Oli puts on a giant smile, throwing a peace sign and wink to the camera. Beside me, Rodney sucks in a sharp breath and I get it. Oli ispretty.He’s got chestnut hair that almost seems to shimmer with purple undertones that falls in natural waves around his ears and the back of his neck but somehow perfectly stays out of his eyes. His eyes are a vibrant green color and his smile is damn near perfect.He gives his teammates high fives and leaps into the air when he gets to Ivan, forcing the other man to catch him. Oli throws his head back and giggles as Ivan sets him back down.
“And finally, our libero for the evening, number 5, Maki Quinn!”
Maki waves at the camera before looking up in our section. He holds his hand up for us before going to his teammates and giving them all high fives. I clap and whistle, hoping that he can hear me.
“Our head coach is Freda Heights and assisting him is Kasey Konnor!”
The three of us sit down, watching as everyone gets onto the court. Across from us is the bench and off to the side of both benches is a square on the ground where some of the players stand. Maki is one of the players in the box.
A ref goes through, writing down everyone’s numbers before going to stand next to the net between the benches. Once he gives a nod, Maki goes into the court while Amour goes into the box.
“I have no fucking idea why he just went in like that,” I say, taking a drink of my beer. “Volleyball rules are weird.”
“Liberos have special rules. They can go in and out at will, usually taking the place of a middle blocker who’s in the back row,” Kei says and I turn towards him, my mouth dropping open.
“What the fuck?”
“Don’t look at me like that. You’ll catch flies if you keep your mouth open like that.”
“How thefuckdo you know that?”
“I watched a video before coming,” he says, rolling his eyes.
“Right. Of course. That makes total sense.”
“Shhh,” Rodney says from my other side. “The first serve is about to happen!”
The away team is serving first. I watch, my stomach filled with excited nerves, as the guy bounces the ball a few times. Once the whistle is blown, he tosses it up into the air, takes off running and thenleaps. I suck in a sharp breath at the crack his palm makes against the ball.
“Holy shit,” I murmur, his eyes wide. There’s no way someone could actually hit that! It’s way too fast.
I was so wrong. Maki receives the ball. The sound of it hitting his arms is so loud that I can hear it even over the crowd. It bounces up into the air where Oli, their setter, is ready for it. He sets the ball, just barely above the net where one of their spikers, I think his name was Ivan, is already up in the air and waiting for him. How did Ivan know he was going to do such a short, quick set? It’s like the two of them have some sort of telepathic link!
The ball hits the ground on the other side of the court, their players unable to get there in time after such a quick set.
The crowd goes wild and I cheer along with them, letting out a long whistle for Maki and the rest of his team.
“Look at you getting into it,” Rodney says with a chuckle. “We’ll make a sportsman out of you yet.”
“You act like all I do is sit in my room on my computer. I’m capable of learning new things!”
“Hey, Rin?” Kei asks. “If you were athletic, what sport do you think you’d play?”
“If I was athletic?” I screech, shoving at my friend’s shoulder. “What the hell is that supposed to mean! I work out!”
“I asked what I asked.”
“Quit ragebaiting him,” Rodney says, doing his best to hold back his chuckles but failing.
“I hate you both.”
The game progresses. As they rotate, whenever Maki would normally go into the front row, he runs out, switching between the middle blockers, Amour and Kurstin. Amour stays in the back row in order to serve, having a nasty jump serve. When his serving is done, Maki goes back in.
They win the first set 25 to 20. Then the teams switch sides.
“Oh,” Rodney says with excitement, seeing a vendor walking through the stands. “Right here! Yes please!”
We each buy a hotdog. I look at Kei, waggling my eyebrows at him while shoving half the hotdog into my mouth. Just then, people around the arena start cheering.
