The Hitting Zone
chapter-751

"Jeremy sent you a message." Noah pointed at my phone on the desk.

I had just come back from my shower, feeling slightly better and more refreshed. My eyes were still a little swollen, but I wasn't crying anymore. Little wins. I went to the desk. "Did you look?"

"I did." Noah nodded.

It was from Jeremy: I didn't know, but I will find out. I'll call you later.

There was no missed call. "Should I reply?"

"If you want."

I thought about it for a second before typing back 'okay.'

"Pizza is here, you ready?" Noah asked.

I nodded. "Yea." I put my phone in my pocket.

"I don't think you'll need that." Noah told me. "He has a game tonight still and probably has to deal with a lot. When he said later, he probably meant tonight."

"Oh." I took my phone back out and put it back on the desk. I didn't really need it after all. Everyone I talk to mostly lived with me.

Noah left the room first and I followed. Downstairs in the kitchen, they had the food all set out. We filled our empty plates with a little bit of everything.

"This kind of sucks." Dave said between bites. "What a way for camp to end. I wonder if they're going to continue with those reporters hanging around. And if they do, what will they get to do since we scrimmaged already?"

"Mahki sent me a text." Zeke said. "Coach had called the school security to escort the reporters off school grounds. They can't see them anymore."

"So they're playing this afternoon?" Kyle asked.

"I'll ask Alisha." Noah got his phone out and started to text.

"What are we going to do all afternoon?" Dave asked, frowning.

"You could get started on your college applications." Mom suggested with a smile.

"Aww, Mom." Dave groaned. "That's so boring. It's Friday."

Mom shrugged. "I'm sorry, honey. There's nothing I can do. Mr. Pickens will come over to address the reporters this afternoon and we'll have to wait this out."

"Sorry." I mumbled, feeling guilty.

"It's not your fault." Dave laughed. "I'm just feeling dramatic." He looked to Kyle. "We could practice our pitching in the backyard. I'll catch for you, if you catch for me?"

Kyle nodded. "Yea. That's a good idea."

"We don't have catcher's gear, do we?" Dad asked, sounding concerned.

"Well...I'm sure we'll be fine." Kyle shrugged.

Dad shook his head. "No way. That's too dangerous. You boys both know what level you're at. Let me go to O'Conners and pick up a face mask and chest protector. At least."

Dave scratched his cheek. "Okay. That'd be great. Thanks, Dad."

"You don't have to pick out anything high-end." Kyle reminded him. "We're just using it for practice."

"Can I go with you?" Noah asked Dad.

Dad glanced at me before looking at him. "You don't want to stay at home with Jake?"

I looked at him too.

Noah put his pizza down. "Now that you put it that way, I have to explain." He rolled his eyes. "I figured since you were getting something for the twins, you can get something for us."

I smiled. Noah was still Noah. I could always count on him. I looked to Dad.

"Sure." He nodded. He looked at me. "Sorry, Jake, you should probably stay inside."

"Yea." I ate my food, feeling a little more relaxed.

"We'll stay inside too." Dave told me. "Even when Dad gets back with the catching stuff. I just showered and don't feel like getting dirty again."

"How dare you get my hopes up!" Kyle threw a pepperoni at Dave, but it hit Zeke in the face instead.

Zeke narrowed his eyes at Kyle. "We can work out together instead. Lift the free weights I have in the garage. Do some ab workouts."

Kyle laughed, sounding strange. "You know what, I already pitched today and showered. We can throw together in the morning."

"Yea, I don't think we'll be going to the A's game tomorrow night." Noah started eating again. "This can't blow over soon enough. The poor A's only have a three game lead over the Astros."

"I'll invite Rhys over tomorrow instead." Zeke said. "He would probably like to work out with the twins tomorrow, and show off."

"Man, too bad we don't have a cage like him." Noah said wistfully.

"If you boys don't need it immediately, then I'm going to help your mom with some work first." Dad stated. He looked at Noah. "We'll go before dinner and try to bring home dinner too."

Noah nodded. "Yea! Sounds good!"

After lunch, Zeke excused himself to call Rhys. Then Mom and Dad went to their office to finish their work for today.

"Should we just watch baseball or movies?" Dave asked as the four of us moved to the living room.

"Movies." Kyle chose. "The baseball games will probably be talking about Jeremy drama. Let's stay away from that until we hear it from him." He glanced at me. "Sound good?"

I nodded. "Yea, sure."

We spread out in the room, getting comfortable. The twins worked through the list of sports movies I've seen and haven't seen. After much debate, they went with the 'Rocky' series since there was no telling when we'll have this kind of time to have a movie marathon again. Zeke joined us halfway through the first movie, bringing water for all of us.

The movie about boxing had me cringing the whole time. I think it was supposed to be an inspirational story of a small-time boxer getting the chance to face a champion, but the constant fighting was tough to watch. The second movie was flat out the same two guys training to fight one another again.

A phone ringing cut into the start of the third movie. Kyle paused it to find out who was being called. "Not me."

"It's me?!" Noah was surprised, staring at his phone in confusion.

"What is it?" Dave asked. "A scam call? Unknown number? Just hang up and let's get back to the movie."

Noah shook his head. "It's Rose. Jeremy's girlfriend." He looked at me.

"Answer it." Zeke commanded.

Noah clicked on answer. He put the phone on speaker. "Rose?"

"Noah! Thank goodness!" She sounded out of breath. "I almost forgot I had your number!"

"..." Noah didn't know what to say. He looked around at us, but we didn't speak up either. He coughed and cleared his throat. "Is something the matter? Did you want to talk to Jake?"

"Yes! Yes!" She replied in succession. "Is he with you??"

"Right next to me." Noah told her. "You're on speaker."

Rose took a deep breath. "Jake. Do you know where your mom is?"

"In her office..?" My answer sounded like a question. Was she actually looking for Mom instead?

"No, no, sorry. Your birth mother? Like what prison she's in?" She rushed to correct herself.

I drew a blank. What?

"Jake? Jake?" She prompted me.

"Uh, Rose?" Noah took over. "That's not something we would know. Why do you even want to know?"

"I'm worried about Jeremy." She sighed. "I know a lot of crazy is happening right now, but he suddenly called in to say that he wasn't going to be able to play tonight. Then he told me personally that he was going on a trip to see his birth mother."

"Why?" Noah was stunned.

The rest of us were no exception.

This didn't sound like something Jeremy would do. Not at all.