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“Yeah, I don’t drink anything sugary. That stuff is toxic for my training regimen.”
“And it’s toxic for my waistline.” She snickers, and I smile. It’s nice to see her loosening up.
“Now you know where they are if you want another one at some point.” I close the refrigerator door and turn to face her. “I’m really glad you came.”
She smiles softly. “So am I.”
I think she’s saying that to be polite, and while I don’t want her to feel the need to lie, I’m not going to mention it. By the endof the night, I plan to make sure she can say those words and mean them.
I pull her into my arms and she tenses up, but once she realizes I’m only interested in hugging her, she relaxes into me. With the sizable height difference between us, her cheek rests on my pec. She wraps an arm around me, and the hand holding her iced tea bottle gets trapped between us against my bare skin. But I couldn’t care less. All I’m cognizant of is how soft and pliant she feels—like she was custom made with my arms in mind.
As difficult as it is, I force myself to let go of her. “Let’s go have some fun.” This time when she smiles softly, I can tell it’s genuine. I clasp our hands together once more, as if it’s the most natural thing. And to me it is. When she’s near, it’s difficult to not touch her in some manner. Whether it’s my arm nudging hers or holding her hand, I want our bodies having a point of contact.
We retrace our steps through the house and out the back door. Everyone’s gathered around the cornhole area at the rear of the yard. When I set up the boards, I made sure they’re twenty-seven feet apart from front edge to front edge, which is the distance used in official cornhole tournaments.
“Autumn, get over here, girl,” Scarlett calls out.
“Sounds like you’re in demand.”
“Yep, and I think I know what she wants.” She doesn’t elaborate further, but she slips her hand from mine and moves over to stand beside her friend.
Scarlett wraps an arm around her shoulders. “Should we show these guys how it’s done?”
“If we must,” Autumn says, looking less than pleased.
“Yes!” Scarlett throws a fist in the air. “Doubles time. Autumn and me against…?”
I move up next to Cooper and wrap an arm around his shoulders. “Us,” I state.
Scarlett’s gaze moves back and forth between the two of us, sizing up the competition. A cocky smirk lifts one side of her mouth. “Let’s do this.”
“Ladies first,” I say. The two of them have a quick discussion before Scarlett steps forward to pick up a bag. Autumn and I split from our teammates, moving to stand across from them as we prepare to face off in this competition. I expect Scarlett to give the red bundle a careless toss but she takes her time. And when she finally makes the throw, it sinks right into the hole.
My friends all cheer, and Scarlett aims a quick curtsy their way, then moves aside for my turn. I feel the weight of Autumn’s stare, as if she’s standing next to me, but I quickly draw my attention to the task at hand. I toss the black bundle and it sinks through the hole untouched. Cheers go up all around, but I don’t celebrate. We’re just getting started.
Now it’s Autumn’s turn. She leans down, grabs a red bag, and tosses it from one hand to the other as she gets in position beside the board. She holds the bundle in front of her chest, as if she’s about to roll a bowling ball down a lane. Her chest rises and falls with a deep breath before she draws her right arm back and then forward like a swinging pendulum. The bag sails through the air in a perfect arc, plunking right in the hole like a basketball into a net. I hear my friends shouting out their approval, but I can’t take my eyes off Autumn. Her smile stretches wide, plumping up her cheeks, as she and Scarlett share air high fives across the distance.
Cooper rolls his neck from side to side and stretches each arm across his chest, loosening up. Bending over, he grabs a bag and gets in position. He makes the underhand throw, and the black square hits the board and slides into the hole. Our teammates chorus out their cheers and then Scarlett is up again. Like the first time, she sinks the shot, and Autumn jumps up and down, celebrating.
I nod at Cooper, letting him know I’m ready. What then ensues is a back and forth battle of point scoring with neither team willing to stop and accept a tie. It finally ends when the girls sink three out of four of their shots and we only hit two. Cooper runs over and, even though we lost, we bump chests.
“We’ll get them next time,” I say.
“Dude, you’ve got it so bad,” he says.
“Yeah.” I don’t even try to deny it.
“I hope it works out for you. Just don’t get distracted from the big picture.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t. Football is the most important thing to me, and that’ll never change.”
He thumps my back with his palm. “That’s what I like to hear.”
“Hey, hey, boys, looks like you got beat by a couple of girls,” Scarlett taunts.
“Scar, show some good sportsmanship,” Autumn scolds.
“It’s okay. It’s all in good fun,” I say.
