I got in with them and had fun with the boys. When we were done, I took them into the shower and gave them baths. Playing in the water tuckered them out.
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Chapter 42 – A Kiss to Build a Dream On Friday May 13
I got up and ran with Duke. Peggy had her last final today and needed to study, and my running pal Rachel and her dog Buster were off to visit her grandparents in Wisconsin. So Duke and I were alone. I was glad, in a way, because it gave me a chance to reflect on the school year.
Another one of my closest friends was graduating and going off into the world. Jim had been brought into my life by his sister Suzanne. It was a reminder that I only had one more year of high school left. I could foresee that this time next year, I would be at a crossroads of sorts. I would need to decide what to do after graduation.
Movies were somewhat of a given, in the short term. I had my commitment to the
Football had gone from something I would never have imagined I would do to something I loved. I’d worked hard to become the best, and was fortunate that I had the physical ability. Football also appealed to the guy in me; I liked the physicality of it. I also appreciated that it was a team sport that uses strategy and force of will to win.
Then there was my true love, baseball. The twelve-year-old in me still had dreams of winning a world series with the Cubs. Tami would play second, with me at short. This summer, I would learn a lot about baseball and hopefully find out whether it was a viable option. Like other opportunities in my life, there had been someone who had opened the door to that possibility. When I’d taken hitting instruction in LA, I never dreamed I would get a chance to play with the very best baseball talent in my age group this summer.
Like the Elite 11 opportunity, I planned to take it and see how far I could go. I’d started to think it might be possible to make my baseball dream a reality. All that I was afraid of was that Tami wasn’t going to be my second baseman. That, and the Cubs might be good enough this year to actually win it without me.
So those were my three choices. Did I become a movie star, go to college to play football, or get drafted and play baseball? Uncle John was right. There was no reason to grow up too fast. All I could do was my best. I had faith that whatever I was destined to do would eventually be revealed to me. If all else failed, I could either become a farmer or go into politics. It was good to have a fallback plan.
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Duke and I came home to find Tami’s car in my driveway. She must be home for the summer. I let Duke in the back door so he could get his morning loving and ran up to my apartment to take a shower.
“Honey, I’m home!” I called as I bounded up the stairs.
“You don’t know how many times I’ve dreamed of hearing that,” Tami said as she greeted me with a hug and a kiss.
“Your loss,” I said and stepped into my bedroom.
I stripped off and heard her giggle as I left her sitting on my bed while I showered. I came out with a towel around my waist as I dried my hair.
“When are you going to finally pick a girlfriend?” Tami asked.
“What do you mean? I don’t need no stinkin’ girlfriend. That would just cramp my style.”
“Can you be serious for like two seconds?” she asked.
“Oh, come on. You can’t seriously want to talk about my love life the minute you get home for summer vacation,” I huffed.
“I worry about you. Tracy told me she’s concerned that I’ve broken you.”
“Like she has room to talk.”
Tami sighed as only teenage girls could. What makes teenage boys such a problem for them? Could it be that we don’t need them to boss us around, and then they get frustrated when we want to watch baseball and not talk about our feelings? No wonder a beer goes with watching a baseball game. Wait—was it pizza and beer? No matter. Beer goes with both.
“You need a girlfriend,” Tami announced.
“You’ve been here ten minutes, and you’re already trying to run my life. Did I do something to piss you off?” I asked.
“David,” she whined.
“Tami,” I whined back.
“You make me so mad sometimes,” she said as she crossed her arms.
“I know what’ll make you like me,” I said.
I could tell she really was trying to be mad at me, but I knew how to head that off. Walking over to my music docking station for my phone, I put on Pink—
“That’s right … Naked Dance Party!”
I ripped my towel off and began to dance. Tami was now smiling, and her head was bobbing.
“Come on, dance with me,” I encouraged.
I don’t know many girls who don’t like to dance. She got up and showed me she had some new moves.
“Shake it, Baby,” she said.
