Extra Innings

by Stevens, Lynn

  “Yeah, Grandma lives in the only district that didn’t specify gender,” I answered with as much confidence as I could. Well, answered the second question anyway.

  “Then why keep it a secret?” he asked.

  I glanced at Daniel and muttered, “I don’t know.”

  Grandma and Charles walked into the room, saving me from further explanation. I couldn’t tell him the truth. This wasn’t the time for a full out brawl.

  I focused on his reaction to Charles. My father cocked an eyebrow and nothing more. Grandma looked her usual elegant self with her silver hair pulled into a bun. Charles appeared uncomfortable in a dress shirt and tie. I bet Grandma had to tie it for him.

  “Hello, everyone,” Grandma said. Her voice shook a little. Only someone who lived with her could’ve heard it. “Charles, this is my son Warren.”

  My father stood immediately and shook Charles’ hand. It was clear the Senator was caught off guard. Only someone who lived with him would’ve seen it.

  After the mandatory how-do-you-dos, Grandma led Charles to the love seat as my father dropped back into the wingback chair. Mom snuck in and leaned against the chair. She smiled at my father but didn’t glimpse my way.

  The room was tense and quiet. My father kept glancing at Charles out of the corner of his eye. I felt like I needed to say something, anything, to break the tension. Charles didn’t deserve the tenth degree anymore than Daniel had.

  “Anything exciting going on in Washington?” I asked. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to distract him. “I mean, how’s work?”

  My father’s smile could dim the lights on Broadway. He loved Washington and everything about it. “Things have been very busy. I’m sponsoring legislation to tighten education standards.” He launched into a speech, no doubt prepared, on how the education in this country has declined since he was a boy. “Even Xavier could use some higher standards, Victoria.” He shook his finger at me. “You get one of the best educations in the country, but it still could be better. This bill has been a lot of work, but I think I’ll get it passed.”

  “That’s wonderful, Warren,” Grandma said.

  “Thank you, Mother.” He noticed Charles fidgeting next to Grandma. “So, Charles, what do you do?”

  Charles stared my father straight in the eye, ready for a challenge. “I own a construction company.”

  “Really?” Mom asked, sounding fake-impressed. “Which one?”

  “Whitelodge.”

  So, maybe I was wrong about Charles all along. He wasn’t fidgeting from nerves, but probably because of the tie.

  My parents looked at one another, clearly impressed by this. Daniel seemed as puzzled as I was. Whatever Whitelodge was, it made my parents much happier.

  The doorbell gonged throughout the house. Lilly rushed by us in a blur of black and white. She led Daniel’s parents, his aunt Rita, and his little sister Becca into the room. I made the necessary introduction and watched for reactions from my parents. As usual, they were polite and blank faced. I tried to take comfort in the fact that they wouldn’t embarrass me.

  “Can I see your room?” Becca whispered. She bounced in her patent leather red flats as she stood wide-eyed in the middle of the ugly Persian rug that Mom loved.

  Mrs. Cho hugged Daniel and said something in his ear that only he could hear. He closed his eyes and nodded once.

  “It isn’t anything exciting,” I whispered back. What’s going on now? To my mother, I said, “I’m going to show Becca around.”

  She nodded. Her eyes were cold. Whether it was for me or for the situation, I didn’t know, but I was willing to bet she was still pissed at me.

  “Come on, Daniel.” No way I was leaving him with the wolves.

  When we got into the hallway, Daniel took my hand and gave it a hard squeeze. Becca rattled on about the house. She sounded more like a six-year-old than a twelve-year-old. I led the way to my room and opened the door. It felt wrong, like I’d stepped into someone else’s life. It didn’t feel like mine anymore.

  Becca snatched up my Xavier yearbooks and decided that I had to look at them with her right then and there. Daniel stared out the window while I explained the rules of the Russian club as we looked at my junior yearbook.

  Lilly knocked on the door and instructed us to come downstairs for dinner.

  “I hope I get into Xavier,” Becca told me as she walked down the main stairs beside me. “It would be so awesome.”

