“Letting go looks good on you,” Beth says before heading back to her room. I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror that hangs on the back of the door once I’m in Theo’s room. I hate to admit it, but Beth is right.
The permanent smile on my face speaks a thousand words as I realize this is the most carefree I’ve been in a long time.
27
SIENNA
“As your team captains, Leo and I will pick our teams.” Alex stands before us in the grass by the lake, with Leo at his side. “Leo, you know the drill,” Alex says, turning toward Leo, holding his hands in a starting position for a game of rock paper scissors.
“Damn, he is competitive,” I whisper to Theo, and it gets a chuckle out of him. I turn my head to catch a glimpse of his smile. I find myself doing that a lot lately.
“And why do you two get to be team captains?” Beth asks from beside me.
“Team captains are chosen as follows,” Theo says in a surprisingly good announcer voice, which causes a giggle to well up in the back of my throat. “Last year’s winner will lead one team, and the person currently in first place will lead the other.”
“I’d be happy to give up my spot for you, if you think you can handle the responsibility.” Alex winks at Beth,which prompts her to roll her eyes so hard I’m surprised she didn’t hurt herself.
Alex and Leo bang their fists against their palms; Leo picks rock, and Alex picks paper. Alex turns to the rest of us with a huge grin on his face. “As the winner of rock paper scissors, shocker.” He throws a look Leo’s way on the last word.
Leo interrupts Alex. “Might I remind you, I’m still winning the bigger competition here. Don’t get cocky.”
Alex places his hand on Leo’s shoulder. “Too late, buddy. As I was saying, as the winner, I get first pick. Roman, congrats on being the first drafted.”
“What an honor,” Roman responds flatly, grabbing a red belt from the bin set out in front of us.
Leo picks Theo, leaving Beth and me as the last picks. Beth mutters something along the lines of “typical” under her breath, but I focus more on the fact that I’m about to make a complete fool of myself.
If you had told me a couple of weeks ago that I was going to be running around the backyard of a lake house with four giant men playing flag football this summer, I would’ve called you a liar.
“I pick Sienna,” Alex’s words prompt Beth and me to say “huh” at the same time.
“Just thought I’d mix things up a little.” Alex shrugs and claps his hands, sending us to break off into our teams.
While I don’t love the idea of not being on the same team as Theo, I do find a little hope in joining forces with Roman. It’s been a few days since I emailed him my portfolio, and I haven’t received an update yet. My patience iswearing thin, and I’m starting to think it wasn’t such a great idea to turn down the other job offer. Granted, he never said exactly when he’d send it over to Graham, but I was hoping to have gotten an update by now. I’m hopeful this will be an opportunity to open up communication between Roman and me, giving me a chance to speak with him later about my portfolio.
Theo grabs a red belt for me and a blue belt for himself. As he moves to help me put my belt on, my heart begins to beat faster as our bodies inch closer together. His generous, skilled hands at my waist do wonders to distract from the anxiety riling up inside me at the potential of falling on my face in front of everyone.
“And instead of tackling someone, you just pull one of these flags off, like this.” Theo yanks one of the flags off my belt. The harsh movement throws me off balance, making me fall forward into Theo’s arms. He catches me with ease, and I straighten, turning my face away so he can’t see my embarrassment.
“I might be a little too uncoordinated for this. I’m not sure you really want to put a football in my hands.”
“I’m sure you’ll be great.” He lifts my chin with his knuckle. “It’ll be fun. Trust me.”
An odd feeling rushes over me at his last words. I nod my head the slightest at Theo, trusting him more than I care to acknowledge.
“Hey, no fraternizing with the enemy.” Alex pushes Theo away from me and motions for me to huddle up with him and Roman.
“Okay, Roman and I will focus on getting the touchdowns and grabbing most of the flags. Sienna, I need youto do your best to distract Theo. If you can do that, that brings their team down to just Leo, meaning we got this win in the bag.” Alex barely gets the end of his plan out before he notices I’m holding back a laugh.
“What’s so funny? Do you want the football? I just overheard part of your conversation with Theo earlier and thought…”
“God no, please don’t pass it to me unless you have to. I’ll probably drop it.”
“Then why are you laughing?”
“No reason. I’ll distract Theo. Got it.”
We put our hands in at Alex’s command, raising them to break, getting ready to start the game. I keep quiet since I don’t have the heart to tell Alex there’s no way in hell we’re winning this game, even if I distract Theo as we planned.
