Page 116 of Call the Shots
A giggle burst out of her, and she sighed. “Thanks. I needed that.”
Her eyes were so beautiful. What color were they? Light green? They were like sea glass, like something prized you had to search to find. I flipped the camera again and threw a thumbs-up sign with the plants behind me, clearly showing her leafy children were fine.
“I’ve never seen you in a tank top,” June said suddenly.
I bit back the grin. “It’s from a 5k in North Dakota, just a twenty-one minute and thirty-four second run. I beat all my teammates. Pretty good, I guess.” I flashed the logo. “It was for a charity to help cancer?—”
“You helped cancer?”
“No—no.” I returned to the couch. “Help kids with cancer, I didn’t help cancer?—”
“I’m messing with you,” she teased. “Are you flexing?”
“No,” I lied. “My arms naturally look like this.” I told her about Vernon’s new rule of banningKokomoin the Colo after Elijah had it playing on a loop in the rink. When our coach tried to turn the speakers off, the door had been mysteriously locked from the inside. I had no idea how Elijah did it, but Vernon screamed at everyone for ten minutes. Then I told her about the gaming session I had planned with the guys. “I’m not allowed to play, only ref.”
“Maybe if you didn’t beat everyone and hold it over them?—”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
June laughed. “You’re the nerdiest guy I know.”
“BestIsle of Lost Souls, Sudden Fear,andNopedkill count scores on the Gladiators,” I boasted. “Besides Fridge but he uses mods.”
“What are mods?”
“It means Fridge is a fucking cheater and tell him I said that.”
June burst into harder laughter and that flustered me more than anything else. I grinned like a monkey in a nature documentary, a flush creeping up my neck.
“So, you—you—”Stop stammering. “You’ve never played video games?”
“I’ve never wanted to blow up aliens.”
“Not all video games are like that.”
She sighed. “I don’t think I’d be good at them.”
“You weren’t good at walking out of the womb either. That took baby steps.” I turned on my machine and cycled through the games. “You have to see this, it’sZoo Cultivation IV.”
June blinked in surprise. “You’re building a zoo?”
“I have two baby cousins—I don’t know why I’m saying baby, Jillian’s eleven—but we game weekly, and this is her pick. We’ve been working on this zoo for four months?—”
“I didn’t know you did that.”
“I wasn’t going to build a zoo in front of you.” I snorted. “You’d make fun of me.”
“I wouldn’t make fun of you. Bear, this is…very sweet.”
It was quiet until someone pounded their fist at my door.
Who the fuck is that?
June paused. “Do I have to let you go?”
“No—” I shook my head. “Give me one second—” I muted the call and made sure it was muted before stretching back. “IF YOU’RE THE REASON THIS CALL ENDS, I SWEAR TO FUCK, THE BURN UNIT’S GOING TO HAVE A RUNNING BET ON WHATANIMAL YOU USED TO BE!”
The knocking stopped.
