Madeline's POV- June 2017

"I'm starving"

"I bet you are" I replied as he opened the door and gestured for me to step inside.

I was having late dinner with Cody. After his game was over he drove us to the restaurant. Most (if not all) of the workers there knew me, so we were quickly seated.

"And who might this handsome young man be?"

"My date" I answered.

Our waitress, who also happened to be a good friend of mine, Isabella (High School friend) looked at me a bit surprised. She proceeded to grin and clap her hands.

"Well in that case let me get a candle to set the mood"

I shook my head and looked at Cody who raised an eyebrow.

"You come here often"

"We also went to High School together" I mentioned.

He nodded and watched as she placed the candle in the center of the table. She lit the candle and smiled.

"Your usual?"

I looked at Cody who was looking through the menu.

"Could you give us a minute?" I asked.

"Of course, what would you like to drink?"

"Sprite" I replied.

She turned to look at Cody who scratched his neck as he glanced up.

"I'll have a Sprite as well"

She nodded and walked away.

"Ok, what's good here"

"Anything" I admitted.

He chuckled.

"I come here often when I'm in town. It's where I catch up with a lot of my old friends" I explained.

"Well I trust you, order for me"

I raised an eyebrow as he closed the menu.

"Are you allergic to anything?" I asked.

"Not that I'm aware"

I nodded as he smiled.

"I'm sure you're CPR certified, so I'm in good hands"

He was right, I was CPR certified.

"How hungry are you?" I questioned.

"Very"

I nodded and waved the waitress over.

"Ready to order Maddy?"

"Yes" I answered.

I ordered our food for us, and as she took the menu she leaned down and said something to Cody.

"I was actually going to ask you about that"

She smiled.

"I'll be right back with your drinks"

I raised an eyebrow at Cody who smiled at me.

"Do you know how to use chopsticks?"

"I actually do" I answered.

"How did you learn to use chopsticks?"

"By eating sushi often" I admitted.

He chuckled.

"Mind teaching me?"

I reached over and positioned the chopsticks in his hand.

"You hold the top one like you would hold your pencil" I explained.

I glanced up at him to see him nodding.

"The other stick you place against your ring finger" I said.

"Ok"

"Now use your thumb to move the top stick" I stated.

I leaned back and watched as he moved his finger to move the chopsticks. He glanced up as Bella, our waitress placed a pitcher with Sprite on our table.

"And a Margarita for Maddy"

I raised an eyebrow and Cody smiled.

"I'm not trying to get you drunk, I promise"

I laughed.

"Thank you" I said reaching for the Margarita.

I took a sip of it and looked at Cody.

"Want a sip?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"Enjoy it"

I certainly was going to. Bella left to seat a large group and Cody cleared his throat.

"So you have twin brothers"

"Yes, Nathan and Noah" I replied.

"So you're the only girl?"

I shook my head.

"No, I have two sisters" I answered.

He looked at me.

"My parents divorced when I was nine and remarried. I have two younger brothers and two younger sisters from my mom's and dad's respective family" I explained.

"Oh"

Guess mom didn't tell him.

"It's why I don't have the same last name as my mom" I told him.

He smiled and reached for his drink.

"I figured your mom had kept her maiden name"

That made sense.

"Does your dad live here in California?"

I shook my head.

"No, he lives in Arizona" I said.

He nodded slowly.

"Mom and I moved back when I was nine" I replied.

"Where in Arizona?"

"Where did we live or where does he live now?" I asked.

"Both"

I smiled at Bella as she placed our food on the table. Cody reached for his chopsticks and slowly picked up a roll.

"See you did it" I stated.

He ate the sushi roll and nodded slowly as he chewed.

"To answer your questions" I began saying.

I picked up a sushi roll with my chopsticks.

"He currently lives in Phoenix, but we used to live in Scottsdale" I told him.

I bit half of the roll and looked at him as I chewed. When I was a kid, I hated telling people my parents were divorced. As I got older, I stopped caring because I loved both my mom's and my dad's family.