  Daniel snorted behind us. His hands were deep in his pockets and his shoulder slouched. Something was bothering him. Other than the obvious.

  “What?” I asked.

  “What’s so awesome about it?” he grumbled.

  “For one, academics. Most of my classmates will be able to pick and choose whatever college they want.”

  “Yeah, Danny,” Becca matched my tone and crossed her arms as we continued to the dining room.

  “Yeah, I know, but you don’t get to do any fun stuff.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Like what?” Becca asked.

  “No baseball team.” He shrugged. “And no softball. No cross country. No show choir. No marching band.”

  I held up my hand to stop him. “Okay, I get your point.”

  He reached for my hand, but I moved out of the way. Becca went into the dining room ahead of us and Daniel stopped me from following her.

  “Why’re you so down on Xavier?” I asked, allowing the hurt to seep into my voice.

  “Because you’re acting all high and mighty about it.” He waved his hands above his head and mocked my voice. “’Oh, the Russian club is so much fun, Becca. We only speak Russian during our meetings and hold a Russian festival at the end of the year.’”

  He pushed by me and I held back the urge to drag his ass back into the hallway to finish this. Maybe I didn’t know Daniel at all. He had never said anything like that about Xavier. Or me. Or anybody. Something else was going on.

  Putting on my own fake smile, I followed him into the dining room. Dad and Mr. Cho sat at the head seats. Mom had Lilly arrange the seating. Naturally, that meant Daniel was at the other end of the table from me. For the moment, I was fine with that.

  The appetizers were met with conversations about the weather. It wore on my nerves. I kept sneaking glances at Daniel and stared until my mother cleared her throat. I couldn’t have cared less, but it wasn’t proper etiquette to stare at someone during dinner. Even Becca knew that.

  The soup and salad were served next. The soup tasted like watered down beef broth and the salad looked wilted under the runny dressing. Lilly’s food usually appealed to me, but nothing looked good so far.

  Dinner was quiet. They ran out of things to say about the weather. It’s hot. It’s humid. It’s a typical St. Louis summer. What more was there to say?

  “Are you okay, Vicky?” my father asked in a hushed tone.

  I gave him a half smile and nodded. He squeezed my hand under the table then asked Mr. Cho about golf.

  Becca said something to me. I remember nodding in agreement as I tried once again to get Daniel’s attention. I don’t know what she asked, but my answer was enough to get her to hug me. I felt my mother’s disapproval across the table.

  “That’s a great idea, Rebecca,” my father boomed, shaking me out of my reverie. “I’m sure Dr. Tennant would love for Vicky to show you the campus.”

  Crap. My head swam in the midst of misinformation. I glanced toward Daniel and caught his glare before he turned away. This is getting ridiculous. Just because Daniel doesn’t like Xavier, doesn’t mean Becca can’t see it.

  The senseless talk continued as my parents rattled on about how great Xavier’s been for me. Then I noticed the heartbroken expression on Mrs. Cho’s face.

  The main meal arrived. The chicken was dry. The potatoes were lumpy and the green beans limp. I stayed quiet and watched Daniel. He was stiff, and it annoyed the crap out of me.

  Manners be damned, I needed to fix this.

>   Now.

  I slammed my fork down just as Lilly served desert.

  “Victoria,” my mother scolded.

  “Sorry, Mom.” I put on that fake smile again; one that I hoped to never use in the presence of my boyfriend and here I’d used it twice on him in one night. “Will you all excuse us for a moment? Daniel?”

  He threw his napkin on the table and followed me outside. I led us around the pool, fighting the urge to turn around and push him in. I flipped on the light switch as soon as I stepped into the pool house and turned on him. He’d only gotten one foot in the door when I started.

  “I am not going to feel like a zombie all night because of you.”

  “What?”

  “Xavier is a great school. Becca’s smart enough to get in. There are scholarships available if there are any financial issues. Payments can be made. So don’t make me feel like it’s my fault because you don’t like the idea of your sister going there.” The words came out so fast that it sounded like one long word. I took a breath and waited.

