In PE, Joey had her hair down. I was reminded of how much I was attracted to her. The truth was, Joey’s long soft waves had taken me by surprise. Usually, she wore her hair up in a ponytail, and I’d never noticed the curls like I did this morning.
When I was close enough to take in the scent of Joey’s hair, I’d leaned in to get a better smell when she turned around. I let out my breath when I figured out I hadn’t been caught sniffing her hair, though I startled her when she realized how close I was. Well, Joey didn’t catch me. Cassidy was another story.
“Sorry,” I mumbled and tried to play it off that I hadn’t been paying attention to where I was going.
For once, Cassidy kept her mouth shut about my perving on Joey.
Today, the gruesome twosome had me running sprints. They used my morning PE class for cardio types of activities, and then after school, I usually lifted. This was the opposite of what most of the other players did. Joey reasoned that lifting took longer than an hour to do right. I think they just enjoyed torturing me twice a day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Before Joey had come along, I lifted five days a week. I would alternate between legs and upper body. She wanted my body to ‘rest’ between using weights. It was a little unorthodox, but I felt better because of her approach. Of course, the cardio tended to be all body types of exercises, so I needed the breaks from lifting.
Joey contended that for baseball, I had to be more explosive and concentrate on my core, which was critical in batting and throwing. I didn’t need to beef up as much as I did to take a pounding on the football field.
◊◊◊
At lunch, Tim and Wolf stopped me before we joined the table to show me the text Frank planned to send out. I’d told Frank to get their approval before I saw it, since the whole mess involved them too.
“Why did he add the last line about respecting our decision?” Tim asked.
“So that we don’t have a bunch of trolls doxing us, which leads to people showing up at our homes to give us grief,” Wolf explained.
“You should be okay,” I said.
“Do you even read your own social media?” Wolf asked.
“Hell, no! If I wanted that kind of abuse, I would go home and let my mom have a free shot at me.”
“Sometimes I forget the crap you have to put up with,” Tim said, shaking his head.
“I’m just lucky I live here. I shudder to think what it would be like if I lived in LA, where the paparazzi would stalk me 24/7.”
“You poor thing,” Wolf teased.
“Have you asked Gina to be your girlfriend yet?” I asked to turn the discussion from me.
The wimps both decided that they had to hurry up and get in the lunch line. I was still eating leftover lasagna, so I went to sit down with everyone else.
“Dad said that someone from the St. Louis Cardinals is coming to practice tonight to talk to you,” Cassidy shared.
Being a Cubs fan, I made a face. My worst nightmare would be to play for them or the Yankees. I think everyone hated the Yankees. Then again, they did pay their top talent. I could probably hold my nose and live in New York if they offered me a couple hundred million.
“Want to trade lunches?” Chrissy asked to sidetrack me.
She was eyeing my lasagna. Today, I had the roasted veggie version.
“What do you have?” I asked.
“
I looked at it and wasn’t sure if it was a good trade or not. When I hesitated, Chrissy explained the history of the dish.
“During the Korean War, the country was devastated. Many of the women were widowed, so they had to find a way to make a living. One of the alternatives was selling food. Part of the aid from the United States was flour, and not knowing what else to do with the flour, they started making knife-cut noodles.
“My mom makes a traditional recipe. The broth is made with dried anchovies, shellfish, and kelp,” she finished with a smile.
“Dude!” Phil complained when I made the trade.
