Living in the Moment
The thrum of music had filled The Last Drop since the entirety of Piltover’s softball team appeared on the scene. When they arrived, the pack of college aged girls had filed in the door as if the team bus had just dropped them off right in front of the establishment. At the helm marched Vi, proud of their accomplishments during the games played earlier in the day. Yet, as proud as she was of the team effort, the joy she felt for Caitlyn pitching her first perfect game couldn’t even be measured.
The pitcher walked in beside Vi, head lowered and attached to her arm like some celebrity trying to go out to eat without being caught by the paparazzi. She’s taken her moment to celebrate with the home fans and the girls in the locker room, now she wanted to fade back into the crowd and let the team celebrate. The girls had other plans.
As soon as Derst entered, she immediately stood on a stool and announces “Kiramman takes the first three shots!” The crowd, including Saturday evening regulars, erupted in cheers. Regs at the bar knew to expect softball talk and softball on the tv. It was rare the team showed up as a whole to the bar. In fact, it had only happened twice before. One was at Lex’s wake and the other was upon their arrival home from the national championship the year before. They came up short, but it was still an achievement to celebrate.
Vander stood at the bar, proudly waiting to greet Vi and Cait. “I hear we have a perfect woman in the house tonight!” His voice booms over the crowd that is already getting feisty. The sentiment only sends the team of women into even more of a frenzy with chants of “Kir-a-mman!” echoing throughout the establishment. It’s insanity and Caitlyn has never seen anything like it. Even when she’d won a national championship, never had her team acted this enthusiastic post-game.
Shunt and Tutler were grabbing beers as fast as the liquid flowed from the taps. Derst was on shot duty, handing Caitlyn two small glasses of whiskey which she instantly downed at the same time, inciting another raucously chant of her last name. Teammates appear at random, high fiving and hugging her. They playfully punch Vi in the arm, teasing her about how she’ll never be as awesome as the “perfect girlfriend” and has been simply reduced to arm candy. For some reason, Caitlyn gets nervous at the banter towards Vi, but relaxed when the woman responds, “Eh, I’m okay with just being arm candy today. Besides, she knows what she’s celebrating was earned because of me being on my knees.”
“This woman cannot be for real,” Caitlyn silently thinks to herself as Amik grabs Vi, hysterically laughing at the insinuation. Vi is nothing if not a horn dog. She flashes Cait a grin and leans in for a kiss before walking away, leaving Cait at the bar with Vander.
The ace sits, wanting to have just a brief moment to herself. No matter how many times the last pitch has played through her head, the whole thing seems like some fever dream that Caitlyn is living. Every 9-year-old girl who pitches in her first true travel ball tournament dreams of one day throwing a no-hitter on the biggest stage in the world. To throw a perfect game, at your home field in front of your home crowd with your team being ranked 1st in the polls, gods it was more than a dream come true. The smile that forms on her mouth reflects the thought she’s glad she waited to achieve the feat with Piltover. Ionia didn’t deserve this joy.
The hand on her shoulder reverts her attention back to the booming crowd of softball players drinking and having a merry time. Her head turns to the left where she sees her coach, leaning up against the bar and asking Vander for a Moscow Mule. “If I’d have known the whole fucking team was going to be here, I’d have picked a different bar.”
Vander returns with not only the drink for Sevika, but an Amaretto and Coke for Cait. The woman can’t help but smile at the fact he remembers her drink of choice from those first visits with Vi here. “I don’t believe that for a second.” Caitlyn retorts, smirking as she sips her drink.
Sevika huffs out a chuckle, allowing a small grin to turn the corner of lips upward. “I’m proud of you, Kiramman. I know I give you a lot of shit, but you put the team on your back today when I needed you. You got us through the end of the Bilgewater game. I know everyone is focused on the Shurima game, but don’t forget how you bailed us out in the first game today.”
