~ Chapter Thirty Six ~
"PLEASE!" AJ flung himself on his knees in front of the TV in Kevin's family room. "Please let the Blue Jays win! I cannot play against the A's! My brain can't handle it! White shoes after Labor Day is just too strong a weapon for me to handle!"
"I thought you said the Blue Jays had ugly uniforms too." Nick laughed from where he was sprawled across the couch.
"Yeah, well, Oakland is ten times worse, my friend." AJ flopped over onto the floor. "They actually hurt to look at. The colors... the shoes.... it's just not a good thing. The Cool Guru would like to proclaim at this time that the A's shouldn't be allowed to play after September. I don't think I can watch this game."
The regular season was over, but the Oakland Athletics and Toronto Blue Jays finished the season in a dead tie for the wild card position. Today, they were playing a one game playoff in Oakland to determine who would advance to the playoffs - and play the Mariners. The Mariners themselves were rooting for the Blue Jays. They had a history of playing better against the Blue Jays, Scott Martin was on the team, plus, as AJ pointed out, the Blue Jays didn't have white shoes.
"You sound like you need alcohol." Kevin sympathized from the kitchen doorway.
"All right!" Brian clapped enthusiastically from where he was sitting next to Felicia on the couch. "Are we gonna have one of those contests to see who can get drunk the fastest again?"
"No!" Kevin said sharply, glaring at Brian. "We are not!"
"Kevin would win anyway." AJ said from the floor. "So what's the fun in that?"
"The fun is in watching him." Brian argued. "It's not a party unless Kevin gets sloshed!"
"Thank you, Bri." Kevin flung a bag of chips across the room at Brian, smacking him in the chest. "Fill your mouth and stop talking."
"I don't like the barbecued ones... do you have any with the ridges?" Brian requested, then started giggling at the look of shock on Kevin's face.
"Be quiet!" Karen screamed. "It's starting!"
"We don't need to hear it." AJ's voice sounded from the floor again. "This is a room of fully grown major leaguers. We're capable of following a baseball game without the sound."
"Denise!" Brian hollered, waving madly at AJ's mother as she came in from the kitchen. "Sit with me! Huh? Please?"
Denise laughed and shook her head. "I can't. I already told Nick I would."
"Naaah!" Nick stuck his tongue out at Brian. "She likes me better than you!" He grabbed Denise and gave her a big hug as she sat down, sticking his head right next to hers and grinning cheesily at the rest of the room.
"Want a potato chip?" Brian offered politely, holding the bag out to Felicia, ignoring Nick.
"Watch that woman." AJ warned Nick. "She'll steal your wallet if you're not careful."
Denise shut AJ up with a well placed throw pillow to the head.
"Okay! Quiet!" Kevin yelled now, waving his arms in the air. "There's the lineups! Look at the lineups! And stop throwin' stuff, people!"
There was silence for a moment as everyone stared at the graphic on the screen.
"Okay..." Brian said finally, around a mouthful of potato chips. "That was fascinating. Why did we shut up for that?"
"Did you see how they have Lopez batting fourth instead of second?" Kevin started. "That changes the way the Blue Jays have to pitch to the entire top of the..."
"Fill your mouth and quit talking." Nick grabbed the chip bag from Brian, eliciting a muffled shriek of protest, and handed it over to Kevin.
"Fastball inside!" Kevin yelled as the first batter stepped up to the plate, ignoring the chip bag.
"I just changed my mind." Nick decided. "I think I'm gonna want beer after all. If he's gonna call the entire game like that..."
"I need one too!" AJ added. "Damn those shoes..."
"You can't have any!" Kevin glared at Nick's back as he vanished into the kitchen. "You're underage!"
"Where's your girl?" Brian asked Nick as he came back in the room.
"Workin', dude." Nick vaulted the back of the couch, landing next to Denise.
"Don't do that..." Kevin said absently, still watching the screen.
"How does that work?" Denise wondered. "She gets off and you have to go the ballpark? When do you guys ever see each other?"
"Weekends, pretty much." Nick held the beer can out at arms reach, away from Kevin's grabbing hands. "Back off, Kevin!"
"Oh no!" AJ yelled.
"What?" Kevin turned his attention back to the screen. "What happened?"
"He fouled off a pitch." AJ shrugged. "My bad. Leave Nick's beer alone."
"Are you guys livin' together?" Brian wondered.
"Nope." Nick shook his head, then grinned again. "I just kinda spend a lot of time at her place."
"No!" Kevin ordered. "Don't throw him a slider! Don't do it... I'm warnin' ya..."
"Have I met your girlfriend?" Denise wondered.
"Yes!" Felicia interrupted. "Stacy - the redhead. You met her seven or eight times."
"That's your girl..." Denise leaned back and stared at Nick thoughtfully. "How did you get her? She's way better looking than you are."
Brian collapsed in a fit of laughter on the couch arm.
"Yeah, well..." Nick defended. "Look at AJ. Felicia's better lookin' than him."
"Hey!" AJ twisted around to glare at Nick. "Just because Lissie happens to be one of the FEW people in the world who is more attractive than I am doesn't mean you have to diss me! Just because you're jealous of the hair!" He patted his wiry curls carefully and flopped back down on the floor.
"That is attractive hair, AJ." Karen agreed, keeping a perfectly straight face. "Love the way the orange and blue clashes." She turned to Felicia. "Do you actually let him go out in public like that?"
"If I'm with her, I have to wear a hat." AJ complained. "She's too damn conservative. I'm working on her though."
"Would you please be quiet!" Kevin snapped. "How can I be expected to follow this with all this yapping going on?"
"What's there to follow?" AJ wondered. "Kevin - it's the bottom of the first. Oakland has a guy on first with one out... oh look... Twinkletoes is gonna try for second. Damn, I bet they can see those shoes in L.A."
