A Rat's Chance Ch. 2

Part 2: Take Me Out To The Ballgame

And I did see her again. Allie along with Kate and Jack, of course, became regular visitors on the weekends and occasionally during the week. Most of the time it was just for a swim on a hot day, or to enjoy one of my famous cold drink recipes. But there was no disguising the look in Allie's spectacular eyes when we'd meet or the special curl in her lips when she'd smile at me. Never having a poker face, I'm sure she could see right through any of my pretensions, so I just tried to relax and enjoy her company. I began to feel the void inside me begin to fill, especially when she was around. And each time we met, the greeting seemed more effusive, the kiss on the cheek moved to the lips and lingered a bit longer. Around midsummer, I got a call from Jack asking if I wanted to check out the baseball game that night at the new ballpark. It seems that Allie had come up with a set of four tickets and thought of us.

"Sure, why not?" I said.

"Great," Jack replied. "Why don't you meet us at my place about six?"

"Sure thing," I agreed, thinking quickly of how I could get out of a late meeting so I could meet up with my friends, old and new.

Jack and Kate were outside on his porch having a cold one when I pulled up in front. Kate sat casually on one of the Adirondack chairs I remembered helping Jack make several years ago. He stood behind her and to the side, his hand sort of resting on her head, almost as if he were petting it. As I stepped up to join them on the porch, the scent of wildflowers greeted my nose.

"Hi, stranger!" came Allie's voice from inside.

"Hello," I said, looking over to see her step outside. "You look terrific!"

"Thank you," she replied modestly, looking down and away from my admiring gaze.

I was quickly transfigured by her appearance. Her dark hair was pulled back and pinned tightly behind her head. She was wearing a short denim skirt with a silky and skimpy light blue top. A sheer white blouse unbuttoned but tied at the waist covered her bare shoulders. She smiled sweetly, her lips parting just enough to show off her perfect teeth and a hint of her dainty pink tongue. A telltale warm flush feeling rushed up and tingled inside me as she stepped up next to me. Almost by instinct, my arm reached out around her waist and pulled her close. Her steely blue eyes looked up and gazed deeply into mine before closing for a short sweet kiss.

"You ready Champ?" Jack called out to me.

"Let's roll!" I replied and lead the way down to my car.

"No antique tonight?" Allie asked as I helped her into my recent model STS.

"Not to a downtown parking lot we don't," I smiled, holding the door open for her, gazing longingly at the gorgeous flash of her legs as her skirt rode up as she slipped onto her seat.

The ride downtown took barely a half hour and we found a great parking space close to the ballpark. As our happy group walked up toward the gate, I reached down and took Allie's hand in mine. When our hands touched, she looked up at me as if surprised, but then gripped my hand tightly. None of us had been down since the new park had opened and we took our time wandering around checking the place out.

"Not too bad," Jack remarked.

"Seems a lot roomier than the old place," I added.

"But it doesn't have the same character as the old park," Kate said wistfully.

"I like it," Jack said, gesturing toward the field and the city skyline beyond the right field fence. "Nice view don't you think?"

"It will take time before we forget the old place, no doubt," I said to Kate. "I miss it too."

She smiled back. I took Allie's arm and we looked for and found where our seats were located. Since the game wouldn't start for a while we decided to stop and get some refreshments before sitting down. While waiting in line I heard a couple of familiar voices calling out.

"Hey! Jack! Greg! Over here!"

When I looked in the direction of the voices, the friendly faces of Ronny Duncan and Steven Lansing were smiling back. They were some friends of Jack's who had become friends of mine over the years.

"Hey, guys!" Jack called out. "What are you doing here?"

"Just checking out the new stadium," Ronny said extending his hand to Jack.

"So how's it going?" Steven said, doing the same to me.

"So what do you think of all this?" Jack asked, shaking Steven's hand as Kate pressed up against him.

"Nice place," Ronny replied.

"Except that it looks like they didn't finish it," Steven cracked with a smile, looking around at all of the rough concrete and exposed steel beams that passes for modern architecture these days.

Kate and Allie were just standing there looking on, probably wondering who the hell these guys were.

"Say, Ronny and Steven," I interjected. "This is Allie and Kate."

"Well, hell-o ladies," said Ronny, flashing his famous charming smile and dimples.

"This is Ronny Duncan and Steven Lansing, a couple of old buddies of Jack's," I went on, placing my hand up on Allie's back.

The girls said hello and very politely and lady-like shook hands with them.

"Hey!" Ronny protested. "We're not that old!"

We chitchatted with the guys for a few minutes while we waited our turn at the concession. When we neared the front of the line, Ronny and Steven waved and moved off to find their seats. I turned to Allie, who had been pretty quiet ever since we had arrived.

