I’m gonna do everything I can to make him mine.
“You gonna do anything about it?” Kei asks, raising a brow at me.
I let out a long breath. “Yeah. I think I am.”
“Good,” is all he says back as we sit down and wait. The teams shake hands and then have interviews. After that, Maki says the team always shower and get dressed before going out to dinner.
“I’m kinda nervous. What if his team thinks I’m lame?”
“Youarelame,” Kei says with a shrug.
“But everyone is lame in their own way,” Rodney adds on. “We play video games for a living. We’re nerds. That doesn’t mean they won’t like us.”
“Exactly.”
“Hey, do you think I have a chance with that pretty setter?” Rodney asks with a grin. “He’s justsopretty and he wassofucking good. I kinda wanna kiss his pretty face.”
I can’t help but chuckle. “I guess we’ll see when we have dinner with them.” Although, if the looks that Oli and Ivan kept giving each other are anything to go by, I think maybe Rodney should keep his hopes in check.
Chapter Eight
Maki
“What was going throughyour head during that last play?”
I look over at the interviewer for a moment before giving my honest answer. “I really didn’t want the ball to hit the floor.”
She gives a little laugh before patting me on the back. “And you didn’t. Thank you again for the interview, Maki. Great game today.”
“Thank you,” I say before walking away, heading towards the locker room. Thankfully, most of my team is already here, getting showered and changed. We’ll do a post-game analysis tomorrow morning, but the rest of the night is ours.
“So,” Bo says, practically bouncing up and down with his excitement, waiting for everyone to be done. He’s the only one who doesn’t shower after games but that’s only because he’s a merman. He only bathes when there’s an available tub for him, knowing he’ll be stuck with fins and a tail until he’s completely dry again. “Your boyfriend is coming along tonight, right? I can’t wait to meet him!”
“Rin will be coming, yes. So long as everyone is okay with that still.”
“We are,” Oli says, coming out from the shower with a towel around his waist. “I’m gonna get a selfie with him for my social media! People are gonna love this crossover.”
“We’re all looking forward to meeting him,” Daniel says, squeezing my shoulder.
I nod before digging into my locker for my phone. I send Rin a quick message, letting him know we’re all changing and that we’ll be out soon. I let him know the best place to meet us. I already informed the security guard at that location to expect them.
My body still feels high from the game but I know I’ll be sore tomorrow. Especially after that sliding dive. I’m sure that interviewer was hoping I had some inspirational quote to say, something like ‘I just couldn’t let my team down’ or ‘I was going to do everything in my power to save that last point’ but in all honesty, every time I’m on the court, all I care about is keeping the ball from hitting the ground. If it never hits the ground, the other team can’t score a point.
“Great final play,” Amour says as we pass each other by the shower. “Your reaction time has never been better.”
“I bet it’s because he knew his boyfriend was in the stands watching,” Sullivan says with a chuckle. “You were on fire tonight, Maki.”
“I always play hard,” I tell them with a frown.
“We’re just teasing you,” Sullivan says softly. “We know you played your hardest but that final play? The triple save? That was showing off,” he adds with a wink.
I get into the shower, letting the hot water run over my sweaty body. Maybe they’re right. Maybe Iwasplaying even harder than usual in order to impress Rin. I really, really wanted to win, even more so than usual. I didn’t want him to regret taking the time to come watch me.
I’m finding myself drawn to Rin in ways I’ve never felt before. Whenever I think about him, my chest grows warm and tight, like my heart doesn’t quite fit right. Whenever we speak, I can’t stop smiling. We’ve kissed just the one time but I can’t stop thinking about kissing him again. I can’t stop thinking about what else we’d do if we went further than kissing.
Making quick work of my shower, I head back into the locker room to get changed. The sound of a blow dryer makes it hard to talk. Oli never leaves the locker room without looking his best. He says he has an image to uphold, whatever that means.
“Amour,” Bo says, a whine to his voice. “Please come out with us? Pretty please with sugar on top?”
