by Zoe Glez
Plus, after our last talk, I could see that she felt like she didn’t know me anymore. I needed to fix that and this was the perfect way to start. As expected, she was ridiculously happy and excited at the news. Even started in on crazy talk about all the things we needed to do for the wedding ceremony and party. I could see her planning it all in her head, much to my dismay. I know my mother and she would go all out for a wedding when I just want it to be small and intimate, with the ones I love most, my family.
After we all finish breakfast, we attempt to divide all fifteen of us, for the ride to the park. While I’m trying to work out the whole situation in my mind, it comes to me that the park is only three blocks down and it really isn’t that far of a walk. So, why waste gas when we can all just walk there? I share my idea, but it wouldn’t work for the amount of equipment we would have to carry. There is also the fact that Mama couldn’t walk that far due to her diabetes, which has started to affect her legs.
Mary takes advantage of the situation and offers to drive Mama and the equipment to the park while the rest of us walk. Everybody just shrugs, not really caring if they all walk or not. With that settled, we make our way to the park. The best thing about living in Florida is that is neither hot nor cold during Christmas, making our walk to the park an easy one.
I walk between Mario and Chino toward the back of the group. In my head, the three of us look ridiculous. Mario who is just a big ball of fuzzy love thanks to his long, curly hair and Chino who is all muscle, both towering over my five-foot-four frame as we walk seems comical. Mickey, on the other hand, has been abducted by my brother who is leading the group.
“Can you explain to me why you’re wearing yoga pants?” Mario asks, looking down at me.
“Are you kidding? These puppies are the most comfortable thing a person could ever wear,” I say, scrunching my eyes, because of the sun, as I look up at him.
“I thought that was the Snuggie,” Chino jokes and interrupts me at the same time.
“It isn’t. Plus, I left all my sporty clothes at home. Mickey said he would get me something to wear and this is what he brought. It could of have been worse. Have you seen what Mary’s wearing?” I ask pointing to my yoga pants and off-the-shoulder sweater that I wore over a tank top, adding the fact that my cousin chose to wear flat sandals.
“So, you didn’t really have much of a say in it,” Mario deadpans.
“I give up. I don’t get it, you guys, what’s wrong with it?” I say with a huff, throwing my hands up in frustration.
“It’s not exactly baseball attire.” Chino shrugs.
“Says who? The expert in baseball chose it for me to wear, so I say it is,” I confidently say.
“You just say that because you’re in love,” they both say at the same time.
“You two are freaky when you do that,” I tell them before catching up to where Arianna is.
When we get to the park Mary, Lola, and Mama are already there waiting for us. Kevin and Mickey have decided to be the captains of the teams. They decide to choose their team members the way they do in gym class. We are all playing, including Mama and Lola. Well, they’re are going to bat and someone else is going to run for them. I never thought I would see my seventy-two year old grandmother play baseball.
They decide to pick girl, boy, girl, boy. Mickey starts and picks Lola first. After she gave him the death glare, it was a no brainer. In order to make things fun, Kev picks Mama. Mickey then picks his brother and Kev picks Mario. Mickey decides to take a risk and picks me, earning him a scowl from my brother.
Mary is the last one to be picked, probably because she chose to play in flats instead of sneakers. Mickey’s final team is Lola, Chino, Mom, Luke, Ari, Angel, and I. Kevin has Mama, Mario, Carla, Dad, Junior, and Mary. They quickly notice that the teams are uneven, so Mama opts to stay out of the game, deciding to cheer us on from the bleachers, and mom switches over to Kevin’s team.
Our team is the first to bat. The order of batting is the order in which Mickey picked us, making me fourth to bat. First base is covered by mom, second by Carla, and third by Mary. Mario is the catcher, Junior is pitching, and Dad and Kev are playing the back field, expecting Mickey to hit it out of the park. Lucky for us, we brought extra balls just in case it happen. It comes to no surprise that Mickey makes a home run on his first try. With that, our road to victory begins.
