What a Shortstop Does Ch. 01-05

"What other sports do you like?"

"Um, football. Not to play it, I watch it. And uh-," There were more sports right? What was another sport she knew?!

"Do you go to the games here?" Roisin leaned in a little and Sarah caught a few inches of cleavage flash her way.

"Ye- Yes, sometimes. Uh, do you?"

"Not really, I usually have rehearsal or performances on Saturdays."

"Oh, yeah. Kate said you dance?" Sarah's brain latched onto a bit of information and she tried to shake free of the awkward fog.

Roisin smiled wider, "Yes, I'm in the dance program here. I perform with a few local companies too."

"That's really cool."

"Thanks."

"My friends over there can't dance." Sarah pointed out David and Carly who had changed with the song to a wild flailing that looked something like a cross between the macarena and the hokey-pokey.

Roisin laughed. It was fucking musical. "No, you're right, they can't. But they look like they are having fun."

"Yeah, they do." Sarah smiled fondly at them. Carly noticed and waved enthusiastically.

"Can you dance?" The question was like a record scratch in Sarah's head. Somehow, she thought she knew where this was going.

"Um, kinda. Not really. Probably not like you can dance, I mean. I mean, I can do that." She gestured to a few of the crowd who were swaying to the music, not dancing per se, but close.

"I see. Do you...do you want to dance with me?"

Sarah's heart stopped for a second.

"Yeah. Yes, okay."

Roisin rose from the chair and reached a pale, slender hand out for Sarah. Her rough, tanner hand took it. She let herself be led to the middle of the dance area. It was thankfully, quite dark, so the blush she knew was on her cheeks would be harder to see as Roisin fitted Sarah's arms around her waist. Her own arms snaking up around Sarah's shoulders and pulling them slightly closer.

The song wasn't slow, but not fast either. It was something in the middle. Something Carly's brother had once crudely described as "banging music" at one of their first college parties. The thought caused a lump to form in Sarah's throat.

That lump was quickly replaced by full-on heart palpitations as Roisin started to move. She could fucking move. While Sarah mostly rocked or swayed to the main beat, Roisin wove with the smaller beats, the pauses, and anticipated the changes. Her arms were impossibly graceful while they rose and fell around them. Now standing, Sarah could see they were almost even in height, Roisin just looked longer and lithe while Sarah was stockier with larger muscles.

Dark curls bounced as the beat picked up. So did the breasts under a green tank that Sarah was not checking out.

Roisin moved closer.

She dared a glance straight into her eyes, eyes that crinkled at her in a smile and held something smoldering underneath. Sarah could feel her breath on her face and her hips sway under her hands. She was hyper aware of everything. The movement, the music, the party around them, and especially Roisin's body brushing closer.

They didn't talk as they danced, but smiled and moved with the music. It wasn't until the song changed, something pop and fast that Sarah realized just how close they'd been to grinding. Roisin's thighs had slotted around one of hers. She let her hands slip from the other woman's waist.

Stepping back, Sarah watched her dance partner light up and change moves with the music. The pop song was easy to jump and sing along to, so more partiers joined the dance. Roisin still looked graceful while more energy flowed through her. Bright teal flashed near them as Tara swung Kate into the dancing crowd. Sarah thought she caught a wink from Tara as they careened by. Her face flushed a bit.

"Want to get another drink?" Roisin half yelled over the third song starting. Sarah nodded.

They danced and threaded their way through the suddenly large crowd over to some coolers by the back fence. Sarah opened one cooler while Roisin opened another, each grabbing something to cool down with. No chairs had made it to this side of the yard, so they plopped down on the grass and cracked open their beverages.

"You're a great dancer," Sarah complimented after taking a long pull of her beer.

"Thanks! You should come to a performance sometime. Ya know, when the football team is away or something." She seemed a little sheepish, looking up at Sarah through her lashes.

"Yeah, that would be cool."

Roisin beamed while leaning slightly closer.

Sarah couldn't help it, her eyes dropped to the glistening chest only a foot away. Roisin had sharp clavicles that stood out from her chest above the neckline of her top. Her breasts were round and perky, the cleavage of them pressed together drew the eye down from her throat. Sarah could see a peek of one black, lacey cup peering out over the edge of her green tank. She immediately wanted to see more.

Roisin followed her eyes and smiled wickedly, letting one hand trail to Sarah's thigh. She rested her delicate fingers gently on the fabric of Sarah's shorts on the middle of her thigh and looked up at her face.

