“Hell yeah,” Mickey says, his smile broad as he checks his phone. “Ollie and the guys will be here in ten minutes. This shit is gonna be awesome.”
Fifteen minutes later, I have to agree. This shit really is awesome. Ollie set his slide up on a hill, and it’s a solid strategy for speed, which is all these guys seem to care about.
“Wanna go first?” Mickey asks, slinging his arm over my shoulder,
I eye up the slide. For a hastily put together, do-it yourself waterslide, it’s pretty good. I’m no expert, obviously, and I’m not sure I’d know quality craftsmanship if it smacked me in the ass, but the plastic slide looks good to me.
“Uh, I think I’ll let you go first. You can be the guinea pig, and I'll follow your lead.” Usually, I’m the first one to volunteer for stuff like this, but Mickey is in his element and I want to watch him do what he does best—live life on high volume.
My bestie looks at me with disbelief. “You don’t want the maiden voyage? Do you have heat stroke or something?” he asks playfully, tugging at my arm.
Before I can protest—or leap head first to the front of the line—Ollie calls Mickey over for a last-minute inspection. I lean back on my elbows and watch the show. These guys are hilarious together, so it’s always entertaining to see their shenanigans play out in real time instead of just hearing the stories.
Currently, Ollie, Blue, Dime, and Mickey are trying to rig up another hose for “maximum glide”. It sounds kinda porn-y, and will probably result in a mudslide, but I keep my thoughts to myself and watch Mick’s back muscles as he gets to work.
“This is going to end in disaster.”
I look to the left and see Leo sprawled out on the lawn, picking at blades of grass as he watches his teammates’ feats of engineering.
“Oh, one hundred percent,” I agree. “But it’s going to be so much fun.”
Leo studies me for a second, then shakes his head. “You and I have very different definitions of fun.”
“So, you’re not going to race me to the front of the line?” I tease.
“Hell, no,” Leo laughs. “I’m just here to keep these guys in line and make sure nobody breaks any bones until the season ends.”
“That’s an important job,” I say, “and it’s one your brother did really well. I like that you’re picking up where Pete left off.” I’m joking, just making small talk, but when I see Leo wince, I know I’ve said the exact wrong words, and I feel like a dumbass. He recovers quickly, smiling and nodding like the comparison didn’t bother him at all, and I feel even worse. It was a dumb thing to say, a conversation filler, but I can’t believe the thought even formed in my brain. Besides the perpetual tan and the mopof dark curly hair, Pete and Leo Santos are total opposites. The guy sitting next to me now is quiet and introverted, where his brother was the life of the party. Pete’s wolf howl was legendary. It’s hard to get Leo to crack a smile, let alone howl like our school’s mascot. But the thing is, he’s a good guy. I know how to spot an asshole—it’s almost like I’m drawn to them, honestly— and that’s not Leo. I know he won’t go barreling down the slide with us, but he showed up for his guys, and that means something.
He’s a solid teammate, and that’s something I can respect. That’s what’s got me opening my mouth to apologize. “That was a pretty stupid thing to say,” I admit. “I could lie and say the sun has fried my brain, but?—”
“It’s cool,” Leo says automatically. “And my older brother is the best guy I know, so it’s not like I can complain about the comparison, right?”
The half smile he offers me nearly breaks my heart. And I’m a sassy bitch, so that’s saying something. “As an only child, I’m not sure I’ve got room to comment, but I think you can admire the hell out of someone and still want to be your own person. Two things can be true at once, right?”
“Yeah,” he says, looking down at the blades of grass as he brushes over them with his fingers.
I figure the conversation is over, so I tilt my face up to the sky to catch a few more rays. I peel my shirt off to reveal a sports bra that covers more than any bikini I own and decide that silence isn’t always a bad thing.
But then Leo starts talking.
“How am I supposed to compete with him, you know? I can’t, so I never have. We couldn’t be more different. The only thing we have in common is hockey, but even then, we play different positions. I guess, maybe if I didn’t want people to compare us, I could have picked a different sport or at least a different college,but I don’t know. Those seem like pretty extreme lengths to go to, though. I just want to play my game and do my thing.”
“For the record, I think you’re killing it on both fronts,” I say. Before I can give him a cheer- captain-worthy pep talk, I’m hit with a spray of cold water. Wiping my eyes, I blink and see Mickey holding the hose.
“That was a mistake,” I say, shaking off the excess water and rising to my full height. I won’t claim that sixty inches is intimidating, but I’m the living embodiment of “tiny but mighty. Besides, I’m about to chase Mickey across the quad, so I need to get my ass moving. We know each other so well that it’s like he can sense what I’m about to do before I move my feet.
Mickey tears off across the quad, but I’m hot on his heels. He’s laughing like a lunatic, and even though it costs me several seconds, I can’t help but watch as Leo fights with the hose that Mickey dropped in his haste to get away.
No doubt about it. We’re minutes away from turning the lawn into a mud pit. Mickey can’t stop looking at the full-on water battle his teammates are embroiled in. Those few seconds grant me the advantage I need to execute my strategy. Since he’s got more than a foot on me, there’s no way I can out-run the guy, but I can leap onto his back and wrap my legs around his waist.
He whoops like he’s just won a major victory as he reaches for my hands, holds them tight, and takes another lap around the courtyard with me still stuck to him like a baby koala. We must look ridiculous, so it’s a good thing neither of us cares what people think. I’m laughing hard by the time we near our blanket, but then Mickey darts left and scales the hill like I’m an adorable backpack and not a human being. The guy doesn’t even break a sweat. It’s impressive. So is his smile when he turns his head and aims it my way. “What do you think, Viv? Should we ride it together?”
“Hell yeah,” I answer. He stops long enough for me to hop down before he scoops my back into his arms and holds me close as we flop onto the slick plastic path. I can feel his sunkissed body wrapping around me. I can smell the mix of suntan lotion and body wash on his skin.
The ride is a little bumpy and the water is ice cold, but I’m in Mickey’s arms, and I don’t mind one bit.
15
