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socalwriterbee · 1 year

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Little League Chaos

Baseball Season is upon us and I couldn't be more excited! I was sent a hilarious and extremely adorable TikTok, along with an ask, that helped make this short come along.

Check out the TikTok —> ⚾️⚾️⚾️

Choices Book: Open Heart

Characters: Tessa Martinez (MC) x Ethan Ramsey, Introducing Talia Donovan (Martinez) Maya Donovan, Mateo Donovan and Melody Donovan

Rating: Fluff with a dash (very small dash) of angst

Word Count: 2,800 +

Summary: After getting the night off to enjoy her nephews first tee ball game of the season, Tessa can only hope for the game and night to go smoother than what she has come to see during practice.

A/N: Shout out to my sweet friend @txemrn for sharing the video and going back and forth with me on ideas and introducing Tessa's sibling and family.

A/N2: Sorry in advance for any errors in spelling and such.

Some Characters/Settings/Storylines used or mentioned belong to Pixelberry

Enjoy!

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The sun began to disappear over the horizon, taking the warmth of the day with it. The cool spring air nips at her exposed skin. The light jacket paired with a simple black tee and jeans would make the night bearable, hopefully or Tessa would have chattering teeth.

Taking a deep breath in, the night that was ahead of her was beginning to settle into her bones, her family, well part of her family lived in the same city she did and they were about to enjoy a night free of interruptions.

Laughter and the sound of feet running up and down the metal bleachers mixing with the sound of baseball bats meeting the waiting ball or the white red laced ball snapping against the leather of a glove.

Tessa sat with her sister, Talia and nieces, Maya and Melody. With Melody always taking a spot on her lap and playing with the wavy brown tendrils that fell loose from her signature messy bun. Her sister, was in what looked like a deep conversation with her oldest child as they sat in the row in front of her. Mother and daughter were splitting images of each other, the same dark hair and eyes and no one would say that Tessa wasn’t related to them. Tessa could even easily say that Maya was a sister to them, Tessa was just a bit taller than the both of them.

As for Talia’s other children well they took after Tessa’s brother in law. Dirty blonde hair with striking hazel eyes, her brother in law was on the field with her nephew, Mateo, coaching and warming up his baseball team before the start of the game.

Tessa owed Sienna big time for tonight and she couldn’t forget Tobias. Once more being here felt like a first, she didn’t have to worry about being called into the hospital while out with them or having to cancel because she was working long hours.

Of course Tessa spent time with her family during the holidays and talking over video calls but this, this was different and it brought a smile to her face. She had family to look forward to seeing after a day at Edenbrook, not that hanging out with her friends wasn’t fun. Or the far and few times she got the Ethan who showed his feelings he felt for her, those moments felt like tonight did. Like home.

“Auntie Tess?” Melody sweet little voice called to her.

“Yes, ladybug.”

“I want popcorn.”

Talia head snaps back towards them. “Melody that is not how you ask for things.”

Rolling her eyes at her older sister, Tessa ignores her. “Yeah, come on lets go get some. You know what else we could get?”

“Tessa, no! Popcorn is just fine.” Talia tells her.

“It’s a ball game Tal, loosen up a little, it’s not gonna hurt them.”

“Your a doctor Tess, you know that stuff is not healthy.”

“In moderation it’s fine. That’s coming from a doctor. Anyway, you want the usual?”

Her sister just nods at her. Tessa gives her a small victorious smile before placing Melody on her feet and standing up herself. “You want to come with us Maya or would you like us to bring you something?”

Her eldest niece looks at her mother and back at her asking in silence if she could join them. Talia nods her permission and Maya makes quick work of the bleacher seats and is waiting for them at the bottom.

Once Tessa and Melody reach the bottom, both girls at her side they make their way to the concessions stand.

“Sorry.” Maya says.

Tessa catches from the corner of her eye, a tall man with a baseball cap on standing at the back and the voice that comes off him sounding oddly familiar but it mixes with the talkative voice of Melody, she doesn’t think twice about it maybe its her mind playing tricks on her.

“What was that?” Tessa asks Maya.

“Nothing, I walked into him.”

“Be—.”

“I know, be careful next time.”

God pre-teens and their moods.

After waiting what seemed like forever, especially with a four year old at her side when in reality it was probably like five minutes, the three of them finally reached the front of the line.

An older gentleman calls them up to his open window, donning a well worn Red Sox cap and a smile that went from ear to ear. “Hi, what can I get for you lovely ladies?”

“Hi, can we get Popcorn, three colas, peanuts… oh you know never mind on the peanuts how about the peanut M&M’s. Red Vines and two hotdogs, you wanted a hotdog right Maya?” Tessa looks at her niece who just nods at her.

With their hands full, the three of them make their way back with plenty of time before the game started. Maybe it was an overkill in snacks at the last minute Tessa added some cotton candy, Talia sure was going to complain about everything they got.

Tessa and the girls were closing in on the bleachers, where family of the players would sit and cheer for the team, the man with the baseball cap was still standing next to said bleacher, away from everybody. Tessa caught his side profile, he was pinching of the bridge of his nose, which definitely reminded her of a certain doctor.

