The Long Winter #24
Sex, Lies, and Digital Video Uploads 2 part three
Clark swung and hit the ball off his wooden bat with a satisfying crack. It soared high, straight up into the air and came down a foot or two before the pitcher’s mound. He sighed and lined up for the next pitch.
“I thought only the baseball team got to use the pitch machines?”
“I know how to run them,” Clark grunted as he swung at the next one and missed.
“How fast is it pitching?”
“55.” He connected, looping it out over a hypothetical first baseman’s head.
“How fast can it pitch?”
“150.” A line drive out to center field. An easy out for a hypothetical center fielder.
“Come on, Clark, don’t you want to go back inside? It’s a lot warmer in my room.”
“In your bed, you mean,” Clark tossed a sly smile over his shoulder at Sandra standing behind the backstop.
“I wonder why they left these things out.”
“I heard the University football team wanted to use them during their bye week. Turns out to be my gain, too.”
He finally hit it solidly, sending a ball out to thump against the padded wall in right field.
“Probably a double,” Sandra said.
“A triple.” He swung and missed.
“A double. But you get home runs with me. Come on. Let’s go back.”
“How was your swim with Penny?” He tipped it, sending the ball careening behind him. Sandra cried out and jumped away just as it clattered against the backstop. Clark laughed.
“That wasn’t funny!”
“If she was here she would definitely laugh at you.”
“But she’s not so she can’t.”
Clark swatted another one out to center field.
“Our swim was fine. We signed up for a self-defense class.”
“Self-defense?” Another to center field.
“Yes. Some FBI director is teaching the class.”
“Oh, fuck those guys.” And another. What did he have to do to hit it to left?
“Whatever, he was fine. Penny didn’t seem to like him.”
“But she likes everyone. Including you.”
“Ha ha, Clark.” She waited while Clark turned the pitch machine off and walked around to join her behind the batting cage. “No, there was some sort of weird thing between them. Like, a conflict. It was rather exciting.”
“I’m sure it was. And now you two are going to learn how to whoop someone’s ass in this guy’s class.”
“No, just how to defend ourselves against those who would do us wrong.” She took his bat. “Mind if I take a few swings?”
“You play baseball?”
“No.”
His batting helmet was too big for her head but she was cute regardless. Clark liked how her hips swayed as she walked to the plate. She stopped and waited for him to turn it on.
“I’ll start it slow, say, 30, and we’ll go from there.”
“Sure.”
The machine whirred to life and sent a ball on a leisurely path towards home plate. Clark watched in amazement as time slowed. Sandra turned her body with her bat, her head lined up perfectly with her hips and right knee. She swung with astounding power, her elbow firmly against her side, and the muscles under her skin stood out, matching the determined set of her pretty jaw. She swung the bat in one slow, deliberate, fluid motion, a perfect arc with no wasted energy. And then she made contact and the world snapped back to full speed. The ball disappeared into the lights, the sound of its landing somewhere beyond the wall did not reach their ears. Clark was still looking at the wall, his mouth hanging open when another solid crack made him jump.
“You’ve played before!”
“I haven’t.”
“I’m turning this up. 35.”
Sandra set up and sent another ball soaring into the heavens.
“50.”
She grunted with this swing, but still muscled it towards parts unknown.
“65.”
She blasted it once again, a solid strike that bounced off the left field wall. She sent three more deep into the outfield, and then one each to right, center, and left field before Clark turned the machine off and approached home plate. She took the helmet off and smiled at him.
“That was fun.”
“Yeah, right. I thought you said you hadn’t played.”
“I played softball. I was on travel teams all through high school.”
“Didn’t you say your high school only had like 12 people in it?”
“That was my graduating class. We lived near Detroit, though, and there are lots of teams and things to do all around us. So I played softball.”
“Softball, jesus. Isn’t hitting a baseball different?”
“A little. It’s lighter though, so I can hit it farther. I probably wouldn’t have made it to the fence when you turned it up over 60 if it was a softball.”
