Page 51 of Strike & Score
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” she huffs.
“Come with me then.” I nod to the car.
“Where are you going?”
“Anywhere that isn’t here.”
I see her hesitate. “When are you coming back?”
“When I feel like it.”
She looks back at the house, then back to the car. “Don’t make me regret it.”
To my surprise, she jumps in with me. I take off before anyone comes outside, without a plan in place, but I know where we can go for some distraction.
I endup taking us to one of my old practice fields. The area is lit up from some dim lights around the area. I go to the trunk to grab a ball I have back there, and it’s a little deflated, but it willwork. I toss it up in the air, catching it in my palm as I close the trunk and look over at her. “You want to play me?”
She looks at me skeptically. “I don’t think that would be a very fair game.”
“I’ll take it easy on you.”
“Oh, I meant it wouldn’t be fair for you.” She smirks.
I nod. “Let’s see what you got then, Dunne.”
I toss the ball at her chest, and she catches it easily, examining it. “This ball is flat.”
“It’s good enough. We don’t even have a goalie, you can handle a little less air in the ball.”
“Sounds like you’re trying to cheat.” She looks at me skeptically.
“How?”
“I’m not sure yet, but I’ll bet you are.”
I shrug. “Play me and find out.”
Mayson tosses the ball up in the air, seeming to think about it. “Fine, but don’t let me win. I want it fair.”
I bark out a loud laugh. “I would neverletanyone win. Not even you.”
“Good. I just want to make sure that when I beat you, you can’t use that as an excuse.” She drops the ball down, and immediately starts dribbling it around me before I have a chance to register that we’ve even started.
I turn around to chase after her as she kicks the ball toward the goal I guess we silently decided was mine. When I try to steal the ball away from her, she manages to keep it away, and I can’t help but be impressed.
Then, I cheat. Wrapping an arm around her middle, pulling her into me as we tumble to the ground. My chest shakes with laughter, but Mayson lets out a growl, smacking my leg before rolling off of me.
“That’s cheating. This isn’t football,” she scolds.
“A lot of other countries actually call it football.”
“Well we aren’t playing tackle football.” She stands up, wiping the grass off her ass, even though I doubt there’s any there.
“Lighten up.” I join her in standing, bending down to grab the ball once again. “You cheated first, then I did the same.”
“It’s always tit for tat with you, isn’t it?”
I shrug. “Sure, if that’s what you think. Fine, no cheating.”
