“Hold up, Lex!” Lex freezes on the ladder. He was about to go for his second turn. “I’m gonna take this one.”
He just shrugs and climbs back down the ladder. I make a big stupid scene about taking off my T-shirt. At least it feels that way because I’m purposely removing it slowly. I know the girls buying the apples are staring, but the show I’m putting on isn’t for them. It’s for Maggie. And hers are the only eyes I can feel on me. I finally get it over my head and I drop my T-shirt on my shoes, which I’ve toed-off. I sneak a glimpse in her direction as I tug off my socks and realize that the reason I feel her gaze is because she looks like she’s trying to melt me into a puddle of flaming goo with just her eyeballs. There’s nothing hot about that, sexually-speaking, and for a second I find myself disappointed.
I stupidly forgot to bring my swim trunks like the other guys did so I walk over with just my faded jeans on and begin climbing the ladder. The sun is warm but the wind that blows softly has a bit of a bite, and I realize I owe my teammates more than ever for helping me with this. As I drop my butt into the center of the wooden platform, I lock eyes with Maggie and give her a small wave to let her know I know she’s staring. I can see her cheeks pink from all the way over here and it makes my grin widen.
“Here we go,” one of the girls holding one of our bruised apples says excitedly, and I turn to face her. She lobs one and it hits the ground almost a foot left of the target. “Oops!”
She giggles. Her friend tells her to go harder next time and she does, but she still misses the target. I swing my legs, my toes skimming the water. I’m thinking they may be the only part of me that gets wet today.
“Line up the target with the apple before tossing,” I hear Maggie call out. “You can do it!”
The girl tosses her last apple and misses again. “Boo!” she calls out, disappointed.
Maggie is marching toward her and she grabs her hand, pulls her toward the pay table and drops three dollars in front of Jace. “Give her three more.”
“Umm…”
“My money not good enough for you?” Maggie challenges, her shoulders back and fists balled. Jace cowers, takes the money and hands the girl three more apples without a word.
“Did you fail Intro to Business last year?” I call out to Maggie as they walk back toward the toss line with the fruit. “Because giving money to me when we’re competing to see who earns the most today is not good business.”
“Shut up or you’ll get water in your mouth,” Maggie shoots back and turns to the girl to give her more throwing advice.
The girl listens intently and nods a lot and then tosses it and comes close to the target but not close enough. I smile. “Sorry sweetheart. I think you need a better coach.”
Maggie glares at me. The girl just smiles because I called her sweetheart. Maggie takes the remaining two apples from the girl who stops smiling and hands them to her friend. “Maybe your bestie has a better arm.”
The friend is up for the challenge and for a second I think she’ll hit it as the apple sails with some good force toward the target, but she, too, misses.
“Damn it!” Maggie bellows.
My grin is beyond cocky now. I know it, and I make no effort to control it.
“What are your names, ladies?” I ask.
“Courtney and Sandi.”
“You know what, Courtney and Sandi?” I say. “For the last one, you can take a step closer because I feel bad you have to deal with this crazy goat-farming lady.”
They both glance at Maggie who is still standing beside them smoldering like a match sliding across sandpaper, about to erupt into flames. Courtney looks back at me. “We don’t even know her.”
“Consider yourself lucky. She’s obsessed with me,” I reply and then it happens so fast I don’t even realize what’s going on until I’m submerged under water.
What happened was Maggie spun toward Courtney, snatched the apple out of her hand and spun back toward me, hurling that bruised fruit like a major leaguer. I barely even heard the ding of the metal target compressing before I was under water.
I pop back up and try not to sputter and cough but the dunk was so unexpected I inhaled half the tank. I push my hands through my hair trying to get the wet mop out of my eyes and give my head a shake. Wiping my eyes, I see Maggie jumping up and down in victory, a triumphant smile plastered from ear-to-ear and Courtney and Sandi are clapping and staring at me like I’m…well like I’m cleaning their kitchen in my underwear.
And then I realize, when I start climbing the ladder and something catches my leg, that I am actuallyinmy underwear. My very wet, very white, very see-thru boxer briefs. The weight of the water drenching my jeans had tugged them halfway down my thighs.
“Oh my God!” Maggie gasps and covers her eyes.
I drop back into the water and duck down to grab my jeans and yank them back up. Jace is laughing so hard he’s doubled over and Patrick and Paxton are using each other for support or else they’d be rolling on the ground. Jonah is embarrassed for me, I can tell, because he’s covering his open mouth with his hand and trying not to look me in the eye. Lex is running toward me with a towel as I make my way up the ladder and my jeans start to slip again. He’s my new favorite teammate.
Getting out of the tank while keeping my pants on is not a graceful display but thankfully I manage it and as soon as my feet hit the grass, I grab the towel from Lex with a slightly humiliated smile. Courtney and Sandi come rushing over to me.
“Sorry she stole your last apple,” I say to the girls. “If you want to press charges there’s usually a police officer at the Community booth.”
Maggie snorts from laughter.
