Game Night

The crowd was ready. The boys were ready. Roosevelt was not ready. Sure, she had already told the boys what drills and stretches to run, but she wasn't prepared to be stuck sitting/standing opposite to the handsome outfielder. She couldn't get his smile or kind eyes out of her mind. Plus his voice...She hated herself for acting like a lovesick kid. Her brain had unnecessarily put him on repeat; her night, morning, and afternoon had consisted of simply going through the motions all the while she thought about him. It hadn't helped that she had gone onto Intagram to witness all that was Christian Yelich. Granted, she never used her Instagram, but maybe she'd look at the app more. It had taken all her will power to not follow him. 'No evidence.'

Her brother had readily noticed her being preoccupied but refrained from asking her what was up with her as he figured she'd talk to him when she was ready. Plus, he figured that his surprise would be enough to shake her from her funk. Chapman had also taken notice of the woman's lack of personality, and he couldn't have some dude from Milwaukee take it away, even if the dude was clueless about it.

"Hey, Rosie. I need a new walk up song, any suggestions?" He asked as he exited the clubhouse. He was always one of the first players out. Turning, she flashed him her trademark smile, and smugly returned, "Now you want my advice? There's nothing wrong with Travis Scott."

"I think I'm tired of 'Antidote' though." He challenged with a smirk. Nodding in understanding, she pulled her long hair up into a high ponytail and offered, "I'm quite partial to 'Back to the Hotel' by N2Deep."

"I'll give it a shot."

"Aww, I'm touched. You're gonna feel like a badass when that intro plays." She retorted with a brief laugh before hauling her stuff to the dugout. She carefully placed her things off to the side and waited. The players trickled in. After pacing, she finally took a seat and readily noted how atypically quiet it was in the dugout and on the field.

"What?" she mouthed to Chad Pinder who simply shook his head. He wasn't going to tell her.

"Attention. Attention please. It is time for the opening pitch. The Oakland Athletics are excited to give a warm welcome to their very own Roosevelt Olson. Miss Olson is a two- time Olympic medalist, earning a silver and gold respectively. She and her beach volleyball partner are the current world champions. Now, she works as a trainer with the Athletics. Welcome Miss Olson."

Her jaw dropped. She was absolutely stunned. All the players were grinning ear to ear. They were all in on it.

Quickly pulling herself together, Roosevelt slapped her trademark grin on and headed out to the mound. The crowd went wild as she was handed a baseball. She waved all around to the energized Oakland crowd. Her eyes stayed a little bit longer on the faithful right field bleachers. They appropriately gave a drumming rhythm to get ready to throw out the pitch.

Looking to her left, her eyes quickly met Christian's. He gave her an encouraging smile and nod. Roosevelt silently wished she had him around all the time-his encouragement felt genuine and strong.

Turning, she moved to stare down Chappy; she wound up and threw her classic fastball, which landed perfectly for a strike. The clock showed 70mph. The crowd oohed and awed. Loud music boomed in celebration. She glanced back over to Christian who looked absolutely astonished. Well, that infatuation would end. No man likes to be overshadowed.
'And another one bites the dust.' She thought to herself. Her shoulders briefly slumped only to be quickly put back up as Matt met her at the mound. "You throw hard."

"That's what she said." She quipped causing him to chuckle and flash her a grin. It was easy for Roosevelt to admit that she loved Chapman. He was basically her twin brother from another mother.

"An amazing strike to begin the game. Well done Roosevelt and welcome to Oakland." The announcer stated, giving the crowd an opportunity to give her some more love. That was one thing that she loved about Oakland--their fans were loyal and fun.
Leaving the mound as quickly as possible, she spat a quick, "You're in so much trouble," to the Matts and headed toward the unisex bathroom to collect her nerves. A part of her felt honored and thankful to the guys-they obviously put the whole thing together; the other part was embarrassed. She didn't want to be known for playing in the Olympics as that was only a part of who she was.

Shaking off the negativity, Roosevelt resolved to get back to her old self and give the boys in green her best. No man should impact her self-confidence or worth. She had just thrown a 70-mph fastball dammit. That was another secret out of the bag. She really didn't want to open that bag any further.

Returning to the dugout, she was greeted with a unified shout "DOC!" Promptly, she returned "BOYS!!" The loud greetings drew the opposing team's interest. The Oakland team had odd traditions and quirks, but it seemed to always benefit them. Ryan Braun shook his head in amused disbelief, "I thought the MC Hammer tradition was enough; now they have a whole new spark over there. She's going to give them a boost come post season."