Caitlyn nods, spinning the drink in her glass. “I’m honestly prouder of myself in that regards. I’m not a relief pitcher and that was probably the most nerve-wracking experience of my life,” she pauses, “except coming out to my mother.” Her cheeky tag at the end causes Sevika to spit her drink out. The women both let out hearty laughs as Sevika slaps Kiramman on the back.
“You’re alright, kid.”
Caitlyn looks over to Vi, the catcher standing amongst a few other players including Graver and Lissa. When their eyes meet, Vi beams with the biggest, open-mouthed smile she’s ever seen the catcher wear. She’s genuinely proud of Caitlyn, and it breaks the pitcher’s heart.
She downs the remainder of her drink and looks to her Coach, “I’ve had second thoughts about the job my father offered. The more I thought about it, the more I realize I can’t go back there. I’m not accepting it. I’m staying in Piltover after school and working for his office here.” Vander and Sevika look to one another, shocked at the words that have just been spoken by the ace.
“Caitlyn…” Vander starts to speak, but the ace cuts him off.
“I know. It’s going to crush her. I just can’t go back there again. I was so sure when we talked in Coach’s office it was what I wanted, but then I got home that night and just started panicking. It was horrible when I was there finishing my last quarter. Too many memories. I’d just make things harder for her because I’d always be haunted by the ghosts of infidelity. She doesn’t deserve that burden.”
Vander pours her a straight shot of whiskey and hands it to the pitcher. Without hesitation, she lifts the shot glass, looks at him, and through tears says, “To Vi,” before downing the shot and leaving the two old friends to grapple with what they’ve just been told.
When Caitlyn makes her way to Vi, the catcher is telling some story to a few players and a bar regular about a game from the previous year. She is practically providing a play by play of the game which has enraptured the crowd listening. It never ceases to amaze her how Vi can recall stats and details of games on a whim.
“I swear, Lanes, you’re a damn savant when it comes to this sport,” Amik says handing Vi another beer.
The catcher nonchalantly shrugs and takes a long swig on the beer. “I like to know what I’m competing against, so I study games and stats.”
“Who led Noxus last year in hits?” Caitlyn asks, smirking as she attempts to push away the pain in her chest.
Vi scoffs, “That’s an easy one, Cupcake. Mel Medarda with 57 and she should do the same this year if her damn mother wasn’t so hellbent on making her a pitcher only. Absolutely stupid.” Another long chug of the beer and the pint glass is finished. Not only could Vi hit and spew off random softball facts, but she could also drink with the best of them.
“Alright show off. Who led the league in strikeouts last year?” Derst slams a shot of some dark liquor before making her way over to the crowd. In the time it’s taken Cait to find her way to stand beside Vi, the bar has silenced. It seems everyone wants to hear just how knowledgeable the catcher is.
“Fuck off, Lissa we all know that’s a meatball down the plate. It was Kiramman with 356 just in the regular season. And that was slightly down from the year before because fucking Sarah Fortune can’t frame worth a shit.” Caitlyn chuckles, reminding herself of how she tattooed her former catcher with a fastball just last week.
“Which hitter led Ionia with strikeouts.”
Vi lets out a single, harsh, wet laugh as she picks up another beer. “Bitchass Nolen!” Another exclamation and another chant, this time the word “Bitchass” reverberating through the beer hall. As the other girls started moving toward the bar again, Vi grabbed Cait by the arm, pulling her toward the back of the building. She quickly chugged the beer in hand, leaving the glass on the edge of the bar.
She led Cait down a flight of stairs that the ace was all too familiar with. It was to the basement apartment where she’d found Vi semi-conscious after the meeting in the fall regarding her suspension. It was the same night the man who killed Vi’s fiancé was released from prison.
