Absolutely Famous(90)
God I was so dumb.
Bruce guides the huge SUV down Yawkey Way and pulls up to the gates at the corner of Van Ness. He puts the car in park and hops out, walking over to the gate where a huge guy dressed in Fenway Park gear comes over to meet him. They speak for a second and Bruce flashes some sort of pass. The man nods and says something into his radio as he waves us through.
“Aren’t you prepared,” I say to Drew, bumping his shoulder playfully.
“Nothing is going to keep me out of this park today,” he says seriously.
Well good Lord, it’s just a game.
“We really had to get here this early?” I ask him. He said the game starts after seven, but it’s not even five o’clock yet.
Drew looks at me as if I’m the dumbest person on Earth. “We have to watch batting practice, meet with the office staff and the owner, take photos with the players, and we had to get here before they closed down Yawkey Way to traffic because then it’s a bitch to get to this lot.”
“Well okay then, you don’t have to be rude,” I say crossly. “Baseball is so damn complicated.”
He leans over and kisses the end of my nose. “Plus, I have to throw out the first pitch. I need to practice so I won’t look like an ass in front of my girl.”
I roll my eyes at him, then catch him grinning. “You’re super excited about this aren’t you?”
“Yes. Mostly to take you to your first game here.” Bruce parks the car and Drew hops out and extends a hand to me, helping me down. “This place is fuckin’ magic babe. I want you to love it.”
Steve gets out of the front seat and comes around to our side of the car at the same time as a young man in a red polo shirt with a Sox emblem approaches us.
“Miss Tannen, Mr. Forrester, I’m Ryan from the Front Office and I’ll take you inside.” We shake hands, Drew introduces Steve and then we follow the guy through a metal door as he talks non-stop. I think he’s nervous to be around us because not only does he never quit talking but he also stumbles over his own feet three separate times. I actually feel sorry for him.
Ryan brings us to the owner’s office where we pose for pictures and greet dozens of members of the staff. It turns out Drew was right. By the time we meet everyone who was waiting for us, it’s almost six and he’s itching to watch the end of batting practice. Ryan tells us it’s time to go down to the field for pictures with the team right before Drew freaks out.
Ryan brings us down to the dark main level of the stadium and up a ramp that opens onto a brilliant sight. The colors of the park are so saturated it’s as if we were seeing in black and white before we came outside. The bright green of the walls and grass and vivid red of the seats and signs fill my vision. Against the brilliant blue sky of the perfect summer day, it almost looks like a painting. I feel as though I’ve stepped into history.
There aren’t that many spectators here yet, but the ones that are here are clustered around the dugout nearest to us, the home dugout. We walk right toward the crowd of people, most of whom haven’t noticed us because they’re busy leaning over the low wall that surrounds the field, trying to get the different players’ attention for autographs.
Ryan heads straight for the low green wall about halfway between home plate and the Red Sox dugout and opens a door that I hadn’t even noticed, leading us onto the field.
If they didn’t notice us before, they sure do now. I hear cheers as they recognize Drew, their hometown kid who made it big in Hollywood. Soon enough, the few thousand people in the park are clapping and cheering as if Drew were the second coming. This town holds its own in high regards. Nervous to have so many people looking at me, I clutch his hand as we head over to the dugout.
Drew greets the players, some of whom he’s met before today. Others are excited to meet Drew for the first time, and even more of them are excited to meet me, something that doesn’t make Drew very happy. Had he thought of it ahead of time, he wouldn’t have wanted to get here early enough to meet them and expose me to their shameless flirting. I roll my eyes at his scowl when yet another cute player chats me up. We end up posing for so many photos with them that my cheeks hurt from smiling.
“Having fun?” I ask Drew while we wait to go back to our seats.
He grunts, then looks back at the players in the dugout. “They didn’t have to flirt so blatantly with you.”
I bump him with my hip. “Are you jealous?”
He just grumbles in response.
Yep, jealous. How cute.
Ryan leads me back through the door in the green wall and shows me our front row seats next to the dugout. Steve sits with me while I wait for Drew to throw out the first pitch. The people of Boston love their team so much that they ignore me to watch the field. It could also be because Steve blocks the aisle with his massive body so that no one can get close to me.