Yelich and Shaw nodded at the veteran's comment. Christian unconsciously smiled as his eyes caught her trotting between the dugout and the pitcher's warm up mound. He couldn't believe how good she was-at baseball and helping the players. He felt a slight pang of jealousy as he viewed her chatting with Chris Bassitt and then her practically manhandling his shoulder before he resumed his throwing.

"She just made him throw better. We need one of her on this team." Lorenzo Cain commented, and various voices agreed.

"Meanwhile, Yeli is daydreaming about the enemy." Shaw teased with a chuckle. The other players noticed that Christian didn't reply or defend himself, which was odd. He'd normally have a witty retort. The trainer from Oakland seemed to have cast a spell over the 2018 NL MVP.

Shortly after, the players went out to stand for the national anthem, and then it was time to begin.

"Show 'em the town!!" She cheered as the boys headed out to play defense for the top of the first. Once they were out there, she couldn't cheer anymore, but they all knew. It was a quick 1-2-3 for Bassitt, which prompted the A's to be at bat. Roosevelt smirked with Chappy was announced and the 'Back to the Hotel' intro played sending Oakland fans wild. She high fived a bunch of players for making the song suggestion. Semien looked at her, "Me, next. Aight?"

Immediately, her mind flipped through her Spotify account, "Totally. 'X' by Schoolboy Q, 2 Chainz."

"Dope. I'll change it for tomorrow's game."

A triumphant grin spread across her face, and she resumed making her rounds with the guys.

The night went by quickly and before she knew it, it was the tenth inning, and the teams were tied at 2 a piece. Though, there was one at bat that Christian was clearly frustrated. A part of her wanted him to do well, but that would have been at the demise of her employer, coworkers, family, and friends, which was not cool. She made peace with the cute acquaintance's frustration. It was the nature of the game. He had his own hit later that led to a run, etc. He was doing just fine, or so she thought. Roosevelt had no idea that he was frustrated that she hadn't made more attempts to make eye contact.

Sighing, she watched her brother get ready to bat. Moving stealthily toward the warm-up area, she muttered, "End this, and I'll introduce you to Jessie." Jessie was an Olympic indoor volleyball player whose day job was a marketing executive in San Francisco. The two had roomed at Rio. Mattie had always been interested, and Roosevelt had always refused, until now. All she wanted to do was go home, possibly do a yoga set, and sip on some Sonoma wine.

Matt silently grinned at her, and she returned it. As she turned to head back to her seat, her eyes were drawn to right field. There he was, waiting for whatever her brother was going to dish out. Hopefully, he wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

Bottom of the 10th, 1 out.

She watched her brother walk up, and when the pitch was delivered, the familiar crack of the bat brought the coliseum to life.

"And that baby is gone!" It was a walk-off. 'Celebration' could be heard from the speakers.

The bench cleared to greet the younger Olson at home plate; Roosevelt leading the charge. "Mattie!!!!"

"Jessies number!!!" he shouted back with a shit eating grin. Rolling her eyes, she stepped out of the celebration circle and spotted Christian slowly making his way from the outfield. He had been the one to try to take the homer away, and from his current posture, he pulled something.

Going against her better judgement and forfeiting her previous laid plans, she trotted over to the injured player. "Hey Christian!"

He looked up and gave her a pained smile. "Hey. I guess I couldn't stop your brother tonight, huh?"

She waved off the walk off with a nonchalant flick of the wrist, "He had an odd incentive to end the game. Any who, not to be creepy, but I can't help but notice that you hurt yourself trying to stop Mattie. While I can't officially work on you here, I can take you back to my place and try to fix it?"

She wanted to slap herself. What kind of phrasing was that? Meanwhile, Christian was stunned. She wanted to take him back to her place? A part of him acknowledged that she was just trying to help him, and the other part was smug.

"Thank you. Uh, I guess I'll ride with you then Uber back to the hotel?" He managed to reply.

She smiled, nodded, and muttered, "I gotta check the guys real quick. I'll meet you in the player lobby?"

"Sounds good." He replied with a large smile. This was a dream. It had to be.

"Alrighty then. See ya in a bit." She concluded with a small smile. Turning, she added with a small smirk, "Oh, don't move too quickly." The double meaning wasn't lost on him. Roosevelt Olson was a flirt. 'A beautiful flirt.'

As soon as she'd arrived, she was gone.

"What was that about?" Cain asked as the two entered the visiting clubhouse.

"She offered to fix my back." Yelich offered with a shrug. He had to play this cool. They were both adults, and his teammates would never let this go. Cain busted out laughing and patted his shoulder, "Is that what the kids call it these days?" Some of the other players laughed at the outfielder's joke. Christian turned red and headed for the showers.