Out of Left Field: Marlee's Story (12 page)

“Did Coach send you over here?”

“No, she didn’t.” Exasperated, Lisa glared at Marlee. “Geez, Marlee, what is going on with you?”

Marlee looked up at the taller girl with reservation. Lisa’s light brown eyes flashed with anger. Marlee softened. “Lisa, I’m sorry. I...” She couldn’t tell Lisa about her total infatuation with Susie so she used the same line on Lisa that had seemed to work on her coach, “I’ve been distracted lately.”

“I know,” Lisa roared. Several of their teammates turned to look at them. She brought her voice down. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. Stay with me when you’re pitching. Look at me. Pull yourself in. You are such a better pitcher than,” she gestured toward the pitcher’s circle, “that!” She stormed away.

Marlee was mortified that Lisa had reamed her out in front of her teammates, but was relieved that Susie hadn’t seen. She snatched up her water bottle and sulked on the end of the team bench. She rubbed at her glove until her fingers felt hot. She sighed and snuck a peek over her shoulder at the parking lot. Her heart leaped when she saw Susie walking toward the field. She wore a faded pair of blue jeans and her East Valley softball jacket. Susie had her hair pulled back in a ponytail.
Even pulled back her hair is beautiful
. Marlee couldn’t help the smile that crept across her face.

When the Cougars took the field again for the top of the sixth inning, Marlee knew she shouldn’t look at Susie. Everyone would know she had a crush on her if she did. Focusing on Lisa suddenly became a lot easier to do. Lisa’s eyes flared behind the catcher’s mask.

The Southbridge batter stepped into the batter’s box. With a start Marlee realized what everybody else had probably already known. She had a no-hitter going. Because she had walked five Southbridge batters already, she couldn’t get a perfect game. And that’s why Lisa’s so pissed at me. She snuck a peek at Susie in the bleachers. Susie gave her a thumbs-up. Marlee waved hoping no one would notice. Susie smiled back.
Focus
, Marlee reprimanded herself and turned back to Lisa.

Marlee struck out all three Southbridge batters. She was one inning away from her first-ever no-hitter. In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Cougars added one more run to their lead with a Lisa Brown-in-the-park solo homerun to make the score 5-0 in the Cougars’ favor. Marlee needed three more outs in the top of the seventh inning and the no-hitter was hers. She struck out the first batter. One down. The second batter conveniently grounded out to the Cougar shortstop on the first pitch. Two down. One more out to go.

The third Southbridge batter of the inning stepped up to the plate. Marlee threw the fastball that Lisa requested. The batter hit a routine fly ball to center field. Jeri will have that one easily, Marlee thought and felt a smile creep up her face. She glanced out to center field and to her horror saw Jeri fighting with the sun. Jeri was trying to use her glove to shade her eyes, but it obviously didn’t help because the ball sailed over her head for a basehit. Marlee groaned along with the fans. She had lost her no-hitter. The Southbridge batter stood on first base pumping her fist as if she had just won the World Series. There was nothing Marlee could do except pitch to the next batter, whom she struck out with a fastball, curveball, fastball combination to end the inning and the game.

The fans and players from both teams applauded and gave Marlee a standing ovation. She beamed with pride when she saw Susie applaud like the number one fan Marlee hoped she would be. Susie flashed a big-toothed smile. Marlee smiled in turn and then tipped her hat to the people in the stands.

Lisa waited for Marlee to acknowledge the crowd and then got nose-to-nose. “See what you can do when you listen to me?”

“Yeah,” Marlee said sheepishly. “You were right.” They growled into each other’s faces and laughed their way arm-inarm to the Southbridge high-five line.

Her teammates mobbed her when she got back to the team bench.

Once Marlee freed herself from her teammates, Coach Spears clapped her on the back. “I don’t know how you turned that one around, McAllister, but keep it up.”

“Thanks, Coach.”

Marlee turned to look for Jeri. She scanned the field and found her sitting against the center field fence. Jeri held her head in her hands with her hat pulled down over her eyes. Her glove had obviously been thrown as far away as possible.

“Coach, I’ll go,” Marlee said as Coach Spears started to walk toward Jeri. Marlee ran out and plopped on the ground next to Jeri. “What’s up?”

Silence.

“If you’re worried about that ball in center field, don’t. It wasn’t your fault. And besides, how many batters did I walk today?”

No response.

