“Pretty much every guy can hit. Home runs, I mean. It doesn’t matter if you can hit singles and doubles. As long as you rake in the homers consistently, you’re golden to coaches.”
Colin’s face dropped. He almost looked like he was about to cry. “That’s not even realistic.”
“I know. It’s not how I was taught to play either,” Cole agreed.
“A home run every now and then is nice, but a three fifty batting average with a high number of RBIs sounds better to me,” Mac said, and I knew that we were getting into the one thing that most players never thought about—the business aspect of baseball.
Thankfully, I had been well versed on the business side of the game because of my dad and uncle. “They don’t care about that right now. They haven’t for a few years. You can strike out ten times out of fifteen, but if those other five at bats are home runs, they’ll practically throw you a parade,” I said because it was true.
I’d been watching the game shift and bend and move since I started playing. It had basically evolved into a Home Run Derby of sorts, and it went against everything I’d ever thought about the sport.
“What’s the second thing?” Dayton asked. “You said there were two things. The hitting was first. What’s the second?”
“You’ll like this one.” Cole looked right at Dayton and grinned. “The pitching.”
“What about it?” Dayton turned serious.
“The pitchers are all fucking on point. They have control. Speed. Accuracy.”
Dayton nodded. “They should. Or else they shouldn’t be there.”
I laughed at the way Dayton had said it, but I completely understood what he was getting at. He was most likely going to be our Friday night starter this season, and you didn’t earn that honor by being a half-assed pitcher who couldn’t do his job well.
“You’re right,” Cole said. “But the big difference is, if they’re struggling at all on the mound, they get yanked. There’re just too many other pitchers waiting to take their place.”
“Damn,” Colin breathed out, and he still looked a little pale.
I clapped him on the back. “You all right, man?”
“Just feeling overwhelmed, and I’m not even there yet,” he admitted, and I respected his ability to be so candid and vulnerable when the rest of us played tough all the time.
“You think it’s hard now?” Cole asked Colin but didn’t wait for a response. “Once you get drafted, the real work’s just beginning. Every day, you have to get better. You can’t slack. You can’t ease up. You can’t not improve.”
I watched as Colin swallowed hard, his hands folding in, and I knew instantly in the pit of my stomach that he didn’t have what it took to play professional baseball. This game required mental strength above all else. You could be a great player, but if you were easily rattled the minute something went wrong on the field, you were done for.
I figured I’d help Colin out and change the subject a little. “So, how’s Christina?”
Cole’s face lit up. If there was one thing he loved more than baseball, it was his girl.
“Great. Super busy with work and with me.” He grinned before wagging his eyebrows. “She’s amazing. So talented. So smart.”
“Jeez. Marry the girl already,” Mac deadpanned.
I was expecting Cole to have some kind of smart-ass response.
“I plan on it.”
I jerked my head back. “Really? Already?”
“I mean, at some point, yeah. Of course. She’s it for me, man.” He sounded so sure of himself, which was a little surprising after all the drama he’d gone through to be with her. But that was probably why he felt the way he did. Maybe when you blew the world apart to be together, you ended up on solid ground.
“It’s crazy to hear you say that when last year was such a shitshow,” I said, merely meaning to point out the obvious.
“Last year was pure hell. But I’m grateful for it. We had to go through all that, you know? It was all worth it,” Cole added confidently.
“You’d do it again?” Mac asked seriously.
“If it got us to where we are now? Abso-fucking-lutely. Plus, I can’t imagine going through all of this without her. Having teammates is one thing, but they really only care about themselves. Everyone is trying to get to the next level, and that’s a journey of one. Having someone who believes in you and supports you and is on your side?” He blew out a breath. “It’s something else entirely. I’d be really lonely without her. I’d feel like I was doing all of this by myself.”
“Damn,” I said, unsure of why I sounded so shocked since I couldn’t imagine Cole without Christina.
I guessed I’d never heard anyone describe getting drafted and getting the opportunity to play in that way before. No one had ever mentioned that it was lonely. Not even my dad.
“What about you knuckleheads? Mac still making out with every willing female on campus?” Cole looked around at the four of us and waited to be filled in.
“Hey, I’m right here,” Mac practically whined.
“Well, are you?”
Mac shifted in his seat, like the topic made him uncomfortable when he was usually so overly cocky about it. “Ask Chance about his love life instead.”
Cole’s face morphed into a look of instant amusement. “Carter, you have a love life?”
I smacked Mac’s arm as Colin and Dayton all started talking at once.
“No,” I practically shouted over the noise.
“Tell him about Tutor Girl,” Mac pushed as Colin and Dayton oohed and aahed like a couple of fucking kids.
“Tutor Girl?” Cole looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to say more. “Are you actually dating someone?” Cole asked, totally confused, and Mac howled with laughter.
“That’s the best part.” Mac was still laughing. “She has a boyfriend!”
“Not sure why that’s so fucking funny.” I shot him a look that only made him laugh more.
Dayton and Colin both smiled, but so far, they weren’t laughing, which I appreciated because I started to feel like a joke.
“It’s not funny, per se. It’s irony at its finest,” Dayton said before adding, “Chance Carter finally likes a chick. And she has a fucking boyfriend.”
Cole’s hand gripped my shoulder. “Never thought I’d see the day.”
“It’s nothing. There is no day.” I tried to play nonchalant, but everyone knew I was faking it. Or at least trying to.
Cole snapped his fingers. “Wait. You said she was a tutor? I totally know who you’re talking about.”
My entire body tensed with his words. “How could you possibly know who we’re talking about?”
Cole looked me dead in the eyes. “ ’Cause there’s only one female in the athletic tutoring department who is fine as hell and hasn’t graduated yet,” he said before adding, “But I thought she quit after what happened to her last year.”
I glanced at Mac, wondering if he knew what Cole was talking about, but he looked as confused as I felt. “What happened last year?” I asked.