"Hi," she said quietly, trailing her fingers up and down.

Sarah gulped, cartoon-style, "Hi."

"I have a confession," Roisin teased.

"I'm not a priest."

Roisin laughed, "No, you're not. But...I asked Kate to introduce me to you."

"Oh, that's, that's cool."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Cops!" Suddenly, a set of four feet were in front of her, attached to her best friends' legs. "Come on, Sarah! We have to go!" She dropped her drink.

Carly's hand yanked her from the ground and David pushed them towards the fence. They jumped and scaled the six foot fence easily, even in her short skirt, Carly made the climb look like cake. Sarah took one more look over the fence at Roisin who smiled and waved sheepishly, before she disappeared behind the slots of solid wood. Hauling to the car was simple enough, it was parked just around the corner. David jumped in the driver's seat while Carly and Sarah slid into the back giggling. They drove away carefully, with David trying to hush the two women laughing and lounging in the back.

"So...who was she?" Carly wiggled her eyebrows as she sat up straighter in the seat.

"Oh, uh, a friend of Tara's girlfriend."

"And?"

"And what?"

"What's her name? What did she say? Whatareyougonnado? She was hot! Did she ask you out?" Carly was about out of breath with all of her questions and David laughed from the front seat.

"Slow down! We danced, that's it."

"That was not it, Sarah," David chimed in.

"Okay, well, her name is Roisin. She's a dancer." David whistled at that fact. "And I guess she watched me play that game with Tara and wanted to be introduced."

"Yeah she did!" Carly hollered.

"Shut up! It was just a dance, okay?" Sarah sighed, then said a little quieter, "But I do think she might have kissed me if we hadn't bailed."

Carly and David erupted in catcalls.

Chapter 4: A Beginning

That week, classes started. Sarah got used to getting up and going all day until workouts in the afternoon and dinner with the team in the dining hall. But by Wednesday, she was already tired of the work being piled on. She planned to take dinner to the library and get some of it done so she didn't end the week with a mountain of essays to write. As she gathered her duffle from the locker room, Tara stopped her.

"Hey, Sarah. Got a sec?"

"Yeah sure." Sarah noticed Tara shift, not uncomfortably, but like she was gearing up for something.

Tara pulled her out the locker room door and into the hallway where the noise from their team was muted.

"Look, you know Kate's friend that you met this weekend? Roisin?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, she asked for your number. I wanted to make sure it was okay with you before I gave it to her. I don't know your, like, preferences or anything, but you guys seemed to have fun. So I thought, maybe you'd be cool with that?" Tara said most of this speech to the floor, but looked up at the last part to read Sarah's reaction.

"Um, well, yeah. Yeah that's cool with me. You can give her my number."

"Yeah? Sweet." Tara sighed with relief. "I didn't want to make any assumptions, but, uh..."

"Yeah, I mean...I'm figuring it out. Ya know?" Sarah was unsure if Tara did know, but she didn't know how to finish that sentence.

"Yes, I do know," Tara assured her. "You'll get it sorted out. Maybe just need a little help?" She grinned suggestively and raised her eyebrows.

"Okay, that's enough," Sarah gave her a playful shove.

Tara must have sent Roisin her number that afternoon because by the time she was sneaking her food into one of the library study rooms, Sarah heard her phone ding.

R: Hey, it's Roisin. Kate and Tara's friend.

Sarah smiled. She set herself up in her favorite corner study room and thought out an answer.

S: Hi! Not how I thought your name was spelled? How are you?

R: I'm good! Yeah, it's Irish. Got misspelled or mispronounced a lot as a kid. Still does. How are you? What are you up to?

Their conversation was light, but constant. Sarah got very little work done between reading, analyzing, and composing her responses. She learned that Roisin was indeed Irish, starting her junior year, and wanted to be a performer when she graduated. Sarah told her about the classwork she was doing and how her workouts were grueling, despite the official season not beginning until the spring. They were still texting as Sarah packed up and walked back to her dorm.

R: So...just to put it out there...I'm gay.

Roisin certainly didn't beat around the bush.

S: Yeah, I guessed. Me too...I think?

R: You think?

S: Yeah. It's...a new revelation.

Sarah wasn't sure how to explain her panic this summer.

R: How new?

S: Like, this summer.

R: Wow.

S: Yeah.

R: Okay, so...you've never...?

S: Uh, not sure what you mean? but no, probably not.

Did Roisin mean to ask if she'd dated a girl? Had sex? Been in any kind of relationship? Well, didn't matter, the answer to it all was a resounding No.

