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Ice-Bath Needed!
“Come on y/n, it’s going to be fun!”
“Your definition of fun isn’t exactly the same as mine, dear brother.” I flick a strand of hair away from my face with a finger and lean back with a sign, letting my back mold the soft seat behind me into a perfect replica of it. This old car is running on its last year, I’m sure of it, but Antony, the guy I reluctantly calls my brother in times like these, is too in love with his car to ever let it go. Even though it is a classic, as he reminds me every time I as much as look at it with what he calls my “judgmental stare”, there is a limit to everything, especially cars that’s over twenty years old.
“Is that so?” Antony asks me.
“My definition of fun isn’t sitting in a car for over two days and sleeping in a crappy motel just to go see some stupid baseball game” I argue, “Besides, why did we have to drive all the way to Kansas to watch it? Didn’t they just play a game in our own town?”
“Yeah, they have played several actually” he confirms. I throw my hands up as high as the low car ceiling allows me too.
“Then why am I sitting in this car now? Why?”
“Because…” Antony drags out the word slowly, “This is the final game in the World Series and it’s a forced 7th game because they tied after the first six, so it’s even more exciting to go see!”
“But you didn’t know it would be tied!”
“Nope, I just jumped at the opportunity when it offered itself” he says, pride shining through in his voice.
“Ugh, why are you my brother? Why do I let you talk me into doing stuff like this?” I ask the heavens. When God doesn’t offer me any answer, Antony does instead.
“Because I’m awesome and you love me?” he answers. I give him a snort. “Listen, I know you couldn’t care less about baseball, but can’t you just be happy to be on a road trip with me? Try to act excited at least? We’ll go see something you like afterwards if you want to.”
I cast my eyes down to pretend to think about his offer, but I already know what I want to see. “Okay” I sigh exaggerated a few seconds later, “I guess I can laugh at people who fall over or something.”
“Yes! Right, awesome! And if nobody falls over then you can just laugh at the audience and their poor choices in clothing and make-up” he says, jumping a bit in place. He looks a bit like an over excited puppy. It’s cute.
“True” I respond, puckering my lips. People’s complete lack of fashion sense at sports events is something I find hilarious. “But you have to take me to the Ben & Jerry’s Factory in Vermont.” He groans loudly.
“Again?!” he cries.
“Yup.”
“But that’s so far away!”
“We’re already driving towards it” I argue, “It’s not much longer than this trip.”
“It takes almost a full day of driving to get there from Kansas.”
“And it takes longer to go from home to Kansas City” I tell him, “Four hours more to be exact.”
“You planned this before we even left home, didn’t you?” he asks. I bite my lip to stop myself from giggling. It took him some time to figure that out.
“Maybe…” I mumble coyly.
“I hate you, you are the worst sister in the world” he declares. The laugh bubbles out of me.
“Sure, whatever you say, bro.”
We arrive at the Kauffman Stadium and it is absolutely packed with people. I have hardly ever seen this many people occupying the same space before, and it is truly terrifying. I can’t figure out what I am supposed to do, so I have to just wait patiently for Antony to get done with placing his blue KC cap on his head just right.
“How do I look?” he asks me. I don’t even have to look at him to know that he looks just fine, which is why I don’t even bother, but instead keep my eyes on the horde of people around us.
“You look fabulous, amazing, like the truest, most committed fan the royals have ever seen” I answer him.
“Great!” His hand grabs mine and he drags me along, waving us in between the people. He takes control, makes sure our tickets are in order before going to the ticket check and keeps a close eye on me and anyone that gets near me. I do notice that people that is wearing the Giants shirts and caps get a bit harsher glare from Antony than the Royals-dressed people gets when they get to close to me. Once we’re inside he leads us straight towards the field and the stands.
“Isn’t this great?!” he exclaims once we have found our seats, “Aren’t these seats amazing?” I look out over the field. Well, we’re kind of in the middle I guess, right in front of one of the corners of the field. Can it even be called corners? Who the hell knows. Probably the guy that decided it should have the shape of a drunk pyramid.
Round, square, make up your damn mind, field-inventor!
Well, once we have sat down Antony quickly falls into a conversation with the guy next to him, so I don’t even have to answer him. The corners of my mouth lifts a little when I see the huge smile on his face and shrug to myself. Maybe it isn’t that bad to have gone with him to this thing. Yeah, I’m going to get so unbelievably bored, but at least he seems happy, so. And I get a trip to the Ben & Jerry’s factory. That’s not too shabby a reward for enduring a couple of hours in a crowded stadium.
The seats around us quickly gets filled. I watch people hurry over to claim them once they’ve located them, before they fall into conversations with someone in their immediate vicinity, either those they came with or other people who was there before them.
Once I get a chance to look around properly, I realize that here is all kinds of people here; old, young, kids, teenagers, women, men. I hadn’t imagined that so many different people enjoyed baseball so much. Why, I don’t know.
There’s a family of redheads on the row right in front of us, all wearing telltale Royals gear in the same style as the stuff Antony has. On the seats behind us a couple of guys are knocking their beers together in a toast while yelling “take the crown!”. I can see the two women that is sitting right beside them shares a look and an eye roll. Well, that answers the question of whether or not I’m the only one here that got tricked into coming.
