Out of Her League |Lesbian Story|

Chapter 11

Over the last couple of years, Mom had stopped coming to my baseball games. She said it made her 'too tense.'

Now she seemed to show interest in seeing me play. I guessed she probably felt bad, because Dad went to coach the Blue Belles, and there was no one to come to my games.

Felik and Grigor found out that we were training on our own almost every day and started bringing their friends to help us. Mitko would work with April and Olive on pitching and catching. But we also got Zoya (the young woman who gave us ice cream and turned out to be a very classy hitter). They'd divide us into small groups and work on particular skills.

At first, there were just five of us show up. Then Rosie, Susan, and even Harper came. Stefanie was the last to join. She accused us of trying to exclude her from the team.

Zoya brought leftover cakes and ice cream from her bakery. When it was time for the drink break in the middle of a training session, she would put a large cardboard box down on the sideline. We all staggered off the field, sweaty and puffed, to swarm around the box and grab the cakes.

Susan developed a dangerous addiction to chocolate Morozhenoe. She had two cones of them on both hands and licked them as if she was hypnotized.

Olive couldn't eat much because of her stiff chin, but she loved the ice cream, and there was only one thing that could compete for her attention with Morozhenoe.

Nora.

Nora didn't come over to get cake. She was too busy practicing with April and Mitko. Anyone - not just Olive - could see how fabulous she was. Smooth, graceful, focused, with the fierce determination in her eyes.

I wished I was like that.

Charlotte came to see us that Thursday evening, but rain was bucketing down, making great sheets of water across the field. Every other team had canceled their training, but not the Rejects.

The whole team was crammed into the small change room. Charlotte had given our coaches copies of her footage from the last game.

"We can now analyze the team, see what's happening," Felik said. "Very useful for us to learn which area we can improve on."

The coaches had a projector on the wall and hooked it to Charlotte's laptop, so we could watch the video of our game.

Everyone was seeing themselves mess up for the first time or look like dummies and occasionally do some excellent thing.

Harper turned up late. She ran in with the rain dripping off her hair. Grigor tossed her a towel and she dried herself before coming to sit on the bench. We had to scoot over and made room for her.

Charlotte and I were at the end of the row. Once everyone else bunched up, we just got squashed closer together.

We both wore shorts, and I could feel Charlotte's thigh pressed really tightly against mine. Her skin was smooth and soft. I didn't dare look at her. If I did, it would make us all awkward by acknowledging that our thighs were touching. I could hear Charlotte breathe in and out. I hoped she couldn't hear my heart pounding.

Felik and Grigor took turn giving feedback.

"What you were doing was trying not to lose instead of trying to win," the older coach said. "That's not a positive game."

"Did you know that there are many hidden tricks that you can use to thrive on the diamond," Grigor said.

"Olive knows all about the hidden tricks that are accepted in baseball," I found myself speaking.

Olive glared at me but she winched as if her stretched chin hurt just by looking. The coaches turned her. She shrank back into the corner, wanting to disappear. But this was no time for Olive to be shy. It was time the coaches knew about her amazing baseball brain.

Felik and Grigor looked at each other again, ready to challenge her. Like the fast money in a TV quiz show. Olive remembered the dates and which team won the game. For a while, they quizzed her and she pounded back each answer like a champion tennis player swatting back easy shots. The smile on her face grew bigger. I saw Nora was also looking in fascination.

"Wow, how did you learn all this stuff?" Felik said.

"From my grandpa, he was a die-hard baseball fan," Olive said. "And I spent a summer reading about rules and tricks before I joined."

"Amazing!"

I smiled at Olive. She was an incredible girl. I was just glad that now the rest of the world would know it too. She was grinning. It was the happiest smile I ever saw from Olive.

~*~

When the rain stopped, everyone got ready to leave. The coaches would drive some of us home, while the others left on their own. I waited for Charlotte as she was packing her stuff. I pretended to tidy up the change room. There were just the two of us. I could hear skids of shoes on the floor as Felik and Grigor were leading the others outside.

For a few moments, it was silence. It wasn't bad, just comfy to be working side by side without having to say anything if you didn't have anything to say. I liked that kind of silence.

"Hey, Darci," Charlotte suddenly spoke. "You want to see your clip?"

"I thought you already showed us," I said, looking back at her.

"That was for the whole team," she said. "I've made another one about individual players just in case. This one of you is during the homerun."

"Oh," I said, not knowing what else to say. "Yes, sure."

She sat down on the bench and opened her laptop again. I went and sat beside her. Then she pushed closer to me, so I could see the screen. Our thighs pressed against each other again.

I watched the video of me, running, throwing, batting and standing, and looking concerned in the field. Charlotte didn't just capture the action, she also captured the emotions. I never knew she had such an eye for it. And most of all, I never expected to see so many angles of me. Were my pants that tight? No girls who play baseball ever complained about having to wear tight pants, but I couldn't help feeling a bit self-conscious.

"You always look like you're thinking," Charlotte said, causing me to turn my head to her. The laptop screen cast a glow on her face. My heart lurched forward when she didn't look away. Her eyes seemed like they couldn't decide between green or blue. If I leaned another inch forward, not only our thighs were met but our lips too. It began to feel as if there was a magnetic pull coming from her.

But suddenly I heard Stefanie's big voice as she barged into the room.

"Bloom, what's taking so long?"

The second she saw me and Charlotte, she let out a gasp.

"Oh! I get it! Bit busy, are you, Darci?"

"Shut up, Stef," I growled and pulled away from Charlotte. "We're just..."

But before I could explain, Stefanie ran back to spread the gossip.

"Guys! Guess what I saw in the change room!" she yelled.

By the time we got back to the team, Stefanie was snickering to everyone and some of them were looking at me. I felt sick. I wanted to disappear. Charlotte didn't say anything, and I wondered if she was embarrassed being put in this position with me.

Felik saw the two of us and seemed to know what was going on.

"Stefanie, that's enough," he said firmly. She and Susan lost their smiles.

"Matters of the heart," said Grigor in a low voice, tapping his finger at his chest, "are private. In this team, we treat each other with respect, you got that?"

He paused and looked at everyone to make sure the message got through.

"Alright, let's go home."