“I’ll tell you. Five! Five batters. What’s up with that? Look, Jeri, I’m just as happy with a one-hitter. You know my dad told me once that Tom Seaver never pitched a no-hitter with the Mets. So the way I see it, I’m in good company. And besides, I’ve never pitched a one-hitter either. Leaves a little room for improvement, right?”

Still nothing.

Marlee kept trying. “And besides, maybe I’m saving my no-hitter perfect game for that stupid East Valley team.”

Jeri snickered in spite of herself. “Stop trying to cheer me up, Marlee.” She pushed Marlee away without any real conviction. “I suck! I just couldn’t find the ball. The sun was right in my eyes. I had my hat on and I used my glove to block the sun like Coach taught us. But I just lost it. I’m so sorry.” She jabbed at a tear and covered her face again. “You probably hate me,” she muttered from behind her hands.

“I don’t hate you. I’m just bummed that you’re not celebrating. We just won our game, you dork. Now would you get up? Outfielders are so lazy.” She pushed her friend over and then jumped up to run away.

“Oh, you are going to be so sorry you did that.” Jeri chased Marlee around the outfield. When Jeri stopped to pick up her glove, Marlee kept running. She ran back toward the bleachers to finally greet Susie properly.

“Aay, the one that got away,” Susie said.

“I know. What are you gonna do? Jeri feels so bad.” Marlee looked over and watched Jeri get mobbed by her teammates who also seemed to want a shot at cheering her up.

Susie smiled. An apology in her eyes. “Hey, sorry I missed the first part of the game. I was at Christy’s and she didn’t want me to leave so I had to lie about where I was going. And then it took, like, forever to get here.”

Marlee understood about lying. She probably would have lied to Jeri about where she was going, too. But Marlee was becoming more and more uneasy about the amount of time Susie seemed to spend with Christy. She didn’t mention her uneasiness, she just said, “I know. We live too far apart.”

“I should have just come from home. Christy can live without me for a day, you know?” Susie pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

Marlee longed to do it for her, but knew she couldn’t.

Jeri, having broken free from her well-meaning teammates, joined them. She gave Susie a firm handshake and asked, “Girl, what in the world brings a Panther to Cougar territory on a Saturday afternoon?”

Marlee answered for her. “Oh, I invited her. But I never thought a lowly Panther would dare infiltrate Cougar territory.”

Susie played along. “I had to see what all the fuss was about.”

Jeri turned to Susie. “Hey, convince this slacker that you guys need to go bowling with us.”

Marlee took the lead. “I can’t, Jeri. I really have to catch up on that homework.”

“Fine. Let your friends down.”

Marlee’s nerves jangled. She knew Jeri was just teasing, but she thought she also heard disbelief in her friend’s voice, too.

Susie rescued her. “Uh, thanks for the invite, but, I can’t. I just came for the game. I have to get back home. Another time?”

“Absolutely,” Jeri said good-naturedly. “It was good to see you. Tell Christy hi.” She turned to Marlee and said, “Do you need a ride home?”

“No, um, Susie’s gonna drop me off. Thanks.” That part was certainly true. But Jeri wouldn’t ever know that once Marlee cleaned up from the game, Susie was going to take her right back out again. And ironically they would probably end up at Lake Birch.

Chapter Eight

People Like Us

MARLEE PRACTICALLY TREMBLED all the way back to her house. Susie’s car, a compact Toyota something-or-other, forced Marlee to sit so close to Susie that their arms almost touched. And when Susie’s hand closed over hers it was thrilling and scary all at the same time. She even got a little light-headed. She couldn’t believe that simply holding someone’s hand could make you dizzy. Holding Bobby’s hand had never made her feel this way. Not even close.

When they got to her house, Marlee saw that her mother wasn’t home yet. She directed Susie to pull the car all the way up the long driveway to the kitchen door in the back.

“We never use the front door,” Marlee said. “If anybody knocks on that door we probably don’t know them.”

Susie smiled. “And then you can pretend you’re not home, right? Is it okay to park here?”

“Yeah, sure. My mom parks in the garage.”

They got out of the car and Susie opened the trunk so Marlee could retrieve her softball bag. “Thanks for the lift,” Marlee said aloud, but her eyes sent a silent message.

“Of course. Now let’s get you cleaned up so I can get you alone.” Message received.

