. “Do you want to play with me?”

  “What?” she asked shocked.

  “I mean, play with my team. I’m in the game, Rose.”

  “Oh, so I get to control you? Oh yeah.”

  My lips curled up before I could stop it. Fuck! When would I learn? I shook it off and told her how to select her team. I chose my team too.

  “I’m the home team, so you get to bat first.” I explained how to use the buttons. She seemed like a quick study not asking many questions.

  “Here comes the pitch, get ready,” I warned and threw an easy pitch. She swung, connected, and went yard. “Damn, you just homered on me. You’re a natural.”

  “Wow. I know. This game is easy.” She chuckled.

  Her next player was up to bat. I threw a slightly more difficult pitch. “Are you kidding me, Rose? Another home run?”

  She was laughing out loud. I also heard snickering in the background. Was it really that funny?

  “Okay, Rose. You better make me proud on this one,” I said as my video self stepped up to the plate.

  Again, I pitched it easier because I wanted her to be successful when she was using me. She swung way too early. Strike. I threw again—another ill-timed swing. Strike. “Rose, come on, I’m basically lobbing it over the plate for you.”

  “Sorry,” she rushed out sounding like she was about to lose it.

  I gave her another easy pitch. She didn’t even swing. Strike three. Out. “How in the hell did you manage to do that with me? I always get a hit in this game.” I scratched my head. I was truly perplexed.

  It sounded like a pack of hyenas were taking over her living room. “What did he say Rose?” I heard Andrew barely get out, as he was alternating between barking and high-pitched laughing his head off. She repeated it. And they all laughed harder.

  “Andrew has been playing, right?” I wished I could reach through the headset and choke his ass out.

  “Yes.” She sounded like she was trying not to laugh but couldn’t stop herself.

  “Aw, man, give him your headset please? I’m going to school this asshole on this game, and he knows it.” I heard Rose repeat what I said. And, my fucking asshole brother laughed louder. God, he was such a dick sometimes.

  “You suck, bro,” Andrew taunted when he finally had the headset. “Maybe you need to go back to Triple-A and work on your swing.”

  “Fuck you. Prepare to get annihilated.”

  We played, talking smack the whole time, and I ended up beating him by one run. Yeah, fuck you, bro.

  When Rose had the headset back, I was already pumped from winning the last game. “Okay, baby, are you ready to play? You have the controller this time right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you know what to do?” I reset the game.

  “I think so, Andrew said he would help me.”

  “Don’t let him help you too much,” I warned a little resentful. I was the one teaching her this game.

  But, I collected myself. “Okay. You bat first again.” I threw an easy pitch. She knocked it out of the park. “Whatever, Rose, quit fucking with me,” I said flatly thinking Andrew still had the controller.

  “No, I’m really playing, John, I did it!” she shouted, Andrew and Loren were cheering too.

  “That was you, sweetheart?” My voice rose as I asked with pride. If I were next to her, I would kiss her.

  Pause on the lip service fantasy! No. I wouldn’t because it would h
urt like hell right now, and I would frighten the shit out of her with my Frankenstein looking mouth.

  I pitched to her next player. This time she swung and missed on the first pitch, but hit it on the second one and got a base hit. “Nice hit.”

  Again, my video self was up. I gave her an easy one. Smack—into the stands.

  “I hit another homer!”

  “No, that was a foul ball.” I almost regretted having to burst her bubble.

  “What does that mean? I hit it into the stands,” she argued.

  “I know, but there are certain sections in the stands that are considered home runs. A foul counts as a strike.”

  “Oh. I wanted to make you hit a home run,” she huffed sexily, and I could only imagine how her tits jiggled as she probably stomped her foot, too.

  And, I was getting turned on a-fucking-gain. She could probably breathe into the phone, and I’d explode like a volcano on the big island. “Well, you still can. That’s only one strike.” Let me reiterate, I wanted to hit a home run, with her. Such a douchebag line, but whatever, I’m a baseball player. “Okay, here comes the next pitch. Focus. You can do this.” I gave her a little motivational pep talk before I threw the pitch. Another foul.

  “Ugh! This game sucks!” She sounded pissed. Even when she was mad, I was boning it up like a champ. I was fifty shades of horny, although she would probably be one hundred shades of kick my ass if I told her that.

  “Patience Rose.” Then, “Ow! I wish I would stop doing that.” She’d made me smile again. She was a little competitive. “You’re gonna do it this time.” I pitched another easy one, and she whacked the hell out of it. This one was definitely a home run.

  It seemed like everyone was cheering. You would have thought we were watching the World Series or something. “Yay, we did it!” Rose gushed out, probably tit-jiggling around again.

  “I’m so proud of you.” I was really stimulated, for the five hundredth time. This whole playing a video game with a hot girl was the best idea ever. Now, if we could throw some stripping into the mix that would be sublime. Was it too soon to ask Rose to FaceTime me again?

  After a couple of innings, Rose asked if we could pause it because Andrew and Loren were leaving. “Yeah, give Loren a hug for me. And, will you give Andrew the headset again? I need to ask him something.”

  A few seconds later. “What?” Andrew asked.

  “Have you scored a home run with Loren, yet? Or are you striking out.”

  “You seriously had Rose give me the headset to ask that? I think I’m doing better than you are. At least I don’t have to play video games to get my rocks off.” He started snickering again as if he were so funny. “And from the looks of your mouth, it’ll be awhile before you’ll be getting any action.”

  “Hey, I got hit in the face, not in the dick. That works fine I assure you.”

  “Okay, little brother, this conversation is bordering on ridiculous so I’m going to let you go.”

  “Later.”

  Rose and I resumed the game. She “beat” me of course because I let her. But, she was definitely not a gracious winner.

  “Wow. John. You suck at this game.” Her smack-talk sucked.

