The next day, Brian was nowhere to be seen during their morning run. While this was unheard of for soone like Brian, both Ken and Steve did not panic. In fact, it was rather good since they could focus on working out rather than trying to get all the details from him.
It wasn't until breakfast ti back at the hotel that they saw Brian finally erge from his room. The guy looked a little tired and his hair was rather disheveled as if he'd just woken up, but there was a crooked smile on his face.
"Here he is!" Steve exclaid with a wide grin, "Roo has finally left the arms of his dear Juliet to co see his friends."
Brian's face faltered briefly, but he ignored the guy and walked straight to the buffet breakfast. Steve clicked his tongue, but he was still in a good mood.
"What's this about Roo and Juliet?" Ayden leaned back and asked them.
"Oh you didn't hear? Brian went on a date with a lovely girl from the sports shop. Rose I think her na was." Steve seed thrilled that soone would ask the question, and didn't hesitate to begin the gossip.
"Eh? This guy must be pretty confident to be picking up chicks on the road." Kaden piped up, a hint of jealousy in his eyes.
Ken shook his head, "Don't tease him too much. He is still a pure kid."
"Oh co on, I would never do such a thing to our cute freshman." Steve replied, though his words were hardly believable. In fact, Ken knew that this guy would definitely do the opposite.
By the ti Brian arrived back at the table, there were more than a few sets of eyes on him, their expressions filled with expectation. The object of their attention ignored them and tucked into his breakfast.
"Oi~ Roo. You gonna fill us in on the details?" Steve probed.
"A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell." He replied flatly.
"EH!? You guys kissed? Damn, you work fast Roo."
Ayden laughed, "You shouldn't be surprised. Brian is always quick to get to first base."
"HAHAHA"
The table broke out into laughter. Even Ken had a hard ti keeping his composure after the quick and unexpected joke.
Brian's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, but he tried his best to ignore the group. Of course he seed to have forgotten how persistent Steve could be when he wanted to.
"So tell us, did you only get to first base? Surely you wouldn't have been satisfied with just that." Steve asked, leaning closer to the guy.
Brian raised his gaze from his plate and glared at Steve. "I told you, I am a pious man. There will be no such things until marriage."
"Eh, really? I thought you were just using that as an excuse to explain your virginity…"
Brian's face reddened and he was about to blow his top before Ken stepped in. "I told you to leave him alone. I'm sure he had a respectful date with Rose and even had her back ho at an appropriate ti."
"Then why does he look so tired then?" Steve added, pointing to Brian.
"I bet he was up ssaging her all night. Don't act like you didn't do the sa with your first girlfriend." Ken quipped, patting Steve on the shoulder.
With Ken's intervention, everyone lost interest. Brian sent him a grateful glance while the others moved onto the next topic of conversation. It wasn't tough since they had a very important ga on today.
"You think we'll be facing Virginia Tech again today?" Kaden asked, casually munching on a piece of toast.
"I think it's pretty clear cut. VT played Gonzaga in the first match and beat them by 8 runs. They've got a pretty strong team after all."
"It doesn't matter who we play, we'll co out on top anyway." Steve said with determination.
"I like your enthusiasm, but you better not slack off. You hit 2 fly ball's and a grounder yesterday, it's no wonder they chose not to walk you in the final inning." Ken added, pouring cold water on the guy.
A few around the table laughed in response.
"H—Hey man, we spoke about this. My bat was broken, those hits should have been ho runs. Now that I've got a new bat, It won't be the sa." He assured.
"Yeah yeah, just make sure you've got your head in the ga. Coach said I won't be starting pitcher today either, but the 8th and 9th inning are mine. As long as we're ahead by then, I'll close them out." Ken replied with deep confidence.
No one rebuked him, in fact they all felt at ease knowing Ken would close out today's ga. After all, this was the 2nd year in a row that he held the best ERA 1for a college pitcher, who wouldn't trust him?
"Are you guys going to watch the ga today?" Ayden asked, "Coach said that we can head to the field a bit later."
Ken shook his head, "I'll watch it on TV in the room."
The others decided that they would attend the ga, which suited Ken just fine. After all, it wasn't often that he would get alone ti. But by the ti everyone had left and Ken was alone in the room, he regretted not going.
He found himself missing Ai, his family, his friends. A deep sense of loneliness tugged at his heart, threatening to overwhelm him. It had co out of nowhere and he had not expected it.
It was confusing since he had been alone plenty of tis in the past, but it had never affected him like this.
Trying to push the feeling down, Ken turned on the TV in the hotel room and searched for ESPN2 in preparation to watch the ga. It wouldn't start for another 30 minutes or so, but he wanted to preoccupy himself.
A Major League ga appeared on the screen and Ken's eyes flashed.
"Miami Blue Marlins?" Enjoy more content from My Virtual Library Empire
In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a ga). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine. Thus, a lower ERA is better.
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