Infinite Innings

Capter 6: Sass & Sarcasm

{Levi}

"Levi, that was incredible!" my brother yelled when I settled into the passenger seat of his truck. "You shoulda' seen all their faces! It was priceless!" he laughed a little and reached over to turn on the radio.

"I doubt it was incredible." I told him rolling my eyes and staring out the window.

"Whatever, Levi. Say what you will but I'm pretty sure even you made the baseball team." Jordan joked.

I rolled my eyes again when he pulled into the driveway.

"Gimme yo' sass all you want girl. I ain't takin' none of it." Jordan joked, and snapped his fingers in a 'Z' formation while strutting up the front steps.

"Idiot." I muttered when he disappeared through the front door.

I dropped my bag next to Jordan's on the dining room table that we never use and headed into the living room.

"So do you think you did well?" my mother asked Jordan. She asked as if her her son was not the offspring of David Mitt.

"Yeah but if anything Levi did better." Jordan said seriously.

My mother stared blankly between my brother and I. She never anticipated that I would play baseball. She knew I enjoyed it and it was one of my hobbies, but my dear mother Locklyn Mitt most likely assumed I'd be following in her footsteps as a model.

No. Never. Absolutely no possibly way. Nada.

"Well," she wiped her hands on her designer jeans and straightened out her Brandy Melville top. "I needed to be at the office twenty minutes ago, so there is pizza in the freezer and leftovers in the fridge if you get hungry." She got up and went into the kitchen, so Jordan and I followed her. My mother grabbed her Coach purse off of the counter along with the keys to her white Mercedes.

"Bye, sweetie." My mother said kissing Jordan on his head and smoothing out his hair. "Bye, tootsie roll." My mother kissed me on the cheek. "Do you want to come to the office, see some of the clothes?" She tried to persuade me.

"No thanks, mom." I told her.

"Are you sure? You could try some of the clothes on. You'd be a wonderful model." And there it was. My mother shouldn't have continued.

"Uh... No, I'm sure." I said quietly as I drew little circles on the cool granite of the counter top.

She nodded and kissed my forehead before jingling her keys in her hand and locking the door behind her.

The kitchen was oddly quiet, as I rested my chin on counter and looked out the little window over the sink.

"You don't want leftovers, do you?" Jordan asked, and I shook my head.

"You don't want pizza?" He tried again, and I shook my head once more.

"You want a burger from H.I.T Wall?" he asked in a tone that said, "Oh, yeah. You want a burger." I slowly picked my head up off the counter and smiled.

"Can I drive?" I asked hopefully.

Hole In The Wall was exactly what the name implied. It was a little hole in the wall place off a bumpy and cracked asphalt road. It's full name was Hole In The Wall, but most of the kids in town just abbreviated it to H.I.T. Wall. 1. because the abbreviation made since and 2.because it held a record for the most bartenders to punch a wall after getting drunk and dumping there girlfriends. It used to be a bar, but considering that after work most adults would rather sleep than drink beer, the place became pretty slow. Ernie was the one who changed it up. The bar was still there but it was near the front now, and in the back there was brown leather couches and tables and some old fashioned arcade games, like pinball, Pacman, Galaga, Frogger, and Donkey Kong 3 for the teens that hung out there.

I parked my brother's truck in the parking lot far off to the left and stuffed the keys into the pocket of my army jacket.

Opening the heavy brown door to that smokey place released a collage of smells that went straight from my nose to my stomach. I could smell charred burgers, and hotdogs, nachos, grilled cheese and tomato soup, salsa, and chili all of which could have gone perfectly with Root Beer, Mountain Dew, Fanta, Coke, Dr. Pepper, Mr. Pib, Sprite, a Shirley Temple, or a Pepsi. Of course they also still had the alcoholic drinks. Corona with limes, Bud Light, Budweiser, and whiskey, Mike's hard Lemonade, Merlot, Beringer, and champagne. My favorite was the "non alcoholic" champagne. It was really just sparkling white grape juice, but hey it's still delicious and refreshing. Mmmmm.

"Two Ernie Burgers." my brother said and the little man behind the bar wrote it down and took the order to the back.

"I really want to beat my high score on Galaga." Jordan said, walking up the steps to the back room with the arcade games. I took my time just meandering up the steps following my brother. I hears laughing, voices, and when I turned the corner there sat the baseball team, and there sat Derek waving me over to him, while my brother forgot about me in favor of the third stage of Galaga.

Thanks bro. (Note the sarcasm)