Maple Street Revisited part 3

The remainder of his day was uneventful, some schoolwork and a trip to the gym rounded out the day. Some of his friends invited him out for drinks on Friday. It was two guys and a girl he'd worked with on a group project the previous semester. A group project they all now referred to as The Unicorn. The one group project that any of them had been involved with, or even heard about, where everyone had pulled their weight and had a great time working together. They met at a Mexican restaurant they all liked, catching up over the chips and salsa.

After dinner they migrated to a pool hall that shared the parking lot. They arrived early enough to get a table, ordered a pitcher of beer and Jeremy started racking. The waitress appeared with their pitcher and 4 glasses, setting it down on the high-top by their pool table. She was 5ft 5in tall, raven black hair in a ponytail that came just down to her shoulder blades. A black skirt that was barely long enough to be decent was covered by the white waitress apron. The white T-shirt advertising the pool hall she was wearing had been cut off just below her breasts and tied in back pulling it tight. It was tough to tell with the lighting in the place, but Jeremy was pretty sure he could make out her nipples pressing against the fabric.

"Hi, I'm Jessica and I'll be taking care of you tonight, if there's anything else you need let me know." She fixed her eyes on Jeremy and repeated, "anything" before strolling off.

"Well, that's one way to fish for tips," his friend Brittney said as she walked off.

"Concentrate you two, we're playing pool," Britney gave Todd and Rich a little push, the two were staring at the waitress' shapely bottom as she headed back to the bar.

The two made an exaggerated show of snapping out of it and Jeremy finished the rack.

"Teams?" He enquired.

"Let's go boy's against girls," Todd announced looking at Jeremy. "You and Brittney against me and Rich."

"That's a bit offensive, and we're going to mop the floor with you for saying it," Britney retorted taking her pool cue out of it's case.

Rich joined the banter, "Well, you ladies are the experts on mopping I suppose."

Jeremy rolled his eyes and looked to Brittney, "My break."

"Absolutely."

He wasn't the best pool player, but he had a break like a sledgehammer and demonstrated it once again, pocketing two balls in the process. He added one more to the tally before a miss turned things over to the other team. Rich made a clean shot but missed the following one and Brittney took over.

Her grandparents had a pool table and she had grown up with some very competitive brothers. Pool was the one sport where her diminutive size wasn't much of a handicap, and she had spent countless hours practicing. She quickly ran the table, dropping the 8 ball and looked Todd dead in the eyes, "Rack em, loser."

Their waitress Jessica reappeared brushing against Jeremy as she approached the group.

"Are we doing all right over here, want anything from the kitchen? Or another pitcher?"

They ordered another pitcher of beer and some cheese sticks. Jeremy watched her as she walked away. He was sure he'd never seen her before, but somehow felt like he knew her. And the way she looked... if you'd asked him to describe the perfect woman the day before Halloween you would have wound up with someone that looked a lot like Jessica. A whole lot, he thought.

Brittney tapped him with her pool cue, snapping him back to the present, then gestured towards the table. He took the hint and broke again.

They won again, but it was a much nearer thing. Britney was clearly the best pool player of the group, but Jeremy was just as clearly the worst. Todd and Rich won a few, as they settled in, and they had a pleasant evening.

The waitress continued to stop by, never missing a chance to touch him on the arm or brush against him somehow. While being obviously flirtatious with him.

It was getting late, and they all agreed it was time to call it a night. Jeremy offered to cover the tab and the others called an Uber while he did. Todd and Rich shared an apartment not far from Britney and they could Uber to her place and walk the block or so to their place.

The waitress came back with his receipt and that walk sparked the sensation of familiarity all over again.

She handed him the receipt, "Thanks, come again". Running her fingers up his arm one last time.

He walked out to his truck; he'd stopped after 3 beers and that had been several hours ago. He looked down at the receipt as he crossed the parking lot. Down at the bottom was a big pink heart around the words, "Call me" a phone number and "Jessica".

His mind raced, this would have been one of his wildest dreams not long ago, but now...

