He was so glad to be on vacation out of the country. Here, no one cared about baseball, scores, curses, who he was dating. He didn�t have to worry about contracts, responsibilities and people looking for help from him. The more years he played baseball, the shorter his off-season.
Football and basketball players didn�t know how good they had it.
Sure, football was a brutal sport but camps started in June or July and the season was over by December. And basketball that was a joke. Preseason started in October and the season ended in April. 82 games and they got five months off.
Baseball, people underestimated the toll 162 regular season games put on a body. Not to mention spring training and the postseason. Hell, he was always in the postseason; it had become a part of the regular season to him. Spring training in February through the postseason in October. Three months; that�s all he really ever had as an off-season. Broken fingers, groin pulls, separated shoulders, collisions, fouling balls off his ankle, hit in the arm, elbow, back, head and leg by 95 mph fastballs. No one had a clue.
His body was feeling it after all that time. He got up slower in the morning. He grunted when he had to stand up, and at times those three months felt like one month and he was only thirty years old.
**
The guys were getting pretty rowdy, particularly in their comments about women and he wasn�t sure how Maleeyah was taking it. He could see, however, that she was looking a bit bored.
�Maleeyah, want to get some fresh air?�
She nodded, �Yes.�
Everyone else was about to stand up when he shook his head, �No, you guys stay here. I don�t feel like trying to hold you up.�
They sat outside at a table out on the wooden veranda.
�Why did you want to come out here?�
�They were getting pretty crass.� He looked down and turned the beer bottle in his hand, �You�re a woman, you didn�t need to hear all that.�
�Wow, considering my decency. That�s beautiful.�
He smiled as he looked at her. She was pretty; she was beyond pretty. There was that exotic look to her that he loved so much. That dark hair and dark skin. She was beautiful.
�What?�
He frowned slightly, �What?�
�Why are you looking at me like that?�
�I wasn�t aware, sorry. I was just�your skin, you. What is your racial background? If you don�t mind answering. I know that can be touchy for some people.�
�You mean like spout something like �I�m the human race�? Nah, it doesn�t bother me. I understand why people are curious. I think its cool to see the different ways races come together and make kinds of all different shades.�
He watched the breeze travel through her hair and lift errant strands. She kept playing with her hair, pushing it out of the way, tucking it behind her ear. When he first met her it was curly but she had straightened it and it lay down flat on her head to the middle of her back. He was used to seeing the transition with his sister.
�My mother is Nigerian and my father was White. I didn�t go through the whole poor tragic mulatto don�t know where I fit in thing.�
She waved her hands and rolled her eyes as she said it and he couldn�t help but laugh.
�Girls didn�t like me and I figured they didn�t like me because I was a girl, black or white they would still be catty with me. And guys, black and white, wanted to get in my pants so they didn�t have a problem with me. As far as I can tell, I had the normal experience of a girl.�
To say she was opinionated and strong was probably an understatement. He had a feeling she didn�t have a problem with speaking her mind.
�Your mother is Nigerian?�
�Yep, straight out of Africa. She moved to the United States when she was fourteen to be a model. She did that for a while and then quit when she got married and had me. My experiences with race are a little different than other Black people. I had a mother who wasn�t from this country and viewed life differently and a White father.�
�You don�t think you had to deal with racism at all?�
�Oh, I�m sure I did have it thrown at me. I�m very aware of things like that but I deal with it by my successes. I could probably be happy making A�s and B�s but I bust my ass to make straight A�s because I know it will piss off those who think I�m not supposed to be there anyway.�
�Straight A�s huh?� He smiled.
�Yeah.�
�This vacation is good for you then.�
�I am so happy to be on break. This semester was brutal.�
�What�s your major?� A waitress came and placed two more beers on the table, removing their empty ones.
�International Affairs. And before you ask- I don�t know what I�m going to do with it. I just figured, and I don�t want to sound egotistical about this.�
�Go for it. I�m sure I�ll understand.� He had been known to have a bit of ego in him.
She smiled and his heart sped up just a tad, �I figure I'm too smart to not have a degree in something you know what I mean? Haven�t you ever felt like that?�
�I have but not a lot to be honest. My love for baseball is so much stronger than anything else.�
Jack came to the door and waved them over, �Hey guys we�re getting out of here.�
017 | No Ordinary Girl