Dropping the bat, I begin sprinting, the eruption of noise from both teams roaring in my ears as I keep going round first,then second base. The ball is sent flying back overhead as I make it to third and is caught by Ryan as I near the fourth base.
Both of us launch ourselves at the final base at the same time, skidding across the grass and colliding as we land on the fourth jumper, me on the flat of my back and he on his front, the ball clutched in his hand.
Both teams start cheering and clapping, until Katya stops and says, “Wait, why are you celebrating?” to Mimi, who replies, “Hello! We won!”
“No, we won,” Katya retorts.
“No,” Mimi says, giving her a strange look. “Wewon!”
“Harper got the rounder!”
“Ryan got her out!”
“She’s in!”
“She’s out!”
As the two teams launch into an argument over what happened, I push myself up on my elbows to look at Ryan, whose face is level with my knees.
“You okay?” he asks.
“I think I’ve bruised my bum,” I admit. “You?”
“I’m going to have a few grass stains,” he says, getting to his feet.
He holds out his hand to help me up, and I take it. His hand is warm as it clasps mine, his grip strong and firm. I stumble a little as he pulls me up, steadying myself by grabbing his forearms. He’s so close, it makes me a little light-headed.
“All right?” he says. His voice is suddenly softer.
“Yeah. Thanks.” I drop my hands, stepping back from him and collecting myself. “Sorry you lost, but good game.”
He blinks at me. “Excuse me?Youlost.”
“Are you joking?” I look him up and down. “My feet hit the jumper before you did!”
“No,” he says slowly, “I got you out.”
“I can’t believe you’re doing this!”
He frowns. “Doing what? Telling the truth?”
“You’re lying just so you can win!” I say accusingly.
“I’m not the liar here, Harper. You know as well as I do that I got to the jumper first.”
“I wasin!” I insist.
“You wereout!”
I turn to appeal to everyone else, who have come to gather around the birthday girl. “What’s the final verdict?”
Katya throws her arm around Mimi. “How about we call it a draw?”
“That’s a bit boring,” she responds.
“It’s only the first round of the day. There are still a few more games to get through,” Katya reasons. “We can beat you at everything else and win overall.”
“You wish,” Mimi says, her eyes twinkling at her wife. “Fine, since no one can impartially call that final point, we’ll say it’s a draw.”
