Survival Of The Fittest

((Susan Clarke continued from You hit like a girl))

The Around the Clock Diner was one of Susan's favorite little joints in the city. It helped that the place actually had atmosphere. Sure, the particular type of atmosphere it had was a little bit artificial, but that lent the whole thing a hint of an edge. The faux-retro feel had its own serious charm.

Eating out was even better with friends, and the team contained Susan's best friends. An outing after practice was always a treat. It was a shame Andi had run off, and it was really too bad that more of the other girls hadn't showed up in the first place, but Susan wasn't overly concerned. She was planning to have a good time and enjoy her dinner and relax. Taking it easy sounded really good.

She headed in the door, making her way to a booth, brimming with enthusiasm more visibly than she had been at practice. She'd probably catch some flak for that, but whatever. It didn't matter. Nobody would be after her in earnest, and a bit of ribbing with friends was fun.

These days, spent hanging out with her friends and goofing around, were Susan's favorite. She loved the camaraderie and the closeness, and she didn't want any of it to ever end. She knew that graduation was around the corner, that they'd all split off and go on to their own futures, and that was plenty exciting in its own right, but she couldn't help feeling just a little bit sad that they probably wouldn't all be so close in the future. She'd already decided that she'd try to stay in contact with everybody, especially the people who stayed around town to go to college. She'd just heard so many stories about friendships falling apart despite the best efforts of all involved.

That wasn't worth worrying about now, though. Doing so was like wasting the weekend dreading the oncoming week. As such, Susan slid into her seat with a smile, determined not to let the future cloud this meal.

((Iselle Ovalle-Vandermeer continued from You Hit Like A Girl))

"I do *not* take corners like I'm in a NASCAR race," Iselle defended her driving with a huff.  She knew she had a bit of a lead foot, but she was hungry.  The sooner they arrived, the sooner everyone got to eat. "You know, if you don't like how I drive, you can always be the chauffer next time," she pointed out as the team jockeyed for position.  

Susan won out, bouncing head as Iselle held the door.  At least they had all agreed on where to go, if not how to get here.  The Around the Clock was a favorite of her moms, and on nights when things were too hectic thanks to everyone's schedule, Iselle often found herself here. The music was never too loud, the service was good, and the food was great.  Even on the weekends, when the place was packed, things always seemed to go smoothly.

Doing a quick head count, Iselle realized that not all of them would fit in the booth.  Well, they could fit if three of them squished in to one side together, but years of softball had taught her that too much togetherness and lack of personal space caused strife.  She could point out to Susan that they needed more space but that might embarrass Susan. And for as much as she rode her teammates at practice and in games, she never wanted them to feel bad off the field.  

The solution presented itself as she neared the booth Susan secured.  People were walking away from a table across the way that had yet to be bused. Iselle grabbed one of the recently abandoned chairs and pulled it up to the end of the table.

"Dibs on the chair," she announced, a smug smile on her face as she claimed her seat.  

((Kathryn Nguyen continued from You hit like a girl ))

"The chair is all yours," Kathryn said coming in just slightly behind Iselle. She slid into the booth and sat opposite Susan. It might get a little cozy in here if the rest of the team showed up, but Kathryn was unfortunately used to having very little space to herself. "And as to the driving comment I'd take it as a compliment."

Kathryn glanced around the diner; she'd been here a couple of times before with her family and had always enjoyed the décor. Now however, she was sick of being stuck in the past. Would it kill people to live in the here and now once in a while, or heaven forbid look to the future? She shook her head to clear her thoughts and focused instead on Susan and Iselle. "I think the proof that we're the first ones here however does support the argument that you drove a little fast."

((Alda Abbate continued from You hit like a girl))

"Iselle, there is actually nothing in this world that scares me more than your driving."

Alda slid into the booth with ease, shuddering a bit as she did so. "It's like riding one of those roller coasters that you just know is gonna crash." She smiled a bit smugly. "I, however, mean that as a compliment. I enjoy the excitement."

She grabbed a menu, despite not really needing it. The menu was pretty sparse, and even though Alda didn't go here a lot, it never changed enough for her to forget it. The only time Alda ever hit up this place was with the team- family dinners weren't a really big thing at her house.

"Hey, Susan, you still want that coke?" Alda smiled at the other girl, glad to pay up. She'd lost fair and square, after all. "Also, Iselle, why the chair? Is someone else coming? Katy bailed, Andi bailed, so that leaves four, right?" She faux-frowned, playing up a puppy-dog look that really didn't suit her face at all. "Or do you just hate us all that much?"

