The other team has a secret weapon, Beth. She’s the most coordinated person I know. The coordinated Yin to my uncoordinated Yang. She grew up dabbling in basically every sport known to man, so with Alex on the opposing team, I have a feeling she won’t hold back.
Roman and Leo are opposite each other on the right side of the yard, farthest from me. I take up a position on the left side of the yard, in front of Theo, smiling sweetly at him in an effort to make Alex’s plan work. I figure that at least trying to win the game might get me some brownie points with Roman. Alex takes up a position in the center of the yard, his eyes locked on Beth, who, by no surprise, has convinced Theo and Leo to let her start with the ball.
Beth smirks at me as she’s getting in position for herplay. I mouth the words, “Be nice.” Theo scrunches his eyebrows, looking back at Beth as I do.
When Leo blows his whistle, Beth takes off down the yard, heading directly toward Alex, who looks determined not to let her pass. Theo tries to make his way toward me, and I take off in a jog with him. I raise my arms slightly as I do, as though I’m trying to block Theo from getting a pass. In actuality, I’m trying to make sure my blue crop top rides up the slightest bit, exposing a sliver of skin between my shirt and shorts. I know it’s working when Theo’s eyes dart to my stomach, losing focus on the game.
It doesn’t matter because Beth wasn’t going to pass him the ball anyway. As she takes off toward Alex, he charges her. His hands are out and ready to grab one of the flags on her belt. They are only inches apart from each other when she fakes going left, then turns sharply to go around Alex on his right. Alex’s momentum is thrown off, sending him forward, face-first into the grass as he just barely misses grabbing one of her flags.
Beth laughs as she continues to run, shouting Leo’s name from across the yard. Leo is already three-quarters of the way toward the end zone markers, Roman lagging behind. I guess that’s one downside to being as big as Roman is, you can’t move as fast as someone like Leo. Beth’s speed stalls as she throws the perfect spiral toward Leo. He catches the ball, then takes off, scoring the first touchdown.
I run to Beth, as we both bend over with laughter, holding on to each other for balance. When we catch our breath and look at the men, a second wave of laughterrolls through us at their reactions to what just happened. They stand there shocked, presumably at Beth’s evident athleticism.
After a few moments, Theo and Leo begin whooping and hollering, approaching Beth for high fives. Alex comes rushing toward Roman and me with a giant smile and a little dirt on his face. “Nowit’s a game!” he says excitedly.
I glance at Theo, who I find is already looking at me from the other side of the field. When our eyes meet, a fleeting thought crosses my mind. This is the most fun I’ve had in a while. This is something I could get used to.
Roman catches me looking at Theo, and almost to his own surprise, he asks, “You really like him, don’t you?” His eyebrows are scrunched together when I pull my attention away from Theo.
“Of course I do.” The words roll off my tongue easier than I expected them to. With one nod, and a clap from Alex, we’re back into football mode before I have a moment to contemplate the implications of Roman’s question.
After completing a few rounds, each team is tied at a score of four to four. I haven’t touched the football once, but I’ve successfully distracted Theo a few times. I’m feeling a sense of pride in the way I’ve been helping until Alex decides to change the strategy on Roman and me.
“First team to score five points wins. I know we can win this.” Alex tries his best to motivate Roman and me, but to be fair, most of our touchdowns have been pure luck. The other team is playing better than us, and Alex knows it.
“Instead of throwing the ball to me,” Alex says to Roman, “throw it to Sienna.”
“What?” Roman and I say at the same time.
“They won’t expect it. Theo and Leo have been covering my ass like a motherfucker. If you throw it to her, she’ll be wide open.”
“Yeah, but that means she has to actually catch it,” Roman responds. “No offense,” he says to me with a grimace.
“None taken. I’m with you on this one.”
“Just trust me, it’s the only way we’ll win. High risk, high reward.”
Roman and I exchange a glance, both clearly unsure about this plan, “I can adjust my throw, and if you stay close, you won’t have to catch it from a far distance. All you’d have to do is run.”
Taking a second to contemplate that, I worry my lack of coordination could cost Alex his win. I’ve never been a competitive person, but I think Alex is rubbing off on me. For some reason, I want to win this. Not just to help Alex, because apparently that’s something I care about now, but I can’t imagine the look on Theo’s face if I scored the final touchdown. Seeing his smile would surely be a high reward.
“Okay, let’s do it,” I say in the most confident voice I can muster up.
Alex claps his hands in excitement, clearly eager to win the game. A pit forms in my stomach at the thought of letting him down.
The play starts, and just as expected, Leo and Theo rush to cover Alex as Roman fakes a throw his way, thenswitches at the last minute to toss the ball toward me. When I actually catch the football, I’m so stunned that I forget to move.
Beth, who isn’t far from Roman, excitedly yells, “Run!” I immediately begin moving my feet at the sound of her words.
As I approach the endzone, I pass where Alex had been positioned, Theo gaining on me as he goes to grab one of my flags. When he gets close, I hold a singular finger out at him. He comes to a stop, that beautiful smile spreading across his face, once again. I feel spoiled to get my reward before I’ve officially made the touchdown.
By another miracle, I reach the end zone, throwing the ball down to the ground as the other guys have been doing all day. I barely get the chance to celebrate before Theo wraps his arms around me and lifts me into the air. My legs instinctively wrap around his waist as the world around us falls away, and we celebrate together.
Spinning me around, he whispers in my ear, “That’s my girl.”
I’m so overwhelmed with joy at my accomplishment and hearing him call me “his girl” that I pull him in for a kiss.
We stay like that for a moment before we remember where we are, and Theo sets me back down. He looks at me curiously when he does. We’ve been affectionate in front of his brothers before but this felt…different. I can tell by the slight sparkle in Theo’s eyes that he feels it too.
