Heart of Gold (Anthony Rizzo)

Four

Anthony

"So, who smells the worst on the team" Nick asks as we chill out before a game like usual.

"Oh Jeff Samardzija for sure. There's a fine line between being superstitious and being gross. He's just gross" I say plugging my nose over dramatically.

"I knew it" he whispers and I laugh.

"Alright boys, time for the game" Isabella announces.

"But Izzy" we both whine and she just shakes her head.

"Come on Nick, your ice cream is going to melt" she claims and he gets up quickly.

I retreat to the dugout and sit on the bench. Castro sits next to me and nudges my side.

"So have you asked her out yet" he asks.

"No" I sigh.

"What? Why not" he asks.

"She's going through a lot. I just want to help, not make her more stressed" I insist.

"How would you dating her make her stressed" he asks.

"I'm gone a lot, the media would be all up in her business. There's so much that can go wrong. I could hurt her and she's already so fragile" I explain.

"Maybe she doesn't care, have you asked her" he asks.

"I mean no, but isn't that how these things go" I ask.

"Nothing about this situation is normal so I'm not sure on what circumstance you're holding out on. Just talk to her, maybe she does want to be with you as much as you want to be with her" he tries.

"What if she doesn't want to be with me" I wonder.

"And what if she does..." he trails off. On that note he gets up and goes to get ready for the game.

After the game I pack up my things and head over to Isabellas house. She invited me over for a sundae bar and I'm not one to turn down ice cream. Win or lose ice cream tastes just as good.

I pull up to their house and knock on the door. Nicky answers and he jumps right into my arms.

"Anthony's here" he yells and I pick him up.

"Careful Nicholas" Isabella warns.

"Careful Nicholas" he mimicked and I laugh. Man this kid is something else.

I bring him into the kitchen and sit him on the counter. He straightens himself up before Izzy turns around with a plate full of ice cream and toppings.

"Okay, we have chocolate, vanilla, mixed, cookie dough, and mint chocolate chip ice cream. For toppings there is... well there's not enough time for me to explain it so I'll let you guys figure it out for yourself" she laughs. She sets down the platter full of treats and Nicks eyes go big. He puts up a pointer fingers and goes in for the kill but Izzy stops him.

"Don't you even think about it mister" she teases and he laughs. She gives him a bowl and a spoon and he goes to work. I follow suit and once we all have our ice cream we head out to the back porch. We each sit in a chair and look up to the sky.

"How many stars do you think are up there" I ask.

"57" Nick says and Isabella and I laugh.

"I think there's more than that" she giggled.

"64" he insists and I try my best not to laugh really hard. We finish eating the ice cream and spend the night laughing our asses off. The mood was light and I was starting to see how this terrible situation was being handled so well. They've hurt enough and now they just want to be happy again. And they were.