Three Strikes - 3. A Friendly Wager

t was Friday and the long awaited game was thirty minutes away. I’d gotten there early to go over the songs with my friend who had access to the sound system. By the time I’d finished, both teams were filtering in for warm-ups. Ss I passed through, I ran into Kurt, Drew, and Aaron and they all smiled and waved as I approached. As always, Drew was the first to start the playful trash talking.

“So, today we find out who will continue, undefeated, and who will go home as la-hoo-za-hers!”

“Well, this is only the third game, so I’d hardly make it out to be a big deal, but we can make it interesting if you want.”

Of course the game was a big deal, at least to my team, but I wasn’t going to acknowledge it. The three men looked at each other and smiled. When Kurt crossed his arms and grinned at me, I knew they weren’t about to step down from a good gentleman's wager.

“Okay, Gordy. What do you have in mind?”

“After we win, you three come clubbing with us tonight and you each buy a round of drinks.”

“And if we win?”

I laughed, crossed my arms, and mirrored their stance.

“You won’t but if lightning strikes in your favor, that’ll mean you beat a team full of fairy queens, and I wouldn’t exactly go around bragging about that.”

I tried to maintain my composure, but eventually their laughing was too much, and I had to join in. I loved the fact they were three, big, athletic men that had no qualms about their masculinity or the DONNAS. We’d actually struck up a decent friendship, of sorts, between practices.

“Okay, but if we win, you six come with us to our bar of choice tonight, and you buy us drinks.”

I actually had to think about it for a minute because I had legit plans to get laid and I doubted ‘their bar’ was going to be very cohesive to that process.

“Sure. You just gave me all of the motivation I need to win because I have very specific plans for tonight. Have any of you guys ever been wingman for a gay guy?”

Knowing what I meant, they all smiled and shook their heads no.

“Well, tonight you’re going to learn! Cheerio, cheris.”

I waved goodbye and left them laughing amongst themselves. Poor heteros, they had no idea what was about to happen.

*** *** *** ***

By the time we reached the fifth (and final) inning, both teams were sweating. They were up by two and we were up to bat. If we couldn’t get three or more runs, the game would be over. I wasn’t too worried, though. The heteros on the team were working hard, but we, the DONNAS, hadn’t come close to using our full potential. I’d been hanging back, mostly in the outfield and batting only enough to get me to base, and waiting for the right moment.

We had two outs and the bases were loaded. Aaron was pitching and, although he was decent, if he choked or was unable to throw a half-decent pitch to me, it might cost us the game. If he walked me, it’d definitely be over because the batter behind me in the lineup was trash. As I was doing a couple of lazy practice swings, Oliver grabbed my attention before I walked to the plate.

“Okay. You’ve got this D. This field isn’t all that big and we both know you can do this. You have to bring everyone home.”

As I walked toward home plate, I heard the DONNAS cheering.

We don’t wear no miniskirts (repeat)

We just wear our baseball shirts (repeat)

We don’t drink no lemonade (repeat)

We just drink our Gatorade (repeat)

We don’t play with Barbie dolls (repeat)

We just play with bats and balls! (repeat)

I was singing along with them as I stepped into the box and made a lude gesture with my bat during the last line of the cheer, which made Aaron laugh and then shout at me.

“We were thinking the Cruise.”

I shook my head. The Cruise was the trashiest bar in town. It wasn’t even a good trashy, like your favorite hole in the wall, it was just—no!

“Oh, Aaron! I’m not up to date on my tetanus shot. Are you trying to kill me?”

Aaron laughed and we both settled into position as I looked around the diamond—the runners looked nervous and the fielders looked cocky.

I heard Shane chuckle under his catcher’s gear.

“Don’t break a nail, princess.”

He thinks he’s so funny. Aaron pitched and I swung, purposely missing. It was an okay throw, but not great.

“Uh-oh, your arm looks a little limp!”

I chose to ignore him, again. Aaron pitched again and I swung, purposely missing, again. I feigned frustration and playfully hollered to Aaron.

“Aar, do you think the Cruise has any straight boi’s that would be up for a good time? I’m getting a little desperate.”

I couldn’t help but smile when I heard most of their dugout laughing, mostly Drew and Kurt. I dug my toes into the dirt and pointed my bat into the air toward the outfield. A chorus of OOO’s came from the opposing dugout at my cocky gesture because I hadn’t given them any reason to think I could hit it any further than the shallow edge of the outfield. Before I brought my second foot into the box, I looked back at rat bastard.

“Make sure you’re watching. I want you to see this.”

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous while waiting for Aaron’s pitch. Two outs and two strikes left very little room for error and I hadn’t played competitively for seven years. Holy shit, seven years!

Everything that happened after that felt like slow motion. Aaron (the cocky bastard) had a shit eating grin on his face as he cocked back and began his pitch. His form was great as he released the ball and I instantly knew it was a perfect pitch.

I cocked and tucked and used every muscle in my body to propel the bat forward. I was squared up perfectly and when the bat made contact with the ball, the crack was loud and powerful and, I swear on everything Holy, I felt the air explode on contact.

I released my right hand from the bat as I watched the ball sail through the air. I should’ve started running, but during that moment, I knew it was over the fence. Everyone was silent as they watched and waited to see where the ball was going to land. Before it dropped, I turned to rat bastard and gently tapped my bat on the top of his helmet.

“Your mouth looks a little limp. You need some viagra for that?”

The ball must’ve dropped because suddenly a roar erupted. I tossed my bat near the dugout as I started jogging to first. As I rounded second, Whip and Nae Nae started playing over the loudspeaker. I danced my way along and during the chorus I pretended to swing another grand slam which caused both teams to cheer and then nae nae’d my way around third

Everyone was lined up at the home plate and dancing, laughing, and cheering as I strode by. We spent a solid thirty seconds getting our groove on before clearing the field for the next batter. Teddy, the batter behind me, struck out, but no matter, we were two up and only needed to hold them off.

