“Soo Soo.”
How did she find me? But that’s a stupid question. After all, this was Marsha Lapan. She had a thing for cropping up out of nowhere at the worst possible times.
Soojin, exhausted and sweaty, was doing her best to drag her shiny bum across the court to where she needed to be. Although, with things being the way they were, she regretted having signed that marketing deal to begin with. Cel Tiwari told her she’d get her a Birkin to do it.
“Not now Lapan.”
“What are you doing Soo?” She acted like she didn’t hear her.
Soojin gave out a dry pity laugh. Then she belched her morning cereal. Hey! Maybe if she taps my back I’ll puke it out.
“It smells, Soo.”
“Thank you Marsha. I love that you told me.”
“I love that you love me telling you that you smell is something that you love. Really oozes confidence.” And in that moment, very strangely, Soojin swore she took a deeper whiff.
Oh my.
It was six in the morning when this whole thing was happening. Soojin wanted to get a head-start on the day to get her bearings. It might have helped as well that she couldn’t sleep for anything. Just the thought of having to hit a home-run was getting to her.
How did she even convince me to do this?
Soojin recalled every now and then how Tiwari pitched it to her.
“Ya so basically you hit the ball and ball goes back the way it came. Definitely like this.” She did a swinging motion too to really drive the point home.
“You sure that’s it?”
When she asked this, a fat stack of cash fell out of Cel’s left pocket. The pocket wasn’t small or anything… it’s just that it was already peeking out a bit to begin with.
“Yes.” Cel said, and then she proceeded to pick up each bill one by one very slowly.
That’s where the memory ends for Soojin. Everything after sort of blurs together.
“Soojin Neverjetni, the immortal popstar, has to hit a home run to not only get herself a Birkin, but let’s be honest, she needs to also drive Tiwari Stock to the roof.” Celia Prove laid out all the details. She was also in Tiwari’s pocket, and all she needed to do was convince anyone who wasn’t betting to finally bite the bullet and bet.
“No, through the roof.” Tobias the auditor said this part. Frankly Prove only invited him to co-star because she didn’t really know anyone else in finance. She didn’t even need him really. The question wasn’t how much Cel would make (she’d make a world’s worth regardless).
The thing on everyone’s mind was whether or not Soojin could hit that ball.
And now, bright and early, everyone was already putting in their bets. Meanwhile Soojin’s just sat on the field, watching Marsha drag some bats all the way from the other side. In the quiet she thought, damn, that better be some Birkin. Knowing Cel though, it’d be silver.
Marsha was an itty-bitty dot in her eyes. Growing. Slowly. Soojin didn’t really want to help her. She had a sore throat.
“What’s the sad popstar doing?” Marsha came by about five minutes later.
“Amusing herself with a marshmallow.”
Lapan blinked twice. “I don’t see one.”
Yeah. Yeah I didn’t think you would.
The quiet. The warmth. A tad bit of wind. Soojin had no reason to be so worked up, but she was. She was scared to death. The bag of bats was left on the floor. Marsha sat by her.
“What’s wrong?”
The question made Soojin feel heavy. She rolled back and laid there on the field.
“Do you know who I’m up against, Marsha?” Soojin looked. Marsha shook. “Guess his name.”
“Runs-in-Squares.”
The hell? Hey wait…
If this had been any other time, with any other one, Soojin’s thought would have ended at hell.
“Close.” She had to give Lapan credit.
“Ah you see,” Marsha patted herself “I’m practically physics.”
“You mean psychic.”
But then Marsha went on about how she didn’t think she felt sick and Soojin just wanted to get knocked out with a bat there and then.
“Throws Hard.”
“No, I don’t.”
Well… I appreciate the honesty.“Not you, the guy.”
“I mean I would assume so. He is playing baseball.”
Soojin shook her legs in the air to get Marsha to shut up. “No. No! You don’t get to make sense now.”
“Soojin I didn’t bring any money with me.”
God damn it! “His name! Damn it Lapan! Throws Hard is the guy I’m going up against!”
“Then don’t go against him! Why are you shouting at me?!”
Soojin was downright nonplussed. Marsha was actually crying. She had to get up off her butt and comfort her like a baby. She was actually teetering like a see-saw, back-and-forth while wailing in an egg shape.
“There there Lapan… there there… who’s a good marshmallow? You are, you-”
No one would ever believe Soojin if she had to recount this next part. Marsha gained her composure back – no crying or anything – for a mind-numbingly short stint of a split-second. She said one thing and one thing only.
“Soojin I’m not a marshmallow. I’m a human bean.”
Soojin’s face froze. Marsha got back to wailing so damn quickly that she wasn’t even sure if any of that actually happened.
And you know what? She accepted it.
In the belly of a dead stadium, more or less at sunrise, Soojin was on her knees tending to a wailing full-grown adult. Surreal.
“Yes Marsha. Yes, you are.”
Soojin could only dream of what it would be like to go against Throws Hard. She had to, because there was no way she was going to go through with it after this.
Then Marsha pulled a fast one on her again.
For a tinier split second, her wailing and teetering instantly ceased and she looked Soojin dead in the eyes with a voice as deep as sin.
“You diseased poltroon. You disgust and embarrass me with your panic.”
When Marsha put it that way, damn I don’t have a choice, do I?
Of course, Marsha was wailing like she didn’t just feign demonic possession. Soojin on the other hand… she just swallowed her pride and grabbed a bat.
