“At least, you can meet her for real instead of for fake,” River tossed back and took a drink.
“Okay. No more of that,” Jessie stated and took their drinks from them.
“Hey!” River laughed.
“You’ll get it back after you do your introduction for the camera.”
“I feel like I’m in class and just got my phone taken away for texting,” River said with a laugh.
“Were you a texting rebel in school?” Kennedy teased as she stood up. “Relax that vein in your forehead, Jessie. I’m moving away from the damn bottles.”
River laughed and said, “Yes, I was an all-around rebel in school. But I’ll have to tell you about thatlaterbecause I thinkthat vein might pop out of her head soon if we don’t pretend like we’re meeting for the first time right now.”
“Hilarious, you two. You’ll give me a heart attack, but that’s fine; as long as you have your jokes,” Jessie replied.
CHAPTER 13
Cameron
“Goal!” she yelled and raised her arms in the air.
“Why are you so surprised? I told you I was terrible,” Lacey replied with a laugh.
“You’re only down by one.”
“It’s one to zero.” Lacey shook her head. “But thanks for trying to make me feel better, I guess.”
“We go to eight, so there’s still time for you to catch up.”
Lacey retrieved the puck, and Cameron watched her as she tried to figure out where to position it on the table. That was interesting to Cameron because, for the most part, when she played air hockey, she just hit the thing and waited for it to rebound or get hit back to her, but Lacey seemed to try to plot using geometry or trigonometry or something, which wasn’t something Cameron was any good at. When Lacey hit the puck, and it went straight at her, Cameron tapped it back softly.
“Oh, come on… Don’t do that,” Lacey said, hitting it back a little harder.
This time, the puck bounced off the side wall, and Cameron returned it the same way.
“Do what?” she asked.
“Let me score just because you feel bad for me.”
“I wasn’t. I’m trying to play a little more like you.”
“What? Why? I suck,” Lacey said.
The puck came back to Cameron, and she hit it back straight to Lacey, who stopped it and then aimed it hard for the side of the table. A split second later, Cameron watched it as it disappeared. Lacey had scored a goal. Cameron looked up at her, and Lacey seemed surprised.
“You want to do it, too, don’t you?” she asked, pulling the puck out to put it back in play.
“I do. Can I?”
“Go for it,” she said with a little laugh.
“Goal!” Lacey yelled as she raised her arms up.
Cameron watched her, and Lacey looked both relaxed and happy right now. It was only then that Cameron remembered that there was a camera aimed at both of them, probably taking the widest shot possible because they were playing a game with a fast-moving puck, and a professional cameraman would know how not to make people throw up when they watched, so he wouldn’t be panning back and forth on the table.
“Congrats!”
“Thanks. I never score. Youdidlet me have that one, so I’m not sure I should brag.”