R: Okay. gtk

Good to know? What did Roisin mean "good to know"? Sarah was beginning to feel her heart palpitate again.

Carly was asleep by the time Sarah got back to their room. She hadn't received another text and didn't know what else to say, so she changed quickly, unplugged the light strings and fell onto the bottom bunk, heart still pounding. She wondered if Roisin was asleep already or if she was lying awake after their "talk" too.

_ _

By Sunday despite their efforts, Carly and Sarah had a mountain of neglected work that had piled up. They buckled down, Sarah at her desk, Carly on her bed, and worked while running through episodes of some cooking competition show. David called later in the evening and Sarah stepped out to give the two time to talk. She had been texting Roisin a little bit since Wednesday, but nothing too serious. Mostly they talked about Roisin's rehearsal's, Sarah's workouts, and school in general. She was feeling a little bolder, so she settled in a chair in the dorm lounge and pulled out her phone. The number she'd saved under the little green R lit up as she chose "call".

After 2 rings, Roisin picked up. "Hey!"

"Hi."

"What's up?"

"Not much, just taking a study break. Thought maybe I'd call instead of text? Is that okay?"

"For sure!" Roisin sounded happy. Sarah could almost picture the smile on her full lips, green eyes crinkling.

"What are you up to?"

"Just watching a movie and stretching."

Sarah's mind went blank. "Oh. Uh..."

Roisin laughed, "Sorry, that's probably a bit too much?"

"No, um, no, that's- that's cool."

"Is it?"

"Yeah, I'm just...shit...mentally processing that image." Sarah said sheepishly.

Roisin laughed again, it was seriously an amazing sound. "Well, maybe we'll have to watch a movie together sometime. I could always use someone to help push me down when working on my splits."

"Fuckin' hell." Sarah's spit was solid. Her throat closed.

Giggling, the other woman took a few moments to calm down while Sarah found her voice.

"Do you...do you want to hang out this week? Not like, stretching, or whatever, just...like a movie?"

"Yeah, I'd like that, Sarah. When?"

Sarah counted up her schedule and evening class, "Thursday?"

"Thursday's great."

"Okay, sweet," Sarah felt her heart trying to escape her ribcage. "Yeah, wait. Here? I have a roommate, but I could tell her to get lost for a bit?"

"Yeah, I'll come to you." With that sentence, Sarah's mind swam again, but she managed to get Roisin her address and dorm number and set for seven o'clock before they said goodbye. She practically sprinted back to her room. Carly wasn't off the phone yet.

"Gah!!! Carly!" She clamored up to the other woman's bunk. "I think I have a date?"

There was a beat. "WHAT?!"

Sarah explained her conversation with Roisin, leaving out the part about the splits, but telling her and David, who was now on speaker phone, about what they'd decided as far as Thursday.

"Woooo, Sarah!" David shouted through the phone.

"Shut up, babe! But really, Sarah, what are you gonna do?" Then she paused, "Don't have sex in my bed."

"Ew! Carly, I'd never do that, gross! No, we're just going to watch a movie. I'm not ready for...all that."

"Yeah true, if you can't say the word 'sex' you aren't ready for it," David laughed.

"Shut up, David."

Sarah did start to panic though. [i]Was[/i] Roisin expecting sex? What if they didn't have anything in common, had nothing to talk about and it was just awkward? How would they pick a good movie? What if her parents showed up just to say hi and found her naked in bed with a girl? Okay, that last one was a bit crazy. Her parents didn't show up out of the blue, she wouldn't be naked with Roisin, and honestly, would they even care if she was gay? Sarah didn't know.

"It's fine. We'll make sure you're ready to...entertain on Thursday." Carly smirked a little and Sarah felt the butterflies settle in her stomach a bit.

She had a difficult time sleeping that night.

_ _

Thursday came faster and slower than she'd expected. It felt like forever when she was just hanging out in her room at night, but the days flew by with class and team stuff. By that afternoon, Carly was running around their room packing an overnight bag for David's.

"You don't need to be gone all night, Carly."

"I know I don't need to, but I do want to spend the night with David," she smiled suggestively.

"Oh, right."

"It's going to be fine. Roisin seems like a decent person. If you're uncomfortable, just tell her. If something goes horribly wrong, text me. I can burst in unexpectedly at a moment's notice!" Carly struck a dramatic pose like a southern belle discovering a scandal in her own home.

"Right, thanks."