Clark laughed and shook his head and then took her hand and began walking back to the Institute.
“We’re going to go to Bart’s friend’s Halloween party,” Clark said as they walked.
“Bart’s friend?”
“Sorority girl. Should be a good time.”
“Ugh, sorority girls. My ex-best-friend is trying to become a sorority girl. One of the reasons I chose Gravenreuth was to avoid sorority girls.”
“Understandable I guess.”
“Yep. But if we’re going to a sorority party, we’re going to a sorority party. I trust your friend Bart won’t steer us wrong.”
“He never has.”
“What are you going as?”
“I was thinking to dress up as Mark Antony.”
“It’ll be a little cold in a toga.”
“No big deal.”
Sandra giggled and her path veered slightly into his. He took a deep breath, enjoying the scent of Sandra so close to him on a cool October night. She always smelled like a warm summer night, like dew-covered wildflowers in a soft country breeze. He smiled at her, pleased to have someone so warm looped around his arm as they crossed back into the Institute campus.
“Yo! Aren’t you friends with that Mexican chick?”
“Ugh,” Sandra rolled her eyes as they turned to acknowledge the senator’s son jogging up to them.
“What’s going on, Braden?”
“I’m having a big bash this weekend and since you’re Hollywood I’m inviting you.” Braden paused and poured his eyes down Sandra’s body. “Ditch the bitch, though. Bring that Mexican chick. I got some beds she can change the sheets on and some dishes that need cleaning.”
And then he laughed and sped off.
“I hate that guy,” Sandra muttered. “I’d get mad at you for not defending me but that was a drive-by and I can’t really blame you.”
“I could always catch back up with him and whoop his ass but then he’d probably sue me with his daddy’s legion of lawyer lobbyists and I’d have to spend all my mom’s money to keep me out of debtors’ prison.”
“Just let it go. You get to come back to my room with me.”
“You could always come back to mine.”
She smiled at him and he knew they would end up in his room for once. Leah would prefer it that way, certainly. He spared a moment to be unhappy with himself for thinking of the bespectacled girl, but glad it was not Maddie who popped into his head. In love with him, that was stupid. What a stupid thing for Sandra to say. What a stupid thing to accuse the blonde girl of. She was engaged to her high school sweetheart (which in itself was kind of stupid, but that was not his business).
“I’m glad we’re going to that sorority party now,” Sandra grumbled.
“What are you going as?”
“Hm. I was going to wear my fishnet stockings and go as Zatanna.”
“I don’t know what a Zatanna is but the fishnet stockings sound good.”
“I’ll show you later. Come on. It’s getting colder.”
She huddled against him and they rushed against the wind for the dorm.
***
“…and that looks good. There. You’ve done it. You should feel good about yourself.”
Maddie smiled at Ralph.
“It wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“Well, it was a lot easier with your help, for sure.”
“I’m just glad I could help.”
“Thank you.” Maddie glanced back down at her notes. Everything seemed so much simpler. She wondered why her professor was teaching her in such a complex way. Then Ralph spoke again and she leaned away from him.
“So listen, a lot of us were invited to Braden’s Halloween party up at his lake house.” Ralph leaned towards her, but only a little.
“Yeah, I heard about that from Clark. He said Sandra wasn’t invited, but his friend had already invited all of us, even her, to some sorority party so we were planning on going to that.”
“Ah, I heard about that, too. I think Henley was invited to that, I was thinking to go there instead, actually.”
“You’ve had your fill of the lake house?”
“Well, we’ve been up there almost every other weekend this year. A change of scenery might be a good thing this time.”
Maddie laughed and nodded, but inside she was wary. She had inched a little further from him but he nearly closed the gap each time. She fought to keep her hand off his shoulder and instead busied herself with cleaning up her things.
“Yeah. We haven’t been out to many parties this year, just some luau thing that turned out okay. Penny’s not big on partying.”