It’s the last inning of the game and the teams are tied. We have one out left and I’m up to bat. We need one point to win the game and Chino is on second base. It is all up to me.
To say I suck is putting mildly. I’ve only hit the ball like two times and my brother got me out each time.
“Come on, Lai. You can do it!” Mickey shouts from the corner.
“Hey, kid! Remember, keep your eyes on the ball,” Junior says helping me from his pitching position.
“Dad, come on! Don’t help her, we’ve got to win this,” Mario practically whines.
“Eyes on the ball, Laylah. Eyes on the ball. You can do this!” Mickey yells again.
“Hey batter, batter, batter. Swing batter, batter,” Kev yells from his position, trying to distract me.
“Shut up, Kev!” I yell back, feeling annoyed.
“Come on, Laylah. You can do it,” Lola and Mama cheer at the same time.
“Ready?” Junior asks and I nod in response, keeping my eyes on the ball.
“Now!” Mickey says, and I swing the bat with all the force I can muster. All of the sudden, I hear him scream, “Run, baby, run!” So I do. It is in that moment that I realize that the ball went farther than the last two times I had swung the bat. Since my dad and Kev weren’t really expecting it, they had moved in closer to the bases instead of paying attention to the rest of the field.
“That’s it, baby. Keep running. Come on, we’ve got this!” Mickey keeps yelling. All of us too consumed in the moment to say or do anything about his slip.
Just as I’m about to round the third base it starts to rain, making Mary move out of her position and miss the ball that was thrown her way.
So, I listen to what Mickey keeps saying and run home. I can feel that I’m being followed. I calculate my distance and find that I’m not too far, so I say the heck with it and slide into home base. I’m covered in mud, but I made it! I actually helped win the game!
I’m so excited that I get up with mud all over me and start doing a happy dance on the home plate. “You did it!” Mickey excitedly says coming toward me. He picks me up, hugging me, and spins us around.
“Hands off, Vega!” Kev says from behind us. “And, did I hear you call her baby?” he asks.
“No way, man. You must’ve heard wrong,” Mickey easily lies.
“Could’ve sworn you did…” Kev says, suspiciously eying him.
“I didn’t hear him say anything, you must’ve been imagining it,” Mario interferes.
“Mickey, I got mud all over you!” I exclaim, interrupting their conversation.
“It’s okay, I don’t mind. You’ve got it all over you,” he says pointing to my face and clothing.
“Gotta say, little Torres, you are most definitely my MVP,” he says with that smile of his that I love so much.
“That was the only productive thing I did during the entire game,” I point out, wiping my eyes. The rain is still pouring down making it impossible for me to keep my eyes open.
“But, it was you who got us the win,” he says with a wink and gets hit with a ball of mud. “What the—” he says turning toward the source. “What the hell, Kevin? What was that for?” he asks, scowling at my brother.
“That was for flirting with my little sister,” he plainly says, shrugging before he also gets hit with a ball of mud, compliments of yours truly. “Hey!” he screams.
“Stop babying me!” I yell back at him and throw more mud at him.
Other families have snow ball fights, but we, being the crazy people that we are, end up having a mud ball fight. Every one joins in eventually.
Well, everyone except for Mary who went directly to the car as soon as it started raining. Mama and Lola also skip, saying they didn’t want anything to do with the mess.
It’s every man for himself. I can see our older generation having fun and enjoying themselves. Even Carla who I’ve always considered to be sort of plastic. We are all laughing and covered in mud. Enjoying each other’s company, forgetting about the rest of the world.
By the time we get home the rain has stopped and you can barely recognize who is who behind all of our muddy faces. I can’t even imagine what the people around the neighborhood thought when they saw us walking home full of mud. We haven’t even fully entered the front yard when we see Lola and Mama waiting for us. Lola stands with some towels while Mama is next to her with a water hose in her hands.
