Message-ID: <44796asstr$1066313406@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: "Frank Downey" <fabfour.fan@verizon.net>
NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 01:03:32 EDT
Subject: {ASSM} The Curse of the Bambino, Part Five--by Frank Downey
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 10:10:06 -0400
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Second try, in case this shows up twice <G>

Copyright 2003 Frank Downey. All rights reserved. Any use other than
personal archiving requires the permission of the author. Do not repost.

This story contains adult material. If this is illegal where you reside or
if you are underage where you reside, begone.

THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO
CHAPTER FIVE

SUNDAY, OCTOBER TWELFTH/MONDAY, OCTOBER THIRTEENTH
GAME FOUR

Sunday afternoon, right around noontime, I got a call from my Mom in
Medford. She told me it was raining there-that there was a chance the game
that night might be canceled. This wasn't entirely unwelcome news; not
having to pitch John Burkett, who's never beaten the Yankees in his career,
would be a good thing.
A few hours after I got off the phone with Mom, there was a knock on my
door. I went to open it. It was Melanie.

"What the hell do you want?" I blurted out.

"Well," she said with a coy little grin, backing me into the room, "I
thought you might be up for round two."

"You are kidding, right?"

"No, why would I?"

"Look, I made this mistake once. I'm not going to make it again."

"Why was it a mistake?" she asked innocently. "I had a very good time. I
thought you did, too."

"Oh, you know damn well why it was a mistake," I spat out. "You go to bed
with me, and you couldn't wait to tell Callie, could you?"

"I told her how good you were. Figured it might make her wake up."

"You're full of shit. I don't know what kind of game you're playing,
Melanie, but you're playing one."

"The only game I'm playing, Mitchell Zarelli, is sex. I like sex. I found
out the other day that you're good at it."

"Well, you're going to have to find someone else that's good at it. Look, me
sleeping with you hurt Callie badly."

"That's her problem, Mitch! How many fucking opportunities has she had with
you? You're turning down sex because of misguided loyalty to a girl who is
not only out of her fucking mind, but also treats you like shit. You're her
'friend'--which means you're the one that squires her little Princessness
around when she's in between boyfriends. What do you get out of it?"

"It's not a question of what I get out of it," I sighed. "It's a question of
what's in my heart. I can't hurt Callie."

"You didn't think of that on Friday."

"You're right, I didn't, and I was wrong. I didn't think that she'd be
upset-I should have."

"WHY?" she howled. "Her being upset was completely irrational!"

"Not completely," I contended. "If you weren't her best friend, yes. She's
confused, I know that. But I can see some of it. Look, it's just a bad
idea."
She just looked at me and shook her head. "You're as crazy as she is." Then
she turned to leave-and that's when we both noticed. We'd never closed the
door when she came into the room. And there, standing in the hallway, was
Callie.

Melanie blanched for a second, then regained her composure. "So, you saw?"
she said to Callie. "You saw him get all noble? On your behalf, remember.
And what are you going to do about it? My guess is you're going to stomp all
over his heart, just like you've been doing for a year." She snorted. "You
two deserve each other." Then she was gone.

Callie stood there for a minute, just looking at me. I waved her into the
room. She entered, and closed the door behind her. "I saw her," Callie said
hesitantly, "leaving her room. I saw how she was dressed." Mel had been
dressed to kill-and definitely dressed to turn a guy on. "I just knew she
was coming down here. I followed her. I figured you two would, you
know.....again. So I followed her." She let out a bitter little laugh.
"Don't ask me what I was going to do if I found you two together." She
looked up at me, a pathetic look on her face. "Thank you," she whispered.
"And I'm sorry."

"For what, and for what?"

"Well, thank you for not. You know. With Melanie." She took a breath. "And
I'm sorry for overreacting in the first place-it's true, I don't have any
claim on you, and you should sleep with whoever you want. I'm sorry that I
spied on you today. And I'm sorry I've been such a bitch."

"You're not a bitch," I protested.

"I realized something. After the other day. I was upset for a lot of
reasons, but mostly because you let me down. Now, that's because I was
holding you to an impossible standard. But, what I realized afterwards, was
that this was the first time you've ever even come close to letting me down.
I've known you for over a year, and not once, in all that time, have you
treated me like anything other than gold." She looked down. "Which is what
I'm most sorry about. Taking you for granted."

I didn't know what to say to that, but that was OK, because she wasn't done.
"I don't know if I can ever be what you want me to be. But I do not want to
lose your friendship. That's too important to me." She looked up at me. "And
Melanie was right. I was going to try something underhanded to get out of
sleeping with you if you won the bet. I'm not going to do that. I promise.
If you win, I'll go through with it-and let the chips fall where they may."

