Could I Be? (BxB)

Chapter 19

The team is together again and I couldn't be happier about it. The next few weeks go by amazingly, despite us losing our first game to UCLA 1-2. It's May now and the end of the school year is coming up in a month. Zane and I are starting to wonder what we're going to do when the school year ends and how we're going to stay close being more than two thousand miles apart.

It's a Friday evening and I'm standing in the batter's box with my bat tight in my hands. We're playing Arizona State tonight and right now we're ahead 2-0. I'm staring down the pitcher and I can see him returning my hard stare with one of his own. My eyes quickly shift around the field, seeing everything I can.

Jack's standing on second base, ready to run, and Peter's on first, having just been walked. Jack came back to play about a week and a half ago, feeling incredibly stiff from not playing for almost three weeks. He's made a full recovery from the stabbing and, while still learning to adjust to swinging the bat differently, his catching is still spot on.

My foot kicks into the dirt and I take in a deep breath. "Dude, you look like you're ready to kill someone."

I look down behind me and see Travis crouched down in his full catcher's uniform. Through the mask, I can see a sly grin on his face, and I roll my eyes. "Shut up, Travis," I say, laughing a bit.

"So how're things going with Zane?"

"Pretty good. We're trying to figure out how we're going to stay close when we're apart for the summer, but we're coming up with a few ideas."

"That's good to hear. Heads up."

The ball flies right past me and lands in Travis' glove. "Strike!" the umpire calls.

"Damn you, Travis," I say.

He innocently smiles and tosses the ball back to the pitcher. "Just be careful with a long distance relationship," Travis says. "Remember Anna? After she moved from Seattle to Detroit, she and tried to keep dating, but we broke up after a month and a half because it was too hard."

"That's what I'm afraid of. Zane and I have promised to video chat every night and to text each other every day, but we're scared it might not be enough."

"Have you thought of maybe visiting each other?"

"Yeah, we thought of that, but we also want to spend time with our parents during the summer, so we'd only be able to be with each other for maybe a week or two."

"Sounds like you have it rough. Coming at you."

The ball passes me again and the thump of the ball hitting leather fills my ears. "Strike!" the umpire yells again.

"Pay more attention, Eric," Travis tells me.

"Shut up."

He tosses the ball back to the pitcher and looks back up at me. "So what're you going to do?"

"We're still not sure, but we know we're going to figure it out together. We're not going to break up just because we're not together. We'll figure it out somehow. Oh, and Travis?"

"Yeah?"

"I let those two balls go by me."

My foot slams down and my body rotates forward. My bat connects with the ball and the sweet crack resonates throughout the stadium. The ball flies deep into the outfield at a great rate of speed and I toss my bat into the foul zone and sprint for first. The ball lands just short of the fence and the outfielders scramble to get it.

Jack reaches home and Paul isn't far behind him. As I round second, I see the center fielder get the ball and he throws it as hard as he can toward the second baseman. I round third and I see home plate in sight. In my peripheral, the second baseman catches the ball and turns on his heel and hurls it toward Travis.