With Jeremy's walk-off homerun to end the game, the stadium roared to life as the fans of the home team started to celebrate. We weren't any different, yelling and jumping around in excitement. Jeremy sprinted around the bases and met his teammates at home plate. They jumped around and had their own celebration.
Of course the Yankees fans were the first to leave, heads down. It took way longer for the fans to leave the stadium as everyone wanted to stay and soak it in.
"They'll take on the Nationals in a couple of days." Dave told me as we waited for everyone inside the suite.
"Is that good or bad?" I asked.
He scrunched up his nose. "Hard to tell. I want to say the A's have the advantage because on paper, they do. They'll be home team first thanks to being a higher seed. Plus, they have Jeremy and Maberry on the offense. But the Nationals...have been hot. They snuck in via wild card. Won that game and have been on a roll ever since. They closed out the NLCS yesterday so they'll also have an extra day of rest. Their pitchers are definitely better than ours." He paused. "They have a potential CY Young winner in their rotation. Best pitcher in their league."
I gulped.
"Can you not scare Jake for two seconds when I'm gone?" Noah complained to Dave, rejoining us in the suite. Same with the others. They had all gone to the bathroom before we started the trip home.
"You guys coming to any of the World Series games?" Conner asked. Him and Parker were still around and were apparently in charge of taking Maberry home. His wife and kids already left.
Noah shrugged and looked to me. I shrugged too.
"Probably not..." Dave mused. "The first two games are on Tuesday and Wednesday. At home. Those are school nights. Mom and Dad would need some serious convincing. Then the weekend games are away. Even if there's a game six and seven, we're back to weekdays."
Noah let out a heavy sigh. "It was fun while it lasted."
I nodded. I had never seen so many people in the stadium. Such a lively atmosphere really improved the game experience.
Conner laughed. "I can't say I miss high school. Best and worst years of my life." He smirked. "So far."
"It was nice meeting you two." Zeke reached a hand out and shook their hands. "Maybe we'll see you around. For now, we have to hit the road."
"Yea, same." Conner said.
Parker nodded in agreement. "If you and Rhys want to join us on Tuesday or Wednesday, we can exchange numbers."
Rhys pulled out his phone. "Sure!"
Noah sighed again. "Must be nice to be an adult."
"Mom and Dad were already cool with us coming here on our own." Kyle pointed out. "Maybe if we do our homework early and ask nicely, we can make it happen." He looked at me. "Of course, it depends on if Jeremy wants to give us tickets again."
I hesitated. "I don't know...isn't it expensive?"
"Think it over!" Conner pushed my worries aside. "You have a couple days. We'll talk to Jack and see what he thinks too."
We finished saying our goodbyes and left. Back at Rhys's house, both set of parents had waited up for us to get back before going to bed at the same time. Noah wanted to talk about the World Series, but Dad said it could wait until tomorrow. I sent Jeremy a congratulatory text before going to sleep in the same room as Noah.
The next morning Noah had his chance to ask Mom and Dad about going to any game on a school night. Dad turned to Mom first before saying anything.
Mom pursed her lips. "I'll give it some thought."
We spent Sunday with Rhys and his family before heading back home. Parting ways with Zeke seemed to get easier and easier, knowing that we would still see him almost once a week now.
Monday after school and practice, we had a surprise visitor at home. Two visitors. Jeremy and Rose were both sitting at the kitchen table with Mom.
"Hey, kiddo." Jeremy greeted me with a smile.
I nodded.
"Shouldn't you be at practice?" Noah frowned.
"Resting is part of practice." Jeremy reminded him. "I did some fieldwork earlier and got a massage after lunch, but had some free time to join you guys for dinner."
"What about the game tomorrow?" I sat down next to him. "Aren't you going to be tired doing all this driving?"
He laughed. "It's not much. I left before rush hour and will get back after rush hour. Besides I wanted to talk to you guys in person about this idea I had." He looked at Mom. "Do you mind if I tell them now?"
She gave a short nod. She didn't look happy, but she also didn't look upset.
Jeremy looked around to make sure Noah and the twins stuck around. "I figured all of you would want to come to a game or two, right?"
"Of course!"
"Yea!"
"That'd be awesome!"
Jeremy grinned. "It's also going to be Jake's birthday soon."
I blinked, surprised that he would remember. My 15th birthday was this upcoming Friday, October 25th.
"And I thought it would be more special if you guys went to the game on his actual birthday." Jeremy said.
Noah was confused. "But, you guys will be playing in Washington that day." It was the first away game in the series.
Jeremy smiled at me. "You're not afraid of planes are you?"
I blinked. "I've never been on a plane before."
His smile faltered and he switched to a more concerned expression. "Well, there's no reason to be afraid of flying. You can read a book the whole time or just sleep."
"I'm flying somewhere?" Then it clicked. "You want to fly me to the away game?"
Noah started to shake.
"Yea." Jeremy nodded. "You and the whole family. Mary said she would have to talk to Rhys's parents, but they're invited too. Maberry and I have already reserved a suite for both of our families and friends. Friday, you'll fly out and go to the game. Then Saturday we can have lunch together and you guys can stick around for game four."
"What about Sunday's game?" Dave asked.
Jermey glanced at Mom, then answered Dave. "It's a school night. You all will be tired after such a long flight."
"I've already allowed for enough skipping." Mom spoke up. "And to make the Friday game, you all will have to miss school completely on Friday. So don't push it."
Dave clammed up and stood straight.
"Two games is more than enough." Noah grinned. "Thanks, Mom." He then looked at Jeremy. "Thanks, Jeremy."
"Sure, sure." He waved his hand freely. "I've been wanting to plan something big for Jake's first birthday with us, but luckily this fell into our laps. Celebrating your birthday at the World Series." He looked at me. "What do you think?"
Seeing his excitement, I couldn't say anything negative. It was really thoughtful and...expensive. I had a feeling that if I brought up money or something, he would get upset so I just smiled back at him, grateful. "Thanks, Jeremy." I echoed Noah.
