"Well, it seems like we're both of the same opinion then. Ken really is special…" Brian replied, letting out a hollow laugh.
A few moments later, Ken walked out from the store carrying two bats.
"Here is your bat, don't break it again…" He stated firmly.
"Yes sir!" Steve replied, his energy returning.
"And here, you take this." Ken said, handing Brian a folded piece of paper.
"Huh? What's this?"
Ken grinned, "Just open it."
Brian did as he was told and looked confused upon seeing its contents. Being the nosy guy that he was, Steve peeked over his shoulder and let out a gasp.
"He really is Goose…" Steve muttered.
On the slip of paper was a name and a phone number and a few words written beneath that said "I finish at 5pm, text me."
Brian raised his head in disbelief. "Why are you giving this to me?" He asked, slow on the uptake.
Ken let out a laugh and placed his arm around the guy's shoulder. "I told the girl that you think she's cute and asked for her number. You should have seen her blush."
"Wait… This is for me? She gave me her number?"
"Dude, how slow are you?" Steve asked knocking against his head as if to check if it was empty.
"Holy crap… This is the first girl's number I've ever gotten…" He muttered in disbelief.
"Alright well don't lose it then." Ken replied, "Let's head back, I'm sure the coach is worried that we've been gone for so long."
Steve was so happy for Brian that he didn't even tease him about the situation. He could understand the guy, after all, he was in a similar boat before dating Steph.
The mood was jovial as the group returned back to the hotel. Brian had moved on from his state of disbelief to one of anxiety.
"What should I text her? The only girls I've talked to are my Mom and Sister's…"
Steve then decided to take point, filling his head with fanciful ideas. As the adult in the group, Ken quickly put a stop to the nonsense and advised Brian to just be himself.
Of course this advice was far too overused and he was promptly ignored by both Brian and Steve who began to come up with a plan to woo this woman they had just met.
Ken could only shake his head incredulously. But if he was honest, it was a welcome change not having the two kids fighting against each other like usual.
Upon arriving back at the hotel, the coach's face was full of relief after seeing the trio return safely.
"Right, we've got a meeting in 20 minutes. Go get settled and meet back in the usual spot." Coach Brown said.
"Yes sir."
20 minutes later everyone had arrived at the meeting spot to talk about the final game tomorrow. Everyone was in a good mood, particularly after the walk off home run earlier that day.
"Alright, I know that our opponent hasn't been decided for tomorrow yet, but I wanted to schedule this meeting anyway." Coach Brown said, addressing the players.
"You saw today just how good Virginia Tech are. While nothing is certain in baseball, we believe that they will likely beat Gonzaga again and play us in the finals. If this is the case then we'll likely have another close match tomorrow."
"But," He continued, "In the event that Gonzaga win, I want us to at least be aware of their team. So we will be focusing on some film from a few of their most recent games."
Like this, the coach went through the meeting like usual. The first 30 minutes focused on Gonzaga, and the latter was film from their game today. Coach Brown always liked to point out any mistakes in the name of progress.
In his words, as long as they were getting better every day, they would eventually be the best.
Once the meeting was done, it was already around 5pm. Brian had been fidgeting the entire time, constantly looking at the clock as the hour to contact the girl approached.
"Did you decide what you'll message her?" Ken asked, only half interested.
"Y—Yeah. I was gonna ask her if she knew any good places to have dinner…" Brian replied.
"What is she your tour guide?" Ken frowned slightly. "Try asking her to dinner, and ask for any recommendations where you can take her."
"He's right. You don't want to come off as a bitch." Steve replied matter-of-factly.
"Who are you calling a bitch?" Brian arced up, sending him a fierce glare.
Steve shrugged, "Ken was the one who had to ask for her number, it sounds to me like you've already been acting like one."
"I—Is that true Ken?" Brian asked, his eyes looking pitiful.
Ken let out a deep sigh, "He's not totally wrong. You need to show some confidence, otherwise women tend to lose interest rather quickly."
Brian was thoughtful for a while, "How exactly do I show confidence?"
"You should go to the date with your shirt off. Not only will you appear confident, you can show off those muscles you've been working on." Steve replied.
WHACK
"OW~"
"Don't listen to this idiot…" Ken said, sending him a glare. "There's a small line between confidence and arrogance. From what I heard from Rose today while we were talking was that she also likes baseball. You both have a common ground."
Brian nodded, pulling out his phone.
"What are you doing?"
"Taking notes."
Ken stopped the next sigh that was moments from slipping out and grabbed Brian by the shoulders. "You need to relax. Treat like its any other dinner. Ask questions about her, what she does, what her dreams are, what her favorite team is. Avoid talking about yourself unless she asks directly, that way you won't ramble on."
"Okay, I got it." Brian nodded along, "I'll message her now."
Ken said a silent prayer for the guy before mumbling about needing to go and stretch his muscles.