Author's note: a little more story than sex, heads up.
Thursday evening, Hal stood near the centre field wall, in the bottom of the second. Even from there he heard the crack of the bat as it met the ball. He watched it soar up, arching into the sky. With his eyes locked onto the ball, he began to move, first forward then back, one hand reaching behind to feel for the outfield wall. And then at the last minute he jumped, his arm stretched out, glove open. He felt the ball settle into the pocket, and he slammed the glove closed around it. However, just as he did that, he hit the wall, hitting it in the wedge between panels of padding, his shoulder slammed into a metal support pole.
He bounced forward and slammed down onto the outfield track, he rolled and ended up seated, legs splayed but he held his glove hand up to show that he still held the ball. The crowd roared. He sat for a moment, as the left and right fielders closed in on him. He opened the glove and let the ball drop, caught it with his other hand and tossed it to Jackson, the right fielder, as he trotted up. Then he tried to lower his left arm, the arm with the glove, and his shoulder screamed. He winced as the arm came down but got to his feet and tried to shake it off. The crowd cheered again when he stood up, sure that their hero was okay now.
The game progressed and the pain grew with each inning, by the seventh he was pulled and was sent in to see the trainer, who did some stretching and massage therapy, but the pain persisted. The trainer determined an Xray was called for and he was sent off for those. The Xray indicated that there was a rotator cuff tear in his shoulder. In most cases the cure would be time and rest to resolve that kind of injury, so they put Hal on a day-to-day schedule. The team had him sit out for a few days, which amounted to the rest of the weekend. The following Monday would start the All Star break, so he'd get a total of six days of rest.
Hal was restless without his workouts and playing, he called Carl but Carl hadn't been responding to him since the beginning of the season when he'd broken things off with Hal. Hal hadn't seen him since, as Carl hadn't worked on any of his games. Hal was frustrated and he was taking that out on his relationship with his fiancé. And as the wedding planning progressed, they argued more and more. Hal knew that the wedding wasn't anything he wanted. He wanted Carl and wished he could have made it work. When the team sat him down just before the All Star break, it all came to a boil: the pressure, the pain, that he was feeling useless and scared, and he took his frustration out on her by unfairly, picking fights and finally storming out.
In San Diego, Carl was calling a four game weekend series that left him plenty of time to hit Blacks Beach for some nude beach time or to relax in the southern California sun by his hotel pool. This afternoon he was by the pool when his phone beeped, it was Hal, again. He'd been calling and texting since Thursday. Well, he'd been calling and texting since spring but not as often as he has been in the last few days. But after their spring training fling, Carl decided that he didn't want to play second fiddle to the fiancé. They talked and agreed that they shouldn't pursue a relationship.
After that series had ended and they'd each gone in different directions, he let Hal know that he was good, glad they'd had their fling but he ended things between them before it got too complicated. Since then, Hal had continued to call and text, but Carl had ignored them all, deleting voice mails without listening to them.
He finished the book he was reading and set it down on the table beside him and picked up his phone. There were half a dozen messages from Hal, just this afternoon. It was Saturday, heading into the All Star game and Carl was looking forward to a few days off, as he hadn't been assigned to the game. He'd booked a flight to Puerto Vallarta, leaving right after the game on Sunday afternoon. He would be staying near the Zona Romantica and planned to enjoy the atmosphere, the gay beach and the clubs. No one recognized Umpires, so he wasn't worried about being "caught" and he'd been before without incident.
As he sat looking at this phone, he glanced at the messages from Hal, he normally deleted them without reading them, but something made him read these ones.
"Carl, I need to talk with you."
"Carl, I'm injured, they have me sitting out games."
"Carl, call me, I really need to talk with you."
The message about his injury caught Carl's eye and he brought up his news feed to see if he could find out what had happened. Despite trying to keep his distance from Hal, he still found that he cared for him, and if things were different, he could see a future with him but sadly they weren't. They worked so well together. Still to lean into a clandestine relationship with a closeted married ball player was just something he couldn't do. Or more correctly, didn't want to do.
The news indicated a shoulder injury, and that Hal was day-to-day, so nothing serious he thought to himself. Still, he wondered if he should call. Just a quick call to check on Hal, he told himself. Or maybe he should wait for Hal's next call, that might be smarter, he told himself. He didn't have to wait long.
About 30 minutes later, Hal called again, this time Carl answered.
"How are you," he asked right out of the gate.
"I'm kind of lost, honestly," Hal replied, jumping right into the matter at hand.
"Lost how?" Carl replied.
"The press hasn't been told, but the injury is worse than they know. The recommendation is surgery, which will end my season. They tell me that in most cases, these type of injuries, just need time but the severity of the hit I took, well, it did major damage and they're recommending that I have the surgery."
"You don't want to have the surgery?"
"I don't want to lose the whole season and if I shut it down, if I have the surgery that's my season done."
"And what if you don't have the surgery?" Carl asked.
"They tell it could get worse, or it could even improve, though they don't believe that."
"Look I think you should have the surgery; your long-term career is more important than a single season. Get it fixed and fixed right."
"It's not that simple. I can't just walk away," Hal replied. "Look it's the break, can I see you? Do you have plans? I really want to see you, to talk to you about this and help me to make the right decision."
"I'm sorry, I do have plans," Carl answered but didn't elaborate. "Plus, I don't think it's a good idea to see each other, we both know how that will end up and it was hard enough to walk away last spring."
"I miss you, Carl," Hal persisted, "Can't we meet, please? I need to see you; I need someone in my corner right now."
