First Day

"Nolan, be polite and say hello," Mark smirks at the quiet man beside Carter. Nolan looks at Mark with his eyes narrowed and Mark's smirk falls. He clears his throat and gestures to me.

"Hi," I say when Nolan doesn't speak a word. I reach out to shake his hand and he just stares at it. "I'm Scarlett, but all my friends call me Scar," I say and explain the name to fill the long gap of silence. I keep myself from saying anything further and eventually, Nolan takes my hand in his giant, rough hand and gives one pump before dropping my hand.

"Ma'am," Nolan says, giving me a nod before turning his back to all of us and walking away.

"Don't mind him," Carter speaks up and I look over at him.

"Yeah, is that a normal reaction to meeting someone new?" I ask, watching Nolan walk away. Carter and Mark both chuckle.

"Well, it's not not normal," Mark says and I look over at him. He shrugs. "Yeah, that's a basic greeting from him. Don't expect much else from him."

"He's really not that bad of a guy once you get to know him," Carter sticks up for Nolan a little bit. "Well, I should get back on the field, throw a couple of pitches, try to keep my job." Carter chuckles and I laugh too.

"See you around," I say and give a little wave. Carter lifts his hand in a wave too then saunters off to take his place on the pitcher's mound.

"He's a great kid," Marks says, watching Carter walk away. "I know everybody was a little nervous or jealous when we got him from the Reds but now, he is everybody's favorite. Nolan on the other hand, well, he's not the worst. Okay! Looks like they're all getting ready to start drills, so they will be busy. You can meet more of them after practice. I have to get back to work, are you comfortable figuring out everything on your own?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks for introducing me around." Mark nods and gives me a salute before he too leaves me alone. "Okay, time to get to work," I say to myself and look around the stadium, scouting for the perfect place to set up for the day.

I'll explore later, for now, I want to get a few pictures and a couple of videos then get back to my office to see how the setup will work when I need to edit or post from there. I make my way up the stadium to a nice perch in the stands and plop down in the seat. The seat is hot on my skin, even through my pants. It's warm out today and the sun is shining, making the seats even hotter. I scoot to the edge of the seat and lift my camera to my eye. I scan the field, looking for a good shot. There are a few good shots of course, but I keep panning the camera until I find Carter on the mound. I wait until he is about to wind up then I set my camera to take pictures of each movement. That will look great on social media. His windup, pitch, and the follow-through look amazing when I look through all of the pictures.

"Ma'am?" I hear behind me and I turn around. "How did you get in here?" A security guard asks, coming over to me.

"Oh, hi! Sorry, I'm Scar. I just started today, I'm the new Social Media Manager. Nice to meet you," I hold up my badge to show him my all-access pass, then I hold out my hand to introduce myself.

"Ah, you're good then. I'm Marcus," Marcus shakes my hand and looks out at the field. "This the best view?" He questions me and I chuckle.

"It's a decent angle. Do you have any suggestions for the best view?" I ask and he takes a few seconds to think about it.

"Right this way," Marcus says and then leads me to the escalator, up two flights, and then all the way out behind left field. "Now this, this is a great view. You'll get better shots during night games but even now, it's crazy."

I walk a few paces away from him and look through my camera, I look around the stadium and then tilt the camera down at the field.

"Oh, yeah, you weren't lying. This is a good one. Every angle here would be killer at night, it's pretty cool right now too." I look through the camera lens again and see Nolan on the field. He has such a large presence, I can see why he is the leader of the team. I wonder if he ever gives them pep talks or that 7th inning speech, or pumps them up when they're losing. I can't picture it but as the captain, he must say something to them.

"So, you met everybody yet?" Marcus asks as I take candids of Nolan and the rest of the team, warming up song the sideline.

"Most of them, yeah," I comment and keep snapping pictures, then lower the camera and turn to face Marcus.

"Met Nolan?" Marcus gives me a look, it looks like a half-smirk but also half pity smile. I roll my eyes and smile back at him.

"Briefly, yes," I admit and Marcus nods his head.

"Brief might be all that you get from him, in more ways than one." Marcus chuckles and winks at me. I blush a little. That was not one of the rumors I had heard about Nolan. "Sure is a handsome lad though. But most of them are nowadays."