“If you all think you’re going inside looking like that then you are seriously mistaken. I want you all in a line so I can hose you off. After I’m done with you, head towards Lola, grab a towel, dry yourselves up, and then go home and take a shower. I want you all clean and looking nice when you come back here to eat,” she orders before asking, “Are we all clear?”
“Yes,” we all say in unison.
“Good,” she says with a firm nod. “Now, come on, I want everyone in a line.”
Mickey and I were the last ones to get cleaned up. There are only three bathrooms in each house. Two are in the bedrooms and one in the hall. The one in my room is the only one available, so we risk it and decide to shower together.
“Have I told you how much I love you today?” he asks kissing me on the shoulder as he washes my hair. “Because I do with all my being,” he finishes, kissing me on the mouth.
Pure and eternal bliss is all that’s left of me.
The pain, oh the pain! The next morning, I wake up and can barely bend my legs and arms. And, my butt? Oh, man! My butt is the worst! It hurts every time I sit down and each time I walk. Mickey, having years of experience playing baseball, feels no pain at all. Meanwhile, the rest of us are in agonizing pain. Hell, even Junior had trouble getting up from the bed. At least that’s what mom said.
I grunt as I sit down on the sofa, making Mickey laugh. “Shut it, Vega!” I tell him with a scowl.
“I can’t help it, you look so cute trying to walk. You remind me of dear old Frankie,” he says, with a huge shit eating grin.
“Did you just seriously just compare me to Frankenstein?” I ask giving him a death glare.
“I did,” he says with a nod. “A sexier version, that is.” He moves closer to me and whispers, “I just wish I were the one that had gotten you this sore.”
“I’m beginning to think you’re becoming a sex addict,” I say, my heart rate racing.
“An addict for you.” He gives me a quick kiss near my ear and neck. “Lay your feet in my lap. I know just the thing you need to make the soreness in your legs better. I’ll work on your butt later,” he says, whispering that last part. I do as he asks, not caring who catches us.
Last night we decided not to hide our feelings anymore in front of anyone, hoping the other two men in my life would get used to the idea of us being together.
“Good, you two are here! Don’t mind me,” Ari says walking in on us and continuing toward the stairs to yell at the guys to come down.
“What are you up to?” I ask carefully eying her and lowering my feet from Mickey’s lap.
“Well, you remember last week when we were talking and you mentioned how fun it would be to do a secret Santa?” she asks.
“Yeah…” I say, hesitating a little.
“Well, we are doing it! Who cares if Christmas is in two days, we are doing it,” she firmly says “Ma—” she starts calling for our grandmother.
“I’m here, already. You don’t have to yell,” Mama interrupts her yelling.
“How do you do that? It’s freaky,” Ari says shaking her head.
“Didn’t you hear? Our grandmother is a super ninja. She appears when you least expect it. I wouldn’t be surprised if she could even catch a fly with her very own hands,” I joke.
After a few minutes of determination on Ari’s part, the entire family, except for Junior who still hasn’t gotten off of bed, gathers around the living room. “What are we doing here?” Mary asks in a bored tone.
“We are here because we are doing secret Santa. Everyone has to pick one of these,” she shows a piece of paper, “from the cap, but you can’t see it until I say so. Got it?”
We all nod, already knowing how the whole secret Santa thing works. Before Ari gets to were Mickey and I are she says that she is going to pick Junior’s piece of paper for him. Once she gets to us, she throws us a wink and tells everyone to check their papers to make sure they didn’t get themselves as secret Santa. I’m not really surprised that I got Mickey and I wouldn’t be surprised if he picked my name. I’m thankful for that, I’ve been trying to figure out a way to give him his present without raising suspicions.
“Thank God I haven’t done my Christmas shopping!” Mickey exclaims.
“Why thank God? This is the worst possible time to shop,” Mary tells him.
