Out of Centerfield (Washington Warriors Novel Book 1)

by Mertz, L.

  I have found out some things about Johnathan. He loves country music, but will listen to rock. No rap though. I’m trying to get him to open his ears to the better side of music. His family lives in Texas and his best friend is Kevin and I really want to meet him. He sounds like he a lot of fun. Johnathan told me that Kevin was trying to get out here to visit, but he hasn’t been able to get away from the farm since the whole organic farming thing has taken off.

  Johnathan has tonight and tomorrow off and I’m on my way to his condo so I text him to let him know that I’m on my way. He never answered me and now I know why. All I can hear coming out of his condo is loud music. I knock and there is no answer. I try the knob and the door is unlocked so I just let myself in. I’m bombarded with AC/DC coming from his living room. I look over and there he is shirtless with a little guitar around his body and a microphone in front of him. He is singing and trying to play this guitar at the same time. I think it’s some type of video game but I don’t know because I don’t play video games. As ridiculous as he looks, he is still sexy to me. He’s wearing a pair of faded blue jeans, and they are hanging low enough for me to see his boxers just poking out and his feet are bare. He still hasn’t seen me yet so I just take my time and look at him. His back is muscular and bare of anything, no scarring, no tattoos, nothing. Just pure muscle is flexing and moving as he keeps playing the video game.

  “What are you looking at?”

  I am brought back from my dreamland and start giggling. He caught me watching him. Crap. I just keep giggling. I can’t help it.

  “Now what is so funny?” he asks.

  I hear him turn the game off and then feel him walking toward me, but even then I can’t stop laughing.

  “You…I…can’t….you…wow. I didn’t know you could sing like that. It was amazing,” I barely get out while catching my breath.

  “Oh, you think that’s funny?” he says with a smirk.

  Oh crap, I know that look. I start to run from him but it’s hard because there really is nowhere to go except the kitchen, bathroom, or bedroom. I didn’t come here for that, so that’s not an option. As I try to run by him he throws his arm out, grabs me by the waist, and proceeds to throw me over his shoulder. I then land on his couch so hard that I bounce a little. Trying to get away, he grabs my foot and pulls me down so that I’m flat on my back on the couch and starts to tickle me.

  “Stop! Stop! You’re going make me pee myself. Stop!”

  “Say it! Then I’ll stop.”

  “Stop! Pllllleeeeeaaaase.”

  “Okay, but only because you said please.” He gets up off of me, but first he places a little kiss on my nose. He is very affectionate. I’m not too used to that but I like that he is like that with me, it makes me feel special. “I don’t want you to tell anyone that I do that. Promise me.”

  “I promise,” I say as I cross my heart. “So, what are we doing for dinner? I got my show. Now I must be fed.” Smiling at him, I can now see the tattoo on his chest that I thought I saw before. It’s says “My family…My life” on his collarbone and goes all the way across. I see the name Annabelle underneath it. He has talked about her before when he told me about his Mom. He calls his Mom and Annabelle his girls. I guess that she’s his sister. He doesn’t really like to talk about her much. But I know that he loves her or he wouldn’t have her name on him.

  “Pizza or Chinese?”

  “Um Chinese.”

  He gets up to grab the take out menu and orders for me. We eat the same thing: steamed dumplings, egg rolls, soup, and either fried rice or lo mein. I grab his remote and try to find a movie on the On Demand option, but I can’t find anything that grabs my interest. I feel him come back and sit on the couch right next to me and he hands me a beer. I also see that he has put a shirt on. I’m happy and then I’m not so happy about it because now I can’t look at his naked chest.

  “Thanks,” I say then take a big gulp.

  “No problem.”