Susan laughed along with the other girls. She didn't worry too much about Iselle's driving. It wasn't like they'd ever been in a crash yet. Besides, she trusted her friends to keep her safe, and it wasn't like she felt like driving herself. She'd hitched a ride to practice with her mom, who was fine with her getting lifts home from the other girls. Susan had assured her that they were all safe, cautious drivers, and unless her mother saw something to the contrary, there would be no problems.

Iselle took a chair at the end of the table, and Kathryn sat across from Susan. Alda was next in, sitting beside Kathryn. She offered to pay up on their bet. Susan hadn't technically asked for anything in return for her win, just offering to pay if she lost, but she wasn't about to turn down a free drink. She told herself that declining would offend Alda's competitive nature. Really, she had no choice but to accept the Coke.

"You bet," she said. Then, because she actually didn't feel great about freeloading when she had a decent amount of money on hand, she added, "Anyone up for some appetizers?"

Susan was pretty hungry. She'd gotten a good workout in the cages, and she hadn't had a lot to eat earlier in the day, so a restaurant was the best place to be.

Then, something Andi said fully registered.

"Wait a second," Susan said, "Katie bailed? Why does nobody ever tell me anything?"

She put on a fake pout for a second, then laughed and said, "You can sit next to me if you want, Iselle. I mean, if you like B.O. fumes. I figure you captains must find 'em appetizing, with how you work us poor, lowly grunts."

((Lauren Rowe pregame start))

So Lauren hadn't really shown up for practice at the batting cages. She'd gotten a text about it and all, just a little too late.

To be fair, she'd come right after she dropped Kaitlyn off at her friend's house across town. There was traffic and by the time she'd made it halfway to the Castle, she was pretty sure practice was over. She checked her cell phone; nothing new. She was really hoping the practice hadn't been official.

Now, she was banking on the rest of the team being at the diner. They did that sometimes, so it wasn't too much of a stretch, and Lauren figured she'd figure out a way to somehow make amends for her absence. Better to be present to explain than do it over text.

She pushed open the door slowly, stuffing her cell phone into the pocket of her jeans as she did so.

It only took a look around to locate them in one of the booths. Less of them than she'd expected, too. If Coach Sanders had been there, she'd probably have shut the door right then out of shame. Well, not really. If anything, ducking out would just make it worse.

Might as well get it over with.

Lauren began making her way towards them, not sure what to expect once they noticed her.

Iselle leaned back in her chair and surveyed the table like a queen holding court.  "Okay, let's address all this in order." She ticked points off on her fingers.  "First off, my driving is just *fine*," she said defensively, putting heavy emphasis on the last word.  "I only auto-failed the driving test once, and I still contend that it was totally unnecessary to come to a complete stop while leaving the DMV parking lot.  There wasn't a damn car in sight."

"Two," she intoned, holding up a second finger.  She wavered for a second and then stared at Alda in disbelief.  "Seriously?  Katy bailed on us?  

What a bitch," Iselled huffed, throwing herself back in her chair.  "At least two of the other girls didn't even bother to show, Andi flaked out royally after showering us all with her shitty baby-daddy drama, and now Katy ditched us without a word."  

The server set down water glasses and menus for the girls.  A moment later, the server departed to deal with an issue at another table, promising to return as soon as possible.  Iselle stood up and pushed her chair back with a careless gesture.  Picking up a glass, she held it up in the traditional gesture.  "A toast, ladies, to us." She inclined her head towards the seated girls. "The most excellent, mighty, bad-ass core of the softball team.  Without us, our league standing would suck completely.  May the rest of the team be knocked back to JV."

Iselle slid into the booth next to Susan, giving the other girl a friendly bump as she did.  "Sue, I would be honored to sit next to you, B.O. fumes and all.  There is nothing wrong with B.O. fumes.  They indicate that you have done your damnedest to secure the victory for your team. I'd rather sit next to a whiffy girl than some useless priss who was afraid to mess up her hair and make-up.  And I love the way you think.  I could demolish some appetizers."  

Opening a menu, Iselle firmly planted a finger in the middle of the appetizer selections.  "My vote is either for mozzarella sticks or the spinach and artichoke dip.  Thoughts?"

