Page 17 of A Layperry's Heart
“We can’t all be as tiny as you, pequeño!” Sal says, stealing the ball from me and kicking it over to Michelle. She grins in my direction, probably overjoyed to no longer be the newest addition to our group.
“There’s a lot of talking going on when we were here to play some football!”
“Skins and shirts?” Benny asks, running down the field and holding up his hand for Michelle to pass. She does and he takes it, turning, and dribbling it back towards us.
“We usually split couples up but today, I think we’ll allow Aldo and Gendry on the same team?” There’s a cheer of agreement from my cousins. The teams end up with myself, Gendry, Carlos, Hector, Benny, and Sal on a team. The rest are on the other team.
We quickly strip out of our shirts, tossing them onto the table by Carmen. She picks mine up and sniffs it, making a disgusted face that makes Gendry chuckle.
I can’t stop staring at Gendry now that his shirt is off. His stomach is toned and hard, his pecs have the most adorable purple nipples on them. I can’t stop thinking about running my hands all over his purple skin or feeling those muscles lifting me up as he fu--
“We start with the ball,” I say to Gendry, doing my best to cut my thirsty thoughts off before I embarrass myself. “We have a rule where whoever is the newest to the game starts with the ball. And that would be you today.”
“Okay,” he says slowly. “What do I do with it?”
I set it on the ground and pat him on the shoulder which is now naked. His skin is hot against my palm and it makes my mouth run dry. “Now? Now we play some football.”
Chapter Six
Gendry
Aheartylaughleavesme without my permission, my chest feeling warm and bright. I run down the field, parallel to Sal, my teammate. He’s excellent at this game. They’reallexcellent at this game.
Sal passes me the ball and I just barely keep myself from tripping over it. It connects with the toe of my shoe, sailing down the field. I frown with frustration for a moment before Benny is chasing after it, intercepting it, and turning back towards the goal.
Benny does a move where he flips the ball over his back, perfectly passing it to Aldo who was down by the goal, waiting. Aldo takes the shot and the ball sails past Page into the goal.
“Let’s fucking go,” Aldo cries out, turning towards Benny and grabbing him in a headlock. He pulls Benny down so he can mess up his hair.
In response, Benny grabs Aldo around the waist, lifting him up in the air to celebrate his goal. Running over to them, I wrap my arms around them both, lifting them both up in the air. They make a noise of surprise before they’re slapping my shoulders in celebration.
“Jesus, your boyfriend is strong! Why is he lifting us like this?”
I look at Aldo, startling at how close our faces are. I carefully set them both down.
“I was joining in on your celebration rituals,” I say with a frown. “Have I done it wrong?”
Aldo shakes his head, still breathless with laughter. “You were perfect.” Then he turns towards Benny. “He was copying your celebration.”
“Oh,” Benny says then nods. “That makes sense. Next time warn me before you’re lifting me like I weigh nothing, big guy,” Benny says to me, slapping my shoulder.
We return the ball to the center of the field in order to continue playing. My chest is bright with joy as I run down the field, trying to steal the ball from Michelle. She cackles as she darts past me, my giant figure making me less agile than her.
I’ll have to bring a ball back with me to my planet and introduce my warrior brothers to this game. We have enough fields to make it work and it would be a wonderful bonding exercise for us all to play together.
I get the ball and head down the field but someone is in my way. Aldo is beside me and I gently pass it to him, using the side of my foot the way he showed me. He smiles so wide, breathtaking in his beauty. Instead of running down the field, he passes it right back to me.
Giddiness warms my stomach. I pass it back and after that, he passes it back. We’re both giggling as we pass it back and forth in quick succession, keeping it away from the other team. Finally, I pass it to him one last time right in front of the goal.
Aldo shoots and he scores.
Wanting to continue with the human ritual of celebration, I grab him around the waist. Then I freeze, remembering Benny’s warning.
“May I lift you?”
Aldo grins from ear to ear. “Hell yeah!”
I lift him up, surprised by how light he is. His skin is hot and sweaty against my palms. I lift him over my head, spinning him until we’re all giggling with excitement. Then I set him on my right shoulder, allowing him to sit there and look down at everyone present.