It couldn’t be, this time she could be certain that her mind wasn’t playing tricks with her. His brown hair sticking out from the back, the way he was standing away from the small crowd.

Ethan surely wouldn’t remember where Mateo’s game was tonight. He had dropped her off once when she missed The T and she could tell that he really could care less of the many times she brought up Mateo’s tee ball game.

“You girls go up. I’ll be right there. Maya help your sister before she drops anything.”

Without questioning or complaining, a first, Maya responds with an ok.

Standing back, Tessa watches as they make their way to their mother, passing the man in the ball cap that she bet a good amount of money on was one Ethan Ramsey.

As she approaches him, the woodsy sent that is uniquely Ethan wafts around her, bringing a smile to her lips.

“How quickly did Tobias inform you he let me leave early, therefore giving me the rest of the night off?” Tessa asked, afraid to look up at Ethan as she came to stand next to him, she did the only thing she could do and looked out onto the field that was now being illuminated by lights once the sky turned dark above them.

Her heart skipped a beat at the sound that came from him, a laugh, no not a full blown laugh more like a chuckle, a single chuckle nothing more.

Tessa could feel Ethan’s blue eyes on her before his words hit her ears. “Before you even asked him.”

She finally looked up at him, a small smile on his face, the squint on the corner of his eyes. God, when Ethan looked at her like that she wanted to shake him and knock sense into him.

“H..how?”

Ethan ran his hand along the scruffiness of his jawline. “Seems like Dr. Trinh took things into her own hands and asked. Tobias informed me that he was letting you leave early with Sienna covering for you.”

Tessa shook her head as the information settled in. “Ok.” Saying in disbelief. “Why are you here Ethan?” She said being a bit more forward.

“I came to catch a baseball game, and before you say anything I clearly remember you inviting me.”

“I remember but that was before you denied my request. Doesn’t explain why you would show up here.”

Ethan turns and stands in front of her, his hand reaching out, his blue eyes locking in on her features.“Tess, I—.”

“Tessa?” Talia’s voice breaks the spell between her and Ethan. “Everything ok?”

Tessa looks over Ethan shoulder seeing her sister standing at the edge of bleachers. “Yup. I was just talking to Dr. Ramsey.”

“Oh.” Realization hits Talia at the man standing with her sister. “Oh! Dr. Ramsey.”

Tessa watches Ethan turn his attention to Talia, reaching his hand out to introduce himself. “Ethan, please call me Ethan.”

Talia takes his hand in hers. “Right, Ethan. The game is about to start and Mateo’s team is batting first.” She snaps her eyes back to Tessa.

Not the warm greeting Tessa would have hoped for, guess it could have gone worse between Talia and Ethan, she thought. To be fair, Tessa shared with her sister how frustrating Ethan could be. So she would take this as a win.

“Ethan, why don’t you go have a seat I forgot to get something.”

Tessa silently pleads with her sister to play nice, waiting for either of them to say something, anything. Ethan makes the first move by taking a step towards Talia.

“What could you have possibly forgotten, you got the entire concession stand.” Talia says raising an eyebrow at her.

“You like nachos right?” Tessa asks Ethan.

“No.” He answers.

Tessa ignores him and turns to head back to the concession line but not before calling out. “With extra jalapeños.”

Well, this night just took an interesting turn.

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“I want to be a doctor like Auntie Tess.” Melody tells Ethan as having now taken her seat on his lap.

That was the scene Tessa walked back to but Melody isn’t only sitting on Ethan’s lap she is trying to feed him her popcorn.

Tessa fights back a laugh as she watches Ethan moving his mouth away from her hand or gently pushing it down from his face.

Ethan looks up at her and mouths a no to her. Tessa smiles widens when Melody does get a kernel or two of popcorn into his mouth.

“I got you nachos.”

“Great. Here I was expecting you to come back with a hot dog.”

Tessa gives him a playful nudge before handing him the plate. “Very funny.”

“You missed the first inning.” Ethan states, brushing his hand over hers as he takes the plate from her.

“The line was a bit longer than I expected this time around.” Tessa says catching a pair of big beautiful hazel eyes that belonged to the little girl on Ethans lap widen at the sight of the nachos.

“Did I miss Mateo’s turn at the plate?”

“He’s due up third in the next inning. So far the game is going smoothly.” Talia announces. “So what brings you out tonight Ethan?”

Here we go, Talia’s interrogation.

“It’s the second inning Tal, we still got four innings to go before we call it a smooth game.” Tessa tells her sister before Ethan can answer her question.

“Am I missing something? It’s baseball, it should be smooth sailing. They know how to play right?” Ethan asks raising an eyebrow at Tessa. “Tess invited me.” He adds at the end.

“They’re five year old boys, nothing is ever smooth.”

“Melody those are not yours!” Talia cries out.

Ethan, Tessa, Talia and Maya all watch Melody going in for the cheese covered round yellow tortilla chip.