Kathryn smirked at Iselle's melodramatic statement of the facts, but raised her water glass to join the toast of the awesomeness that was the small group. Kathryn thought back to Iselle's earlier statements about auto-failing. She probably would have as well, had Sam not warned her of the trick the examiners liked to play. With his tips and her dad's patient guidance, she'd passed the driving test the first time she took it. Not that it did her much good as she seldom had the opportunity to use her skills.

Kathryn was about to put in her two cents about the choice of appetizers, she was leaning towards spinach and artichoke dip, when she out of the corner of her eye she caught another teammate. What is happening to our team? We have one who is so wrapped up in her baby drama she can't be bothered to practice and another who can't even be bothered to show up to practice. Granted, the season hadn't officially started so she supposed she should cut them some slack, but honestly why was softball not their priority.

"Wow, look who managed to show up after practice was over," she said softly altering the other girls with a nod of her head to Lauren's presence.

Alda shook her head. Of course no one else noticed Katie had bailed- Alda was just perceptive like that.

Well, and Katie had told her about not coming, but that was really besides the point. Alda lifted her shoulder in a shrug. "Yeah, Katie said she had somewhere to be or something. I'm sure it's a totally reasonable excuse and has nothing to do with us, because we're totally awesome and she loves us."

Alda raised her glass in a toast, grinning at Iselle. She was laughing full out by the end of it, and didn't come back into the conversation until Kathryn pointed Lauren out.

Alda frowned a bit at the approaching girl. As if it wasn't bad enough having Andi flake halfway through, enough people didn't show up to make practice feel like a real team thing. It mostly just felt like hanging out and goofing around- which was fine, really, but still sort of irritating. What was the point of even showing up now that practice was done with? Just to mooch food and try to make good?

Oh. Well, actually, coming to make good probably wasn't the worst idea Lauren ever had.

Besides, Alda was in too good of a mood to be all that irritated at the other girl. She raised her hand in a wave, beckoning her over. "Hey Lauren! Get over here, we need someone to take Katie's seat!"

(Kelly Peterson continued from Passing Slowly Through the Vector)

Okay so yeah, she hadn't shown up for batting practice. But who cared about that, right? After all, batting was her thing. If it had been a fielding practice she totally would have shown up. She kinda needed to work on it, just a bit. It's not that she sucked at it, but she could improve, just a smidgen.

But hanging out? She was totally all over that. She didn't have anything else to do this time, and besides, the team was usually pretty cool. Well, unless there was some stupid drama, because, like, Kelly didn't like that at all.

She spotted the rest of the team at the booth. "Oh sorry I'm late, the Subaru is being stupid again." And it was, actually. The stupid thing pretty well refused to go over thirty-five miles per hour unless she practically floored it. Stupid thing, but she didn't have too many other options. Well, besides walking, but who would want to walk everywhere? That wouldn't be fun at all.

"Cheers," Susan said, joining the toast with the free glass of water she'd been given at the start. Iselle slid into the booth, agreeing heartily with the appetizers.

Just as concrete plans about the food were being made, a latecomer managed to turn up. Kathryn was the first to notice and bring it to the table's attention. Lauren hadn't made it to practice, but was here for food now. It was a tiny bit humorous; Susan was by no means one of the more dedicated members of the team. She put in her time, yeah, but she didn't live and breath softball. Any other day, she'd have been more likely to be in Lauren's shoes.

That did give her a good bit of sympathy for the girl, though, and she was a teammate. Alda called out to Lauren, inviting her over, and Susan gave the newcomer a nod and a smile. Just as things seemed to be getting settled once more, Kelly also turned up. Susan thought the whole thing was pretty amusing, and was looking forward to seeing what sort of ribbing the rest of the team could come up with, just as long as it was in good fun. She assumed the late girls wouldn't take offense; they'd missed practice and so now it was time to pay the price. Susan just hoped they'd brought money. Skipping practice was one thing, but following it up by mooching would be in pretty poor taste.

She gave a wave and called out, "Kelly, over here."

Kelly said that her car had given her troubles, which sounded reasonable enough. Now that there were six of them, the seating had become problematic again, though. After a second of thought, Susan added, "Find yourself a chair."

It was going to get a little cozy for the two late girls if they had to squeeze around the end of the table, but that was one of the many prices to be paid for being tardy. Besides, Susan imagined they smelled nice and fresh. They would have no valid cause for complaint.

