"the dominoes cascaded in a line."
terribly sorry for the varying chapters that use proper grammar and capitalization and the others that are in all lowercase LMAO
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she's got my heartbeat skipping down sixteenth avenue.
∞
it had been a long week for fernando. it was weird to be traveling with the team almost every day and playing on major league fields again. it was extremely chaotic, but his teammates and the club altogether had supported him and guided him to make it less overwhelming. bonus points: he could successfully say he raised his batting average from 0 to .243.
the highlight of the road-trip definitely had to be chicago. the fans at wrigley lived up to their name in right field. fernando headlined sports center as a video of him dancing to the "he's on steroid," chants from the cubs fans circulated.
the san diego padres were closing out the extended road trip by traveling internationally to mexico city. it was apart of the mlb tour, and they were set to face the giants.
mexico was gorgeous. the people there were amazing, the fans were passionate, the weather was beautiful, and the food absolutely rocked.
the one thing that sucked about mexico, was that serena wasn't in it. she was 32 hours away in san diego.
the difference about missing her today though, was that it was her birthday. additionally, she had to fly out to new york for some mlb board meeting in lieu of peter & co. to represent the padres. she didn't seem enthused at all about going, especially since she was supposed to be celebrating her birthday.
he'd had little contact with her since she went back to san diego after his first series in arizona. they still called every day, but this was his first relationship in awhile where he actually wanted to be with this person 24/7.
serena 💖
Today 2:39
happy birthday 🧸🎂 i love you. not delivered ❗️
∞ ∞ ∞
fernando sighed. he promised he'd call her when he got the chance before she took off. she must've already boarded and put her phone in airplane mode.
"something wrong?" xander asked, leaning forward as he looked over to the young boy next to him.
"no, i just forgot to call serena before she flew to the big apple. i told her i would."
"mm," he nodded, standing up from his seat in the clubhouse, "are you worried or something?"
"no. it's actually her birthday. she's stuck hanging out with mets ownership alone in new york," fernando slightly snickered. xander looked at him understandingly with a nod.
"that sounds like a great birthday," he said sarcastically.
"i know. i feel guilty i can't be there with her... or even at least talk to her before she sits through the longest most boring 48 hours of her life. she should be here with the team and the rest of the staff," he frowned.
since peter, erik, and the rest of the higher-ups at the club insisted on enjoying their time here in mexico, serena was left with the dirty work.
"it sucks you can't be with her," xander offered, "but i'm happy you're feeling this way. who would've thought 5 months ago that you stopped partying and dropped everything for one girl. you've grown, kid."
fernando's frown slowly turned into a hidden smile. life had moved so fast and so crazy that he hadn't even noticed how much he changed as a person. it made him feel happy to know other people noticed it enough to even let him know. especially a guy like x.
"now cmon, grab your bat. the elevations higher so the airs a lot thinner. it's gonna look like a home run derby here tonight," xander grinned, handing fernando his batting gloves from off one of the shelves.
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"hello?" serena answered to her phone as soon as she walked out of the airport. bob melvin had called her two times, and that was absolutely unheard of from a guy like him who barely even knew how to turn on his iphone.
"hey, dr. lense. we have a problem," he exhaled.
"what's up?" she asked.
"my flight to new york for tomorrow morning after the game got pushed back. my wife and i aren't gonna be able to make it to the managerial toast. i'm really sorry, lense... but you're gonna have to go to that too," the man explained, sorrow in his voice as he broke the news. he'd already heard about how she was dreading going to this conference in the first place.
"oh, it's fine," she softly answered. serena didn't have it in her after a 9 hour airport stint to argue or complain. it was easier right now to just say okay.
"i'm really sorry, i know how bad these things are. if you need me, call me. alright?"
"yeah, i will," she promised, pulling the phone down from her ear as she hung up.
that meant no birthday party on friday... and no steak dinner on saturday either.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
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