The Line Drive

nineteen

Mackenzie

I watch Dane eye my shake and I push it even further away from him. This causes his smile to grow larger. 

"I'm not helping you if you steal that." I tell him.

"I did buy it." He points out.

"I'm considering it part of my payment." I level a glare in his direction.

"Fine." He pulls out his computer. 

Dane is shockingly good at working until he actually gets stuck on something. It wasn't a quality that I was expecting, but it's one that I appreciate. 

We work for a long time in silence, and then Dane taps me gently on the shoulder. I realize I've been slowly leaning closer and closer to the screen as I copy-edit articles. "Mack?" 

"Yeah." I shake my head, realizing I'm starting to give myself a headache. I blink a couple times, trying to get my eyes to produce tears again so they don't feel like sandpaper. 

"Can you look at this? I think I broke something new."

"Of course." 

We look through his code and fix his errors, and then Dane goes back to his focused silence. I continue to edit and clean up the layout. Camila did a really good job, but she didn't get through everything. 

The silence that we work in is oddly comfortable. Dane seems content to work quietly, and I focus better when no one interrupts me. At one point, he lets out a loud sigh and I look up at him, expecting a question.

Instead, Dane seems laser-focused on his code, and I watch as he fixes his errors himself. I'm pleased, but I also hope that he doesn't want to stop our tutoring sessions because I enjoy spending time with him. 

I mentally reprimand myself for being so attached to a man that I know has a girlfriend. A girlfriend who has been in this very office. I tear my eyes away from him, hoping that he didn't notice me staring at his beautiful face. 

It's nearly ten when Dane lets out a loud yawn. I glance at him in surprise, realizing the time. "Do you have more newspaper to edit tomorrow?"

"Oh yeah." I tell him.

"Are you down to help me some more tomorrow?"

"Of course." 

"Would you mind giving me a ride home tonight? I don't have a car on campus." His request surprises me but I nod.

"Did you want to go now?" I ask. 

"Whenever you're ready. I can be flexible." 

I don't want to admit to myself that I had been willing to stay as long as Dane was, because I was enjoying our quiet working session. It was peaceful, and his company was relaxing. 

"What time do you have to get up for practice?"

"6." He tells me.

"And you were going to party tonight?"

He smirks. "Gotta keep up the god-like image, Mack." 

I shake my head but turn off the computer. "We should get you home." I tell him. 

"Alright, mom." He grins but packs up his bag as well. 

We're walking to the car and I finally cave to a question that's been flitting through my mind for a while. I've never understood people who are obsessed with sports, so it's mostly a curiosity question. "Why baseball?" I ask him. 

"My dad loves baseball. We grew up watching all the time. We'd go to all sorts of games, major league, minor league, whatever my dad could get tickets too. I always thought that the players were so cool." 

My mouth talks before I even think. "So you idolized them?"

Dane looks thoughtful. "Yeah, I guess. I just--" He shrugs. "I wanted to be like them. My dad was always talking about the players and their stats, and it seemed so important to him. And when I started playing I was good. My body just flowed. And I'd been watching for so long, I just really understood the game." 

What I want to say is, how's your relationship with your dad? But I stop myself, because it sounds bitchy. "Were you always a pitcher?" I ask instead. 

"I'm left-handed, so I have an advantage as a pitcher. I played almost every position when I was younger. I really loved hitting, because when you get that perfect swing, it's just so satisfying. But you can't have it all." Dane sighs. "So pitching it is." 

We get into my car and Dane tosses his backpack into my backseat. We buckle out seatbelts and it's Dane who breaks the silence again. 

"Did you play sports growing up?"

"I dabbled in a bit of everything. I tried soccer, basketball, volleyball, track, water polo." I try to think of everything that I did when I was a kid and teenager. I had been alright at sports but I'd never fallen in love with anything. Teams had always started to become cliquey and I'd never managed to fit in quite right with any of the cliques. 

"Nothing stuck though?" Dane sounds genuinely curious. 

"Nope. Not sure that team sports are really my thing." 

"I understand that." Dane's voice is so low I'm certain that I misheard him. But when I glance over, he has an odd look on his face, like he wants to agree with me but thinks that he shouldn't. 

I'm startled when Dane's phone rings, and I accidentally jerk the steering wheel a little bit. Luckily, no one is on the road with us. He lets out a long breath. "It's my father, can I take this?"

"Of course." I turn off the radio. 

"Hello." Dane's voice is suddenly formal. 

I can't hear what's being said on the other end of the phone, but his dad's voice sounds extremely serious. I can feel Dane's energy shift from comfortable to tense. 

"I'm working on getting my grade back up." Dane's voice is tight. His dad's voice is sharp on the other end, and I'm pretty sure he's basically yelling. "I know how important it is. I'm--" Dane takes a deep breath. "I'm fixing it. I'll stay on the team. Coach--" 

Dane stops talking and I hear his father on the other end, loudly exclaiming something. I grip the steering wheel tighter, suddenly really uncomfortable. I'm not used to parents being upset their children. I'm also not used to Dane's ego deflating. 

"It will be up by the end of next week." Dane says, although his voice lacks confidence. There's more talking on the other end and then Dane moves the phone away from his ear. His mouth is a thin line and he doesn't say anything for the rest of the ride. 

I want to ask him about the call, but my common sense gets the better of me, and I drive in silence. "We agreed that I would give him access to my grades since he's paying for part of my school." Dane says in explanation, and then the rest of the ride is silent. When we reach Dane's house, Dane grabs his backpack and then finally looks at me. 

"I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Alright, goodnight Dane." 

He manages a half smile before stepping out of my car and heading into his house. 

I pull out of the driveway slowly, mulling over the conversation in my mind. It surprised me how upset it had made me to see Dane lose his mojo over a single call with his father. A father who had apparently gotten him into baseball in the first place. 

A piece of me wonders if Dane was doing any part of baseball for himself, but I know two things. One, I barely know Dane. And two, it is definitely not my place to say anything. 

When I arrive home, I can hear Kate and Lea giggling in Kate's room. I walk as quietly as possible into my room and shut the door. I feel oddly sad after listening to Dane in the car, so I get ready for bed, turn on Netflix on my computer and fall asleep watching comfort TV so that I don't have to be alone with my thoughts.