Eliana was going to burst his bubble eventually, but for now, I’d let him have his moment. No harm in letting my best friend get excited over finally beating me in beer pong.
“Ready?” He gives me a small nod as we lock eyes and send the ping-pong balls flying. Each round we face off, he lands a ball into one of my cups. Eliana is keeping the team alive, scoring against Adam with ease. Ollie’s eyes narrow in on me as if he’s starting to piece together what’s unfolding in front of him.
“It’s probably beginner’s luck.” Eliana comforts him. She sinks the next cup and we are now tied with 5 cups left.
Ollie seems to be taking the tough competition in stride, and shoots me a smirk when he notices my arms wrapped around Eliana’s waist.
Somewhere between my 5thor 6thcup, I went from giving Ellie small hugs in celebration to holding on to her. She doesn’t seem to mind, as she leans into my chest and places one of her hands on top of mine. With her so close to me, the scent of her shampoo— a mix of apples and honey— hits my nose and all I want to do is hold on to her for as long as she’ll let me.
Towards the end of the game, Ollie takes the lead, leaving us with two cups to his three. On her next toss, Eliana bounces the ball on the table and we watch, holding our breath, as the ball circles the rim of the cup before finally falling in. She lets out the cutest little squeal before turning her head to look at me, pride beaming on her face. “I can’t believe that actually worked.”
“You’re absolutely incredible.” I press a small kiss on her shoulder. ”That counts as two by the way. Which puts us in the lead.”
“Really?” Eliana beams, and it takes everything in me not to kiss her. Everything about being with her felt right. Even in the moments when we butt heads, there’s no one else I would want to be with than her. And that realization was centering.
“Yes, really. You played me Ellie, didn’t you? What a shark.” Ollie groans as he pulls two of the cups off the table. His shoulders hunch in mock defeat, but by the smile on his face and his use of Ellie’s nickname I can tell he isn’t really upset.
“Mmm maybe a little bit,” she admits. “Are you mad?”
“Mad? No. Annoyed that I’m going to have to wash Jake’s laundry again? Yes. Next time I’m going to be smarter when I pick my team.” He winks at her.
“Hey man, don’t act like I’m dead weight over here,” Adam scoffs.
“I would never.” Ollie claps a hand on his shoulder, which Adam shrugs off.
I grab the final ball and slide it into Eliana’s hand, which draws a look of confusion from her. “But it’s your turn.”
I shake my head. “It’s all you.”It’s always been you.“Unless Ollie wants to protest.”
Ollie is unbothered, “Honestly, I kinda want to see if she’s able to make it shooting from behind her back. Consider this an audition for being my partner next round.”
My eyes stay trained on Eliana as she wraps an arm around her back, angles her wrist up, and lets the ball fall from her fingers. I can’t look away from her, but I hear the beautiful “plop” of the ball making contact with the beer in the cup. She gives me a a smile that could stop tides and make the earth fall off its axis.
“Holy shit. We won! We won!” She wraps her arms around my neck. My hands fall to her hips and I pick her up in celebration, spinning us around in a circle before setting her back down. “That was so much fun.”
I tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear and relish in the way she slightly leans into my hand. “You crushed it.”
“Maybe you should give Ollie a break. For being a good sport?”
I tap a finger on my chin. “Hmm I’ll take it under consideration.”
“C’mon. You knew we were hustling him.”
“Alright fine. I’ll forget this game ever happened Ollie. Consider this your lucky day.”
Ollie pumps a fist in mock celebration. “I knew I liked you, Ellie. Should we go for round two?”
She looks to me for confirmation before saying, “Eh, why don’t you and Adam play and we’ll cycle back. I want to see what other trouble Jake can get me into tonight.”
Well damn. I take her hand in mine as I weave through the bodies. I have no doubts Adam would demand we scrub the place clean tomorrow but that was a problem for future Jake. Current Jake had much more important things on his mind. Like how it felt all too natural having my arms around Ellie or feeling a sense of pride when she absolutely destroyed Ollie at beer pong. All I wanted to do was figure out how to bottle up this moment and make it last forever.
We head into the kitchen to grab some snacks as I plot my next move. Throwing the cabinet open I groan at the sight of a missing bag of chips.
“Dammit. Freaking animals. Hang on, I stored some in the closet upstairs.” I leave Eliana tucked in the corner of the kitchen as I run upstairs and grab the bag of chips. As I head back down the stairs, I see Eliana, still in the kitchen, looking incredibly uncomfortable as some random drunk guy is talking to her. Fuck that.
My blood starts to boil as I get close enough to hear her.
“Listen, I told you I’m not interested, so if you could please give me some space?—”
