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“Nuh uh, old man, you better face the other way,” Ginny warned.
Mike shifted comfortably in his seat towards her as he ignored her warning. “Or you’ll what, Rookie?” He challenged, and then grinned at her eye roll.
“You don’t what to find out,” she replied vaguely as she tried to bite back a smile.
“Uh huh,” Mike mumbled and scooted closer to her. “I’m not worried—I know your type: all talk and no action—you ain’t gonna do nothing.” He rested his head on Ginny’s shoulder.
Ginny elbowed him.
“Ow,” he exaggeratedly let out.
Ginny unashamedly chuckle.
“Cool it, Wonder Woman,” he faux chastised. “You almost broke my rib.”
Ginny laughed into her hand. “What was that about me being all talk and no action?”
“Oh that…” Mike looked at her wide-eyed. “I stand by my statement.”
As Ginny pretended to elbow Mike again, Mike grabbed her arm, and then pinched her side.
“Mike,” she yelped in surprise, and then looked at her other teammates and saw her fellow Padres with either talking amongst one another, listening to music, or watching their tablets. Quit it, you’re such a child.”
“Am I? Am I?” He asked between each pinch. Ginny giggled with every pinch, which fueled Mike’s excitement even more. “I thought I was an old man, Baker.”
Ginny tried to fight him off. “You are.” Mike tickled her this time, which made her laugh loudly. “Stop it, Old Man,” she said in between chuckles.
“Which is it—huh, huh?” Tears streamed down Ginny’s face as she laughed uncontrollably.
Finny, Ginny gains the advantage and turns the tables on Mike.
Mike balled up against the wall and window of the bus. “That’s enough, Baker,” he commands. “As your captain, I’m ordering you to stop.”
“You don’t know? Lawson…I’m the captain now,” she remarked, with a mischievous look on her face.
Mike defense ball doesn’t work, as Ginny seemed to find all of his ticklish spots, which apparently, he had a lot of. His eyes water as he chuckled nonstop. Some of them were abrupt and disjointed as he fought a losing battle against Ginny.
“Stop it, Baker.” Mike’s voice is unusually high and rough as he spoke to Ginny. “I’m going to break something if you don’t quit it.”
Ginny continued tickling Mike for a moment longer, and then stopped. “Oh right, I forget you have brittle bones, old man—I’d hate to accidentally harm the elderly.”
“You say that now, but I have a feeling I’m going to have to sleep with one eye open,” he quipped.
Mysteriously, Ginny smiled.
~*~*~*~
“What happened to you going to sleep, grandpa?” Ginny felt Mike looking at her tablet.
Audibly, Mike sighed. “I’m wired now. I’m high alert because of the delinquent sitting next to me.”
Ginny rolled her eyes, and then opened her backpack. She pulled out some ear buds, and then thoroughly cleaned one before she wordlessly offered it to Mike.
Silently, they watched the movie.
~*~*~*~
Of all of the controversies and headline stories Mike had ever been apart of, of course—of course, the most innocent thing he’d ever done in his life would be his biggest story, and a potentially devastating controversy for Ginny.
Of fucking course.
He felt like shit and he didn’t even do anything wrong. He wasn’t responsible for this mess, yet he somehow felt accountable for it.
The Padres had just come off of a fantastic win largely in part to the Baker—Lawson being in peak form all night. Mike was filled with euphoria and Ginny’s infectious grin added kindling to the fire.
When the post game interview rolled around, it all went to hell.
Ginny charmed the interviewers with witty and concise answers and her amazing smile as she knocked each question out one by one.
As Ginny answered a question, some of the interviewers looked down at their phones as the chatter increased amongst themselves. She squinted at this unusual development and looked around the room before she proceeded to the next question.
"Ginny, you’ve come along way from what many of your detractors proclaimed was a marketing ploy to a shining example of why women should be included in baseball. Wouldn’t you say that getting involved with your catcher who is also the team captain and thirteen years your senior, leads credence to their claims?”
Visibly taken aback, Ginny struggled to find words. “Wha—excuse me? Mike Lawson and I are not involved,” she stated, emphatically. “I don’t even know where you got such an ridiculous idea from, but you’re waaaay off base—you’re not even in the ballpark.”
“Then how do you explain the picture,” she followed up.
Confused, Ginny asked out loud to no one in particular, “What picture?”
One of the reporters held up their phone to show Ginny what the woman was referring to. Ginny leaned over and squinted at the phone, and then pulled out her phone and did a quick search of ‘Mike Lawson and Ginny Baker.’
All color drained from her face.
It was from last night. The picture wasn’t what they thought it was—it didn’t mean what they thought it mean, but nevertheless, she could see how it’s meaning could easily be misconstrued.