“Braden talks about her a lot, it’s like he’s obsessed with her. I can’t figure out why. She’s pretty I guess but she’s so…” Ralph trailed off, caution on his face as he (thankfully) leaned away from her.
“Exotic?”
“I was thinking of a less rude way to say little-boyish.”
Maddie laughed.
“What?”
“You think she’s “little-boyish?” What does that even mean?”
“What? I don’t know. She’s, well, she has…” He shrugged, his face helpless, his hands moving up and down before him as if in the midst of a bout of epilepsy.
“Come on. You have to tell me now. She’s a grown woman, you know.”
Ralph’s face twisted with emotional pain and he squirmed in his seat. Maddie’s smile grew and she pressed forward.
“You don’t think she’s cute and girlie? She loves wearing those summer dresses even now, and even I can see she has a nice, girlie figure. She works out every morning, too. Wakes up before me and gets back all sweaty and breathless when I come out of my room, it’s actually pretty sexy.”
“Well, uh…”
“I guess she’s got small tits, but that’s not something I’d hold against her.”
Ralph nodded and laughed. “That’s what I wanted to say! She’s flat and she’s got no butt. I don’t think she’s all that girlie.”
“She’s really girlie. Check her out next time you see her. She’s got a really nice figure. I guess now she’s hiding it under sweaters and jackets since it’s gotten so cold, but she’s a fit chick with a great body. If I was Braden I’d probably want to bang her, too!”
Ralph’s face reddened at her words and he squirmed again.
“But there’s no way she would. She’s dating someone at the University right now.”
“Really? Who?”
“Some girl named Delaney.”
“Oh, right, she’s not straight…”
“Nope.”
“Well, that explains why she’s so boyish.”
Maddie laughed and swept most of her things into her bag.
“What?”
“I just went over that!”
“Whatever. It’s like you’re trying to convince me to be attracted to her.”
“I’m not, and you shouldn’t be. If she’s not your type, she’s not your type. And besides, since you’re not a girl it’s irrelevant.”
“So I guess she’s definitely not going to Braden’s party this weekend.”
“No, she’s going with us to that sorority thing.”
Ralph nodded.
“So, I guess if you’re going too, we’ll see you there.”
“Count on it.”
“Okay.” Maddie stood up and shouldered her bag. “Bye!”
“Oh, uh, bye…”
Ralph made a half-hearted attempt to stand, but his things were still everywhere and Maddie was proud of herself for using her roommate as a distraction. His discomfort was perfect for surreptitiously packing up right in front of his face without him even seeing it. There was no way he could gather his things and rush after her to escort her back to the dorm. She did not look back at him as she bounced down the hall and out of his sight. It would not be the last time she saw him that week. There was still the party to get through. She wondered what Clark was going as. Had he coordinated a costume with Sandra?
Stop thinking about Clark and ESPECIALLY about Sandra…
Penny had a cute costume. A very girlie costume, perfect for her petite, girlie figure. Although apparently she was not woman enough to register as a human female to Ralph. Ridiculous. Even Maddie found her attractive, to a certain degree.
Otherwise I would never have teased her so mercilessly, or danced with her at Worxx. At least she doesn’t hang out with Clark so much anymore. Now she’s spending time with Sandra. That fucking bitch. That might not be any better. That might actually be worse! God, I hate her so much…
And she wrestled with her Sandra-shaped thoughts the rest of the way to her room. Penny was not there. She glanced at the time. It was probably her nightly dinner date with Leah. Maddie had already eaten, of course, with some classmates from her last class. She sighed and pulled her phone from her bag and flopped backwards on her bed. Time for her own nightly date with her bo—her fiancé, prompting another feeling of dread she had to wrestle down before she hit the call button. When she was confident in the radiance of her smile she started. Hopefully tonight would go well. But she could only hope as the phone rang and rang.
Follow The Long Winter into #25 Sex, Lies, and Digital Video Uploads 2 part four here.