Turning back to Iselle, she said, "Mozerella sticks sound really great right now, but so does artichoke dip. Maybe if everyone kicks in we can make it 'and' instead of 'or'."

Ouch.

Lauren hadn't even made it halfway to the table when Iselle began to start in on one of her tirades, not even noticing her. It was painfully relevant, though perhaps not undeserved.

The others noticed her soon enough, and Kelly even came in the door behind her and made some excuse about her Subaru. Looked like she wasn't the only one that missed practice.

"Sorry about practice," she managed, hurrying over at Alda's beckoning. Then she hesitated. Was she to blame her lateness on dropping off Kaitlyn, the traffic, or neither? They would probably understand about siblings being an inconvenience, but either way, Lauren wasn't sure she wanted to drag Kaitlyn into this. Especially if it hit some kind of chord with Alda. Kaitlyn wasn't anywhere as bad as Paulo, at least the way she'd heard him described. As for traffic...

A compromise would probably be best.

"Things came up. It won't happen again."

Glancing at the seating arrangement, she decided Katy's seat was the one Iselle had just vacated. Lauren occupied it, pulling the chair slightly to the left so that Kelly still had room to pull another chair up. She'd stay silent on the appetizer question. She was fine with paying whatever was needed. No need to draw more attention to herself, though.

Iselle put her water glass down on the table with more force than necessary as the stragglers darkened her metaphorical doorway.  She made eye contact with Kathryn before extravagantly rolling her eyes.  This type of behavior was almost more than she could stand.  Especially from someone like holier-than-thou Kelly.  The other girl's religious beliefs were occasionally more than Iselle could take.  

"It's too bad nobody had any way of letting us know they were going to *completely* miss practice and would meet up for food," she said dryly.  

Bumping Susan a bit in the process, Iselle dug her cell phone out of her pocket.  She lightly tossed it onto the table with a clatter.  "Oh, wait," she amended in an overly sweet tone as she stared pointedly at the device.  

Her good mood had evaporated at the arrival of Kelly and Lauren.  What kind of balls did it take to show up AFTER practice and expect to be welcomed with open arms?  What work had either one of those lazy assholes put in today?  It was one thing to come to practice and then skip the bonding after and ENTIRELY a different thing just to show up to hang out. How hard would it have been to text someone or call and let everyone know that they weren't going to make it?  That was just basic courtesy.  

"But then, I guess I would have had to have thought the people important enough to give them that kind of heads up."  Iselle made a show of picking up her menu and scanning it again.  She tried to get a grip on her temper, focusing on the pictures in front of her.

"I think it would be suitable penance that laggers get the appetizers.  Anyone second the motion?" she asked in an off-handed tone.

(Text in blue is a text message.)

Kathryn rolled her eyes as she lowered her glass. She glanced over that now there were two of her M.I.A. teammates approaching the table. Kathryn really wanted to declare a new rule. No practice, no food. What's the point in being on a team, if you're not going to take pride and put the work in to make it the best. Seriously, if all you were interested in is socializing, join a club. Then she wouldn't have to deal with them. Being a co-captain was turning out to be more of an annoyance than she thought it would.

She lost her opportunity to voice her opinion before the slackers joined them. She scooted over to make room and pulled out her phone. Kathryn knew from Iselle's comments that they were most likely on the same page in their thinking. "I say we let prac. slide this time, if happens during the again they get 2 warm benches for a while."

The text sent, Kathryn set her phone on the edge of the table and turned her attention to the food. "I second that idea and totally support Susan's idea to get both, especially since I was going to vote for spinach and artichoke dip."

Alda laughed a bit to herself as Kelly entered. So that meant that two girls didn't show up for practice, but decided that they were gonna jump in for food? Iselle was gonna be pissed about that, for sure. Still, Alda couldn't help but sympathize with the girls a bit. After all, practice was hard, and food was good. Still, everyone needed to be dedicated if they hoped to have any sort of decent rank this year.

"Oh come on, two mooches?" Alda joked, rolling her eyes in a teasing manner. "Next thing we know girls who aren't even on the team are gonna show up and want our food."

Alda raised her eyebrow at Iselle's semi-tirade. It wasn't hard to tell that Iselle was trying to restrain herself from really getting mad. Alda appreciated the effort, knowing that Iselle took softball very seriously, and that ditching practice without warning was a dick move. Alda nodded in agreement. "I'll help the late kids pay, but that sounds fair enough I guess."