"I was born here in Los Angeles, and we moved to Scottsdale when I was three. Dad got a job offer that was too good of an offer so the three of us moved there" I added once my mouth had no food.

"Is your dad also a doctor?"

"Yeah, he's actually the head physician for the Arizona Diamondbacks" I said.

He looked at me and I couldn't help but smile as he cocked his head to the side.

"So he's been with the D-backs since the start"

Yup, including the World Series win in 2001.

"Yes" I confirmed.

"And you have a good relationship with your dad?"

I nodded.

"At first I was a bit confused to what was happening, but as I got older I understood what was going on. I'm just thankful my parents handled the divorce in a mature manner and actually stayed friends" I replied.

"That's good, not that they divorced but that they were adults about the situation"

He raised an eyebrow as he chewed his food. Covering his mouth he asked,

"I'm not making you uncomfortable, right?"

"No, I'm actually thankful that you asked. When people learn my parents are divorced they assume my family is dysfunctional" I answered.

"Ok, good. I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable"

"Your dad played in the Major leagues, right?" I asked.

"Yes, for the Yankees and like a game for the Angels"

He smiled as I scrunched up my nose.

"I take it you don't like the Angels"

"Oh I could care less about the Angels" I admitted.

He threw his head back as he laughed.

"So I take it you don't like the Yankees then"

"The Yankees thought my mom didn't have enough experience" I told him.

Twenty years later, my mom was now considered one of the best in her field state and nation wide.

"They're loss"

I shrugged and took a sip of my margarita.

"So your mom is an orthopedic surgeon, and your dad is a physician"

"Yes" I replied.

He was about to eat a sushi roll, but it fell off the chopsticks.

"I forgot to ask, what are your sister's names?"

"Paulina and Eleanor" I answered as I watched him pick up the roll.

"And they're younger?"

"Much younger. Polly is seven and Ella is four" I said.

"That's an age gap"

I nodded agreeing.

"More than ten years" I told him.

I took a sip of my margarita.

"Do you visit your dad often?"

"I actually spent most of my past summers in Arizona" I replied.

He nodded.

"It's actually the first time I've had a long summer" I admitted.

I ate a sushi roll and looked at him.

"Enough about me, tell me about you" I said.

"Well what do you want to know?"

"You have siblings, right?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm the middle child. My older sister Ashli is 24 and my little brother Cole is 17"

I nodded.

"And you were raised in Arizona" I confirmed.

"Yes, in Chandler"

"What's your zodiac sign?" I wondered.

"Cancer"

I smiled.

"No way, I'm a Cancer as well. When is your birthday?" I questioned.

His cheeks turned a bright shade of pink.

"We actually share the same birthday"

He scrunched up his nose.

"Let me rephrase that, your mom told me your birthday. I don't want it to seem like I'm a stalker"

I laughed.

"You don't need to be embarrassed" I assured him.

My mom loved to speak about me to other people (especially single men).

"Here, try this" I said.

I picked up a sushi roll with my chopsticks and leaned over. He took a bite of the roll and nodded slowly.

"It's good"

I gestured for him to eat the rest.

"So"

He sat up a bit and reached for his soda. Once he took a sip of his drink he looked at me.

"Doc said you can drop by during our BP"

I laughed and shook my head.

"I'm retired" I replied.

He chuckled.

"You've got two National Titles under your belt. Maybe you can give us some pointed to bring a World Series back"

I lightly knocked on the table and smiled.

"Wouldn't that be nice" I told him.

It has been 29 years since the Dodgers had lost won a World Series.

"If you don't mind me asking"

I knew what he was about to ask. The team (Florida) made it to the Women's College World Series Championship (series) against OU (University of Oklahoma). Game 1 was extremely long (seventeen innings), and as much as we did to tie the game (twice) we lost that game. They won game 2 (and the National title) the next day. Erin and I were the only remaining girls from the 2013 and 2014 team. The team was young, so there was no doubt that they'd be back next year.

"How are you feeling?"

I took a deep breath earning a frown from him.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked"

"It's ok" I assured him.