“I prefer to get it all done at the same time. I would’ve hated the idea of going back for just one gift,” he answers with a shrug. “Well, I’m off to shop. Want to go with me?” he asks, looking directly at me. “I know you haven’t had the chance to buy anything yet either,” he further explains.
“Sure,” I look up at him with a smile, ignoring the looks my brother and dad are giving us.
Yesterday was fun. Shopping with Mickey is always an interesting experience. Luckily, I had already gotten him his present so I didn’t have to be sneaky about buying him something there. To be honest, I really didn’t need to buy anything. It took me a while, but after we spent hours going from store to store and he still hadn’t bought anything, I finally realized that he didn’t have anything to buy either.
He fessed up and we took the opportunity to enjoy each other’s company. We bought a few things and then went to grab a bite to eat. It was pretty late when we came back. Since no one was around we snuck into my room, where he made good on his earlier promise.
I am now getting ready for our bowling day. I decide to wear my combat boots with jeans and another one of my off the shoulder sweaters. What can I say? I love them.
“You look lovely,” Mickey says with a wink when I enter the kitchen.
“Thanks!” I say with a smile.
“Seriously, Vega, if you keep this up, you won’t be having children,” Kev threatens.
“Seriously, Kev. This is getting old,” I say with a sigh as I look inside the fridge.
“What you looking for?” Mickey asks.
“Pancake batter. I want pancakes,” I say as I find the batter and start preparing it.
“Again?” Mickey asks while Kev says “Didn’t you have breakfast already?”
“Yeah, but I’m hungry and I want pancakes,” I say with shrug.
“You’re one weird little creature,” Kev mutters.
“I don’t know…I think it’s cute,” Mickey says, earning him a slap on the back of his head.
Once I’m done eating my syrup covered pancakes we head to the bowling alley. We drive in three separate cars. Mom and Dad decide to ride together with Angel and Carla in Dad’s Jetta. I ride with Mickey, Mama, Lola, Ari, Luke and Junior in Mickey’s truck and Kevin is driving my Jeep. Since Mary is running late, he, Chino, and Mario are meeting up with us as soon as she’s ready.
We are getting our shoes when I hear someone calling my name. I don’t recognize the voice but I still look to see who it is.
“Laylah?” the guy says again. He’s tall but not as tall as Mickey. He has messy, sandy blond hair and amazing blue eyes. I would be lying if I said he wasn’t attractive. “Hey, how are you?” he says walking toward me with a smile.
“I’m fine, um?” I say confused.
“You don’t remember me, do you?” he asks, his smile turning in
amusement.
“No, sorry I don’t,” I confess.
“It’s okay. I’m Carter, we had that art technique and appreciation course together.” Now that I look at him better, I finally realize who he is. He used to always sit next to me.
“Oh, yeah! How are you?” I ask.
“I’m good. Actually, I’m glad I ran into you,” he confesses “I’m working on promoting a new art collection and there is going to be a show in a couple of weeks. Now that I ran into you, I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?”
“Umm…” Oh boy! This is awkward. To make it worse the glare that Mickey is giving Carter has probably got the poor guy blown to pieces already.
“I know it’s weird but I actually been wanting to ask you out ever since we took that class together, but you always disappeared on me before I ever got the chance to do so,” he quickly adds, before I get a chance to answer him
“I’m honored, Carter. But, I have a boyfriend and he wouldn’t really be happy if I went out with another guy,” I say just as Mickey is getting to where we are.
“Figures,” he mutters “Well, can’t say I didn’t try.”
“Everything alright here?” Mickey asks in a clipped tone. He’s jealous. I rarely get to see him like this and I sort of like it. I nod in answer.
“So this is the boyfriend?” Carter guesses. I nod with a smile. “Well, it was really nice seeing you again, Laylah. You should go to the showing,” he says as he leaves.
“It was really nice seeing you again, Laylah,” Mickey mocks “What is up with that dude?”
“You’re jealous,” I say with an amused smile.