During the previous innings, the heteros of our team had been playing in-field so I could only imagine the shock when, suddenly, Sammy was catching, Allé was at first base, Oliver was shortstop, and Nick and Nelly were second and third bases, respectively. Rick was pitching and, for the time being, I was in the dugout.

The first two batters made it to base. Then Allé and Sammy made a killer play and got the first two runners out, which left Aaron on first. Kurt hit and made it to base and the next guy got walked when Rick hurt his shoulder during the throw—accidently hitting the poor guy in the leg.

As Rick and I passed each other—him on his way to the dugout and me on my way to the pitcher's mound—he asked.

“How’d I do?”

“It looked like you enjoyed hitting Eddie a little too much! Pent up frustration much?”

“He’s an ass,” he smirked. “Do you thang Donny.”

We gave a lazy low five as we passed each other on the way to our final destinations. I threw my first ever my practice pitches, then Drew stepped up to bat. Drew was a cutie, for sure, with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. He was a couple of inches taller than Allé and had a slim, muscular build. I tossed the ball into the air and caught it a few times before I announced we had runners on first and second with two outs before I turned my attention to Drew.

“Take note, my little wingman. I like my men tall and a little brawny.”

Drew smiled at my suggestion. I threw a decent pitch which was a swing-and-miss.

“I also like them a little dark and mysterious.”

Drew rolled his eyes and chuckled.

Another pitch. It looked good but he didn’t swing. No matter, it was a strike. One more strike and it’d be—game over.

“Points if they look like a bad boy, but treat me like a gentleman.”

“I’ll try to remember that.’ He laughed.

I threw another decent pitch. This time, Drew hit the ball and Aaron managed to make it home, which left a runner on first and second, two outs, and rat bastard up to bat. He made quite the show by overly adjusting himself as he settled into position. Shane wasn’t part of the bet, or the trash talk, so I barely acknowledged him before finding Aaron.

“I’m not a size queen or anything, but you know—.”

I used my hands as a form of measurement to show I wanted roughly eighteen inches or so. I heard some not-so-subtle laughing as guys took in the meaning of my comment.

I returned my attention to rat bastard. I was ready to wipe the smile off of his face.

I gave it to him good and fast and the look on his face when he missed the ball was everything I imagined. He hadn’t seen it coming. I was tempted to make a snide remark, but I bit my tongue and pitched another fastball. Another strike.

All of the confidence and bravado he’d had when he walked onto the field had vanished. He was nothing more than a scared little rat. I winked before I pitched another fastball. That time, he connected and sent it flying—directly into my mitt. I caught it without incident and quickly threw it to Allé at first, for save measure, who threw it to Nick at third who tagged Kurt out before throwing it to second where Nelly tagged Eddie out.

You know, for safe measure.

The play was flawless and the other team stood there gawking at us. I started excitedly jumping up and down and the rest of the team joined me around the pitcher’s mound as we screamed and hugged. If you didn’t know better, you would’ve thought we’d won the World Series.

My sound system friend surprised us by playing, “Teach Me How To Dougie”. My best guess was because we were Dougie’s Design—it was cute. We did just that, we taught the heteros how to dance and a few of Yarlie’s players joined in, too.

I smiled as I watched grown men from different walks of life letting lose and having a good time. This is how baseballs should always be.

*** *** *** ***

We had just left the dugout and were on our way to the parking lot when Aaron, Drew, and Kurt stopped us.

“Who the hell are you guys?”

At first, I was worried they were mad, but when I saw their faces and the teasing smiles, I knew that wasn’t the case at all. Sammy laughed and shrugged innocently.

“What? We’re just some boys who love to play with balls!”

“No, shit!” Kurt laughed. “Out of nowhere, you all started playing like a bunch of professionals. That last play—did you really need to get everybody out? We’d already lost and it was like you were shoving our faces into the dirt.”

“Maybe we were,” Allé quipped.

We broke into laughter. We stood around and chatted for a while then everyone broke up and left. The DONNAS were going to meet up at my place to get ready for the big night out.

Drew and I walked toward the parking lot together and he started asking questions about the club.

“So, what kind of club is this anyway?”

“A gay one.”

He laughed at the obvious answer.

“I figured that but what can we expect? I’ve never been to a gay club before.”

“Well, you guys are pretty cute, so you can expect to get hit on. You’ll send the eligible ones my way and the rest you can divide amongst the others.”

I winked at him and he laughed. I had a feeling he was going to be a good wingman.

“But honestly, it can be a bit crazy. We look tame compared to what you’ll see tonight.”

His eyes widened with shock. If he thought seeing us in standard baseball gear, which had a little extra bedazzle, was strange, he was in for quite a show that night.

“I’m not super crazy, myself, but Allé gets deep into the club scene and Nick, Nelly, and Oliver are total club boi’s.”

I pulled my phone out and showed him a few pictures to prepare him for some of the outlandish extravagance he could expect during the night. He found the pictures fascinating and seemed to get excited about the adventure. We traded numbers so we could meet up once we got there. Before we went our separate ways, I parted with one last piece of advice as I waved my hand up and down his body.

“Try not to look so—hetero.”

He responded with a laugh before ducking into his car. The more I was around Drew, the more I was developing a straight-boi crush on him. He had an innocent, California surfer demeanor going for him, plus he was funny and beautiful. I was definitely plotting ways to get him on the dance floor later. He might’ve been straight, but I’d be damned if I wasn’t going to find a way to rub against him.