“Hey, grab that cognac. I am going to go and talk with Orville his company is working on some new technology that I might invest in,” she said while placing his hand on my shoulder.
“Will do. Thanks again, Theo.”
“No problem, Sam.”
“Did he just call you Sam?” Averie asked after he walked away.
“He did. He’s already had too much to drink. Plus you know how they like to shorten names.”
“Right. I had to force them in school to stop calling me Av. I was like my name is already one syllable it doesn’t need to be shortened!”
We laughed and continued around the room speaking with everyone before we took our seats in preparation for the start of the game. Since it was a home game, the Rangers were up to bat first. The first two pitches were strikes. The batter hit the third pitch earning him a base hit. The same thing happened with the next two batters, each batter hit the ball advancing the runners to the next base. Initially, the crowd was rowdy, but this quick succession of hits had reduced the noise dramatically. The fourth batter came to the plate and anxiously swung at the first pitch. It was a strike. He didn’t swing at the second pitch. It was a strike. The next two pitches were low and to the right causing the umpire to rule those balls. The next perfectly thrown pitch connected with the bat and flew into the air over all the outfielder’s heads into the crowd. Grand slam home run. The room was quiet. I couldn’t believe this was happening. We had our best pitcher in the game. He’d never given up so many hits.
“There’s still a lot of game to play, baby,” Averie soothed.
By the bottom of the fifth inning of the game, we were down six runs. Our team hadn’t scored one run. They were playing like they were scared. Wesley had been to the plate twice, and each time he struck out. It was the Stars turn at bat again. The first two batters struck out. It was Wesley’s turn at the plate again. Andy Mineo’s “You Can’t Stop Me”, played throughout the stadium as Wesley walked to the plate. The first two pitches were strikes. It looked like he was going to strike out again, but the pitcher threw his third pitch and Wesley smacked the heck out of that ball. It flew to the left like it was going be a foul ball but turned slightly and went into the stands right near the foul line. He’d hit a home run. The crowd went crazy! Our room went crazy. That hit turned the tide of the game. By the bottom of the eighth inning, the Stars had pulled ahead, and we only needed to play the top of the ninth. We won.
Averie
“Whew! That was a nail biter, right?” I said to Samuel as we walked down to the clubhouse.
“It was. I wasn’t sure they would pull it out, but they did.”
Samuel spoke to all the players as they exited the locker area. Wesley appeared, and a beautiful woman ran into his arms. I thought he was dating Diamond, a popular Instagram model. The girl in his arms was not Diamond. Wesley walked over to Samuel, hand in hand with the woman. She and I were around the same height. She wore her curly hair in a high ponytail. Her caramel skin had a healthy glow. She wore a Stars jersey, some bootcut distressed jeans, and brown wooden platform shoes. She wore rings on all her fingers and had a left arm full of bangles. They made a good-looking couple.
“Wes!” Samuel and Wesley embraced.
“El! It’s good to see you. You look good man. You got a little bit of bulk up top,” Wesley smiled while squeezing Samuel’s arm.
“I’ve been working on getting back healthy, man. You looked amazing out there tonight. You keep that up, and we will be in World Series for sure.”
“That’s my goal,” Wesley smiled and ran his hand through his loose curls.
“You remember my lady, well my fiancé, Averie,” Samuel said.
“Fiancé? Congratulations! Averie it’s good to see you again,” Wesley leaned in for a quick hug.
“It’s good to see you too, Wesley.”
“This is my fiancé, Charlene.”
“Fiancé?” El said.
“Yes, Charlene is the one I told you about when we had dinner,” Wesley recounted.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Charlene,” El extending his hand.
“I hope you don’t mind if I hug you. Wes speaks so highly of you. You feel like family,” Charlene said.
Samuel extended his arms, and they embraced. Then she turned and hugged me too. She smelled like lavender and fresh laundry. Her hug was brief but great. She had an aura that exuded tranquility.
“I know it’s late, but we should have dinner together,” Wesley said. “Are you free for dinner?”
Samuel looked at me. I nodded.
“Sure, where do you want to go?”
“I will have my chef prepare us something. You can meet us at my house in about an hour and a half.”