Just What I Needed

July 2 (Evening)

Nate and each of his teammates removed their baseball caps and held them over their hearts.

I looked from the field to the singer at home plate and then up to the flag, before returning my gaze to Nate. No silly smirk tonight. It was a seriousness I hadn't seen from him before. He had a focused determination, like he was already visualizing the game happening as his eyes were fixed on the mound in front of him.

As the anthem came to an end and the players turned to head back to the dugout, I saw Nate look up and scan the crowd. Ever so briefly, our eyes met and I saw that smirk form on his face before he disappeared into the dugout to retrieve his glove.

"What was that?" Holly elbowed me.

"What?"

"Oh come on, you're smiling from ear to ear. And I saw that look between you two. What's going on? Are you...?" Holly raised her eyebrows a few times in a mischievous between-us-girls look.

"No, oh my God, no!" I replied.

"Are you sure?" Holly asked.

"No, definitely not."

"So, if someone else had their eye on him... would you be upset?"

"Who has their eye on him?" A pang hit my stomach that was no longer flitting butterflies. A bad kind of nervousness. Like the butterflies were agitated and wanted to escape.

"Well, I think Kari has been trying to catch his eye for the entire time he's been here. The only reason she can't come tonight is because her mom made her stay home for dinner with her grandparents. Otherwise she'd have been here early and she would be staying late to chat up the guys afterward."

I tried to shrug nonchalantly. I certainly didn't have any claim on him just because he was living at my house. In fact, I'm not sure if that wouldn't be against the rules. But a hard pit had now formed in my stomach and throat as I looked out at him on the mound, leaning over his thigh, reading signs from his catcher.

I watched him stand, bringing his glove up near his face, hiding his grip on the ball from the batter. His eyes fixed on the target as he wound up, bringing his right hand back behind his shoulder, and stepping forward, bringing his entire momentum over his front planted foot. He released the ball and the crack of the ball hitting the catcher's mitt echoed across the field. Another strike out. He was four innings into a hitless outing.

I could see that there were scouts watching behind home plate, taking notes and recording their radar gun readings. I had been to enough Cape games in my time to know the look of scouts, and they were impressed with what they saw happening tonight.

As I watched him wind up for the next pitch, I felt a twinge of pride mixed in with sadness. Kari wouldn't appreciate him. She couldn't possibly. Sure, she would probably be impressed that he was a good baseball player and certainly she would be attracted to him because of his looks, but what did she know about him? She didn't sit on the porch with him and hear his story.

The batter connected square with the pitch and the ball was lined directly back to the mound. A sickening thud sounded as the ball connected with Nate and he dropped to the ground. He quickly regained his composure for a moment, he grabbed the ball and threw it to first, where the out was recorded.

Nate was still standing but called for a timeout as the pitching coach and a trainer came out to check on him.

I didn't even realize that I had stood up when he got hit until Holly tugged on my shirt.

"You ok?" she asked.

I nodded but my body remained tense as I watch Nate being escorted off the field. The crowd cheered both for the fact that he was walking off of his own accord and for his performance thus far.