Page 27 of Forever Fascinating

Getting out of the car, Jana flashed a playful smile at Matthew.

“Whoever hits the most number of baseballs, pays for the Skee-ball,” she wagered boldly, turning to him and sticking out her hand to shake on it.

He looked at her, raised an eyebrow at her, and stuck out his hand, shaking hers.

“I told you I played baseball in high school, right?” he repeated, sounding almost smugly arrogant.

It could have rubbed anyone the wrong way or sounded supremely cocky… but instead, Jana took it as a challenge. Smiling evilly, she hefted an aluminum bat in front of her, flipping it end-over-end and catching it, before selecting a helmet.

“Did I mention that I played baseball too?” she said innocently, only to hear Matthew burst out laughing in sheer delight. He leaned over, grabbed a bat out of the bin, tested it, and then selected another, before smiling at her.

“Game on, Jana…”

“Batter up,Vapor…” she taunted, grinning.

They each bought their own batting cage tickets and stepped inside one, while Jana waited on the outside, protected by the chain-link fence.

“Any hit, right?” Matthew smiled. “If the bat touches the ball, it counts.”

“Yep. Although, I plan on putting distance on mine, so if you want to bunt it all night, so be it…” Jana shrugged – only to hear him laugh openly again. She loved hearing him laugh and the relaxed amusement she saw was breathtakingly wonderful. “Let ’er rip,Bunt-boy…”

“You’ll regret those words,” he chuckled, putting his coin in. “Count them off…”

The baseballs started flying methodically almost about a minute between each, maybe less, and he hit the ball repeatedly. Some were lighter, some were hit with a loud pop that made your teeth rattle, and others were hollow, soaring across the pit into the chain-link.

When his round was finished, he turned smiling at her with enthusiasm.

“How many was that?” he asked. “I counted twenty-eight.”

“Twenty-seven, buster,” she said flatly, challenging him.

“Really?” he laughed. “Twenty-seven? Are you sure you counted them all?”

“Are you trying to one up me, so you win?”

“No. Maybe? I honestly wasn’t counting,” he admitted. “But I wanted to make a good show for you.”

“I enjoyed the ‘show’,” she laughed, winking at him. “Now, let’s see how I do, because I was absolutely counting and yes, Matthew… it was twenty-seven hits.”

“Fair enough.”

He held out his hand, inviting her silently into the batting cage, holding open the door. She took her place in the painted ‘box’ on the cement, fitted her helmet on, and tried to draw on that calmness she felt when she used to step up to the plate.

Now was not the time to choke…

Smirking triumphantly, she hefted the bat upwards and leaned over to put her coin into the dispenser. Hearing the hollow ‘thwomp’ of the ball shooting out of the machine, she called out arrogantly.

“Count ‘em, flyboy…”

*pop*

Jana felt the reverberation up her arms as the ball made contact with the bat, resisting the urge to toss it down behind her and run, prepping immediately for the next ball.

This went on for several minutes and she realized Matthew was counting audibly behind her, his voice proud.

“Twenty-two…”

“Twenty-three…”

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