436 Golden West Postgame

My body was hurting. My foot. My ankle. My knees. My hip. My hands. My elbows. The only body part that was really safe was my head and face. Which wasn't too bad. 

"Hey!" Noah was next to me in a blink of an eye. He took a knee to look at me. "Are you okay, Jake? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Amateur." I heard a scoff from an unfamiliar voice. 

"Go away, you loser." Noah brush away the runner. "Hope you guys choke against Servite."

The guy glared before walking away. 

Noah was trying to pull me to my feet, but a hand stretched out to stop him. 

Garret arrived. "Wait. If anything hurts, Drew might want him to stay on the ground."

I waved them both away. "I'm okay. Nothing but a few bumps or bruises." I stood up on my own and picked up my hat that had fallen off my head in the collision. 

"Wait! How can you be so sure?" Noah asked, frantically moving about, drawing more attention to us. 

I stared at him. He was really worried. Panicking about something so small. Thinking back, Noah has been like this all the time. Treating me like a glass figurine. I'll be the first to admit that my emotions can get the best of me and my inner demons are still present, but-

I laid my hand on Noah's shoulder. "Noah. I'm good. I know when I'm hurt and when I'm injured. This is nothing."

Noah's eyes widened, then he settled down. 

"Look at Bambi! Flipping the script!" Garret laughed as the team started to join us by second base. The outfielders came in, the bullpen and dugout came out to celebrate, and yet...Noah was worried about me. 

I tried giving him a reassuring smile. "Noah, even professionals have the occasional collision. You told me that. Now...don't be jinxing me!"

Noah finally cracked a smile, looking relieved. 

"Hey, hey, what's going on here?" Dave hollered, with some of the coaches right behind him. 

Garret turned around, smirking. "What's going on?" He repeated. "I'll tell ya. You're not the only one with ten strikeouts in one game anymore!!"

Dave pushes him away. "You had to use all seven innings. It doesn't count!"

"Want to compare season strikeouts then??" Garret kept grinning. 

"No way! I was injured for two weeks! You had like two more starts than me." Dave refused, folding his arms across his chest. 

"Okay, okay, settle down boys." Coach raised his voice over them two and the rest of the team, who were celebrating a little quieter. "We still have to pack up and take the bus back. A quick word first." He looked around. "I'm proud of you. It may look like Garret did all the work on the mound and at the plate, but it's still a team effort. None of you gave up on a play, nor made any mistakes. This, this is what I want to see on Monday."

Zeke went over to stand next to Coach. "Can I also have a word, Coach?"

"Of course." Coach took a step back. 

Zeke was holding his glove as he started to speak up. "I hope I didn't let you all down too much today." He started off with an apology. A surprise apology. 

"No way!"

"You can't be perfect all the time!"

"You're the backbone of this team. It's okay for you to have a rest day."

"With you sucking, it just made me shine some more." Garret bragged, making the guys on the team laugh. 

Zeke showed a hint of a smile. "I'm happy as long as we win." I saw Noah frown out of the corner of my eye. "What I wanted to talk to you guys about though, is this weekend. Tomorrow is Friday, we'll practice the same as always. Saturday, I'll be going to the Servite game. I'm not telling anyone that they have to go, but if you need a ride, text me."

"It's not mandatory?" Matt asked. 

"Not at all." Zeke answered. He held up a hand to prevent Matt from speaking up again. "You guys don't have to give me any excuse or reason why you can't or don't want to go. Just let me know if you need a ride. Whoever shows up on their own, can let me know so we can sit together as a team." He looked around. "I can understand if you already have plans. Or maybe you want to get some extra practice in during their game time. It's alright. I will ask you to start mentally preparing yourselves on Sunday though." He put his hands on his hips, looking like an authority figure. "No junk food. No slouching on the couch. Get up, go for a jog, do some light lifting, do yoga for all I care. Everyone should be game-ready on Monday."

The team stayed silent, but there were some that were nodding along. 

"Coach." Zeke turned it back to Coach, taking a step back. 

Coach nodded. "Zeke said all I wanted to say. Friday, we'll practice hard. Saturday, rest. Sunday, get some type of movement in. Monday, we'll take down Servite and league." He tilted his head to the dugout. "Change out of your cleats and pack up. Let's get on the bus."

We listened to Coach's instructions and went back to the dugout. 

"Boys." A deep voice greeted us on our jog back. Just beside the dugout, behind the fence, stood Mr. Atkins and his wife. He made eye contact with me. "Jake, we wanted to be sure that you're okay before we take off."

I felt warm and my face flushed with embarrassment. The whole team was smiling and laughing, adding to the embarrassment. "I'm okay." I mumbled. 

"Good. We'll meet you kids at home." Mr. Atkins looked pointedly at Zeke. 

Zeke nodded. "Sure, Dad. I'll text you when we get back to school."

They said their goodbyes and we went inside the dugout. 

Noah groaned as we packed our bags with our cleats. "Mom and Dad are so embarrassing. They still treat us like we're seven or something."

I laughed outright. 

Noah flinched away from me, surprised by my outburst. "Jake? What's so funny?"

I grinned at him. "You're the same way! Always hovering. You're a perfect mix of your mom and dad."

"I was worried about you!"

"And they worry too." I replied back. I couldn't say I knew everything there is to know about the Atkins, but I knew enough to see how much they genuinely care. They care for their family, for me, for their community, just...anyone who needs it, they show their concern. 

Noah rolled his eyes. "They're going to have such a hard time when Zeke goes off to play for some minor league team out in the middle of nowhere."

"You really don't believe he'll go to college?" I asked. 

Noah frowned. "No way. Who would pass up on the chance to play in the big leagues? Maybe if he wanted to get picked in a higher position? I don't know how much Zeke cares about that." He hummed. "We'll know soon enough though."

I nodded. The draft was a month away, in early June. Noah has it circled on the small calendar in our room. If you ask me, I think Noah is more excited than Zeke. I peeked over at Zeke. 

He was staring our way, making me jump. "Noah, Jake, hurry it up."