Reaching the truck, he opened the door and reached into the center console, digging around he came out with a lighter.

It came to life with a flick, he watched the flame for a moment then applied it to the bottom of the receipt. He watched it burn, letting it go just as he really felt the heat on his fingers. The ashes fluttered to the ground. He ground his foot on them to make sure they were out, climbed into his truck and drove home.

He went and visited his parents on Saturday, watching college football with his Dad, Sunday he hung out with Todd and Rich watching the NFL. It was Tuesday before he knew it, standing in his living room at 1230, he willed himself to sit down and relax. He'd spent Monday night making sure his place was spotless. There was a knock on the door at 1250, and he hurried over. He opened it to find Esmerelda, wearing a yellow sundress, and carrying a pink backpack.

"Can I come in?" she said with a grin.

"Of course," he stepped aside, gesturing for her to enter.

She continued down the short entryway into the living room, setting the backpack down on the couch. He had finished locking the door and followed after. She stood next to the couch, smiling at him, he started to move closer, but she held out a hand. Once she was sure he wasn't coming any closer she reached up, sliding the dress off her shoulders with one smooth motion, it fell to the floor at her ankles.

He let out a gasp, she was wearing one of the outfits he had picked out. A black lace bustier, open in the bust, attached to the black stockings she was wearing, and a conspicuous absence of panties he noticed.

"Do you like it?" she asked, slowly spinning around.

"I love it, thank you."

"You are very welcome."

He closed the distance between them in 2 quick strides, wrapping his arms around her, bending down to kiss her. As their lips, then tongues met he slid his hands down, cupping her bottom, then lifting her off her feet. She quickly wrapped her legs around him, clinging tightly to him, still kissing as he carried her into the bedroom.

He laid her down on the bed, standing up, he quickly removed his shirt and shorts and moved to the foot of the bed. He climbed onto the bed, crawling up between her legs. He lowered his face to her waiting sex, planting gentle kisses all around her opening, then his tongue began to work on her. She arched her back, as the pleasure found her, pressing herself up into him. He settled into a rhythm, then she felt it, the tip of his finger pressing against her, slowly penetrating her. She let out a gasp as it entered her completely and he began moving it around inside her. The sensations soon overwhelmed her, and her orgasm arrived. She practically ground herself into his face as she felt it roll over her. She went limp, breathing heavily. He stopped, mouth still in position, looking up at her. She smiled down, extending her hand. He released her, and she felt a twinge of disappointment as his finger exited her. He crawled the rest of the way up to her. She pulled him down to kiss, tasting herself on him.

"I think I need to dress like this more often."

"Ok by me."

She could feel his hardness against her leg, and she reached up, running fingers through his hair.

"Now I want something a little bigger inside me."

"As you wish," he replied quickly positioning himself between her legs.

He moved up slightly, she could feel him pressing against her waiting pussy, She was so aroused, she wanted to grab his ass and force him into her, wanted to scream at him to take her, but she sensed something different in him, a different need, and she forced herself to lay still as he slowly entered her. He filled her, inch by inch, leaning down to kiss her, softly, passionately as he did so. Kissing her lips, her neck, her cheek, playfully nibbling on her ear. When he was completely insider her, he kissed her lips again gently, one hand moving up caressing her face softly, then he began to slowly move. In and out of her, with a steady rhythm that she couldn't describe, it was hard but gentle at the same time, it just felt...right. Her orgasm began building again, like fireworks going off all over her body, she lifted her legs, wrapping them around him, wanting him even deeper inside her. She pulled his face down to him whispering in his ear.

"I'm cumming, please... I want to feel you too."

He turned his face, their lips meeting again and she felt his body tense, then his hips thrust driving him deep into her and she felt him filling her, his body quivering with each jet. His whole body went almost limp, his head next to hers now, she wrapped her arms around him holding him close while they both savored the moment.

He gently moved off of her, his turn to lie on his side, head on hand as he looked at her.

"Thank you," he said, almost dreamily.

"You're very welcome."

"I mean it."

"I know."