  “You think this is about money?” he asked as he stared at his feet.

  I sat on the couch. “I don’t know. You were too busy snapping at me –”

  “She didn’t get in.” He looked up at me. “Mom and Dad found out today. They haven’t told her yet.” He collapsed beside me. “It’s not always about the money, Vic.”

  I didn’t know what to say. I’d assumed … I felt like an ass.

  “Every day since she applied, since she found out about Xavier, it’s the only thing she’s talked about.” He crossed his arms and closed his eyes. “It’s gotten worse since she met you. She’s excited that she’ll know a senior as a seventh grader since the middle school is so close to the high school. She thinks you will be her best friend.” He opened his eyes and stared at me. “This is going to crush her.”

  “I’m sorry, Daniel. I had no idea.”

  “I know. I was going to tell you, but I just … I couldn’t.”

  “Maybe the Senator –”

  “No, I couldn’t ask you and my parents would freak out if he said anything to Dr. Tennant.” He put his hand on my knee as we slouched together. “I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

  I leaned my head on his shoulder, wishing I could fix this for Becca. “What’re they going to tell her?”

  “It won’t be the truth. I think Dad’s going to tell her he can’t afford it. Then it will be his fault and not her’s.”

  I nodded. That was stupid, but how would I have reacted?

  “Are you still mad at me?” He pushed his shoulder into me. I pushed back.

  “No. I mean, you were just trying to soften the blow for her, right? Big brothers are required to do that.”

  “Uh-huh.” He cupped my face in his hands and kissed me like it would be the last time. “We need to get back inside, Vic. The elders will think we’ve abandoned them.”

  “Screw them.” I tried to pull him closer, but he resisted. I used the only Russian curse word I knew and let him lead me back to the house.

  I felt the hostility before we walked back into the dining room. Daniel felt it too. His body went rigid. It was deadly quiet as we went back to our assigned seats.

  “Is everything okay?” I whispered to my father.

  “Mr. Cho and I were just discussing the immigration legislation that was voted on during the winter session,” he responded so everyone could hear.

  Uh-oh. That’s what Daniel’s parents were discussing when I had dinner with them. When I failed to mention who exactly my father was.

  “Yes,” Mr. Cho began in his rich baritone, “I was explaining to your father that my grandparents would not have been allowed in this country the way things are now. A relaxation in standards would provide the opportunity for thousands of people looking for a better way of life than what they know.”

  “But times are different now, Mr. Cho,” my mother crowed. “Surely you agree.”

  “That does not make the situation any less dire for those who wish to immigrate,” Mr. Cho replied.

  I was impressed. No one ever spoke to my mother or father like that. It was awesome.

  “Mr. Cho, your viewpoint is duly noted,” my father said with such a fake amount of joviality that he could’ve been a Mall Santa. “Now, I want to hear more about this baseball team our children play for.” He looked at Daniel with raised eyebrows. “Robert tells me that you will make the playoffs.”

  I’m sure he’s told you so much more than that.

  “It’s possible,” Mrs. Cho said in her soft voice.

  “That’s fantastic. Now, Victoria, I understand you play third base?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Have you gotten many hits?” My father knew so little about baseball that I’m surprised he knew what a hit was. Football was his game. If I tried to play football, he would’ve been happier. Not that I would’ve told him.

  “She hit a triple today,” Mom blurted. Her knowledge of the sport used to be worse than my father’s. I suspected Reggie’s mom had something to do with this newfound interest in scoring. “And tore up her knee.”

  I threw Mom a thanks-a-lot glare.

  “But it isn’t that bad, Warren,” Grandma jumped in as my father’s face faded to red.

  Grandma got a thanks-for-the-save smile.

  “She might have needed stitches,” Mom countered.

  “But she didn’t. Daniel patched her up after the game.” Grandma’s face was tight, like she had just gotten a face lift. “You were right there, Meredith.”

  “She should have seen a doctor,” Mom argued.