  I find some old episodes of Duck Dynasty that I haven’t watched yet and click on them while we wait for food. It’s not long before the delivery man arrives and we are eating. I found a movie for us to watch and after we clean the dishes from dinner and grab a couple more beers we get cozy on the couch. I grab the blanket off of the back of his couch and wrap it around myself. He clearly doesn’t need the blanket since he is hot all the time. He has his legs stretched out and on the coffee table and I am snuggled up into the crook of his arm. He presses the play button on the remote and then kisses the top of my head. I don’t know when it happens, but I fall asleep during the movie and I’m woken up when I feel that I’m moving.

  “Go back to sleep. I’m just taking you into the bedroom,” he tells me.

  I snuggle back into his arms more and then I feel him place me in his bed under the covers and fall right back to sleep.

  Johnathan

  I must have gotten lost in the video game because I didn’t see or hear her come in. I felt someone watching me only to turn and find Kelsey standing there. I love hearing her laugh and I’m glad that I got her to laugh tonight. I asked her what she wanted for dinner either pizza or Chinese. Of course, she picked Chinese; she loves Chinese food. We get caught up on our favorite show Duck Dynasty. These guys are millionaires and are funny as shit. I could never pull off a beard like these guys, but there’s a guy on the team that is coming really close to it. The food arrives and I grab both of us another beer and some plates.

  I know that she saw my tattoo. I know that I’m going to have to tell her who Annabelle is to me. I told her that Mom and Annabelle are my girls and that seemed to be okay with her. We have been getting to know each other more over the past few weeks that I have been on the road with the team. It’s funny because we have a long distant relationship, but we live less than a few blocks away from each other. I’m on the road a week maybe more or less at a time, but I love playing ball and I wouldn’t change a thing. I called my Mom the other day and told her about Kelsey and she asked me if she knows about Annabelle. I had to tell her that she knows about her but not everything. I don’t want to scare her off and it’s a long story.

  As we sit back and watch TV while we eat I try to come up with a way to tell her, but every time I think that I can tell her I stop myself. I’ve been trying to find time for Mom to come out here and bring Annabelle, but she has been helping Kevin with the new farming computer system so she’s just as busy as he is. I will get to see my family soon. I plan on using my break during the All-Star break to go back home.

  Once we are done eating Kelsey helps me clean up from dinner and I grab two more beers as she finds a movie to watch. I sit down on the couch with my feet up on the coffee table. She grabs the blanket that my grandmother made for me, wraps herself in it, and then gets comfortable in my arms. I love how she fits just in my arms. It’s almost like she was made to fit there. After a while she is breathing evenly and I know that she has fallen asleep. I move to pick her up and on the way to my room she wakes up, but I tell her to just stay asleep and then place her into my bed. I leave her there to go turn everything off and clean up the rest of our mess.

  I go back to my room, undress and join Kelsey in bed. She stirs a little bit, snuggles closer to my side, and wraps her leg over mine. I kiss her head, pull her tighter to me, and fall asleep.

  Kelsey

  Oh great, now it’s time for the Spanish Inquisition. Lauren and I have been on completely different schedules lately and now she is back from being out of town for a week and let’s just say I haven’t had time to tell her about Johnathan.

  “I’ve missed you, friend! What have I missed?” Lauren asks me over breakfast.

  “Oh you know same old, same old…I have a boyfriend…” I let that trail off and just watch her reaction before I keep talking.

  “You what? A boyfriend? I haven’t been gone that long.”

  “Since game sixty-nine. I haven’t really seen you since. So it’s been roughly two maybe three w
eeks.”

  “Well, shit, it didn’t seem that long.” Looking me in the eye, she says, “I want all the details. Now.”

  Taking a sip of my coffee, I tell her everything. She is smiling so I can tell that she is happy that I have someone special.

  “You can’t tell anyone. Got me? I will hurt you if I find out that you told someone,” I warn her.

  “I got it.”

  So I guess it’s official now that I’ve told Lauren. Oh, wow, I’m dating a professional baseball player. My life just went from boring to exciting very quickly.

