"It's a nervous thing

Hell, it's on my mind

Why the later game?

They were two games into the season, and so far they were 0-2.  Adam wasn't holding it against the boys, they were enjoying themselves regardless.  Still, it would be nice to win at least one game.  He'd even taken to bribing the team, offering them a special reward if they managed to get a win.  In their defense, it wasn't as if they were losing by landslides--all their losses had very nearly been wins.  Adam took great pains to bring that up, too.  How well they were doing, how hard they were trying.  How as long as they did their best that was good enough, but sometimes you had to do a little more than your best because that was your actual best, or something like that.

Today, though, he was distracted.  He was catching snippets of conversation, directing his team and telling them the batting order and what positions to play.  But his full attention wasn't on the game, and it was really starting to irk him.  He wasn't sure exactly when, though he placed it around the end of the second inning, Adam had actually gotten a glimpse of Ms. Parr.  It wasn't as if he was looking for her, because he wasn't, but it was very easy for him to pick her our of a crowd and he had picked her out of the crowd...along with the very handsome, very jokey man she was joking around with. Surely, he was her husband--an idea that, as much as he would have liked to ignore it, set a small ball of jealousy coiling under his skin.

For a moment, he considered asking Ryan who it was.  But he kept missing his chances, getting flustered when he was caught not paying attention and trying to deny how red his ears felt when the boys called him out on it.  "Is your girlfriend here, today?" "Who're you looking at, Coach?" "Coach and his girlfriend, sitting in a tree..."  They were all laughing, clearly enjoying this even while Adam threatened them with laps at the least and extra drills at the most.  Really, though, he just wanted them to stop paying attention to how much attention he wasn't paying attention lest they pick out who exactly he was staring at.

The game finally ended with a score of 14-12, another loss for them to add to their record.  But the boys were all in high spirits, bouncing around his heels as he passed out oranges and read them off a few reminders before actually letting them go. Their parents had always been free to join them once the game was officially done, just as they were free to hang around and watch practices or creep up to listen to any reminders he gave them at the end.  Still, as he was reading off the scrap of paper he'd written the reminders on, Adam was still very much distracted by glancing up, looking to see which parents were joining them and which weren't and who the fuck was that guy and why had he never seen him before and--

"Coach, is your girlfriend going to come over here?"

Jason Marquis is on the mound tonight to start off the Padres' second half. Jason Marquis is also a pitcher who isn't afraid of Matt Kemp. Just look at how casual Marquis walks back to the mound after that pitch. That ball went exactly where J-Marq wanted it. You keep doing you, J.