He nodded.“So far.I mean, I haven’t had much time for it this year.”
“My sister used to do a lot of theater,” Bettina said.“Now she mostly does voice-over work.”
“Oh.”Diego’s eyes lit up.“Tell me all about it.I’ve always wanted to get into it.I still have the demo recording I did back in school, with all the different voices.”
“She lives in Chicago—we can hook you up, if you’re interested?”
“Oh my god, would you?”
Needless to say, we didn’t even notice the game was three innings in until after our second drink.And the Pirates even won.
Sadly, Cheese Chester won the Pierogi race thanks to the Pirate Parrot mascot’s illegal interference.But otherwise, a pretty successful day of baseball.
***
We walked back over the bridge and past the Benedum to The Warren, to have an early dinner and wait for traffic to thin out.They sat us in the front again, next to the big windows, and Diego shot me a knowing look.“Were we super awkward last time we were here?”
“Probably.”I snorted.“Are we now?”
“Nooooo.Not us.”He laughed.
After we ordered, he said, “Your friends are nice.”
“I mean, they’re more co-workers than friends.”
“Even Bettina?She loves you.”
“Bettina and Kyle are more like friends,” I agreed.“I don’t really know many people outside of work, though.”
“Really?Even people who stayed in Stanley County?”
I shook my head.“It’s pretty amazing that you have friends from high school.I don’t talk to anyone, except random notes on Facebook when someone has a birthday or something.”
“Wait.”He leaned forward, both elbows on the table.His cheeks were flushed from the heat and the drinks and the crowd, his eyes bright.“All those guys who looked at you like you were fucking Hercules, and not one of them kept in touch?”
I shrugged, trying not to look as uncomfortable as I felt all of a sudden.So much for not being awkward.“I mean, it’s my fault.I kind of dropped off the earth after things went south with football.”
“Right, but, you were their hero,” Diego reasoned.
“People move on.”
He made a face.“In Stanley County?They absolutely do not.”
I gave the server a grateful look for dropping off the drinks, which gave me something to do with my hands.And an excuse to be silent for a second, think of the right way to answer his questions.
Because he was right.It wasn’t just the old folks in Stanley County who approached me to talk about the good old days; if I saw someone who was on the team, especially, they always wanted to shoot the shit and talk about that one time at State, or that big game with Capitol, or the time the guys stole Marshall’s mascot costume and nearly got the whole team suspended.
I endured it like I endured the old folks’ good-natured reminiscing.But, “Honestly, it’s a little bit embarrassing.”
“Oh.”He nodded, though.“I mean, I knew you didn’t love when people cornered you to discuss and dissect your career on the field.I just didn’t know…”
“I think I’ll add it to the list of stuff I’m working on,” I said with a little laugh at myself.“I don’t know; I just felt like after I lost the football career early on, I was kind of…”
“Embarrassed, yeah,” he finished.“No, I get it.I just—I mean, none of those guys went to the NFL either, you know?”
“I guess…” I considered, sipping one of those divine barrel-aged Manhattans.Of course, this was leading to another touchy subject, because why wouldn’t it?“I guess I just never engaged after a while.”
But he just nodded again, eyes still bright and wide, as if this was actually interesting.“Did you feel like you disappointed them?”
