The next day, Brian was nowhere to be seen during their morning run. While this was unheard of for someone 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 time back at the hotel that they saw Brian finally emerge 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 exclaimed with a wide grin, "Romeo has finally left the arms of his dear Juliet to come 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 Romeo 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 name was." Steve seemed thrilled that someone 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 come 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 time 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~ Romeo. 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 Romeo."
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 time 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 seemed 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 home at an appropriate time."
"Then why does he look so tired then?" Steve added, pointing to Brian.
"I bet he was up messaging her all night. Don't act like you didn't do the same 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 game 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 come 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 home runs. Now that I've got a new bat, It won't be the same." He assured.
"Yeah yeah, just make sure you've got your head in the game. 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 game. 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 game 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 game, which suited Ken just fine. After all, it wasn't often that he would get alone time. But by the time 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 come out of nowhere and he had not expected it.
It was confusing since he had been alone plenty of times 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 game. It wouldn't start for another 30 minutes or so, but he wanted to preoccupy himself.
A Major League game appeared on the screen and Ken's eyes flashed.
"Miami Blue Marlins?"
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 game). 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.