Sarah had scrubbed and shaved and plastered on a bit of mascara. She'd agonized over her clothes like some crazy, teenage girl in a romantic comedy. She knew it wasn't a big deal, a friend was coming over to watch a movie. But it felt like a big fucking deal because that friend was a solid ten and flirted like she knew it.

At 6:30pm, Carly left. She gave Sarah a quick hug, winked, and ran to meet David who was parked in the loading zone outside their building. Sarah was alone.

She made popcorn, ate an apple, brushed her teeth for the third time and at the last minute, switched into her black leggings from her red ones. Running a brush through her long hair and pulling it up off her neck helped her breathe easier. The string lights were on making their room feel just as cozy as Carly had planned when she hung them, but it somehow took on a whole new meaning with a date coming over. Sarah pulled out her phone to be ready for a text to let Roisin into the building. Then she pulled out a textbook to try and get some reading done before she came, or maybe to look like she'd been casually studying and not freaking out.

At 7:03pm, there was a knock on the door.

Sarah answered.

"Hey." Roisin was standing there with her purse slung over her shoulder. She wore a white tank top and pink bike shorts. Her white bra was almost visible through her shirt, a fact Sarah tried not to notice. The curly, black hair was pulled half back with the rest spilling down her bare shoulders. She had a hoodie flung over one arm and a bag of chips in the other. "Some chick let me in on her way out."

"Oh, cool. Yeah, come on in." Sarah gestured to the room as she pulled the door open further.

"Aw, cute!" Roisin cooed over the room and the lights. Sarah smiled and mumbled something about her talented roommate. "Your TV is kind of massive?"

Sarah laughed, "Yeah, it was a hand-me-down. It's a bit big, but it was free so," she shrugged.

"What are we watching?" Roisin plopped down on the loveseat and dropped her sweatshirt and purse off on the floor, but set the bag of chips on the table next to the popcorn.

"I thought of a few options, but I don't really know what kind of movies you like?"

Movies turned out to be a good topic, they sat cross-legged on the loveseat facing each other and talking about different movies for a while. They talked about their favorites, the ones they hated, and their guilty pleasures. Roisin seemed to be into a lot of indie films Sarah had never heard of, while Sarah talked about her love of animation and comedies. They moved on to sifting through Sarah and Carly's DVD collection and both sat restlessly while they searched through their options, finally choosing a popular one they'd both seen before.

The movie opened and Roisin leaned slightly closer to Sarah, she still didn't touch her, but Sarah felt the air move around her as Roisin settled in. She barely watched the character's introduction scene, she was too busy being alert to where Roisin sat, where her hands were, and how she smiled at the screen. Roisin noticed the attention about ten minutes in.

"Do you- do you want to sit closer?" Ro hesitated to ask.

Sarah scootched over as answer, putting her arm over the back of the loveseat behind Roisin. She was surprised and a little proud of her forwardness. The other woman leaned in gingerly to the contact. Sarah felt soft curls press against her arm.

After another forty minutes of studiously watching the movie, Roisin's hand found its way to Sarah's thigh. The heat from the contact burned low, despite her hand not moving at all and just barely resting on black leggings. Feeling bolder, Sarah allowed her arm on the couch to curl around Roisin's shoulders. Both of their breaths hitched at the cuddle. Because this was definitely cuddling. Sarah shivered at the thought. She was cuddling another woman.

At the hour and a half mark, Sarah wasn't watching the movie anymore. Roisin's head had fallen onto her shoulder and her hand on her thigh was tracing little patterns over the leggings. She watched Roisin's shoulders lift with her breathing, noticing the gap in her tank that showed more cleavage than the night of the party, and she felt Roisin's attention completely remove from the screen.

"Are you good?"

"Yeah," Roisin turned to face Sarah. "You?"

"Yup."

Sarah's eyes found Roisin's lips, parted slightly and full. They were so close, she could feel her breath on her face. It would be nothing to just lean in...

Roisin got there first.

She pressed her lips against Sarah's softly. Lip balm sliding between them. Sarah let her arm over Roisin's shoulders fall to her waist as the other woman turned to face her fully, lips still gently locked. Roisin's hand gripped Sarah's thigh while the other reached up to cup her jaw. They kissed carefully at first, but Sarah responded quickly by moving in eagerly and wrapping both arms around the slender figure. Their lips opened slightly, allowing them to exchange a small amount of breath. Pressing together more fully, closing and opening their lips slowly, Sarah was light-headed with the feeling of those full lips. Eventually, Roisin pulled back and opened her eyes.