Hello Captain (Steve Rogers)

Round Two?

    "Hi Kate. Thanks for coming," said Steve, sounding surprised.

    "No problem, Steve. This sounds interesting."

   He gave her wide grin. "You said it."

"Ready, Set, GO!" I shouted and we took off. Rhodey was a pretty good driver, a little more cautious than I was, though. This round lasted a lot longer, mostly because everyone knew how it went now. Rhodey and Sam went after Steve and Chloe first; he was clearly the least experienced of all of us, but he caught on pretty quick. Clint and Jace were going at it until Clint ended up getting caught in the wash from everyone around them.

Steve and Chloe were the next to go down and Rhodey made me work to keep us balanced as we went after Jace. We managed to pull out of the maneuver before we tipped ourselves, only to stall momentarily. Jace went after Sam again, seeing that we were momentarily disabled. The kill cord had caught on the handlebars, so Rhodey untangled it and restarted the jet ski. By that time, Sam was on his way over, avoiding Jace.

Rhodey and Sam  shared a grin, turning back to take Jace on; there was no way they were going to let him win again. Kate was laughing as they went over, so I took that as a good sign. Sam then came back to take us on but was a little too aggressive, because he ended up taking out himself and Natasha instead. I gave Rhodey a high five and we all headed back to shore, ready for a short break from King of the River. Some of the others wanted to just zoom around for a bit, so I climbed back on behind Steve and we went to check out the river traffic.

    "How was that for you, Steve?"

    "That was pretty fun," he said with a smile. "I didn't realize you all were so competitive."

  I snorted. "You've met the team, right? I'm pretty sure competitive is both Jace and Sam's middle name."

 Steve chuckled at that. "It's nice that Kate could come."

    "Yeah. She got here at the perfect time. So am I going to have to worry about Nat getting revenge for me tipping her?"

    "I don't think so, but no promises. You'd have to ask Clint on that."

    "Will do." I rested my head on his back, just enjoying the ride. Eventually we headed back to the dock. Tony and Jace were getting things ready for skiing when we parked our jet ski, so Steve went over to give them a hand.

Kate and Sam were chatting with Chloe, Clint and Maria. Everyone looked like they were having fun, so that was good. Checking my phone, I could see that we still had three hours before we needed to get cleaned up for the party. I headed over to the group to find out who was going to go out on the boat with us.

    "So who here already knows how to water ski? I know Jace, Sam and I do. Steve says he wants to learn. Kate?"

    "I know how to, but I haven't in quite a while."

    "Clint?"

    "I do know how, but I'll leave that up to you young things today." I rolled my eyes at him and snorted.

    "Cuz you're so ancient, Hawkeye. Maria? How about you?"

    "I'd like to learn if we have time."

    "Chloe? You ready to try again?"

    "Nope. I am content in my cowardice. You and Jace have tried to teach me for as long as you've known me, Sarah. It's just not happening."

    "All right," I said, smiling at her. "I give up on you. Happy?"

    "Very. Are there any yard games? I owe you a rematch on cornhole."