I had begun my swing as the ball left his hand and hit the ball over second base. I made good contact, but the ball didn't go anywhere. I would have t... check that bat for cracks. No one could get me past first, so I was the proverbial runner left on base.The third and fourth innings were like the first two. I made another nine pitches for the two innings to keep the game at nothing to nothing, no score. The first batter in the fifth inning watched a slider creep off the plate for a ball. The. Which I think is a great excuse for naming the chapters. So, here we go:Chapter 1 - Discovering the forbidden fruit It's been a while since I've seen my remote family from Eastern Europe. Years in fact. For the longest time, because of operational reasons, I was not allowed to go where they lived. And they could not visit us due to a practical reason. They lived in a village on the border of two formerly Soviet republics, and the farthest they've ever gone were cities within these two. And he called me. ‘You’re a philosopher tonight.’ I’d been in my own head for the first few songs, he shook me out. I bit his shoulder. ‘I won’t think so much if you kiss me a little.’ He held my hands and kissed me soft. It was as brilliant as anything, his mouth felt like it should, pressing against mine. He played with my hair and kissed my cheek and ear and neck. ‘I’m glad you didn’t cut your hair. You’re beautiful.’ It felt like I was melting into him, anyway I wished I could. My Daddy. I glanced at the computer screen. Ben, Amanda, Brittany, the rest of the gang, and several other people were on.Kyle instant messaged me, and so did Amanda.I replied a "hey" to each, then got dressed. I did my makeup while I talked to Amanda. I really wanted the dirt on her, Amy, and Ben."What's up?" she asked."About to go out with the fam, u?" Movies." Cool, w/ who?"It took her a while to answer. I dusted on some blush, then was starting on my eye shadow when she answered. "Just some people.".