Nodding, I smiled back at him.
As he turned around, Ryder yelled, “All right, listen up, you assholes! We got a new guy on the team. Thank fuck that Dean guy left because—” Ryder wrapped his arm around my shoulder, “Gabe here is the best fucking pitcher known to mankind. He’s from Arizona. So everybody, let’s welcome him and make him part of the team.”
A part of the team. Looking over at Ryder, I couldn’t help but feel special. We had never done this at my old school. I never felt part of the team, if I was being honest. When we won games, we all got along. But when we lost? Guys bitched and moaned. Parents complained and yelled. Me? I just couldn’t fathom the fact that the “team” was anything but. I mean, even the coach was a pain in the ass. When we did something good, he bragged to other coaches about it. But when we sucked? When we had a bad practice? When we got killed at a game? We were humiliated and put down.
I knew that this team was going to actually be one. We would root each other on and cheer for one another in games. We would help one another out on problems we were having not only on the field but off as well. I knew in the long run we would be friends. Through college and when we had families.
“Hey,” everyone said to me. Walking up to me, guys introduced themselves, but I couldn’t remember any of their names to save my life. I was too focused on the fact that I had finally found a place where I felt like I belonged.
Pushing everyone out of the way, Ryder said, “All right! Let’s not try and bend him over, you fucks! Grab your bats and balls—” He released a chuckle. “The ones in your bag,” he emphasized, “—not the one’s in your pants. Let’s play some ball!”
“Where’s coach?” someone asked.
Looking over at him, Ryder crossed his arms and stood up straight. “I’m coach now, Gavin,” he said in a stern voice.
“Yeah, right,” Gavin said as he and most of the other guys fell over holding their stomachs in laughter.
“Shut the fuck up!” Ryder yelled. “But seriously, guys, let’s play some ball. How about we start off just playing catch first.?” Ryder turned to me. “What do you think, Gabe?”
“Uh, yeah, sure, that sounds fine with me.” I didn’t really care. I was just still shell-shocked on the whole “team” thing.
“Cool,” he said enthusiastically as he smacked me on the shoulder. “Come on, we’ll toss the ball back and forth.”
“Sounds good.”
“All right, guys, so break up in pairs and toss the ball until Coach comes, I guess,” Ryder suggested. While guys ran to the field. Ryder nudged me. “Come on, follow me.,” He nodded towards the dugout. “You can just leave your bag here, but grab your mitt and a few balls.”
“No shit,” I joked.
While Ryder laughed, he said, “We are definitely going to get along really well.” He smacked me in the arm. “Come on, asshole, let’s get going. You’re making me look bad on my first day as the new coach.”
“You’re doing good looking bad all by yourself,” I joked.
“All right, come on, asshole,” Ryder said with a laugh.
Jogging up the field, I stopped and waited for Ryder to get a little further away from me.
As he tossed the ball to me, Ryder asked, “So you do you have a girlfriend or anything?”
“Nah,” I said, catching the ball. “I don’t need that in my life right now. I kinda just want to have fun right now. You?” I asked, tossing the ball back to him.
“Yeah,” he said. “Her name’s Taylor. We’ve been dating on and off throughout high school. She may just be a huge pain in my ass most of the time, but let me tell you Gabe—” He huffed. “She’s damn good in bed.”
“Uh, yeah, okay, Ryder I didn’t need to know that,” I joked. I really didn’t.
A half hour later, Ryder’s cell rang. Pulling out it out of his pocket, he said, “Hey, Coach, man, are you almost here? Are you serious? Ahh man, okay. Okay, yeah. All right. Bye.” Hanging up the phone, Ryder yelled, “Coach is stuck in traffic, so he’s not gonna make it. He said we should be back here Thursday at the same time.”
While the rest of the team started to walk off the field, Ryder looked at me. “You still want toss the ball?” he asked as he tilted his head.
I shrugged. “Yeah, sure. I’ve got nothing else to do.” I really didn’t. This entire summer all I did so far was listen to music and sleep a hell of a lot.
As Ryder started to toss the ball towards me, I looked over and saw this beautiful blonde-haired girl walk a few feet behind us.
Completely missing the ball, Ryder broke me from staring at the beautiful girl. “Nice catch, Gabe.”
“Huh?” I asked as I blinked my eyes back to his.
“You completely missed the ball,” Ryder joked. “I think the heat’s getting to ya. You wanna go sit down for a little?”