They cuddled in silence for awhile, then began to chat and were still talking when the alarm on her phone went off. She untangled herself from his arms, walking back into the living room to retrieve her phone from the bag and silence it. She returned holding the dress in front of her, she dropped it theatrically and she smiled at him.

"Did you like that move?" I practiced for an hour to make sure it would slide right off.

"It was amazing."

She blushed a little then began removing the lingerie. Placing it on his dresser she disappeared into the bathroom.

She returned a few minutes later, back in her sundress. She pulled a pair of sandals from the back and put them on. She gestured towards the dresser.

"Mind if I leave that here?"

"That's fine, you know if you want to..." he hesitated for a moment before driving on, "leave anything else over that you might need, that's ok."

She smiled at him, "That's not going to cause trouble if you bring someone else home, is it?"

His mind quickly flashed to Saturday and Jessica, but it just as returned, "Absolutely not."

"Not going to cause a problem?" she enquired teasingly.

"Not bringing anyone else home."

She walked over to the bed, kissing him on the forehead, "I know, I was just teasing, and I might just do that. It would probably be easier just to have them over here than worry about forgetting something."

She glanced at the time on her phone, "Gotta run, can't be late".

He jumped up and quickly slipped his shorts back on to walk her to the door.

They parted with a kiss and he stood in the doorway for a long time after she disappeared down the stairs.

They continued for the next few weeks, every Tuesday and Thursday at 1. Sometimes wild and crazy, other times, passionate and romantic, but always followed by conversation. They both learned about the other, although Jeremy soon noticed all her stories were slightly vague around the edges. She never said when something happened with any precision. It was always just when she was in college, or high school or living in a certain place. He chalked it up to her dad's job, maybe there were things she wasn't supposed to talk about.

What surprised him most was the handful of times they hadn't had sex at all. Once she had arrived with Chinese take-out and they had enjoyed lunch together. Another time she had been visibly upset when she arrived, she said she couldn't talk about it and they had simply laid in bed, and he had held her for an hour.

A few more sets of lingerie ended up in his dresser, some female products found their way into his bathroom and there were even a few dresses and normal clothes of hers in the back of his closet.

He never thought he would find himself in this situation, but it was strangely satisfying. He was actually happy for the first time in a long time.

It was a Tuesday, and a wild and crazy one at that. He often wondered what determined that, did she decide on the drive over what she was in the mood for, licking picking where to eat for lunch?

They were relaxing afterwards, Esmerelda laid with her head on his stomach, looking up at him.

"You know, when you told me an injury ended your baseball career, I assumed it was something on the field."

"I never said that."

"I know, but you didn't tell me you were a full-on hero either."

He looked at her quizzically, a trace of concern on his face.

"I cyber-stalked you a little...Can't say I expected the first thing to turn up on Google when I searched for your name would be a bunch of news stories about a baseball player saving two kids from a burning building."

"I really wish it wasn't. I wish it wouldn't come up at all."

She saw the hurt in his eyes, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was so painful for you. We don't have to talk about it, we don't ever have to talk about it if you don't want to."

He stared into her green eyes for a minute or two, realizing that in spite of everything he did want to talk to her about it.

"It's OK, it just came at me fast is all, and it's not something I normally talk about. I don't know if there is a good way to talk about something like that. But first off, I'm not a hero. Something needed to be done, and I was the only person there to do it."

She nodded, and he continued. "I guess we are back to "start at the beginning, aren't we?"

"It started off as probably the best day of my life, professionally speaking. We'd had a big game that day, faced the other team's ace. He was really good, he's in the show now, #2 starter. Anyway, I went 5 for 5 at the plate, pair of home runs, a triple and two doubles. Guys were teasing me I should have held up on one of those and hit for the cycle. 2 stolen bases took home on a passed ball to send it into extra innings then hit a game winning home run.

Made some solid plays in the field too.

I got back to the hotel, and I couldn't sleep. Still too pumped up from the game, I guess.

So I went for a walk, ended up in a residential neighborhood behind the hotel. Smelled smoke, came around the corner to see a house on fire, lady came staggering out, she was pretty disoriented. I asked her if she was ok and she just stared in horror at the house and said, "my children".

