Right Field //Benny Rodriguez x Reader// (RENEWED)

Part 5: pool day

Your POV:

The next morning we all of course ended up back at the Sandlot. That morning was... an eventful one to say the least. Benny and I luckily woke up first when we realized him and I had spent the whole night outside the treehouse wrapped in the blanket. After we all got up and got dressed, Squints and Yeah-yeah went to go buy us another ball.

It'd been almost an hour before we saw Squints and Yeah-yeah coming back into the field, before then, the team and I were sharing a few sodas. "Finally" Benny said under his breath, getting up to go see what they were fighting about, "Where you guys been?" Benny asked, "We've been waiting here forever already!"

"Squints was pervin' a dish" Yeah-yeah explained, handing the newly bought baseball to Benny, "Shut up! I wasn't" Squints defended, "Yeah yeah you were! Your tongue was hanging out of your mouth and you were swooning!! 'Oh Wendy Peffercorn, my darling lover girl!'" Yeah yeah said in a dramatic tone, clutching his chest where his head was.

"I said shut UP!" Squints yelled pushing him away, "I've got a lot of things on my mind" Squints said sitting back down under the shade, "Who's Wendy Peffercorn?" I asked sipping my soda. "Squints lover girl" he teased, I rolled my eyes as if that wasn't already obvious.

"Benny this pop ain't workin', I'm baking like a Toasted Cheeser! It's too hot here!" Ham complained, "It's one hundred and fifty degrees out there!" Squints agreed, "It's too hot to play baseball! We've gotta call it for the day!"

"He's right, listen to him Benny" Bertram agreed followed by commentary from the others. I had to admit, it was much hotter than any of the other days.

"Vote then!" Benny said "whoever wants to be a
Can't hacket pantywaist, who wears their Mama's
bra, raise your hand!" He said then everyone
raised their hand with no hesitation. "Uhh I already wear a bra, so am I automatically disqualified or...?" I asked as the others laughed at my joke.

"Alright fine... Well what do you say we do?" Benny asked. I got up from where I was sitting and stood next to him, "I say... we hit the pool, all in favor?" I asked raising my hand as the team followed with chatters of excitement and agreement.

"Sorry Benny" I said bringing my arm down, "I've turned your boys against you" I said with a joking smile, "Oh so that's how it's gonna be, (L/n)?" He asked trying to contain his smile while shaking his head. "Ugh stop talking! Let's get going already!" Ham said as the rest of them got up.

We'd all decided to head home to change into our swimwear before heading to the pool. As soon as we all entered the gates we threw our towels down and, without hesitation, jumped in. All except for Ham who just had to put on a show, he walked around to where there were a few young women laying out.

He smiled and waved and complemented them before blowing them a kiss, I couldn't help but cringe and laugh at him, "CANNONBALL!!!" He yelled before jumping into the pool, splashing all of the ladies he'd just waved at, making them all get up and walk elsewhere.

I kept laughing at Ham as he swam over to the group, then I could feel what was like someone's gaze staring in the back of my head. I turned to see Benny, who was staring at me, I smiled as I swam to him, waving my hand in front of his face, "Hello? Earth to Benny?" I said, breaking him out of his state.

"Oh, sorry I uh.." he tried defending himself but couldn't find the words. "It's alright Benny" I said smiling and watching as all the others were gazing up at one of the lifeguards, who I assume was Wendy Peffercorn because Squints pushed through them to get a closer view.

"Aw man.." Kenny gawked, "Yeah yeah, too cruel" Yeah-Yeah agreed as they watched Wendy apply her sunscreen. "She don't know what she's doin'" said Tim, "She don't know what she's doin'" Tommy repeated. "Yeah she does" Bertram said, "she knows exactly what she's doin'"

"I've swam here every summer of my adult life" Squints started, "I'd hardly call you an adult, but okay" I said making Benny and Scotty laugh. "And every summer, there she is" Squints started back, "lotioning, oiling, oiling, lotioning... smiling.. smiling!" He said as the lady smiled at the group, "I can't take this no more! Move!" Squints said, pushing us out of the way to get to the ladder.

"What's he doing?" I asked Benny as we all watched Squints get out of the pool, making his way to the diving board. "I don't know but I think he finally snapped!" Benny said in a worried tone, "Yeah-Yeah, that's the deep end, and Squints can't swim!" Yeah-yeah added, my eyes widened as I looked at Benny then over at Squints who was about to jump.

"SQUINTS!!!" We all yelled in unison, swimming towards him. He then jumped straight into the water. I think Wendy could tell by our panic what was going on, so she immediately jumped in to save Squints. We all got out and ran over to the diving board where Wendy finally came to the surface with squints.

Another life guard helped pull him out of the pool as he pushed us all away trying to give him some room. Wendy then began to give squints mouth to mouth. We were all freaked out and tried to give some encouraging commentary to try and see if he'd wake up.

We then saw Squints open his eyes as he lay there as Wendy continued to give him mouth to mouth, as her mouth met his again, he attempted to kiss her by wrapping his arms around her head. She immediately pulled away, "Little pervert!!!" She yelled as she pulled Squints up and began to drag him away from the pool.

"Oh man he's in deep shit!" I said as the team and I grabbed our towels running after them. Wendy pulled him out of the gated area and into the grass, "And stay out!!!" She yelled as she turned around, heading back into the pool area.

We all ran away as people were yelling at us to leave, I couldn't stop laughing as we ran behind the building to change back into our normal clothes. "Here's your glasses!" Ham said handing Squints his glasses, "Did you plan that?" He asked.

"Of course I did!" Squints said proudly, "been planning it for years!" He said, "Guys he knew what he was doin! He planned that!" Ham yelled to the group as we got all of our clothes back on.

"And that's Micheal 'Squints' Palledorous for you" I said smiling putting my shirt on over my bathing suit top, looking over at Squints who was still staring at Wendy through the fence gate.

We were all banned from the pool that day, I never knew why I was, but I honestly wasn't going unless any of the team were with me so I really didn't have any complaints. Although every single time throughout the summer, without fail, every time we would walk past those gates, Wendy would look down from her tower at Squints, and smiled.

Now if it were me, I'd have beat the crap out of Squints for what he did. Although in that moment, to this group of boys, this was one of the coolest things any of them have ever seen. I could tell that Squints walked a little taller from that day forward.

Later that night, Scotty and I were inside our home laughing at the events that had happened that day until we heard a knock on our front door. We opened it to see Benny, "What's going on?" I asked, "Night game!" He explained, "Grab your glove! Hurry!" He said. Scotty and I then went to grab our gloves and followed Benny out the door towards the Sandlot.

We met up with the guys and walked down the streets which were lined with people celebrating the 4th of July with sparklers, games and all different types of food.

There was only one night game per year. The day that the night sky would be filled with hundreds of fireworks giving us just enough light for a game. We all got a big kick out of it because in all honesty, on that night, it felt like we were one of the big leaguers, winning our first game of the World Series under the lights of a stadium.

Although I'm sure Benny felt like that all the time.

Okay I admit it, I've been thinking about Benny for a long time that summer and I'm sure everyone knew he would make it to the big leagues. I knew this because every time we'd get distracted by those lights in the night sky, he'd be there to call us back to the game.

You see, for us, baseball was only really a game.
But to Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez, baseball was life.