The Switch Hitter (GxG)

Chapter 15

"You're throwing with me."

I turned around, smirking slightly at Alyssa.

"You think I forgot over break? Throwing partners for life, remember?"

"Damn right," she said, tossing me a ball from the bucket. She stood on the foul line of the basketball court, and I moved opposite her, about five feet away.

It was the first open gym after winter break, and we were inside loosening up before the practice began. We had just finished an hour's worth of upper-body lifting, and the girls who went were noticeably struggling more than the girls who didn't. I felt slightly worn out, but not nearly as much as I had been after the first session. Besides, I loved the after-workout feeling, when your muscles felt tight and strong. Even a slight exhaustion was rewarding to me. I really just loved to work out in general.

"Hey," Alyssa called out, snapping my attention back to her, "you gonna throw, or what?"

"Sorry," I said, flicking the ball into her glove. While I loved lifting, warming up was probably my favorite part of open gyms. Everyone was chill, joking and laughing with each other. It was a really relaxing thing, too, just throwing with someone else. I had always put so much pressure on myself to do well with my dad around, and even now, I was always hard on myself for making mistakes. It was a habit I'd probably carry with me the rest of my life. 

Thanks dad.

But throwing was always one thing I could just do, without overthinking or worrying. 

I kept backing up, until I was on the opposite side of the gym and we were making the longest throws we could in the limited space. I felt a little snap in my wrist as I released, and the pop the ball made as it struck the pocket of Alyssa's glove. I smiled, satisfied, as she gave me a thumbs. I trotted in. We began doing our one-on-one fielding drills, where we would roll the ball back and forth so we could practice fielding it different ways. We started with forehands, then moved on to backhands, then short hops, then finally onto pop flies, which we fielded off the bounce. These were relatively straightforward, but they got boring fast, often shortly after backhands. The repetition, plus the burning in our thighs from the fielding position we were in, made them the most widely hated part of open gyms.

After we did all of our drills, we tossed our balls back into the bucket and grabbed a drink. I picked up my water bottle, being careful not to chug too much; I'd regret it later. I set the bottle back down, picked up my glove and mask, and moved to go back to the gym floor to line up for grounders, but a voice stopped me.

"Nice job out there."

I rolled my eyes, grinning slightly. "It was just throwing, Ari. You did good too. And by the way," I added, stepping in closer so other people couldn't hear our conversation, "I'm glad you're feeling better."

I saw a brief flash of sadness in her eyes, but then it disappeared as she smirked and leaned in even closer, her nose nearly touching mine. "I always feel better when I get to see you."

A shiver traveled down my spine at her words. My mouth was suddenly dry, and I swallowed hard before I could respond. "D-do you now?"

Boy, was I proud of that one.

She laughed faintly. "Is that the best you could come up with?"

"What can I say, you tend to have that effect on me."

"Oh?" she said, pulling her face away from mine slightly and looking me dead in the eye. I saw a glint of satisfaction in those deep emerald pools. "And what effect would that be?"

I shrugged, looking her up and down slowly as I bit my lip. "You just make me a little," I paused for effect, not taking my eyes off her, "crazy."