Game Theory × NH

113 | nihonium

"You were too short on that last kick," she spoke.

I took a few steps toward her. "I've been distracted lately."

"Yeah... me, too."

Thinking, I took the remaining steps toward her and grabbed her wrists, pulling her into me. "So..." I trailed off, looking down at her soft features. "What are we going to do about that?"

Suddenly, a sly grin played on the corner of her mouth and she shoved the ball to my chest. "One-on-one," she said.

It surprised me that after all this time; the two of us had never played against each other. There were those times during practice, but that didn't count because it was part of training and there were people watching. We never just went out and kicked a ball around with just us with no audience around to watch our every move.

I grabbed the ball from her hands. "Whoever loses has to do whatever the other wants for a month."

The smile on Lynn's face fell and her eyes suddenly looked sad. "Deal."

I took my stance in front of the goal and dropped the ball to the turf.

I watched as Lynn made her way over to me, lifting her sweater over her head in the process and throwing it to the sidelines. Leaving her in only her jeans and a camisole, she took her stand in front of me.

Before I could open my mouth to count down from three, Lynn took the liberty to start the game by stealing the ball from under my foot, spinning around and heading toward the goal.

I quickly caught up to her and pressed my body against hers so she would fall away, but she didn't budge. We ended up just pushing each other as we fought for the ball, making it obvious that we were too evenly matched to play one-on-one.

Eventually, Lynn got the upper hand by pressing her ass up against my crotch to create a barrier and swept the ball away and kicked it into the goal.

"Yes!" Lynn shouted, the smile on her face was as bright as the setting sun.

"Best two-out-of-three," I argued, placing my hands on my knees as I leaned over by the waist to catch my breath. "You cheated."

"Cheated?" Lynn laughed. "Now you're making things up."

"Grinding isn't allowed."

"I did no such thing."

I glared at her and took the ball away, running back to the place we had started. "Best two-out-of-three."

Lynn took her spot in front of me once again. This time her eyes were on fire with determination as she stared me down. Seeing her in nothing but jeans and a skimpy tank top made me upset that football wasn't more of a contact sport, but I knew it would be so worth it to win.

I made the first move as I faked left and went around her, but I was the one caught off guard as she saw my trick and stepped in, stealing the ball right out from under me just like the play before. But this time I was ready and quickly rounded on her and pressed my chest against her shoulder to move her out of the way before spinning out of her reach.

I expected her to follow me - I left enough offense for her to easily steal the ball back - but I didn't see her as I kicked the ball and watched it hit the back of the net with a swoosh.

Out of breath, I turned to face her. She was standing in the middle of the field, hands at her sides and head down.

"What was that?" I asked through batted breath. "You could have easily beaten me. I gave you enough-"

"Niall, I'm leaving."

I stopped what I was saying and stared at her. Her words seemed to echo off the stadium walls and swallow up around me, cutting off my ability to speak. I didn't understand at first. It was just sound bouncing off the walls, but the longer I stood and watched her, it gradually came to me in a slow, cathartic effect.