The valet brought the car around and Cody walked over to the driver's side, tipping the valet. Cody opened the back car door, putting his backpack on the back seat. He closed the door, making his way in the driver's side.

"You going straight to the stadium?" I asked.

"Yeah, gotta be there at 12."

"Okay, we have a couple hours to kill."

Cody started the car, getting ready to go to IHOP.

"I'm starving," Cody and I said at the same time.

We looked at each other, wide-eyed. "That was crazy," Cody said.

We got on the road, playing Khalid's new album and Crazy by Gnarls Barkley. Cody liked some songs while others were not his style.

"My new walkup song," Cody joked when "Crazy" started playing.

I gave him a confused look, but laughing with him.

"Just imagine me walking up to bat with a song about you."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult? I'll take it as a compliment because I drive you crazy with my awesomeness."

"That's it," Cody said, giving me a smile.

Cody pulled into the parking lot of IHOP, not having to parallel park.

Cody took the keys out of the ignition and I grabbed my stuff to get out. I hopped on out of the car, Cody meeting me on my side of the car. He took my hand, walking together into IHOP.

As we walked in, Cody signaled to the host that we needed a table for two. The host grabbed two menus and showed us the way to our table.

The host set our menus down and I sat across from Cody. We didn't even look through the menus because we already knew what we wanted.

"You wanna come watch BP?" Cody asked.

"Yeah, of course. I love watching you live out your dream, out on the field. Besides, lines for food are shorter before the game," I joked.

"You and your garlic fries, it's crazy."

"Hey, it's not my fault that Dodgers Stadium is like the only place that sells the best garlic fries."

The waitress came to our table.

"Hi, I'm Stephanie and I'll be your waitress today. Can I get you started with some drinks?"

"Uh, can I get an iced coffee?" I asked as the waitress scribbled it down in her notepad.

"And I'll have an iced tea," Cody said. "Oh, and can we order too?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

"She will have a banana and Nutella crepe with two eggs over medium, hash brown, and bacon. And I'll have the same thing."

"Okay, I'll be right back with your drinks," the waitress, scribbling it down in her notepad.

The waitress walked away with the menus.

"You excited for the team dinner tonight?" Cody asked.

"Yeah, I finally get to see the team altogether and I get to meet some of your friends. And, I already have an outfit picked out, so yeah."

Cody gave me a kind smile. "What?" I asked.

"Nothing. It's just..."

"What, Cody?"

"You're always supporting me and my career. You never complain about my schedule. It's just... thank you."

"Cody, of course. This is your dream and I want to be there to support you."

The waitress came back with our drinks. She set them down in front of us and left some straws. "I'll be right back with your food."

I stuck the straw in my drink and took a sip, as did Cody. We waited a couple minutes, then the waitress came back with our food.

"Here you guys go," the waitress setting the food in front of us.

"Thank you," I said.

"Enjoy, you guys," the waitress walked away.

We dug into our food with no hesitation. I started cutting into my crepe while Cody went straight for the eggs and bacon.

"I never asked but what is your actual pregame routine? Like, I always see you at games and shit, but like I never wondered what your routine was," I asked Cody, while he swallowed his piece of bacon.

"Like the night before a game or like the day of the game?"

"Like what you do before BP and in the clubhouse before a game."

"Well, before BP I usually change into BP clothes, eat a Met-Rx pack, and -" Cody shoved a forkful of hash brown in his mouth. "just relax around the Clubhouse until BP stuff is set up. But after BP, I take a short break, change into my uniform, get my stuff ready for the game. Pretty simple."

"And when you're not in the starting lineup?"

"Well, I still do everything I usually do, I just wear a jacket over my uniform when it's game time."

"Interesting."

We were starting to finish our food. Me, finishing first because I couldn't finish everything. I waited for Cody to finish eating, so I finished up my iced coffee. We talked a little bit about the other upcoming games and some of Cody's other off days we could possibly spend together.

Cody set his fork down, patting his stomach. "I'm full," he said, taking a sip of his iced tea.

The waitress came by again, leaving the check on the table. "Whenever you're ready."

I pulled out my wallet and put my card on the check. "Just my treat for your game today," I smiled.

"Ah, my lucky charm."

The waitress came by our table and took the check, along with the card.

As we were waiting for the waitress to come back with my card, my phone vibrated.

I looked at the notification. It was a text from an unknown number.

(310) XXX-XXXX
Hey, Aub! This is Matt, just wondering if we could talk tomorrow after the game?

Oh, yeah. Matt wanted to talk to me about something.

AUBREY
Oh, hey, Matt! Yeah, sure! Any particular place you want to meet?

MATT
Meet me by the Clubhouse tunnel after the game? We can go to Philz and talk, you know after I get changed and shower.

AUBREY
Okay, sounds good! I'll let Cody know!

MATT
Cool, see you tomorrow.

I put my phone away and looked up to see that the check and card were on the table.

I filled out the tip part of the check and put my card back in the wallet.

"So, Matt wants to meet me after the game tomorrow, so I guess I'll be back a little late," I told Cody, getting out of the chair.

"What, why?"

"I don't know. He says he wants to talk, but I don't know what for."

"Huh, weird."

We exited the restaurant, making our way back to the car.

Cody checked his watch. "We should get going to the stadium soon."

"Coffeeeee."

"Babe, you just had coffee."

"And?"

"Fine. I want some anyway."

"Yay, thank you," I kissed Cody on the cheek.

We got in the car, and as per usual, Cody was in the driver's seat and me in the passenger's seat. Cody started up the car, making our way to the closest Starbucks.

Cody pulled up to the drive-thru window.

"Hi, welcome to Starbucks! What can I get started for you?" the person through the speaker said.

Cody responded with, "Hi, uh, can I get a grande iced cold brew and a grande iced latte?"

"Of course, it'll be $9.96 at the next window."

"Okay, thank you," Cody said. Cody left the first window and waited behind one car that was pulled up at the next window.

"You know my order?" I asked Cody.

"Of course."

"But we've been to Starbucks together like once."

"I don't forget these kinds of things," Cody looked over at me.

The car in front of us got their order and drove away, and Cody pulled up to the next window.

"Okay, your total is $9.96," the cashier said.

Cody handed the cashier his card, which the cashier then slid in the card reader. The cashier handed Cody's card back and handed us our drinks. Cody handed both of the drinks to me, which I set in the cup holder.

I stuck straws in both of the drinks and held Cody's drink up to his mouth so he could drink some. Cody pulled out of the drive-thru and made it on the freeway. I took a sip of my drink and finished most of it when we were on our way to the stadium.

Cody took a sip of his coffee every time we stopped in traffic, so he finished his drink by the time we got to the stadium.

We got off the freeway, heading to the back entrance to the parking lot of the stadium. Cody waved to one of the staff standing at the entrance, letting them know he was there for BP.

He parked in an empty parking space near the entrance of the Clubhouse. We got out of the car, Cody opening the back door to get his stuff. He slung his backpack over his left shoulder, and I held my purse.

We walked together, hand in hand, to the front of the entrance of the stadium.

authors note: offseason is sooo boring since cody barely posts and there's no baseball to watch :( also sorry i havent been consistent with the updates, school is tiring me out so bad lately ! pls comment if I should be more consistent with posting or publish whenever I want bc I don't want to abandon this story or feel unmotivated to do it anymore bc I love writing this story!