The Dugout(35)

Milly: Yeah and oddly, they listen better.

Carson: Bullshit. When have I ever given you any sass?

Milly: I can see it in your eyes.

Carson: What you’re seeing is pure appreciation. Did you know that, Milly? I appreciate you.

Milly: Well, prove it today with some hits. Good luck, Stone.

Carson: Thanks, Coach.





Carson: Two for three today with a triple.

Milly: I saw online. That’s so great.

Carson: Thought I was going to pull my groin running. I was really booking it.

Milly: And here you were talking to me about the importance of stretching for dipping a chip. Same goes for your legs, Stone.

Carson: The adrenaline got to me and my brain was telling my legs to move faster than they could.

Milly: But you didn’t pull it, did you?

Carson: No, thankfully. But I do have a bag of ice on my crotch.

Milly: Can’t read that enough.

Carson: Slightly terrified of getting a penis popsicle.

Milly: Just defrost it with your hand.

Carson: I literally just barked out in laughter, and now every one of my teammates it staring at me.

Milly: At least they’ll be staring at you for laughing like a crazy person, rather than having a column of ice poking out of your pants.

Carson: What have you done with my coach?

Milly: Same girl, same coach. You’re just getting to see the side my brothers do.

Carson: I like it.





Carson: Gunner snored last night. I chucked pillows at him at least three times. Claims it’s a head cold.

Milly: Were you sharing a bed?

Carson: He wishes. We shared a room. Normally I share with Jason but for some stupid reason, Coach switched it up on us. I wasn’t equipped to be sleeping with a snorer.

Milly: I’ve slept in a hotel bathroom tub once because all three of my brothers and my dad were snoring. Let’s just say my night was miserable. But, the moments on the road with them I wouldn’t trade for anything.

Carson: I wish I had moments like those with my dad. He couldn’t make it to a lot of games. Did you have a good night’s sleep?

Milly: Had to deal with some RA drama last night. Two girls were fighting over the same guy. It was stupid, but I caught up on some sleep. I forgot to ask, how was the glove?

Carson: Amazing. Thank you so much.

Milly: Sure. Anytime. I’m still really sorry I was late.

Carson: Milly, you were right on time. Thank you.





Carson: I’m exhausted.

Milly: Twenty-four innings in two games will do that to you.

Carson: At least we pulled out the win for both.

Milly: Three for four in one game, two for five in the other with five RBIs. I’m impressed, Stone.

Carson: Impressing my coach means a whole lot to me. Hitting the showers.





Carson: Are you up?

Milly: Yeah, are you still on the bus?

Carson: It’s the never-ending drive. We just finished watching a movie.

Milly: What movie?

Carson: Do you really want to know?

Milly: I kind of do.

Carson: Legally Blonde.

Milly: You are such a liar.

Carson: Swear on my bat. The guys have a thing for Reese Witherspoon. On the way to Indiana, we watched Sweet Home Alabama.

Milly: I am utterly shocked. I thought you would be watching movies like The Avengers, or something like that.

Carson: We watch those too, but it was a Reese weekend.

Milly: The secrets behind Brentwood baseball. Any other tidbits you might want to share that will make me laugh?

Carson: Gunner always wears pink briefs when he pitches. He washed a white load with a red shirt to make them pink. They’re his lucky charm.

Milly: LOL.

Carson: Jason has a lucky ribbon he ties in his hair before he puts his catcher’s helmet on.

Milly: Stop it. Do you have any lucky charms I should know about?

Carson: Right now? I’d say texting you before each game.





Carson: You still awake?

Milly: Just got into bed. What’s up?

Carson: Never mind.

Milly: Okay, do you really think that’s going to work? Tell me.

Carson: I’m outside your dorm.

Milly: Really?

Carson: Yeah, come down really quick.





Chapter Twelve





CARSON





Its chilly, late, and I’m desperate for my pillow right now, but I couldn’t leave campus, not without seeing her.

It’s strange. I thought about her all weekend, but not just the mechanics she taught me, or the advice she’s given me. It was in a different way. I thought about her sweet, but stern voice. I thought about the way her right dimple seems to sink deeper than her left. I thought about the way she tosses her hair through the back of her hat, and I thought about her laugh and how it has a slight rasp to it.

I didn’t think about her as a coach, but as a girl I can’t seem to get my mind off, which I thought would be a bad thing, given my need to focus on the game and the specifics of how I bat, but it didn’t take away from my mental game. In some respects, because the game wasn’t all I focused on, I wonder if thoughts of Milly enhanced it. Her presence in my thoughts gave me . . . calm. A place away from the pressure somehow. Is this Knox and Holt meant when it came to their girls being an escape? A good escape?