I chuckled. “Linemen always stick together, don’t you?”
“Keeps you skill guys honest,” Finn shot back. He held up his fist for Tamatoa to bump as though the two of them had been playing together for years.
As had been the case in every new school in every new town the captain had dragged me to as I was growing up, I was starting as the odd man out. It took a hell of a lot of restraint not to sigh in resignation as I shook my head at my new teammates.
Right then, another guy showed up.
“Hey, Finn, why aren’t you in our usual booth?”
“Making friends with the new guys.” Indicating the open space beside me, Finn said, “Have a seat, ’Han. This is Danny”—he pointed to me—and “Tamatoa, our new teammates.”
“Callahan O’Reilly,” the new guy said as he shook our hands.
“I heard about you,” I said.
“Of course you did. ’Han’s got the best hands on the team.” Finn grinned at Callahan.
Callahan picked his hat up off his head, ran a hand over his hair, and set it back down backward. “We need some receivers bad.”
“We’re in luck. Danny is a receiver,” Finn said with a meaningful look at Callahan—one I couldn’t quite decipher.
I chuckled. “Second-best hands on the team.”
Callahan’s brows shot up. “Cocky too, huh?”
“Nah,” I said. “Cocky would have been me saying ‘until now’ when Finn announced you were the best.”
Across the table, Tamatoa cracked up. “Yep. I do like you, Danny Chambers. I haven’t seen you play yet, but I think I’m going to enjoy lead blocking for you if the coach draws up some of them trick plays I watched on film.”
“If you can pull the way your size says you can, every skill player on the team is gonna wanna run behind you.” Finn smirked.
Right then, our server arrived with our beer and two glasses. Her eyes rounded at seeing the new additions to our table.
“How did I miss seeing you two come in?”
“We used the back door.” Finn laughed. “Grab us a pitcher of IPA and a basket of wings, please.” Turning to Tamatoa and me, he asked, “You two here to eat?”
My new roommate grabbed a menu, barely glanced at it, and said, “I’ll have a large everything pizza. You joining me, Danny?”
“I could eat a slice or two.”
“Make that an extra-large.”
“Make it two extra-large pies,” Callahan chimed in.
I poured a beer and slid it across the table to my roommate before pouring my own.
“Tamatoa. Interesting name. Is that like Krakatoa?” Finn asked, his eyes dancing. Then he let out a yelp and reached down, obviously to rub his shin where Callahan had kicked him. “What was that for?” he said with a pout.
Callahan rolled his eyes. “For being a dumbass to our new teammate.”
Tamatoa trained a good-natured smile on Finn. “I don’t mind being compared to a volcano. Krakatoa blew the roof off the world. Kinda like how I blow up defensive linemen.”
“See, Callahan? I gave him a compliment.”
I tipped back some beer and let the humor shine in my voice as I asked, “You gonna tell ’em what your name means?”
Like before when he’d shared the meaning with me, Tamatoa’s chest puffed up as he said, “It means ‘warrior child.’”
