home run

mostly truths

The next morning, Leigh helped Anthony sneak out quietly so he could get to his morning workout. They continued to text, their classic way of communication. But now there were also phone calls. He went on another roadtrip and they spoke every night. Some nights it was only a three minute conversation, others it was an hour or so. Anthony still held her promise in his pocket like a reminder, but did not bring it up.

And then for the first time in awhile, it was Anthony who was busy and Leigh who was not. Games were coming in fast succession, leaving little time for the two to do more than send goofy texts or speak on the phone quickly.

While Leigh was disappointed in this fact, it also benefitted her. She was generally unwilling to share why she has such trust issues when men show interest in her now. Whenever she would tell someone, they would claim she was overexaggerating. Leigh refused to think about why they did that, so after awhile she just stopped explaining it and continued to push guys away. In a way, she knew exactly what was wrong with her, but Leigh didn't want to think about it or address her feelings. Her closest friends knew as well as her family, but there was a reason that they were close to her and willing to believe in her. The others, however, weren't so willing. She didn't want to experience this with Anthony as well, so every extra day that she didn't have to explain it was a good one.

In the absence of time with Anthony, she prepared for classes to begin, put in extra hours at the bbq and mourned her internship ending. She had hoped CSN would offer her a position after her internship was up but she knew that since her major was no longer broadcasting— the chances would be slim. So she threw herself into rewriting her resume to include her time at Comcast Sportsnet and awaited Jason's response about his friend's internship.

Her phone buzzed against her hip as she took someone's order and she patiently waited for a lull in the visitors to check it.

"Cincinnati!" The snapchat's caption was plastered over Anthony's smiling face. She couldn't help but grin at the man's adorable smile. It was so goofy and boyish, and he was her boyfriend.

Everyday since, it shocked her— she was dating again. There was a man who was interested in her who wasn't scared off by her trying to scare him off. He accepted her quirks and still wanted to be officially with her without even discovering all of them.

If Leigh believed in luck, she'd have to think that she is very lucky. What a guy. He has his own charity, for christs' sake. Anthony was very precious to her this early on, even if she was afraid he'd up and leave one day. If he didn't— she knew that Anthony would be easy to love. That thought scared her, but it was every bit as genuine as him.

She reached over for a remote to one of the televisions in front of the cash register and changed it to the Home Run Derby pregame show and sent Anthony a snap of the tv. His quick response was a picture of Kris and she understood why the caption was blank. The two boys were geared up and ready to do their best.

"Did you put on baseball in my shop?" Michael asked as she tucked her phone back into the pocket of her black skinny jeans.

"It's the Home Run Derby," Leigh defended the program and he rolled his eyes as Anthony's face was shown in a prerecorded interview. The captions only made her miss his voice more.

Later that night after all the long tables were wiped down and she stood outside with her brother, one of the cooks, and two of the bike messengers that delivered chicken for them. They smoked and chatted about the day as Leigh stood upwind and abstained.

Michael was trying to convince all of them to walk the block and a half down to the neighborhood bar but he wasn't doing too well and as Leigh laughed at his antics, her phone began to trill an eight-bit version of a popular One Direction song.