"So what would you like?" I asked her.

"Just a beer and nachos I guess," she replied.

As I gave our order, I felt her slip in behind me, almost as if hiding. I turned to face her and slipped my arm around her for a moment, but she seemed to pull away so I let the arm drop. As I moved to the side with our order, Jack stepped up and barked out his order.

"What is this?" Kate asked when he handed her the Bratwurst smothered in onions and peppers. She eyed the steaming sausage suspiciously.

"This is dinner, honey," he said.

"I don't really like these," she remarked, crinkling up her nose.

"Oh, you're gonna love 'em!" Jack said taking her arm and moving off. "It's not a trip to the ball park without a Hamtramck brat!"

Our seats turned out to be among the best in the house, behind home plate along the first base side.

"Where'd you get these seats?" I asked Allie once we had settled in.

"From my work," she replied, stuffing her pretty little face with the chips and cheese. "Season tickets. I finally got my shot at them."

"Well thank you," I remarked. "It was nice of you to ask."

Her only reply was that famous smile, her full lips slightly parted with just a hint of tongue showing. She must have noticed the effect that her smile had on me. I thought that she was going to say something back to me, but she only raised her hand and lightly tapped my shoulder. We turned back to the field and watched more of the pre-game activities. Just before the game started, I heard some voices call out from behind us.

"Allie! Allie!"

As I turned around to check out the voices, I saw a panicked look cross her face and she turned around hesitantly to see who it was calling her name.

"Who's that?" Kate asked her.

"Friends of Chad," she said softly, almost as if hoping I wouldn't be able to hear. She gave a little wave to them and turned right back toward the field. She seemed relieved when some other people moved into the empty seats in the rows behind us.

The highlight of the night was probably the national anthem since the ball game itself wasn't much fun, particularly since the home team fell behind by six runs before the second inning was over. By the fourth inning, the girls were ready to wander around and so we wended our way out from the seats along the concourse. When I caught a glimpse of the cute baseball-themed Merry-Go-Round, I tried to get everyone to take a whirl, but to no avail. I did manage to get everyone onto the Ferris wheel for a spin and enjoyed seeing Allie smile and laugh as the breeze blew her hair about her face.

"I haven't done something like this in years!" she laughed, snuggling up warmly inside my arm.

I didn't bother trying to figure out how long it had been since I had ridden a Ferris wheel, but it was wonderful to share it with her. We tried getting into a loud boisterous restaurant, but it was reserved for the prime season ticket holders only. We found another place nearby and found some seats near the window where we could people watch and have one last round or two. As the game neared it's end, we moved out through the crowd and headed toward our exit. I heard a voice call out loudly.

"Hey, Allie!"

I saw the look of panic cross her face again and felt her pull up close beside me and push harder through the crowd.

"Don't you want to stop and say hello?" I asked.

"Not really," she replied, continuing to push onward.

"Well it's too late," I remarked into her ear as I saw a couple of guys push their way forward toward us.

"Hey, Allie! How're ya doing?" called out a big muscular guy with close-cropped blond hair. He was accompanied by another nearly equally big guy with short dark hair who obviously knew her too.

She released my arm and stood off to the side, bringing out her big smile.

"I'm all right," she replied. "What're you guys doing here?"

"Just checking out the game," said the dark guy. "Who's your friend?"

"Oh, this is Greg," she said reluctantly gesturing in my direction. "He's a uh, a client."

"Hey, cool," said the blond guy, who stuck out his beefy paw to shake my hand. "Nice to meet you! Jeff Williams."

"Greg Howard," I answered feeling his strong firm grip nearly crush my hand.

"Jay Mendoza," said the other one, holding out his hand to shake mine.

"So how's my favorite girl?" said Jeff, slipping his arm around Allie's shoulders and hugging her close.

She smiled politely but she looked uncomfortable as if she couldn't wait to get away. There was something familiar about these two. I could have sworn that I had seen them sometime, someplace, but couldn't remember exactly when or where.

"How'd you like the game?" Jay asked.

When Allie hesitated, I decided to take the lead.

"The game was pretty bad," I started out, "But the stadium and the crowd are pretty entertaining."

"We should really be going," Allie remarked as the crowd began to push along around us.

"Yeah, we should too. S'been great seeing ya!" called out Jeff with a wave, as she began to pull me away.

"Nice meeting you," I said waving toward them.

Jay waved as well and soon we were out of sight of them.

"So?" Allie said once we had moved far enough away.

"So what?" I replied, when she looked over at me apprehensively. "You must know them because they seem to know you pretty well."