He nodded slowly.

"It's nice to win" I admitted.

It was the best feeling in the world.

"I got to do it two times back to back" I added.

The Florida Gators were back to back National Champions in 2014 and 2015.

"So it stings when you get there again and fall so close you know" I stated.

I shrugged.

"I'm not going to lie, it sucked to lose but at the time the only thought on my mind was to get the younger girls out of the field as soon as possible. It's why Erin and I were the only girls who got interviewed" I explained.

The camera men were hungry for shots of girls crying, and boy were they pissed when they were only able to get a few shots.

"Coach taught us how to lose though. There was a time (five years ago) where Florida had yet to win a National Title. They had made it to the Championship series twice (in 2009 and 2011) and lost both times. Game 1 of the Championship series my sophomore year (2014) the upperclassmen gave us a speech. They told us that losing sucked, but we should learn from it. You want to learn from every loss and use it as a stepping stone. Sure it hurts to lose but you shouldn't let it affect you, instead you should stand up and lick your wounds up because everything is going to be alright. Never expect anything, you earn it" I said.

I shrugged.

"I have no doubt in my mind that the team will make it far next year. They've taste a little lick of victory and although they didn't make it far they want to. They will learn from their mistakes and use it as an advantage just like the past teams have" I told him.

He smiled.

"You know if your career fails in Nursing you can be a speech motivator"

I rolled my eyes at him as I smiled because he was not the first to tell me this.

"I actually watched that 2014 series against the Crimson Tide"

I hummed as I took a sip of my margarita.

"That double play was unbelievable"

I smiled.

"You see you're the first to talk about that play instead of the other thing" I stated.

He laughed because I was known for a specific clip during that series. I forgot I was mic'd up and the camera caught me singing to one of my teammates. When she reminded me I was mic'd up, I looked right at the camera and sang the rest of the song. I got caught making a fool out of myself, so I went with it instead admitting I was incredibly embarrassed.

"If it helps, your 2015 interview was the best interview you have done"

"Coach got so mad at me" I admitted.

In a press conference (after game 2 of the championship series, one of the guys asked me how I felt about being referred to as the team with the 'pretty girls'. The team liked getting ready before games, what was so wrong with that. It helped boost our confidence, and although I handled the situation well coach got mad at me for replying, "Being pretty doesn't win games"

"It helped that you guys won a National Title that year"

"That shut them up" I answered.

I finished my Margarita and smiled at him.

"Are you having a good time?"

I nodded.

"Yeah" I responded.

Cody was a handsome guy, anyone with eyes could see that. Under all the pretty he was a total gentleman and a downright nice person to be around. Not once had I felt uncomfortable tonight, and I was genuinely interested in getting to know him more.

"Your brothers are coming to tomorrow's game, right?"

"Yes" I confirmed.

"Your mom mentioned they play baseball"

"Yeah, Nate pitches and Noah is an infielder" I said.

"They don't want to be catchers?"

"Oh no, they think I'm crazy" I informed him.

He laughed.

"They're excited for tomorrow though, it's been a while since I've taken them to a game" I told him.

Nate and Noah would be meeting Cody tomorrow, but I had to do something before that. I had to set Auston straight and tell him I could not be his date to the NHL awards.

"Do they have dessert here?"

"They have Mochi balls" I answered.

He smiled.

"I don't know what that is"

So I explained to him the Mochi balls consisted of.

"So it's ice-cream?"

I nodded.

"Wrapped in mochi" I said.

"And mochi is a rice cake"

Correct.

"There's only one way to find out if I like them"

He waved Bella over and ordered one of each flavor. Once she brought them over he looked at the four small lumps on the plate.

"Try the mango one first" I told him.

I pointed at the mochi ball and watched as he he bit it. He nodded slowly as he chewed.

"The texture is a bit weird, but it's good"

I smiled as he offered me the half he was holding. He slowly placed it in my mouth and turned incredibly pink when he touched my lips with his fingers. There was something about his smile that was slowly driving me crazy...in a good way.