Chapter 21

Liam

I didn't want to leave Emilia alone last night after everything that happened but she insisted she was fine. That she just needed to take a hot shower and go to bed. While I was standing in Emilia's room making sure everything would be okay, Rosie sauntered in with her pillow and blanket. "We're having a sleepover." She declared to both myself and Emi. I relented, leaving them alone for the night, even though it killed me inside.

My mind was racing all night between the what ifs of what could have happened to Emi if we hadn't found her and then ping ponging to picture her in the shower. What can I say? I'm not a perfect man and every part of me wanted to hop in the shower with her last night to take care of her.

My alarm blares at seven in the morning, I roll over with a groan to shut off the terrible noise and force myself out of the warmth of my bed. As we get deeper into the fall semester coach has been adding more and more practices so we'll be prepared come spring. Practice doesn't start until nine-thirty today but as captain I took it upon myself to invite the freshmen to come to the field and cages at eight with me to work on their swings and then do some field work. Something I'm seriously regretting right at the moment.

I keep my shower cold this morning, hoping it'll help startle me awake. It only semi-works. My mind keeps playing the events of last night. I warned James to not show up at practice today, if he does he'll have another thing coming. I'll have to talk to Coach either way about his conduct and the conduct of the team in general. James is someone I never thought I'd worry about. He always seemed like a good guy, lives with his family and always talks highly about them but I guess sometimes you truly don't know people.

I go through the motions of my morning routine, making a quick breakfast, then dressing in an old pair of baseball pants I use for practice paired with a school t-shirt and hoodie on top. Heading out the door ten minutes before I'm supposed to meet the freshmen.

Listening to the crack of the metal against the ball used to calm me, it would get me in the zone, focusing all my thoughts on this one dream. A dream I feel empty chasing now but it doesn't matter, this dream is not for me anymore. It's for my dad. To make him proud. I swallow past the lump in my throat attempting to refocus on the machine that's spitting the balls at me but after a few misses I decide we need to change it up. We spent twenty minutes stretching, the next twenty in the cages and I want to spend our last twenty in the field working on some catching. These guys are decent but their reaction time needs some work.

"All right let's run a drill." I call, "Ethan take my usual spot at first, Aaron head to second, Brandan take your usual catcher spot, and David up on the pitcher's mound." David was recruited as a pitcher and he's got a good arm but these guys need to learn to work together, something they haven't had the chance to do yet. "I'm going to hit some balls and I want to see you all work together to get me out? Understand."

"Yes, Cap." I hear the boys chorus as I get up to the plate with my bat. I nod to David to throw the first pitch when he's ready, a perfect ball down the middle, that I purposely bunt, rolling it just far enough away that Brandan won't get me out in two seconds flat. I take off for first, making it safely, Ethan catches the ball from Brandan just seconds later. "Not bad. We just need to work on our response time." Let's run it again.

This time I hit the ball further, a ground ball closer to where the shortstop position would be. Aaron gets to the ball quickly and Ethan almost tags me out. "Good, again." Over the next fifteen minutes we work on the same drills, me changing up where I hit the ball and the boys" response time improving every time. On the last drill I hit it short again and Brandan tosses the ball to Ethan who's able to get me out before I make it to base.

"Great work guys. Let's take a short break before the rest of the team gets here." Grabbing their gloves and bats everyone heads towards the dugout to the tunnel that leads to one of the main buildings that houses the locker room. "Hey Ethan. Can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure Cap." Ethan jogs back a few feet to where I'm still standing on first base. "What's up?"

"Great work today. You were really stretching for some of those balls. Is your arm feeling okay?" Some of the throws in his direction had been a little off causing him to stretch his right arm across his body. Not uncommon in baseball but it can lead to pulled muscles without the right stretching and training.

"It's alright." He flexes at his elbow a few times. "A little sore I guess."

"I get it. My freshmen year here I was pulling muscles like crazy." I chuckle at the memory, I swear I was massaging my arms every night. Only once I got more into studying athletic training did I start to understand proper rehabilitation and how to prevent injuries. "Make sure you're really stretching and recovering, I can show you some different ones that have really helped me."

"That'd be great. Thanks." He smiles genuinely at me. I've noticed over the past few months Ethan is always willing to learn, his drive to be better is a trait I recognize from myself my first year on the team. A spark I'm realizing I feel in other aspects of my life now and not so much baseball anymore. I push the thought aside as I always do when I feel this way and follow Ethan back to the locker room to get prepped for actual practice.

"Mills, my office." Coach calls across the locker room as everyone gets ready for practice.

"Be right there, coach." I take a swig of my water and jog through the locker room to coaches office. I knock on the door and he nods his head for me to enter.

"James quit. You know anything about that?"

"I do. He hurt my friend Emilia. Tried to take advantage of her, I told him it wasn't acceptable behavior for anyone and definitely not for anyone on our team."

"Christ." Coach shakes his head, shuffling through some files on his desk. "Does you friend want to call anyone? We can talk to the dean."

"No, sir. She just wants to forget it."

"Alright well if she does want to, let her know I'll be in her corner."

"Thanks, coach. I appreciate it."