Page 10 of Nerdelicious
“Thanks, Beast.” I smile up at him as I take the items.
Beast eyes Dan and then his gaze swings back to me. I could swear his mouth tightens before he moves on to the next group, but the movement is so infinitesimal I must be imagining it.
“What’s up with him?” Dan asks.
“Nothing.” I glance from Dan to Beast and then back again.
It’s funny. They both have dark hair and brown eyes, but on Beast it’s... more. Maybe because the width and breadth of him is twice that of Dan. And Beast’s features are sharper, more pronounced.
“He’s weird,” Dan says.
My hackles rise. There’s nothing wrong with weird. I’m weird. “He’s not weird. He’s...” I don’t know what he is, but I don’t like anyone saying anything negative about him. “He’s my friend.”
Dan laughs. “Sure. Okay, whatever.” I open my mouth to make some kind of retort but he cuts me off. “Would you like a drink before the game starts?”
Well. That’s sort of thoughtful. “Sure.” I smile.
He disappears while the other team members help me tie the rope around my waist, banana hovering above the ground between my feet.
Dan returns, handing me a Solo cup half full of warm beer.
Okay, not exactly what I thought he meant. I pretend to take a drink—I’m not stupid—and smile at him. “Thanks. This is the second time I’ve been tied up today.”
He laughs. “That’s encouraging.”
Hm. Not sure how to respond to that. He’s not even going to ask for details? Rescuing Kylo Hen is always a good anecdote.
We’re silent and I resist the urge to babble. Instead, I ask, “What exactly is this game about?”
“My guess is something to do with hitting the ball with the banana. And I think,” he glances over at Jude, “we’re about to find out.”
Feedback from the megaphone fills the night air, halted by Jude’s booming voice. “My good people! The Battle of the Banana Hammocks is upon us.”
Whoops and hollers fill the backyard.
“The goal of this event is to use your banana—the edible one only—to push the ball into the bucket on the opposite side.”
“All my bananas are edible!” a male voice yells out.
“That’s debatable, my friend,” Jude replies without missing a beat.
Beast is laying out buckets on their sides about twenty feet away from the row of competitors while Annabel moves down the row, dropping four tennis balls in front of each team.
Jude continues. “It is a relay, so only one banana pusher per team at a time. You must get your ball into the bucket and then run back to give your banana and rope to the next team member to push the next ball, and so on and so forth.” He waves one arm with a flourish. “The first team to successfully contain all their balls within the bucket will be declared victorious. If everyone is nearly ready? We will be starting in T minus two minutes.” He turns away to talk to someone behind him.
“You all ready to go?” my female teammate asks.
“Make us proud!” Her boyfriend pats me on the back.
Dan lifts his drink in salute. I pretend to drink mine before passing the cup to him. And then it’s time.
“All right babies, here we go. Get ready! One, two... three!”
An air horn blasts and right along with it a roar of excited cheers goes up from the revelers.
I jerk into motion, swinging my hips in an attempt to get the hanging banana to kick the tennis ball in the direction of the bucket. It’s not as easy as I thought it would be. Even though the lawn is trimmed, it’s still bumpy and uneven, the ball zigzagging in front of me, and that’s when I’m able to hit it. More often than not, the banana sails through the air next to the ball without making contact. Catching glimpses of my competitors swinging their hips with their own flailing bananas isn’t helping matters. I spend more time laughing than humping the air like I should be.
“Come on!” Dan yells when I run into the person next to us.