The two girls went into the kitchen. Marlee called for her mother just to make absolutely sure she wasn’t home. Receiving no answer she threw her softball bag on the kitchen floor and wheeled around to face Susie. Susie turned the deadbolt on the door. Lips met willing lips. Susie reached for one of Marlee’s hands and kissed the open palm. She placed the palm against her chest just beneath her throat.

“Do you feel my heart pounding?”

Marlee stood frozen. “Yes.” It was barely a whisper.

“You’d better go take a shower because I don’t know if I’ll be able to control myself much longer.” Susie grinned.

Marlee felt the color rise to her already inflamed cheeks. She swallowed hard. She leaned in for one last kiss before she took the stairs two at a time. She stopped at the top, looked down at Susie, and said, “I can’t believe you’re here. In my house. Waiting for me.”

Susie just smiled.

“Oh, and if my mom comes home, uh, introduce yourself, I guess.” She flew into her room at the top of the stairs.

When Marlee stepped out of the shower, she heard voices in the kitchen. Oh no, Mom came home. Marlee towel-dried her hair so furiously that she almost gave herself towel burns. She threw on her robe and practically skipped to her bedroom. She left the door ajar as she got dressed. What was the harm in a little eavesdropping among friends and family? She heard her mother say, “Well, I’m glad you and Marlee are friends. I was concerned about that big rivalry.”

Susie responded, “Well, actually, I never took it too seriously. Both teams are good so that makes us competitive. Of course, we did beat them last time.”

“Oh yeah?” Marlee called down to the kitchen. “Well, you just wait until next time.”

“And,” Susie raised her voice so Marlee would be sure to hear every word, “I’m sure I don’t have to remind her that the only grand slam I’ve ever hit in my life was off her.”

“Keep it up, wise guy,” Marlee called down. She kept buttoning her shirt the wrong way. Slow down, she chided herself.
She’s not going anywhere without you.
“I’ll be down in a minute. I’m almost ready.”

She sat on the edge of her bed to put her sneakers on and looked toward the door. Susie was just beyond that door and down the stairs. She took a deep breath. She wanted to be calm when she went downstairs to greet her mother. She didn’t want her mom to guess anything about what Susie really meant to Marlee. Because even she didn’t know what that was yet. She frantically searched for her Clarksonville sweatshirt and finally found it on her dad’s recliner, under the cat.

“Oh, Patches. Are you getting kitty hair on my sweatshirt?” She nudged the cat off. Patches cried her disapproval. After a quick inspection, Marlee decided that the sweatshirt was ready for active duty and patted Patches on the head. “Sorry girl, but this has to be a perfect night. Susie’s here. The one I’ve been telling you about. I’ll tell you all about our...”
What should I call this? A date? Is this a date? Oh, my God. I think this is a date.
“I’ll tell you all about my date when I get home.” She patted the cat again.

She paused at the top of the stairs when she heard Susie say, “Well, actually, I’m still a junior, so I don’t know where I’m going to college yet. I have to get financial aid from somewhere so Harvard’s probably out.” Susie laughed and Marlee melted at the sound. “I’ll probably go to one of the SUNY’s, maybe Brockport in Rochester. They offer a Bachelor’s in Geology there.”

“Geology? How did you get interested in that?” her mother asked.

Marlee knew that Susie was a junior like she was, but she didn’t know Susie had a thing for geology. Marlee wanted to major in physics or engineering or something like that. Mrs. Stratton had told her about the physics program at Cornell University. Marlee liked the idea of going to an Ivy League college and Mrs. Stratton hinted that Marlee had good enough grades, but like Susie, tuition would be an issue. She wondered with a scheming smile if she could major in physics at SUNY Brockport.

Susie answered her mother’s question. “Oh, when I took Earth Science, my teacher loved geology. She had a passion for plate tectonics and stuff. I caught the bug for it, I guess.”

Marlee started down the stairs slowly. She realized with sudden unease that she really didn’t know this girl in her kitchen. She heard Susie laugh at something her mother said, and her unease dissipated like snow on a softball field in April. She bounded down the rest of the stairs.

“Hi, Mom.” Marlee gave her mother a hug. “We’re going, Mom.”

Her mother laughed. “Was it something I said? Did you win today?”

Marlee hugged her mother again. “Yeah. I almost had a no-hitter.” She nudged Susie toward the door. “We’re going to Valley Lanes to meet Jeri and the gang. I don’t want to be late.”