"Callie? Why does it bother you so much?"

She gave me a sad little smile. "That is a long involved story that really
doesn't have a lot to do with you. Well, it does, but not really. I know I'm
not making much sense." She inhaled deeply. "Maybe someday I'll tell you.
And maybe someday I'll get over it. But not right now. OK?"

"OK," I said. "You hungry?"

"Famished," she said.

"Let's get some dinner. And I don't mean dorm food, either."

"Great idea!"

We went out to eat, keeping the conversation light and easy, away from any
explosive topics. We enjoyed each other's company immensely-like we always
did.
When we got back, we found out the game had, indeed, been canceled due to
rain. Callie said, "Well, might as well catch up on studying." She left, and
I did study, feeling a little better.


Callie was at my door at noon the next day. It was a holiday, Columbus Day,
so there were no classes. "Lunch?" she said as I opened the door. We went,
ate, then returned to my room.

We chatted for a while, again about normal everyday stuff, then she brought
it up.

"You showed me something yesterday," she started.

"Huh?"

"You showed me something." She swallowed hard. "Look, it's true. I have no
claims on you. But you still turned Mel down, out of consideration for me."
She got a disgusted look on her face. "I've known guys that wouldn't have
turned her down if we were fucking engaged."

"You don't trust guys much, do you?"

"Try not at all." She looked down. "Listen. I was thinking about what Tim
said the other day-about girls keeping guys at arms' length if they don't
turn the girl on, even if everything else works. I think he's got a point.
However, I don't think it really applies to me. And I know it doesn't apply
to us specifically. Look, you know what I was like around here last year. I
was basically a bedhopper."

"I didn't think it was that bad."

"Well, in seeing how I reacted to you and Mel-well, I was thinking that me
jumping from bed to bed must have hurt you. But I didn't figure out how you
felt about me until the year was almost over."

"I know that."

"Oh. OK. Well, anyway, I wasn't turning sex down last year, not much. So,
you see-the criteria for a guy making my panties wet, as Tim put it, are
probably much more forgiving than most girls. It's not that I don't want to
go to bed with you. It was never that." She took a breath. "Have you ever
had a relationship?"

"Two," I told her.

"OK. I've had three. I wasn't a bedhopper until I got here. Before last
year, in high school, I'd been to bed with three guys, and I was in
relationships with every single one of them. The first one was sophomore
year. We went out for six months. He got my virginity. Once he got that, he
lost interest. The second one, I went out with for most of junior year, and
into that summer. Him I caught in bed with my best friend."

"Oh, shit," I said. "That was why you freaked at Mel and I."

"That was part of it, yes. I found out it wasn't the first time, either. But
we were going out. We were supposed to be exclusive. You and I never made
that promise to one another. That's why you impressed me by turning her down
yesterday. I think I could've been married to Eric and he fucking wouldn't
have turned Shannon down."

She sighed. "Then, the third-we started going out right before Christmas
senior year. We went out all throughout that year, went to the Senior prom,
the whole bit. We were really into each other, to the point that we decided
to go to college together. Yes, he's here. So, we went out all that summer,
came here together last year-and, two weeks into it, he dumped me.
Surrounded by all these new college girls, he decided he wanted to play the
field."

"Jesus."

"Well, yeah. Anyhow, that is when I gave up. I had decided I liked sex, so I
had sex. With absolutely no emotional messiness whatsoever. I gave up on
love. I'd given my heart away three times. All three times, I got it back in
pieces. I'm not about to risk that again."

"Well, I understand things better now, but that's no way to live."

"What do you know about it?" she demanded.

"As I said, I had two girlfriends in high school. The first, well, she
didn't sleep with my best friend while we were supposed to be going out. She
slept with the rest of Medford High."

"Oh," she said quietly.

"The second one? Decided there was a guy she liked better. So, she dumped me
for him. Three weeks before the senior prom."

"Oh, Jesus," she hissed. "Look, you must have felt similar to how I feel
about it. You must have." I nodded. "How did you get over it?"

"I met you," I smiled. "Look, you know I did what you did last year-fuck
love, just let me sleep my way through Syracuse." She nodded. "And, as time
went on, that got more and more hollow. And, honestly, the hollowness of it
all coincided with the deepening of our friendship. I got to the point where
I'd rather just hang out with you than have sex with anyone else." I let out
a snort. "Which is probably why I was such easy pickings for Melanie-it had
been almost six months. No wonder I was thinking with my dick." She giggled
at that one. "But, that moment of weakness aside, I'd pretty much lost
interest in sex that wasn't with you. Not that sex is all I want from you,
you understand."