To our left a couple of guys are talking and laughing. I catch the eye of one of them, a very tall man and he smiles politely to me before nodding in my direction. I give him smile back but turn away quickly after once his friend turns to look at me too. I don’t want to end up having a conversation about baseball with a couple of strangers. I am not in the mood to embarrass myself today.
As the stadium reaches its full capacity, the music that has been playing in the background dims into almost nothing and soon there is someone talking. It doesn’t take long before the field is filled with players and the game starts.
I try to follow along with the game at first, trying to figure out the rules or how it works, but I soon have to declare myself lost and I start to let my mind wander.
People cheers around me when their team scores a goal, or a point or whatever it is they get and they sigh and complain like one when the other team scores. It is a funny thing to witness. The fans almost looks like a whole living, breathing organism when you see them from a distance.
Antony is vibrating in his seat, a smile permanently on his face. Our eyes meet several times and when he prompts me I cheer with him just to make him happy. He is paying for my ice cream adventure after all.
Once the break comes I’m dying to get out of my seat. I’m up the second it gets announced, ready to do something besides sitting on my seat, but Antony is quick to grab my wrist.
“Where are you going?” he quickly asks.
“Uh, I dunno, to get a drink or something?” I answer, “I’m bored out of my mind.”
“Aw you’re going to miss the kiss cam if you go now!” he says.
“The what?”
“Kiss cam” he repeats and points to the giant screen hanging over the field.
There’s a couple of people on it, sitting in a frame of hearts. They kiss and the camera moves on to another couple who, after blushing and laughing loudly it seems, quickly gives each other a tiny kiss so the camera will move on.
I get fascinated with watching the reactions from the people on screen. Some are surprised, others embarrassed. Some people are just plain crazy and makes a whole show out of either pouring their drinks over each other, denying the other a kiss or they are so excited about being filmed that they nearly suck each other’s face off the second they are within frame.
My heart shoots into my throat when it’s suddenly my face that’s portrayed on the huge screen, next to Antony’s. People are already booing at us because we haven’t kissed yet, especially because Antony is shaking his head like his life depends on it.
I’m in a tough spot. I hate being the attention of a crowd, but what I hate even more is to be the center of the negative attention of a crowd. So I quickly spot that the camera moves just enough to let one of the guys on my left into the frame and I grab the subtle offer of rescue immediately.
My eyes captures the guys quickly and he only has to nod once to let me know he is okay with it. He has seen the camera turn as well. But… I can’t just give this crowd a small kiss, not with how much they are booing. So I crack the guy a grin and twist myself over on his lap, hoping he won’t throw me off instantly. He looks utterly surprised, but not unwilling, so I bend down to kiss him.
Right before our lips meet, I pull back to look at the screen, seeing my own eyes and my own smile. I can hardly recognize myself when I mouth “Should I kiss him?” to the camera, followed by a small nod in the guys direction.
The crowd explodes in cheers immediately after and I laugh before quickly letting them have their kiss.
The guy grabs hold of my legs the second our lips meet and just suddenly stands up with me. He makes sure my legs gets locked around him, but then he completely devours my mouth, leave nothing for me to wonder about. He lets me taste and feel every atom of him and I love every single second of the rush of power that flows through me. I have never been kissed like this and I had never expected this to be more than just a quick kiss and a good show for the camera. Now I might never want to let go again.
When we do separate again (because breathing is apparently a thing he needs to do too) the crowd is still cheering, but not as much as at first. The guy lets me down and when the camera moves on, his entire face lights up in a smile that practically drips with smugness.
Damn, he’s so fucking gorgeous. Perfect rounded face, freckled cheeks, green eyes… How did I only just notice he’s a freaking god right now? And he let me, me of all people, kiss him like that on camera?
“Thanks for the sugar, beautiful” he says and gives me a wink. I turn redder than a tomato in 0,4 seconds and I have to seriously bite my tongue until I can taste blood to stop myself from giggling like a four year old.
“You’re welcome, tiger” I respond, because if he can be a cheeky sonofabitch then I can too. I just hope the tremble I feel in my voice isn’t hearable.
“You can just call me Dean” he says.
“I’m Y/n” I offer with a nod, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, or, well you know.” We laugh together and Dean, stupid beautiful god-like Dean, says in a deep rumble with half-lidded eyes, “The pleasure is all mine.”
Yup, there goes my panties. Bye bye.
Flustered, I turn towards Antony to allow myself some kind of room to breathe, because I don’t feel like I have had the chance to do so in forever. Antony’s face, however, is one huge blank screen filled with endless rows of question marks. His jaw is practically on the floor and he is staring at me like I’m an alien organism that has just landed in front of him.
“What?” I ask him, gesturing to the giant screen over the field “At least I didn’t miss the kiss cam.”
“No” he says slowly, “No, you certainly did not miss the kiss cam. What the hell was that?” He points towards Dean behind me, who has sat down to talk with his friend.
I give Antony a smile, feeling the rush of adrenalin still pumping through my blood.
“That, my dear brother, was my definition of fun.”
“Who are you? You are not my sweet innocent sister!” I just laugh at him and clap his cheek gently, not bothering to answer him. I just walk off to go try and find a tub of ice to dump myself into.
God knows I need it badly.
FIN?