Dangerous Play

29 » two can play

Kieran looked at me in confusion before realizing who I was referring to. He shook his head. "No. Absolutely not."

"Then what are we doing? Isn't the point still to show Marissa that we're 'dating'?"

His frown deepened. "That hadn't even crossed my mind. Am I not allowed to ask you to hang out without ulterior motives?"

"I mean, wasn't that how this whole thing started?" I half-joked, trying to revive the lighthearted banter of our conversation. "Both of us had ulterior motives that led to this... whatever this is?"

Kieran was silent for a while. By now, we were close enough to see the flakes of rust on one of the formerly-white goalposts. Tattered nets hung from both of them, the frayed strings revealing soccer-ball-shaped holes from years of use. I was fairly sure I was responsible for at least one of those, but the public park association didn't need to know about that.

I sat on the yellowing grass and tugged my sneakers off, still waiting for Kieran to respond. He slowly followed suit and settled on the ground beside me. Some kind of internal conflict was clearly going on in his head, but he finally sighed. "Look, I did actually want to talk to you about something."

This sounded serious. I paused in the middle of lacing up my cleats and turned to look at him. "Okay, what is it?"

He avoided my gaze, keeping his eyes trained on the oh-so-difficult task of putting on his white cleats. There was a moment of hesitation, and then he shook his head. "Never mind. Let's just play ball." He stood up and brushed himself off.

I hastily finished tying my shoes and got to my feet as well. "No, what were you going to say?"

"It's not important," he said, kicking the ball up in the air and beginning to juggle it. His usual smile appeared back on his face, though it felt slightly off. "Are you ready to lose?"

An idea sparked to life in my mind. "Let's make things more interesting. First one to hit the crossbar five times wins. If I win, you have to tell me what you were going to say. If you win, you can keep your secrets."

Kieran trapped the ball neatly beneath his foot and turned to face me. A challenge glimmered in his eyes. "Fine. But only because I'm confident you won't win."

"I wouldn't bet on that if I were you," I said. Without warning, I kicked the ball out from under his foot and sprinted toward the goal. I heard him shout in protest, but I'd already fired off a perfect shot with my left foot by the time he caught up. There was a dull thunk as the ball collided with the crossbar.

I had no time to celebrate my victory—both of us were sprinting for the rebound. Kieran barely beat me, but I wedged myself between the ball and the goal. He narrowed his eyes as he considered his options. "That was dirty."

I grinned. "Game on."

He darted to the left, taking the ball with him. I reached out a foot to stop him and missed completely as he suddenly pulled the ball onto his other foot and pivoted away. I swore under my breath and gave chase.

Kieran's shot landed directly against the crossbar, evening the score. I dashed forward and lifted a foot to catch the rebound. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Kieran rushing at me. He darted a foot out to poke the ball away, and I turned instinctively to shield it with my body.

He slammed into my back, trying to push me off balance, but I held firm. So he wanted to get physical? Two could play at that game. I crooked my elbow and jabbed it at his stomach. He grunted but didn't move. Either he was wearing a steel undershirt, or those were some serious abs.