  “Whatever, Rose, I let you win.”

  “Ooookkkaaaayyy,” she said sarcastically. “You sound like a sore loser.”

  Now, she was annoying me. “All right, let’s play again.”

  “No, I’m a little tired.”

  “Yeah because you’re scared.” I actually was more riled up. I loved how feisty she was.

  “No, I’m not. By the way the video version of you does not do you justice.”

  “You really think so?” I lifted my mouth at the compliment. Fuck. Fuckity. Fuuuuck! I grunted. I never knew how difficult it was to try not to smile. Could someone just give me some lip balm with a heavy dose of lidocaine?

  “Oh, John, you’re hurting again. Why don’t we call it a night, and you get some rest,” she suggested softy.

  I didn’t want to stop talking to her, but I agreed reluctantly. “Okay. Can we play tomorrow?”

  “Well, of course. I really enjoyed playing with you.”

  “That sounds a little sexual, Rose, you know that, right?” Damn, I really, really wanted to play with her.

  “No, and everything sounds sexual to you.” She used her high school teacher voice.

  After she logged off, I played another game. However, as I was playing, I kept losing focus because I was daydreaming about her. And, I had my one hundredth major erection tonight. What was I? Thirteen again with my first crush?

  For the next several days we played the video game. The second day we played, I beat her the first time, and she got angry with that too. She obviously didn’t like to lose.

  I was trying a little harder but didn’t play as ruthless as I would have if I were playing against one of my buddies on the team. However, last night when she taunted me, I had to save face somewhat. I mean, come on, I was very competitive too.

  But, then I felt like a dick and didn’t want her to quit playing. So I had to be strategic about wins and losses. I wanted to build her up, so she would want to play. And she was actually improving. She was a quick learner. I made certain that I let her win some of the games.

  I was beginning to crave our video game sessions. And, I was really craving her. I needed to see her. I had to figure out how to make this happen. Maybe I could fly her up here to see me play.

  However, she seemed like the kind of person that would need a lot of coaxing to make that happen. Our conversations were easy and funny. She would tease and play, but anytime I would start implying something sexual or personal, she would laugh and deflect or try to change the subject.

  Unfortunately, I was beginning to see why women probably dropped their panties when John crooked his finger. Mine were threatening to drop, and we were several states apart. We had basically spent the past week talking daily and playing video games. I would have never thought I would play video games, but I had to admit; I loved it. I guess I could hopefully earn some street cred with my students this coming year with my newfound knowledge of PlayStation.

  Surprisingly, I enjoyed learning about baseball. John was patient and had a way of explaining the game where it was easy for me to understand. He was truly a good teacher in that sense. What may have melted my heart a little was that I knew he was letting me win games.

  Since I didn’t have anything going on, and he was recovering, we would sometimes play for seven or eight hour’s straight. And, the whole time we carried on a conversation. I never grew tired of talking to him.

  Through our talks, I knew he was not simply the arrogant jock who just wanted sex. He was very witty, and we could converse about any subject. John commented he’d actually read the required books that he had to read in high school.

  “Oh really?” I may have been a little skeptical. Maybe not fair on my part, but I was going to test the waters. “Tell me about Daisy Buchanan.”

  “Who’s that? Is she a friend of yours?” I inwardly groaned and my heart sunk. This was a standard read in high school, not to mention a movie was made about it, too. Just what I thought.

  When I was about to give him hell for being a liar. I heard. “Beautiful, charming, the paragon of purity and grace, or so that’s how she was portrayed in the beginning. But, in the end she was selfish, weak, shallow, and borderline evil—just a figment of Gatsby’s imagination.”

  “You did read it.” My sinking heart sprouted some wings and flittered up to the surface again. Then, I paused. “Or did you just watch the movie?”

  “No. I didn’t watch the movie. I normally don’t like to see film adaptations of books. Except for The Godfather.” He chuckled. “I told you, teacher. Contrary to what you might think, I like to read.”

  “George Milton.”

  “Oh, I got this. Of Mice and Men.” His voice was confident and I smiled into the phone. “Let’s see…” He sighed. “Short tempered, rough around
the edges, but loyal to Lennie in his own special way. George felt protective of Lennie. He was somewhat idealistic even though he was a hard man. Unfortunately, what George did to Lennie in the end is morally questionable. However, I think the author wanted to portray it as a mercy killing.”

  “Did you agree with his actions?”

  “No, not really. However, I try to put the book into context and the time period it was written.”

  “True.” I nodded my head like he could see me. I was still reeling that he actually read these books. I wanted to know more about this guy who seemed like a literary genius in a hot body. “I have to say I’m impressed, John.”

  “So, did I ace the test?”

  “You did.”

  He exhaled in relief. “Thank God. Believe it or not, Rose, I’m trying very hard to impress you.”

  I smiled into the phone. He was impressing me, more and more each day. I didn’t know where this thing between us was going, but I knew I looked forward to hearing from him everyday.

  The next day, we were having our daily PS4 session. We’d played the game for probably the twentieth time that day. It was the bottom of the final inning, and we were tied. I was batting and had my favorite player at the plate—John McKeon.

  John’s pitcher threw the pitch. Strike. “Damn it,” I said under my breath.

  He chuckled.

  “I see it doesn’t hurt to laugh any more, huh?”

  “Nope.” He pitched again. Foul. Two strikes.

  “Shit!”

  “For a teacher, you curse like a sailor,” he teased.

  “It’s from hanging around you too long.”

  Another pitch, I was learning to see where the strike zone was. This one seemed outside the plate. I let it go. Ball.

  “Good eye, Rose.”

  Then another outside pitch, I waited. Ball.

  “I’ve taught you well, young Jedi.”

  Another pitch. Foul.

  Another foul.

  Another ball.

  Full count.