"You're right, they're all a bunch of pretty boys," I tease, and Marcus chuckles.

"I think you're going to have lots of fun working with them. They'll keep it interesting for you, that's for sure," Marcus crosses his arms over his chest and laughs a hearty laugh.

"Oh, I have no doubt about that," I admit and then turn my camera on Marcus. "So Marcus, tell me a little about yourself and your job here at the stadium." Marcus looks over at me holding my camera in his direction.

"Uhm," he starts but clams up a little. Camera shy.

"What is your position here at the stadium?" I ask to get the conversation started.

"I am the security chief," Marcus says and I wait a couple of seconds but he doesn't seem like he is going to elaborate.

"How long have you been in this position?" I lower the camera a bit to make him feel more like we are having a conversation rather than me recording and interviewing him.

"I'm coming up on my twelfth year, actually. Twelve years as the chief, before that I was just a regular security guard. I was in that position for ten years, I did get a promotion to a lead guard but it really wasn't much different, more responsibility, I guess," Marcus begins to elaborate a little more.

When Marcus finally relaxes, I get good footage of him talking about his life here and how much he loves it. I snap some candid pictures as well. After a few minutes of talking, he gets a call over his radio and excuses himself. I spend a few more hours scoping out places I can set up during games that will hopefully be available to post up. When the players start trickling off the field, I give them a few minutes then head back down to the locker room as well. When I enter, most of the guys are already showered and dressed in their street clothes, some are still in towels though. I quickly make my way to my new office to give them some privacy and upload all the footage I took today. It looks like the weather tomorrow won't be great so I can be in the office working on my first uploads for their different sites. First, I have to get access to everything but hopefully that was already set up for me.

I plug in my memory card to upload onto the computer then pack up my things. It will take a couple hours, so I will just leave it here for the night. I carefully shelve all the items I don't need to take home with me and then grab the keys off the desk and exit the office, locking the door behind me. The keys they left for me are on a keychain with a cute little pig. Not exactly my style but it will work for now until I can find something more my speed.

"Heyyyy, new girl!" Tommy calls out when he sees me leaving my office. "How was your first day? You get any pictures of my ass?" He raises his voice to talk to me from across the room and his ass comment makes all of us chuckle.

"That would be a waste of space, Tommy," I call out to him and that earns me laughs and support from the guys in the room.

"Ah, good one, good one. Quick on your feet with that comeback," Tommy smiles and rolls his eyes. "You coming out with us tonight?"

"Where are y'all going?" I ask as Tommy walks over to me.

"Just out to our favorite bar. A couple of the guys have a special interest in it. Their wives own it," Tommy explains. "Adam's wife is the sister of Ozzie's wife, they own the bar. Most of the guys drink for free, as long as you leave a great tip. Which ends up being more than the tab would have been if they had paid. So, you in?"

"Oh, I'm not sure. It's been a long day, I should probably just head home," I try to weasel my way out of it but the guys start closing in on me.

"Come on, Scar," one says, already using my nickname.

"Yeah, you've got to come out with us!"

"We'll celebrate your first day!"

All of the guys pipe up with their own idea and plea to have me join them. I laugh and realize I don't feel tired at the moment. I could probably survive going out with them for a few hours.

"Come on Scar, your first night out with the team? It shouldn't be too wild," Carter swings his bag over his shoulder as he takes up a stance beside me. I look up at him and then around at the other guys gathering around me. I look past them and see Nolan, looking at us out of the side of his eye. He doesn't look as if he wants me to join but I've already made up my mind.

'Sure, why not?" I say and laugh when the guys all cheer. Tommy and Miles drape their arms over my shoulders and the weight is heavy but they pull me along to the parking lot where everyone is parked. Tommy drops into the passenger seat of my car before I can say anything and Miles piles into the back with Lou and Juan. "I guess I'm driving?" I chuckle and get in the driver's seat.

"We tend to enjoy carpooling with each other," Juan leans forward between the front seats to talk to me. I smile and start the engine.

"Okay, but just know, I will leave y'all there if I get too tired and want to go home," I promise them, and Juan and Tommy 'boo' me. I laugh and follow behind Carter's car to go to the bar.