‘Verity Shenton,’ I muttered. ‘What a cow.’
‘I doubt I’ll be able to talk the LAPD around as easily as I did Mr Shackley,’ she warned. ‘So cheer up and start enjoying yourself.’
‘I can’t believe you’re wearing a baseball cap.’ I dropped my head and followed behind like a good little sister. ‘You look stupid.’
‘Youarestupid,’ she volleyed back. ‘Let’s find our bloody seats before I change my mind and take you home.’
With a tiny smile, I followed her down the concrete corridor, happy to know some things never changed.
I should have known our seats would be amazing, Suzanne never did anything by halves, but we were so close to the pitch, I could practically see the pores on the faces of the very handsome players and just like that, I was all turned around on baseball.
‘You know, a lot of people say there is no defensible excuse for working at your terrible company,’ I said toSuzanne as our beers were delivered right to our seats by a very peppy young man with fantastic teeth. ‘But I for one think there might be some benefits to it.’
‘No, it’s a terrible place and we’re all going to hell,’ she replied, kicking her legs up on the little ledge in front of us. ‘I’m planning to make amends by planting a bug that makes everyone’s phone explode the day after I die.’
‘Seems a bit dramatic?’
‘Fine, I’ll leave all my money to charity.’
‘I’ve changed my mind,’ I replied. ‘Do the phone thing, I want the money.’
‘Oh my gosh, Suzie, these seats are amazing!’
There was no time for a snappy Suzanne comeback; Bel bounded down the aisle towards us like a Labrador whose owner had just got back from the war. Behind her, Ren shuffled down the row, a drink in each hand and a constant apology on his lips as he did his best to keep from standing on anyone’s feet. Closing my eyes and leaning as far back as I could, I held my breath as he passed by me. Even over the sharp smell of hot dogs and beer and fifty thousand people, his signature scent lingered in the air.
‘Your first baseball game!’ Bel said, dropping into the seat next to mine. ‘Are you excited?’
‘Can’t say I’m a massively sporty person.’ I kept my voice down in fear of upsetting the thousands of rabid fans all around me. ‘And the only thing I know about baseball is that first base means kissing and after that I’m confused. I’m assuming they don’t actually touch each other up when they get to second and shag when they get a home run?’
‘There’s always a lot of ass-slapping at these things so don’t write the possibility off completely,’ she replied. ‘Given half a chance, I think they’d do it.’
I peeled off my denim jacket, warmed through by the early evening sun. ‘You’re officially my baseball mentor. Do you come here a lot?’
She glanced over at Ren, who raised his hand to me in a hello and I waved back. There was no point trying to shout over the roar of the crowd; even one seat away it would have been impossible to make myself heard.
‘I love a ball game,’ Bel said loudly with a wink in my direction. ‘Taking in a game at the ol’ park is one of my favourite things in the whole world.’ Clasping Ren’s hand in hers, her nails painted royal blue and decorated with tiny baseballs, she leaned across the armrest to hiss in my ear. ‘I don’t get it at all. I’ve only ever been to one game and I got so drunk, I fell asleep, and when I woke up, everyone was leaving. But I want Ren to think I know my stuff. All the way over here he was talking statistics and throwing out names and I had zero clue what he was talking about.’
‘But men love explaining things to their girlfriends, even the good ones,’ I whispered back. ‘I bet he would have jumped at the chance to baseball-splain.’
‘This is why I need you with me all the time,’ she said, wincing. ‘I can’t believe I didn’t think of that.’
With Suzanne to my left and Ren to Bel’s right, the four of us cheered as the organ played and the Los Angeles Dodgers ran out on to the field.
‘I love you and this is amazing and thank you very much for bringing me,’ I whispered to Suzanne, a full boxof dropped popcorn raining down on us from the section above. ‘But do we have to stay for the whole thing?’
‘Shut up and try to enjoy yourself,’ she replied, sounding more like Gran than ever. ‘It’s hardly going to be the worst night of your life.’
‘Well,’ I said, picking popcorn out of my hair. ‘We’ll see about that.’
‘I’m having the greatest night of my life!’ I bellowed directly into my sister’s ear, three hours and seven innings later. ‘Baseball is the most incredible thing on the planet!’
And I wasn’t lying. I loved it completely. Baseball wasn’t just a game, it was an immersive experience. There were chants, there were songs, there were dances, they even had breaks between the innings where people could play games to win prizes up on the big screen. By the time Suzanne told me to stand up to sing a little song and stretch, I was three giant beers in and deliriously happy. Baseball was my favourite thing ever. I didn’t have a clue what was going on but I was obsessed.
‘They’re doing the wave!’ I gushed as thousands of people rose out of their seats, cheering and raising their arms in unison. ‘Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?’
‘Have you eaten anything besides nachos?’ Suzanne asked, giving the most possible big sister energy.
‘I may never eat anything other than nachos ever again.’ I held out the little plastic baseball cap that had once contained a handful of tortilla chips and some sort of orange ‘cheese’ for her to see. ‘Also, I’ve had three beers which were very filling.’