"They're friends of, uh, an old boyfriend of mine," she replied almost timidly.

"They're big as football players."

"They are," she replied.

Then it dawned on me where I had seen them before. Jeff Williams was fullback and Jay Mendoza was a corner back for the Lions and I had seen them several times on television.

"They seemed pretty nice and you were kind of rude," I remarked.

"I know," she admitted. "They kind of took me by surprise."

We looked around for Jack and Kate but couldn't see them anywhere among the strange faces heading toward the exits.

"Let's just meet them at the car, okay?" I suggested.

"You don't think they got lost, do you?" Allie asked.

"Jack never gets lost," I cracked. "So I'm sure he won't even have to stop and ask for directions!"

We sorted our way out through the crowd and found my car easily enough. We stood beside it for a few moments waiting for our friends, but didn't see them anywhere around.

"I hope they get here soon," I said, leaning back against the fender of the car. "Of course knowing those two lovebirds, we could be here all night before they're ready to go."

"I don't mind," Allie remarked looking at me with those incredible blue eyes.

"You want to sit inside?" I suggested. "We might be more comfortable."

"Sure, why not," she replied and slipped inside when I opened the door for her.

We settled into the front seats and she adjusted her seat back to recline slightly. I reached up to open the sunroof. As the fresh night air flowed inside the car, she began to relax.

"I live for summer nights like this," she remarked breathing deeply. "It's like the world is so new and alive."

"This time of year is nice," I said, looking over at her as she leaned back, raising her arms up above her head and closing her eyes. "You know, the past month or two have flown by for me. I don't know about you."

"What do you mean?" she asked, opening her eyes to glance over at me.

"Well since we've started hanging around together, I've really started enjoying myself again."

"You don't seem like the type to sit around moping over anything," she said.

"I don't," I said. "It's just that being around you makes me feel so much younger. I might come home dog tired, but if Jack calls up and says you guys are coming over to do something, I just perk right up."

"It's like you're that old or anything, Greg," she remarked. "At least you don't seem old."

"How old do you think I am?"

"I figure you for about thirty or thirty-five," she said hesitantly.

I laughed loudly and pointed a finger upward.

"What?" she said. "Thirty-five or forty?"

I kept pointing.

"You're kidding me!" she called out, her eyes twinkling. She clamped her hands to her ears. "I don't want to know, now!"

"That's what makes what I going to say so difficult," I said softly. She pulled her hands away from her ears. "It's been so long since I've felt this way about anyone and I'm really hesitant to tell you, but over the past couple of months I've become awfully fond of you."

"Well, I guess because of your advanced age that I will have to start showing more respect for you, sir."

"Don't be silly," I laughed.

"I'm not silly," she said, looking at me with a still and serious look on her face, that soon melted into a smile, then a laugh. There was something quite irresistible about her stretched out in the passenger's seat, her trim legs extending down from the little denim skirt, her proud breasts fighting through the skimpy little blue top to show off their perfectly round shape. And the lazy look in her eyes and the hair swirling about her face mesmerized me. As for the smile, there was nothing I wouldn't do for her if she so much as grinned at me.

"What was that business about a client?" I asked.

"Oh, that?" she said looking out the window on her side. "Nothing. I don't know where that came from."

"You're not up to something are you?" I asked.

She looked over at me as if to say something but just shook her head instead.

"Hey, it's none of my business anyhow," I remarked, leaning back in my seat. "It's not like we're lovers or anything."

"No, we're not," she replied.

Suddenly there was a tapping on my side window and I looked out to see Kate and Jack standing outside. They slipped inside and we were soon underway. The first part of our cruise back to Jack's place was filled with chatter about the game, the stadium, and the crowd. After a while, when I noticed that grew pretty quiet in the backseat, I checked out the rearview mirror and saw Kate and Jack intertwined in a hot passionate embrace, not unlike one I remembered seeing many years ago when Jack and I were still in college (or was it high school?).

"Say, the Crestwood motel is coming up," I cracked. "You want me to pull over so you two can get a room?"

There were a couple of chuckles in the back seat that were soon muffled and little more was heard from behind except for some heavy breathing and the sound of two people necking furiously. Allie and I exchanged knowing glances from time to time when one of the lovers would sigh loudly. But as we drove along I couldn't help but feel that she was looking at me strangely. I wanted to reach over and take her hand. I tried to think of witty things to say, but could come up with nothing. Maybe she didn't really like me. Maybe I had made a fool of myself in talking about how I felt. Maybe the difference in our ages was too much for her to keep on. At the end of the evening and I had dropped them all off, I felt hurt and confused and drove away thinking that I'd never see Allie again.

To be continued ...