  “Cut it out, Mother. It wasn’t that bad.” I smiled with a wicked idea forming in my head. “I was hurt much worse after our first game.” Out of the corner of my eye, Daniel’s head dropped. “Some idiot pitcher beaned me in the back. I had a bruise the size of a dinner platter for about a week. Coach forced me to sit out an extra game after I served my suspension.”

  “Suspension?” Mom gasped. I’d never been suspended from anything, so this was quite a shock.

  Daniel coughed to get me to stop, but I kept going.

  “Yes, I was suspended for going after the guy that hit me. It was intentional.”

  The room was so quiet you could’ve heard a bug scurry across the floor, if any bug dare entered Chez Hudson.

  “You never told me that you were suspended,” Mom said with more venom than a snake could handle.

  “It wasn’t a big deal. It was only one game. And I wouldn’t have been able to play anyway with that monster bruise on my back.”

  “You still should’ve told your mother,” my father snapped.

  Suddenly I felt like I was five all over again. I wanted to stomp my feet and pout. It would’ve been nice if I got an “atta girl” for standing up for myself. Nope, I got nothing but guilt. So I caved.

  “Sorry, Mother,” I said with a hint of sarcasm. Why did I even open my mouth?

  Silence filled the room, mixing with open hostility. Charles tried, and failed, to start any type of conversation. Grandma spoke with Mr. Cho. My father bristled in his seat. Aunt Rita, who hadn’t said a damn word all evening, stirred her tea and chatted with her silverware. I think she was certifiable. Becca bounced in her seat while Mrs. Cho hushed her. Daniel and I stared at each other, and Mom stared at me.

  Quite the dinner party.

  “Daniel,” my father boomed, “my wife tells me you’re interested in a career in pediatric medicine.”

  “Yes, sir,” Daniel said as evenly as possible.

  “Quite a noble profession.”

  “Thank you.”

  Lilly stepped into the room to save the day. “Coffee is ready in the music room, ma’am.”

  “Great. Thank you, Lilly,” Mom said. The relief was clear in her voice. It was as if she thought a change of location would help change everyone’s attitudes. She stood and motioned to the hallway. “Shall we?”

  Becca wanted to see the pool. Mom and Mrs. Cho
walked outside and talked about rose gardens. Grandma, Charles, and Mr. Cho went into the music room to enjoy Lilly’s French Roast coffee. The Senator excused himself to make a phone call. More than likely to call Robert.

  Daniel and I sat at the piano. He pretended he could play but only used one finger to pluck at the keys. Becca joined us when she was finished with the pool. She quizzed me about Xavier and I said any tiny little thing I could think of that would make it look less magical to her.

  Finally, it was time for the Chos to leave.

  As we said our goodbyes, Mom pulled me aside.

  “Your father and I would like to talk to you.” She looked around to see if anyone overheard her. “Alone.”

  “About what?” I asked, feigning innocence. It never occurred to me until that moment how much we faked in this house.

  “We will discuss this after your guests leave.” She lifted her chin high and glared at me down her nose. Usually, she reserved that look for Joba.

  “I’m leaving too, Mother.”

  “No, you aren’t. Daniel can go home with his parents. You’re staying here.”

  “But –”

  “No buts, Victoria.” She put on her fake smile and strode back into the hallway, directly toward Daniel.

  He looked over her shoulder as she spoke at him and nodded. I stood in the door, defeated. He went to his dad first and then walked over to me. I backed into the sitting room where this all began.

  “Don’t leave,” I pleaded.

  “What am I supposed to do? Tell your mother no?”

  “Yes, that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do.” I choked back tears. “I don’t want to stay here.”

  Daniel stepped closer, closing the widening gap. “So don’t. Leave with me. Come over to my house.”

  I shook my head. There was no getting out of this. I couldn’t walk out the front door without making a scene. “You know I can’t.”

  “Sneak out later.” He cupped my elbows and drew me closer. “We can hang out for a while. You know my parents like you.”

  It was a knife in an already damaging wound. “Is it that obvious?”

  “That your parents hate me? Oh, yeah.” He smirked. “And it doesn’t matter.”

  “I just don’t want to hear about it.”