The Bridesmaid

63| this town

THE NEXT MORNING, NATALIA awoke to find herself alone in her bed. She rubbed her eyes and looked around for any sign that Anthony was still there, but couldn't find one. She puffed out a breath as she dragged herself from the comfortable bed and made her way into the bathroom.

She did her usual morning routine consisting of brushing her teeth, washing her face, and running a comb through her hair. She stopped herself as she reached for her makeup bag, wondering if she should even bother to put on any makeup for the day ahead. It was their last day before heading back to Chicago, but she had no idea if they had any plans.

A knock at the door brought her out of her trance and she looked over to see Anthony standing by the open door.

"Hey," Natalia said, a smile making its way onto her face as he returned the gesture and walked into the bathroom.

"Hey," he easily responded, going in to kiss her cheek. "Did you just wake up?"

"Maybe 15 minutes ago," Natalia shrugged. "Are we doing anything today?"

Anthony thought about it before shaking his head. "KB didn't mention anything to me when I saw him a couple minutes ago. Why? Have anything in mind?"

Natalia shrugged as she threw some ideas around her head. Did she really want to be seen walking around Vegas? The paparazzi could very well be around somewhere, or Chase's little posse could be spying on her. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized she didn't want to live her life thinking about all of that. She was finally happy with where she was, and Chase nor anyone else could take that from her, as long as she didn't let them.

"Yes, actually," she finally said, Anthony quirking a brow at her words. "Have you ever seen the baseball field KB grew up playing at?"

"No," Anthony trailed, not sure where she was going with her question.

"When was the last time you played baseball for fun," she asked, holding up a finger when Anthony began to talk. "And I mean actual fun not just for the fans. Like for you and your personal enjoyment."

Natalia knew how Major League Baseball worked - she saw it with Kris. The boys would go in all wide eyed and loving the sport - it's why they all played - for the love of the sport. But eventually the weight of the fans' expectations became too heavy too bear and the game lost a bit of its sparkle for the boys. Sure they loved what they did, but the fun wouldn't always be there when the pressure of winning was a constant.

"Uh, I don't know," Anthony said, speaking slowly as if he were thinking about it. "I mean, I play all the time."

"Well today," Natalia began, a devilish grin on her face as she pushed away her makeup bag and made her way over to Anthony, "you're going to play for fun again. No yelling fans or haters. No coach to hassle you. Just you and the game. Plus me."

"You want to spend our day off playing baseball," Anthony asked, a grin slowly making its way onto his face. "You never fail to surprise me, Natalia Grey."

-

"I HAVEN'T BEEN TO this park in ages," Jessie said as she took her spot beside Natalia on a blanket they had set up. "I forgot how fun it was coming here every Saturday just to watch the guys take bp."

"Do you remember when Adri accidentally hit Mase in the face when she threw the ball at him," Kylie asked, laughing at the memory.

Mason had asked Adriana to throw the balls at him, but his very annoyed sister claimed she missed when she managed to hit him in the face with one of the balls. The memory of Mason cursing as the girl giggled was a fond one for the group.