"I know," she whispered. "I just don't know if I can. I don't trust you. And
it has nothing to do with you. I don't trust any guys. Not with my heart.
And, believe me, I am trying."

I thought about that for a minute, and said, "Maybe we should call off the
bet."
"Why?"

"Well, given what you just told me, us having sex together is probably a
very bad idea."

"I've thought about that," she said. "I'm torn. Look, if you asked me right
now to sleep with you, I'd run out of the room in terror, because of what I
just told you. Because we both know that there's no way we could ever get
away with just a toss in the hay, a one-night stand. It just wouldn't happen
that way." I nodded. "And my terror would take over because of what I just
told you. But I'm an honorable person. I don't cheat out on an honest bet. I
pay my bets. Maybe that's the kick in the ass I need."

"That seems dangerous," I commented.

"I think everything about the two of us is dangerous right about now," she
sighed. "I should stay away from you completely. But I'm not going to do
that. So, the bet stays on." She grinned. "Not that you're going to win the
bet anyway."

"Oh, really? That rainout was a sign, dear. We bypassed Burkett. It was a
gift. Trust me."

"Uh-huh."


We went to supper, then returned to my room. "You want to find the gang to
watch the game?" I asked.

"No," she replied, "not particularly. I think we should just watch it
together. The rest of those rummies just don't understand the magnitude of
this series," she smirked.

"All they care about is the bet," I laughed.

"Yup," she said. "Let's go to my room, that way we won't even be bothered by
Jack." Callie had a single. We headed up there.

She had a couch in her room. We settled on it. It was a pretty big couch. We
sat like we usually did, pretty much in opposite corners.

Well, we stared out that way. Somehow, while the pregame blather went on,
she gradually edged her way to the middle of the couch-putting her right
next to me.
The game started.

Wakefield walked a tightrope in the first inning-but, as with the Sox
against Pettite in game two, the Yankees couldn't put the hammer down.
Wakefield escaped. Mussina came out and just blew the Sox away.

Callie was so close to me our hips were touching.

Wakefield got it together for the second. Mussina was cruising. We got to
the end of the third, still no score.

I took a deep breath, and put my arm around Callie's shoulder. To my
absolute astonishment, she sighed, and snuggled into my side. We'd never
touched like that. It was a step. We both knew it. And she didn't even
hesitate.

I broke the cuddle in the bottom of the fourth, when Todd Walker hit a home
run to put the Sox ahead one-zip. I had to get up off the couch and do a
little jig. Callie grinned, said, "Wakefield can't keep this up all game,
don't get too excited," and patted the couch next to her. I sat back down,
and she snuggled right back into me.

She got her turn, top of the fifth. The Yankees strung a few hits together
and tied the game. She did her jig, then settled back down next to me.
However, I couldn't help taunting her. "Second and third with one out, a run
in, and they can't get any more?"

And then, in the bottom of the fifth, Trot Nixon hit a homer to put the Sox
back up on top.

Meanwhile, Callie was sitting so close to me we were practically pasted
together. My arm was wrapped around her shoulders. Her head was on my
shoulder. Her hand, by this time, was on my knee. She kept making these
little happy noises-even as the Sox eked out an insurance run in the
seventh.

The Yankees made it close with a dinger in the ninth, but Williamson hung
tough and the Sox hung on. 3-2.

"Well, the series is all tied up," I said.

"Yeah."

"Best of three now."

"Yeah."

"God, I want to kiss you," I blurted out.

"God, I wish you would," she sighed.

BAM! Instant liplock. And a good damn long one, too. She just melted as we
sat there on the couch, clinging to one another, kissing up a storm. I
hadn't had a kiss this good in-well, ever. Our mouths, our whole bodies,
just fit together.
I didn't want it to end, but I knew it would. Callie, finally, pulled away.
She was flushed and breathing heavy. Her lips were slightly swollen. Her
eyes were lidded-but I could also see the doubt swirling in them. I wasn't
surprised. Given what she had told me, that was two enormous steps she had
just taken.

"You need to leave," she said, firmly but not unkindly.

"Yeah, I suppose I do," I grinned. She grinned back in relief. I headed for
the door.

"Mitch?"

"Yeah?"

"Tomorrow," she said. "First pitch is at 4:15, don't forget. I'll be waiting
right here."

"I'll be here."

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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