Love Prevails (Kris Bryant)

24| This Roller Coaster We Call Life

Kris

My wonderful, awesome, loving, intelligent, heartfelt, stunning, beautiful girlfriend is turning 23 today and I was super excited. She doesn't let me spoil her as much as I would like but today, no matter what she says, is all about her. We had a day off between the Brewers and Pirates series which just so happened to be her birthday so the whole day I wasn't leaving her side. Since the incident I haven't let her out of my sights and I'm sure it's annoying but I can't stand the thought of losing her.

I decided I was going to spoil the shit out of her and won't take anything less. But first we needed to get breakfast.

"Babe, wake up" I say softly while running my fingers through her hair. Her eyes flutter open as those piercing green eyes meet mine. She smiles up at me and I feel my heart rate pick up.

"Happy birthday" I say before kissing her lips.

"Thanks baby" she replies softly. She gets up and changes before we head to IHOP for birthday pancakes. She doesn't usually like breakfast foods but something about IHOP makes her so happy, and I was not going to deny her a extra smile today. Next we take a stroll down Michigan avenue and I buy her anything her heart desires.

"How about this" she asks picking up my jersey.

"You want my jersey" I ask and she nods.

"Yeah, all the other wives and girlfriends have one of those significant others. Although I work in the organization I'm still uber proud of you and want to show it" she shrugs.

"Okay then" I say throwing the jersey into my basket. She picks out some new Nike shoes and a Patrick Kane jersey before claiming she's done.

"This is really what you want" I ask.

"Yup" she replies popping the P. I purchase the things she picked out and she makes a video of me buying my own jersey and sends it out to the boys for her own personal pleasure. I'm sure I'll get shit about it but I didn't mind any, hearing her laugh was enough to assure me that she is well worth it. After the shopping spree, where she picked out nothing but sports related things, we drop all the stuff off at home before heading out again. We drive a little before she realizes where we were going.

"No way. Are we going to six flags" she asks and I nod.

"Yeah, it's been a while since we've been on some coasters so I figured we could come here" I shrug.

"I'm so excited" she cheers from the seat next to me. I'm not sure if she's supposed to be on roller coasters or how that would affect her breathing, but she's been on so many that it shouldn't really affect her. We spend the afternoon walking around six flags riding the coasters and taking pictures with every cartoon character she laid her eyes on. I enjoyed roller coasters, but nothing like she did. Almost every weekend back in Vegas when we weren't playing baseball we were on a rollercoaster. While it sucked that her parents were such terrible people it was cool they would just give her the car keys and a bunch of money to leave the house for a weekend. We had some nice times together.

"One more roller coaster" she begs giving me the cutest face. My feet were killing me and I was exhausted but I wasn't about to say no. We get on a wooden one and it takes off slowly, we get to the top of the first drop before she looks at me with a smile. Without a warning she places her lips on mine and I feel us drop to the bottom of the coaster, neither of us separate as I see a faint flash through my closed eyes and figured out why she wanted to go on this one so bad. We get off and visit the photo booth before finding our picture, it's was actually really cute. I order a bunch of different sizes of the picture and put one of them in my wallet. I wanted to remember this for a really long time.

We arrive home late after a long and exhausting day. We order pizza and decide to watch another baseball game because even when I'm not playing I'm still thinking about baseball. She cuddles into my side on the couch and I pull out a bag.

"One last present" I say and she looks at me with a eyebrow raised.

"What more could you possibly give me" she asks and I place the bag in her lap.

"Take a look for yourself" I smile. She opens it and finds a new white dress like the one that got ruined. She wasn't into dressing up but she loved the white dresses, I mean she looked great in them so I see why. This one wasn't exactly like the last one but it was pretty close.

"This is beautiful Kris, thank you so much" she whispers giving me a hug. No matter what she says I hate what happened to her. I love that she protected me, she always thinks of me first, but I know if I was to lose her I would never have what we have ever again.

"You're welcome baby girl" I reply as she lets go. We spend the rest of the night devouring the pizza and acting like commentators for a Cardinal- Rockies game. After we laughed the night away we head to bed both pretty happy. I chill on my phone laying on top of the sheets while she brushes her teeth and changes. She comes out the bathroom in nothing but my jersey and her long blonde hair flowing down her body. My eyes go wide as she straddles me and places her hands on my chest.

"So this is why you wanted my jersey" I joke.

"Kind of. I wanted it so I can walk around with it on and wear it proudly, but also so you can take it off" she whispers in my ear. She leans over to kiss my neck and I move her long soft hair out of the way. I get the jersey off before flipping her under me.

"Happy birthday baby."