  Game 94

  Kelsey

  The team has returned from another series of ten away games winning six out of ten. The team is coming close to being at .500 by the All-Star break, which is in a few weeks. I’m supposed to meet Johnathan at a restaurant for dinner and then we are going to walk around the monuments. One thing that I love doing is walking the National Mall and other monuments at night.

  Since we are just going to a local chain restaurant, I decided to wear a pair of jeans and my dark blue chucks—super comfortable—and a matching Washington Warrior’s t-shirt. I also brought a sweatshirt just in case it gets too cold. I arrive before Johnathan and sit at the bar to grab a beer. I order their local house beer, which is dark and has a coffee after flavor. When I’m about halfway done with my beer I see him walk in., I told the server that I was waiting on someone so she knew to send him in here. He is wearing a red Washington Warriors t-shirt, dark jeans, and his classic black chucks topped off with a red baseball hat emblazoned with a huge “W” on the front.

  “Hey, Kelsey. Sorry I’m late we got in a bit late and I figured that I better just head over than to try and text you or anything.” Johnathan leans over and kisses the side of my head.

  It’s cute that he apologized for being late. “It’s okay really I haven’t been here too long. Do you want to get a table or just sit here at the bar?”

  “Um… how about a table?” he asks.

  “Okay, let’s go.” I throw a few bills on the bar and grab my beer to take with me to the table. The server gets a table near the back of the restaurant so we have some privacy. “How was the road?”

  “It was okay I guess. Nothing interesting to report. So, how is working with your grandfather?” he asks putting down the menu.

  “Oh, it’s good, I guess. I’ve always been around so it’s not like any other job I guess. It’s comfortable.” I decide on the cheeseburger with a pretzel bun and waffle fries. I put down my menu and look at him. He looks exhausted.

  “Do you know what you want?” I ask him.

  “Yeah, I think I’m going to get the bacon cheeseburger with a pretzel bun and sweet potato fries and extra bacon. I’m starving.”

  “Are you allowed to have that much bacon? I mean isn’t there a protein, carbs, fat ratio you need to watch?” I ask him, but I’m only joking. He will probably burn the extra bacon off by just walking around. It amazes me how good of shape he’s in.

  “I don’t care tonight. I’m taking a break from my diet plan. Plus aren’t we walking tonight? I think I’ll be okay, but thanks for worrying about me.” He winks at me.

  The waiter comes by and takes our orders and Johnathan orders himself a beer and me another. We sit and talk about mundane things and in no time, our food is here and it’s delicious.

  “I love the food here, and they have the best burgers.” I wipe the burger juice from my chin.

  “Oh, yeah, it’s good, all right. The beer is great too. I’ve never had coffee beer before.”

  I ask the waiter for a glass of water and he brings it over plus one for Johnathan. I know he’s tired but I don’t think that I need to be a drunken tour guide either. The check comes and Johnathan grabs it before I can.

  “Hey, I’ll pay for my own. You don’t need to do that.”

  “Yes I do and you’re not paying.”

  “Okay, fine, go all male on me and pay for everything.” I’m smiling while I say it.

  He stuffs his cash into the checkbook pocket and places it on the table. I stand up when he does and he grabs me and says, “Oh, Kelsey, you haven’t seen me go all male on you, yet.”

  He’s warm but I still feel a slight shiver run up my body. We walk out of the restaurant. What have I gotten myself into?

  Johnathan

  “So where to first, tour guide?” I ask her. I have been counting down the days while I was away from Kelsey. I couldn’t wait to get back to the city to do this tour. She doesn’t know that her grandfather has been in touch with me in regard to her, not team stuff. He called me the first day out on the road to talk to be about getting a tour from her. So, here we are walking on the National Mall. A couple weeks later than originally planned, but it is happening.

  “Well, because it’s so late the museums themselves are closed so we can go ahead and just keep walking toward the Washington Monument and go from there.” Kelsey goes on to tell me little facts about the Washington Monument, like that it took over forty years to complete and it’s five hundred fifty-five feet and five and one-eighth inches tall and the marble used to build it came from Maryland.

