Laine’s still laughing as we face each other, long, ticklish spears of grass pressed into our cheeks. Her arms are still locked around me, our pink balloon cradled between us like a heart. A sweet, effusive joy blooms in my chest, dampened only slightly when Teddy’s face appears upside down above us.
“Good job, lesbians!” he yells into our faces. “Next up, human wheelbarrow!”
If Rachel was feeling the competition before, she’s out for blood now. She pulls on fingerless weight-lifting gloves one at a time, then cracks her neck like an ominous maraca, but I’m not worried. Laine and Teddy are our fittest members. Teddy can do a hundred push-ups drunk on sangria, and Laine lifts barrels we use hand trucks for. I’m about to go find the mayor when I hear a loud yelp from behind. Teddy’s on the ground, grabbing wildly at his groin. Diego rushes over.
“I must’ve sprained something going around that last curve,” Teddy moans, massaging at the spot where crotch meets thigh so aggressively, it makes Tristan blush. Teddy looks up at Laine with mournful eyes. “I can’t do it, Coach.”
One by one Laine assesses Tristan, then Diego, before settling on me with a sigh. Tristan and Diego are both big guys—while they couldwheel Laine no doubt, she wouldn’t be able to make the return trip holding up their heavy bottom halves. That’s why Teddy had been the perfect choice—small, but strong. Now she’s left with only oneextremelyimperfect choice.
“You strong?” Though Laine’s frowning at me, the look somehow still feels tender.
“Ish?” It comes out as a question.
“We don’t have to do the event,” Laine says so the others can’t hear. But all it takes is one look at Rachel doing warm-up planks to fill me with determination.
“Hellyes, we do! We can’t let her win without a fight.”
We get in our lane, and gingerly, I get down on my hands and knees. Rachel’s next to us, about to be driven by her sister-in-law Betsy, and mygodwhat a weird game this is.
The referee blows the whistle, and suddenly my back half is levitating into the air so fast, I don’t have time to brace my arms. My chin hits the dirt hard, grass entering my nose and mouth.
“Oh, shit, are you all right?!” Laine asks, but I can barely hear her over Rachel’s demonic snorting to my left. I spit the grass out and glare at Rachel, who’s crawling forward on her hands like some kind of horror movie beastie.
“I’m fine!” I bark out.
“You don’t look like you’re fine, Brennan!” Rachel yells over her shoulder.
“Well, you look like the girl fromThe Ring!” I twist my sore neck as far as it’ll go. “Move it, Laine!”
Laine hikes my ankles up even higher around her hips, and I make like a scorpion outta hell, willing my screaming shoulders to comply as we lurch forward. It’s a short stretch, accounting for the fact most Americans don’t have functioning abs, but it’s still long enough to constitute torture.By the end, I’m forking along on my forearms, Laine hunched over so she doesn’t warp my body at an unnatural angle. But we make it, passing Rachel and Betsy already on their return trip. When it’s my turn to carry Laine’s legs, my arms have turned to jelly, but I’ll be damned if I’m giving up now. I tuck her feet against my sides, and we power forward. Rachel and Betsy cross the finish line before we’re even halfway there.
“THAT’S RIGHT!” Rachel whoops, jumping up and down and hoisting a bewildered Betsy’s arm into the air.
“Dammit!” Laine runs her hands through her hair, hot anger reddening her features. “If I hadn’t dropped you, we’d have won!”
Doubtful, but Laine looks like she could overturn a Gatorade table, so I’m not gonna argue. She turns to me, her frustration evaporating.
“You okay, boss?” Laine’s fingers gently tilt my chin up to inspect the scratches there.
“Don’t act like you didn’t enjoy shoving me face-first in the dirt, Beave.” I try to smile but it quickly turns into a wince as she grazes a tender spot.
“Believe me, in all the ways I’ve imagined getting you dirty, it’s never involved the human wheelbarrow.” Color paints the tops of her cheekbones as though perhaps she didn’t mean to say that, but she juts her chin out a bit higher, owning it all the same. Her eyes are warm and molten, and for an instant, I lean into her touch. “Can I help you get cleaned up?” The words prickle the skin along my arms, making my chin sting even more.
I take a small step back, freeing myself from her grasp. “No, I’m okay. Besides, we only have the egg race left, and I still need to find the mayor. This one’s yours, right?”
After a second, Laine nods, like she’s reluctantly coming back from somewhere far away. An overwhelming urge to join her there fills me. I lean in close and whisper in her ear, “You gonna win this one for me?”
“Yes, boss.” The words breathe out onto my neck and shoot straight to my core, making my lower belly thrum from their delicious tug. Sheleans back, our lips dangerously close, but her eyes flick from mine to something over my shoulder before widening slightly. “Mayor Esposito, walking alone, your five o’clock.” She takes me by the shoulders, spins me on my feet, then gives me a little nudge. “I’ll keep Rachel occupied, you get us an endorsement.”
Us.That little word, as small asmebut so incredibly vast in comparison. It’s like an ocean I could tumble into and never surface from again.
“Mayor!” I call, wishing I’d had time to clean off my dirt-streaked face before doing this. She pauses mid-stride, and when she sees me, her shoulders tighten.
Shehasbeen avoiding me.
“Zoe! Lovely to see you enjoying the festivities!” Her eyes flicker to my chin before finding mine again. “You okay?”
“Yep! Do you mind if I join you for a bit?”