Maya and Tessa laugh that look of horror that washes over Ethan’s face as the little girl who tried shoving popcorn into his mouth, now is taking nachos from him, sitting there oblivious to her surrounding.

“Breathe Ethan. It’s ok, see.” Tessa teases him, winking at him before going for a cheese covered chip of her own.

The warm smooth liquid cheese meets saltiness as it touches her tastebuds, feeling some remnants of cheese sitting on the corner of her mouth. Ethan reaching over without hesitation and wiping it clean with the pad of his thumb before she had the chance to lick it off.

Tessa feels two sets of eyes on them, staring at the small moment between her and Ethan, making her pull away from him.

“I find it odd Ethan, that you were invited to my son’s game, came to it and yet you had denied my sister request for the night off.” Talia interrupts.

Ethan brings his thumb up to his mouth cleaning off the cheese before he answers.“Well. I uh— tried to tell Tessa earlier.”

“Tried to tell her what?”

Tessa shots daggers at her sister. “Tal!” “Mom!” Tessa and Maya call out in unison.

Ethan looks down at the little girl in his lap, covered in cheese as she continues to eat his nachos and then up at her mother. “I tried to make her schedule work so she could have the night off but no matter how I moved things around there was no way around it. Trust me when I tell you that I know how important being here was to her. Her friend beat me to it.”

“Beat you to what Mr. Ramsey?”

Tessa sees Ethan’s eye soften as they land on Maya, pulling Melody closer to him as if he’s done that many times before.

“In covering her shift. I was on my way to the hospital when I got a call that Sienna, Dr. Trinh, was going to cover for her. Word was that I was being unreasonable.”

Tessa’s mouth falls open at his words and watches as Talia and Maya swoon at Ethan’s words.

Well that didn’t take long for her sister to warm up to him.

“Are you Auntie Tess’s boyfriend?”

Tess cheeks blushed red at Melody’s words. But before any of them could answer, a little boys voice called from the other side of the chained linked fence.

Melody’s question lingers in the air as the crowd cheers when the first two batters in front of Mateo reach base.

“Mom!” Mateo waves enthusiastically at his mother, pushing down his helmet over his dark blonde hair as he steps up to the plate.

“Come on ‘Teo!” Tessa cheers her nephew on.

“That’s ok. Keep your eye on the ball.” Talia calls out when he misses the first pitch.

Mateo lets the next ball pass and is saved from having the tee come out when its called a ball. With everyone encouraging him as the next pitch is being delivered, the clink of the metal bat meeting the ball comes from the field.

Mateo lets go of his bat swinging it behind him, it hits his coach in the shins making the man jump at the contact.

Tessa and Talia stand on their feet cheering and telling Mateo to run to first base.

Their encouraging words quickly turn into correcting the running directions of the little five year old boy. “The other way Mateo.”

With the help of one of the coaches on the field they correct Mateo and have him run to first base. The first two base runners are running from second and first when the ball takes an interesting turn.

Tessa’s hand fly up into her hair as the game in front of them unfolds. The ball that was hit by Mateo is tossed back into the infield but not before missing the glove of the third baseman and hitting him in the face and has him falling to the ground.

“Oh my god!” Tessa whispers.

Two runs score as the opposing team runs towards the ball with both runners tackling other another with excitement at home plate. The opposing team has already started to run off the field before being turned back around by the coaches and parents to finish the inning.

Little Mateo is jumping and waving at them as Tessa falls back down to her seat hands still in her hair.

A laugh escapes from Ethan, who fails to cover it up with a cough. “That went—.”

“Ethan.” Tessa mumbles.

“I was going to say uh.. what did you call it earlier, smooth? Second inning in at and that was absolute chaos.”

“It’s Little League.” Tessa tells Ethan. “I’m gonna go check on the third baseman make sure he is ok.”

“Little League Chaos.” Ethan whispers.

“Yeah. Little league chaos!” Melody shouts out loud.

Ethan leans in and whispers something into Melody’s ear making her giggle in his arms. “I’ll go with you.” He says standing up and placing the little girl on the exact same spot where he was sitting.

“What did you tell her Ethan?”

“It’s a secret Auntie Tess.” Melody tells Tessa.

“You’re sharing secrets with my niece now?

Ethan presses his finger against his lips with Melody copying him. “You know, I didn’t thank you for inviting me tonight.”

“You’re welcome. I’m glad you are enjoying this little league chaos.”

Ethan shakes his head with smile spread across his face as he reaches to get a hold of Tessa’s hand as they take a step down. “Come on Dr. Martinez, lets go check on the kid.”

With everything that was and wasn’t going on with her and Ethan, the events at the top of the inning made those boys look like pros, their little league chaos was nothing compared to Tessa and Ethan’s major league chaos.

“Let’s go.”

tags: @openheartfanfics @choicesficwriterscreations @cariantha @issabees @txemrn

#choices open heart #ethan x tessa #it's baseball season #open heart fanfic #open heart fanfiction #boys of the summer #ethan ramsey #tiktok inspired story

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