When the door closes behind them, Caitlyn hears the click of the doorknob lock. Before she can react, Vi has her pushed up against the wall, lips pressed together with a ferocious hunger. Initially, she lets her body become the prey Vi so desperately seems to want to devour. The other women’s hands are exploring her body in a frenzy as they slowly move lower and lower toward her waistband. Heat builds in her gut as her body betrays her with a yearning for more of Vi’s touch. Everything in her head screams for her to stop, while everything in her heart tells her to keep going.
“We should really not do this with everyone upstairs.” Caitlyn rasps out between labored breaths and pecked kisses along her lips and neck.
“Please, it’s not the first time we’ve fucked at a party. They have to know we’re going to celebrate.” Vi is manic, seemingly wanting to devour every millimeter of Caitlyn’s body.
When she feels her start to unbutton pants, instinctively Caitlyn grabs Vi’s wrists and stops. “Wait. We need to talk about Ionia.” That stops Vi mid-kiss on the bend of Caitlyn’s neck.
“I don’t want to talk about the future right now.” Vi sounds wounded, as though she already knows what is coming. “I want to live right now, be here right now.” She angrily pulls away and rips her t-shirt off, revealing her bare chest. Her eyes lock on to Caitlyn’s, which are now crystalized, glistening with tears. “I want to celebrate you and what you did today. I want to show you how perfect you are.” Vi’s body takes a step forward as her hands reach out and take hold of Caitlyn’s face. “I just want to just be us tonight where the only thing that matters is what’s here and now because the woman I love is standing in front of me and that’s all I care about. You deserve to be celebrated.”
Tears are freely streaming down Caitlyn’s face after Vi lays her heart on the line. She follows suit and removes her hoodie and t-shirt. She leans her forehead against Vi’s and lets out a choked sob. “Gods, I will never deserve you.” Her face moves forward and lips crash back into one another. Skin on skin contact only makes the desire build inside not just Caitlyn’s stomach, but her chest. It’s as if her heart has grown 10 sizes from the woman’s words.
Vi once again moves her hand lower and lower until finally, Caitlyn feels her pants unlatch and fall to the ground. She doesn’t deserve Vi in this capactiy, and she knows it, but her body isn’t strong enough to say no to this. The tears have stopped for a brief moment, where her mind allows her to experience the pleasures that Vi is affording her.
As she lays back on the bed, Vi’s eyes once again catch her gaze. They tell the story of a woman madly in love trying to make the most of every second she has with the person she holds dearest to her heart. As she trails kisses lower and lower down Caitlyn’s chest and stomach, Vi stops for a moment to catch Caitlyn’s gaze. “You deserve so much more than you think.”
Before Caitlyn can respond, her mind goes blank as Vi does exactly what she set out to do, give her the pleasures of the flesh to celebrate. Caitlyn knows she couldn’t have done it without Vi. She wonders if moving forward she can do anything without Vi. It’s as if Vi can sense Caitlyn is losing herself to her thoughts because at that moment, she feels Vi squeeze her thighs causing her to refocus.
“Vi…” the name leaves her lips in a whisper. It’s all she can muster between the sensations she’s feeling from the woman she loves and the tears that threaten to once again fall from her eyes. She’s not sure when it formed, but a lump has found it’s way into her throat, constricting any sounds she wishes to make.
After she crashes over the edge, she feels strong arms wrap around her to help guide her through the sensations ripple through her body like a tidal wave. When she feels Vi push her onto her side so the woman can fully encompass her body, the lump in her throat releases in the form of a violent sob. The strong arms wrap tighter at that point, attempting to ground her back to the moment.
Vi holds Caitlyn as she breaks down, heaving sobs leaving her body. Vi lightly kisses the back of Caitlyn’s neck, leans forward, and whispers in her ear, “It’s okay, Cait. I had a feeling this was how this would play out.” Her words are calm and meant to be soothing. Somehow it has the opposite effect and shatters Caitlyn more.
“I love you so much,” she chokes out. She means it with every fiber of her being. If only they could stay hidden away like this forever.
“I know.” It’s the first time Vi doesn’t say it back.