  “Wow, they sure did have a lot of time on their hand back in the eighteen hundreds, huh?” I was trying to be funny, but from the look she is giving me, I’m not. Oops.

  “Just ahead is the World War II Memorial, that’s one of the newer monuments it opened in 2004, and it cost almost two hundred million to be built. Most of the money was raised and the federal government gave just a little bit.”

  “That’s neat. My grandfather was in the war. He loved to talk about it all the time, even at Christmas dinner the war was brought up.”

  “Come on, let’s get to the Lincoln memorial, that’s my favorite,” she says to me. I didn’t realize that we had stopped holding hands until she grabs mine again and starts walking. We walk along the reflecting pool toward the monument in a comfortable silence. I’ve never had this type of relationship before. It’s easy. And I know that she’s with me because of me, not who I am being the famous baseball star. Usually the girls chase after me not me after them. I look down at Kelsey and she is looking out into the pool with a look of peacefulness. I hope that I’m the reason for that peace. I know that I wish I could have even a little of that.

  “Well, here we are. You want to walk up?” she says to me.

  “After you,” I tell her. She starts up the stairs and I follow when I see her look over her shoulder at me with a smile on her face. She starts running up the steps. Okay, I can play this game. I not only speed up but I can take some of the steps two at a time and easily catch up to her. Grabbing her by the waist once we reach the top, I tackle her. We are both breathing hard looking at each other. She goes to stand on her toes and kisses me. I immediately invade her mouth with my tongue and I grab the back of her head and pull her closer to me.

  Kelsey

  I’m going to kiss him I know it and I can’t stop myself. I try and stand up on my toes to get closer and as I do he leans down. Our lips meet for the briefest, most perfect kiss that I think I’ve ever had. I can feel him trace my mouth with his tongue asking for entrance and I open myself up to him and our tongues meet. I feel this kiss all the way down to my toes. I hear something coming from inside the monument.

  “Excuse me. This is not the place to be doing that type of thing,” a male voice says to us.

  Johnathan breaks from me but keeps me close to him. I put my face in his chest I can feel my face turning red. I’m trying to not laugh.

  Clearing his throat, he says, “I’m sorry, Sir. We got a little carried away.” Johnathan speaks for the both of us.

  “That’s okay, son, just keep it PG. You are in public and on federal property.”

  “Yes, I understand,” he says.

  “Hey! I know you. You’re Johnathan Myers, center fielder for the Washington Warriors. I’m a huge fan. Oh man, that home run against the Eagles last week was killer I thought that we were going to lose
that game, but man, bottom of the ninth with two outs. Whoooeee. Can I have an autograph? My son would love it.”

  “Sure, that’s not a problem and yeah that was a rough game.”

  I step back so that Johnathan can sign a slip of paper for the officer and one for his son. The officer tells us to have a good night, but warns us about keeping things appropriate.

  “Wow,that was kind of cool. I’m hanging out with a celebrity,” I say to him poking him in the ribs with my elbow.

  “Ha, ha, very funny. Can we sit for a bit before we head back home?” he asks.

  “Sure.” I sit down on a step and I thought he would sit next to me but he ends up behind me and wraps his arms around my shoulders. This feels nice and as time passes, I feel myself get sleepy. I turn my head to look at Johnathan and he looks tired too.

  “Hey are you ready to go? You look like you could fall asleep on these stairs.”

  “Yeah, I am. Can we get a cab back to your place? No sleepover tonight though, even though I really want too.”

  We grab a cab on Constitution and head on back to our side of the city. While in the cab I can’t help but hold his hand and lean against him. I’m not really a touchy person, but I want to be near Johnathan for some reason. It’s not a long ride back, but it is over faster than I wanted it to be. The cab stops and Johnathan pulls out money to give to the driver telling him to keep the change and we hop out. Standing outside of my building, I start to feel sad that our night is over.