Wildflower (Kris Bryant)

36 Book Worm

Serenity

After knowing Kris for five months and dating for four of them today is the day that I finally get to see him play. I've been to Wrigley plenty of times before and some of those times it was during a game he was playing in. But I've never gone to support him as his girlfriend, to cheer him on and take cute pictures on the field after the game, and I wanted that to change. Now I will never be a "baseball girlfriend" or a "baseball wife", I don't think I could change that much, but he doesn't want that from me anyway. He knows that I support him and that I'm proud of him. I don't have to be a baseball person to get that he was a special player and he's doing great things out there. I've been learning different things just so I can go to the ball park today and know what the heck was going on. He always was a great ball player, just a greater person.

So I pull on a nice t-shirt and my favorite pair of jeans that make my legs look real good. I make sure my hair was nice and curly before I clean my face of the hard work we put in this morning walking the dogs around the neighborhood. Once I get them fed and outside so they don't tear up the house I was on my way.

I get to Wrigley pretty early so I can find a parking spot and my seats since I wasn't really sure where to go. I wasn't trying to get lost in the crowd so getting caught in the least amount of people looking for beer and hot dogs the better. As soon as I get out my car and walk up to the field I see some familiar faces talking just inside the gate. So I show them my ticket and they wave me over once they recognized me.

"Never thought I would see the day you would join us at a game" Hylas teases and I smile.

"I figured now's a good time as any to get into baseball with the post season coming up and all the hype around it" I admit.

"I honestly didn't think you enjoyed baseball" Aliya accuses.

I nervously push my books I had with me back into my bag as I try not to show that I had a back up in case this went south. "It was never that, I just wasn't very familiar. My parents never let me watch many sports growing up with my bad heart and all so I never had a reason to get into it until now. But now that I'm heathy there's no reason to stay away" I shrug.

"How have you been feeling" Aliya wonders and I smile.

"I feel great, honestly. I don't even think about my heart all that much. Besides the medication and the constant doctors appointments it's not really on my mind. I put all my heart into writing or being with Kris or our dogs and all the bad stuff just melts away" I admit.

"I'm not going to lie, you had us nervous for a while. When Kris got called out of the game and all he said was that you were in the hospital in the ICU we were so scared. We had no idea you had a heart condition or that it was that bad" Hyla admits.

"Yeah. We would have been there for you if we had known" Farrah claims.

"Kris didn't even know" I explain and all their eyes get big. "I know, probably not my best decision I've ever made. But it was one I needed to make. People treat you different when they know you have a disease. They look at you like your a victim, like there's something wrong with you. And there is but it doesn't change who I am. Good heart or bad heart I'm still that girl he fell in love with and that's never going to change. He chose my soul, not my heart. But all of those are his and that's how it's always been" I explain.

"You're so strong" Aliya claims but I just shake my head.

"Strength is only good when you need it. And I don't need to be strong right now, I just need to be here for Kris and that's where I'm going to be" I promise.

We grab some food before we head out to our spots. We all got to sit together which was pretty nice considering I don't know a lot of people around here. I set my purse under the seat and I hope to god I don't end up pulling a book out. I want so bad to actually be here today and not off in my own little world. But it's hard to break a habit.

Eventually the seats fill and the field was full of cameras and coaches and players alike. It's was one hell of a beautiful day for a baseball game and I was excited. I loved being outside and Wrigley was a great place to be to enjoy the weather.

As the day wore on I started to get into the game. You don't need to know everything about baseball to enjoy it, I knew enough to be satisfied with the game and how it was turning out. The team looked good from what I can tell and Kris has quite a few fans. He got the loudest cheer when he was batting and there's a lot of people in his jersey. It made me happy to know he was loved and appreciated here. They don't capture this stuff on tv so unless you're here it's hard to see just what Kris means to this ball club, to these fans, to the city. It was awesome and I'm happy I could finally see it for myself.

Finally the game ends and we end up winning. They've been doing a lot of that lately and it looked like at a perfect time too. So I wait around and they finally let us down into the field. I find Kris standing there talking to Anthony and I run over to him. I jump up on his back and he catches me so I don't fall.

"Well if it isn't the Book worm. Didn't think I would see you here" Anthony teases. I was getting that a lot today.

"I'll have you know I haven't touched my book since I got here" I state proudly.

"But you still brought it" he reminds me.

I stick my tongue out at him because out of all the guys in the team besides Kris he was the one I was closest with even though I'm not sure he's ever read a book in his life. He still has the biggest heart ever and he has helped a lot of sick kids. Something I hope I can follow in his footsteps with.

Anthony slips away and Kris sets me down. He turns to me and places a soft kiss on my lips making my knees weak. "You did amazing" I whisper.

"It's because I knew you were watching" he says with a shit eating grin.

"Uh huh" I tease.

"So how was it up there? Did you have any problems with your heart" he wonders. Always worried about me.

"Not a single problem. I felt great up there smiling like a idiot every time you came out to the field" I admit.

"You weren't smiling like a idiot. You looked great" he accuses.

"We're you watching me" I tease.

He just smiles as he runs his fingers through my hair. "Always watching" he promises.