From Me to You [Complete]

44

"Alright, we'll play midfield," I tell Andy, "You stay defensive and I'll play offensive. Okay?"

"Okay," Andy says, doing a brief stretch and nodding in my direction to say he's ready. We split up after that and the rest is history.

Jean and I flip a coin to see who will have first ball, and he gets it. He passes the ball over to Michael –they unwisely placed Ann in net– and they complete a quick give-and-go that Marc and my dad clap about. Andy kicks it out of Jean' possession, and I capture it, quickly making a run for it down the field towards Ann. Alice and my mom cheer me on, but I don't make it to the net before Michael catches up and kicks the call away from me. We don't play with boundaries, or handballs, since it's just for fun, so Jean finds the ball on the edge of the lawn and sends it flying toward our net. Unfortunately Robert takes that moment to stop paying attention and the ball flies past him. The ball begins again in the middle, and I have it in my possession. I pass it to Andy, who passes it back to Robert, and he sends it vaguely in my direction. I turn it and score, taking advantage of my sister's not-so-quick reflexes –well, not as quick as mine.

The game passes in the same manner after that. Eventually most of us figure it's time the game ended, and the score sits ten to seven for my team. Michael defends his team by noting that André's absence makes the teams too lopsided –André, like Jean and me, plays a lot of sports. Jean and I kick the ball around between each other for a while, while everyone else takes a break and gets some water.

Andy disappears into the cottage and comes back with his nice, and slightly expensive camera. My parents got it for him last Christmas, and he's been obsessed ever since. Ann grumbles that her hair isn't nice enough for a photo, but Jean nicely comes to rescue her in time, by complimenting how the sun has brightened its colour. Ann beams and proceeds to ask Andy for a picture.

Michael, bringing me a glass of water, exchanges a look with me, and I wonder if something is going on with his brother and my sister. But I don't want to say anything in front of our parents. I take the glass and gulp it down.

"Should I go grab some cards?" Michael suggests.

"Yea sure," I agree, thinking back to Michael's comment about Crazy 8s in his last letter. "Oh, and could you please get me some more water?" I ask innocently, handing him the empty glass.

"Yes, we wouldn't want any more sunstroke fainting happening, would we?" he notes, and I realize the truth in his words.

Andy comes over as Michael walks away. "Hey, what's up?" I ask.

"Thought I'd get one of these flowers," Andy says, pointing to some orange and yellow flowers in a pot on the edge of the yard, which I am glad we didn't knock over during the soccer game earlier. Andy leans over to get a better angle, and takes a few photographs.

"Hey Andy!" Robert calls from the other side of the lawn. "There's a frog over here if you want to get a picture of it."

"Yuck," I mutter, but I know Andy heard when he glances at me. "Hey, I am just not a frog person," I defend myself.

"Good to know," Andy says slyly.

"You better not get any funny ideas, mister!" I cry as he wanders away toward Robert. Michael waves at me from the cottage door to come to the table so we can play cards. As I make my way up to the deck, Ann comes out with a novel to read, which I am sure she'll probably finish before the day is out –she's an incredibly fast reader.

"So what should we play?" Michael asks, taking a seat across the table from me and shuffling the cards prematurely.

"Crazy 8s?" I ask, wondering if he remembers writing about it.

"That depends," he says, narrowing his eyes. "What kind of silly rules do you use?"

"Me? I use the normal rules. It's everyone else who happens to use the ridiculous ones."

"What's the fuss over here?" Jean asks, as he slides into a chair next to me. He shakes his shaggy curls out of his eyes.

"Hey, no fair, none of my siblings can come to my rescue!" I tease, glancing over at Ann who is already lost in her novel.

"She was just about to explain the ridiculous rules the Franklins use for Crazy 8s," Michael explains, beginning to deal cards to the three of us.

"Well, don't worry Michael. It's two to one now, so she doesn't even get a say." Jean winks over at me.

"Oh dear," I say, pretending to be worried. Thinking back to three years ago, I'm glad about how things have changed for this round of Crazy 8s. In a relationship with Michael, knowing I'm not an immature twelve year-old...all good things.

"Maybe when you boys are done your game you could help your dad and Tony with the window," my mom says to Michael and Jean on her way inside with Alice. On my left, my dad and Marc are beginning to take apart the guest room window, which seems to have something wrong with it.

"I think your mom has more faith in my tool using abilities than she should," Michael says once my mother has gone out of earshot.

I laugh, but agree on the inside. Michael and Robert are probably the least likely to be helpful workers on a window. Jean and Andy on the other hand, would be fairly valuable –and André if he was here. My mom and Alice come back out of the cottage with a notebook and a stack of magazines. From the look of the covers, I have a feeling they are going to be looking through them for recipes. Maybe something delicious for me to eat in the future.

"Your turn Amanda." I pick up my cards and shuffle through, getting that regular Crazy 8s feeling that I have no idea if my hand is good or not. I put down a 4 of spades, and Michael quietly cheers as Jean misses his turn.

"Oh hey, I have that rule too!" I say.

"I'm beginning to wish it wasn't a rule," remarks Jean.

Although it's not a day at the beach, it's been a good one so far. I smile.