Ginny was snuggled against Mike as her head rest comfortably on his shoulder. In turn, Mike’s head rested against her and they shared a fleece blanket (Mike made her shared it with him even though she knew he wasn’t cold). It didn’t look like she accidentally fell asleep on his shoulder (although that’s really what happened) or that Mike lent his shoulder to a friend and teammate—looked cozy and intimate, like they were involved…like a girlfriend lying on her boyfriend’s shoulder. Her arm was looped under his as their arms lay parallel to one another and their fingers were slightly intertwined.
They did all of that in their sleep?
“I…I know what it looks like, but it’s not like that.” Ginny felt her chest tighten. She felt the need to defend herself. “Mike is my friend and we're close, but we’re professionals and we’d never…”
Someone declared, “Well, that's certainly now how it looks.”
Helplessly, Ginny looked for Amelia.
~*~*~*~
“FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!” Hot tears stung Ginny’s eyes and cheeks as the pitcher walked back and forth. Distraught, she wiped her face as thought back to the post-game interview and the picture that ruined everything.
There was no coming back from this.
She was done.
Her career was over before it truly began.
All because one of her teammates wanted to share a picture of the Padres on the road and posted the wrong picture to Instagram.
“Your career is not over,” Mike asserted.
Tear-filled eyes glared at him, “Yes, it is.”
“No, it’s not,” he said, softly. “I know the picture came off bad, but you’re not going anywhere.”
“Because a picture came off bad,” Ginny parroted incredulously. “My reputation was just shot to shit over a picture that ‘came off’ bad. And just as people started to accept me as a legitimate player, this…” Ginny haphazardly gestures. “Happens. And, now, they’re going to go back to thinking that I’m a gimmick and that I don’t belong.”
“Then fuck’em,” Mike declared. “You’re the real deal, Baker—a fucking gamer, plain and simple, and any player who has batted against you, knows that from experience. Hell, just about every ballplayer knows that. So, if they’re going to try to let a picture rob you of your god given talents, then fuck’em to hell.” A beat. “You remember what I told you your second game, Rookie?”
Ginny recalled that day on the mound. “Yeah…that I can’t aim my pitches if I’m aiming to please everyone.”
Mike looked at her. “That…and you play baseball for yourself and the team or not at all. I meant what I said that day screw them. You’re a goddamn ballplayer—that should be your only concern. Because all of this means jack shit if you can’t play worth shit. That’s what they should be focused on. You shouldn’t have to watch every word you say or be afraid of that normal interactions could be misconstrued as compromising all because you have a fucking vagina. Just baseball.” Mike shook his head. “And maybe the media and general public will turn their back on you, but I won’t.”
Ginny tightly closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Tears quickly rolled down her face.
Mike pulled her into his chest. Weakly, Ginny struggled against Mike and her tears—both fights were futile. Gently, Mike rocked her, “Shh…it’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
Ginny bawled into his chest; low, abrupt, and heartbreaking sobs. Fingernails clawed at his Mike’s as she cried her heart out at the unfairness of it all. How she could put her blood, sweat, and tears into a game only for it to come secondary to her public image and personal life. An indeterminate time later, Ginny calmed herself. She took a deep breath against his chest, and then looked up at Mike.
Tenderly, Mike wiped under her tears eyes with his thumbs.
“Better?”
“No, not really,” she admitted. “But, there’s no crying in baseball, so….”
Mike smiled, and then kissed her forehead. “Really? I have a good cry before every game--you're seriously missing out, Rookie.”
Ginny laughed out loud.
She’d be all right. They’d get through this.
~*~*~*~
Mike and Ginny were the last to get on the bus.
Slowly, Ginny followed behind Mike as she kept her down and focused on the floor.
After the two settled into their seats, they spoke quietly to one another. They were on the road for a bit when a news segment caught their attention—Ginny’s post game interview and picture that caused all of the controversy.
Ginny gulped and looked at her lap.
“Maaaan,” someone said aloud. “As if Ginny’d date a bum like Lawson!”
The guys chuckled.
Ginny stole a look at Mike as her eyes widened in disbelief.
“I couldn’t even pay my sister to go out with him,” another guy said.
“Hey, hey,” Mike yelled as he grinned at Ginny. “That’s your captain your talking about.”
“Shid…. he knows he bum too.”
This time Ginny laughed out loud.
In faux disbelief, he looked at Ginny. “Really, Baker?”
“I mean, they aren’t lying,” she heartily chuckled.
Ginny covered her smile as she looked at Mike and he smiled back. They stared at one another and her smile slightly faltered as his turned semi-serious. Although the team knew there was nothing going on between them, there was something there. More than an attraction or an infatuation…something real.
Another player said, “Why don’t you ever let me cuddle with you, Cap?”
Ginny practically had a giggle fit. Tears streamed down her face as she laughed into Mike’s shoulder.
“You don’t deserve it,” Mike answered, and then grinned at Ginny.
The team would get would get through this.