So, I ran in fortunately it was a small house, and the smoke wasn't too bad. I found a bedroom and there was a little girl on the floor, crying. I picked her up, started running out, the smoke was getting pretty thick, she kept saying something, but I couldn't understand her at first...then I realized she was saying "the baby". There had been a crib in the room she'd been in. We were coming out the door at that point. There was a man standing on the lawn, holding a phone, found out later he was the neighbor and was calling 911. I handed him the girl and went back in.

Couldn't see a damn thing at first, then I remembered the hotel fire safety video the team always made us watch. I dropped onto my hands and knees. Things were a little better at that level, but I never would have found the kid if I hadn't already seen the crib. 9-month-old baby in that crib. Managed to get him out of the crib and was struggling to crawl while holding the baby. Was down the hall almost to the living room when something collapsed. I never figured out what it was, but it landed right on my left ankle. Thought I was trapped at first, but I gave whatever it was the mule kick of all mule kicks with the other foot and it came free. Kept crawling, got into the living room, I could just make out the door, and something told me I was out of time. I got back on my feet and ran as hard as I could. If you'd told me that ankle was literally on fire I'd have believed you, it hurt so bad. Made it out the door and was going down the steps when the ankle gave up completely. Started falling, and all I could think was I couldn't land on the baby, started twisting, managed to come down on my shoulder and roll.

Next thing I remember I was in the hospital, the kid and I both inhaled a lot of smoke. He's fine now, and it didn't do any long term damage to me, but the ankle..."

He shifted crossing his left leg across the right. Esmerelda rolled over, looking down at it. She hadn't noticed the scars before, the jagged ones, and then the two neat straight surgical scars. She gently ran a finger tip along the scar.

"Doctors were able to put things mostly back together," he continued, "but... there's no telling if it would hold up to playing ball again, and even if it did teams don't want to take a chance on damaged goods when there are so many other guys out there."

She rolled back over, looking into his eyes.

"That had to be really hard."

"It was tough, but you know going in it's possible. I mean career ending injuries happen all the time, not as much in baseball sure...but you know. It was what came next."

He let out a sigh, trying to put it all into words.

"Accepting it was over was easy, figuring out what was next was...is hard. Especially in my family. Don't get me wrong, my family is amazing, but our superpower seems to be knowing what we want to be when we grow up."

Esmerelda let out a little laugh.

"No, really... My Dad wanted to be a lawyer since he was a little kid, my Mom knew banking and finance was for her since high school. My older brother grew up wanting to be a soldier since he was 8. He ended up going to West Point, he's the commander of a Special Forces battalion now, probably going to be a General someday. My sister wanted to be a doctor. She's an orthopedic surgeon in Houston now. They all knew what they wanted, and they went and got it. Lots of hard work and struggles along the way, but they made it. Then there's me. I wanted to play baseball. I put in the work, did everything I was supposed to and now I can't. But the real thing is I never once stopped to think about Plan B. What if it didn't work out? Because it HAD worked out for everyone else in my life, why wouldn't it work out for me?"

She moved up beside him, putting her head on his chest, wrapping an arm around him snuggling tightly into him. Holding each other in silence for a few minutes.

"I can understand that a little," she finally said, "My plans went well and truly off the rails."

She let out a small laugh, tinged with sadness.

He squeezed her a little, leaning down to kiss the top of her head.

"I know I'm not exactly an impartial observer here, but you can't divorce him? Move on with your life?"

She sighed, "It's not that easy... there are... complications."

He kissed her again, "It's ok, you don't have to tell me."

"It isn't that I don't want to, I just... can't tell you. And it makes me feel horrible, knowing how you've shared so much with me."

"It's ok, I understand, really, and I'm sure you'll tell me when you can."

They continued to hold each other until her phone's alarm went off. Reluctantly they separated, she hurried into the bathroom, quickly showering and freshening up. He pulled some shorts on when he heard the water turn off, walking her to the door, they parted with one last kiss.

"See you Thursday."

"Can't wait."