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Love walked to Conrad with a t-shirt the same as hers, pink at the borders with a 'team Love' on the middle.
"Hey there, handsome" she greeted from behind him and he jumped at the sudden voice. "Wow, you okay?"
"Y-yeah" he exhaled sharply. He looked down at the t-shirt in her hands "it's that for me?"
"Yep" she passed it to him, he took of his short and put the pink t-shirt on, he chuckled at the color choice "of course you were going to chose pink"
"You of all people know, it's my favorite color" she grabbed his hand to pull him with her to where everyone was "Have you put on sunscreen yet? Conrad?"
He seemed to be lost in thought while looking at her, she passed a hand in front of his face to get him out of the daze she was in.
"What?"
"I asked you, if you already put on sunscreen?" She shook her free hand to show a bottle of sunscreen.
"Um, yeah"
"Good, are you sure you are okay? You seemed very distracted" she frowned worriedly.
"Im okay, I just- I had another panic attack in the morning" he explained.
"Really? Im so sorry, you should have called me Con, I would have been there in no time" she put the sunscreen back on her bag and took both of his hands in hers.
"I didn't want to bother you besides Cleveland helped me" he shrugged.
"Still you should have told me, I care about you, you know" Love said with a big smile.
"I care about you too" he said feeling those tingles of guilt on his fingers extend all the way to his shoulders.
"Come on, we have to stretch out, don't want you pulling any muscles"
"I should be telling you that" he taunted knowing she hated exercising. And every time he asked if she wanted to exercise with him she said something along the lines of 'I'll rather watch you'.
"Conrad Fisher what is that supposed to mean?" Love gasped playfully crossing her arms in her chest.
"That I don't even think you know how to strech"
"Mhm, that's what I have you for, and this time there is a big shiny trophy on the line and I want it, so today I'm pretending to love volleyball."
He laughed and wondered if he had make the wrong choice.
As they were walking to the debs and their partners places, Taylor passed besides them.
"Hey!" Taylor said smiling at Love and glaring at Conrad "I'm so sorry again from hitting you in the pool"
"Oh, no worries, I'm as good as new" Love shrugged offering the blonde a smile who felt sorry for the sweet girl.
"Cute shirts, I love Pink, don't you Conrad?"
"Um, yeah"
"Hey, Love?" Taylor looked at Conrad with knowing glint on her eyes which made him panic slightly trying to pull Love out of there.
"Yeah? Wait Conrad, I'm talking to Taylor" frowning at his weird behavior.
"It's about to start, Love, we don't want to be late" he tried to pull her again in vain as she stayed rooted to her place.
"They can wait a few seconds, yes, Taylor?"
"Who's your partner to the ball?" Taylor asked throughly enjoying the panic on Conrad's face.
"Well Conrad of course" she answered confused.
"Mhm, cool" The blonde said shortly and left sipping on one of her cups.
"That was weird"
"Yeah, very"
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"Good afternoon" Mrs. Fisher greeted everyone in the microphone "I'm Susannah Fisher, chair of the club's community service board and I am delighted to welcome you to Play it Forward!" Everyone clapped and Love turned to look at Conrad with a smile who surprisingly was already looking at her she mouthed an 'I love you' and he said it back without hesitating.
"You know, as my mother used to say 'if your lucky enough to be at the beach, you're lucky enough' and we are very fortunate indeed, which is why, in the spirit of fun and friendly competition, it is time to open our hearts and our wallets and give back to those who may not be as fortunate. We have teams raising money for homelessness, women's shelters, environmental causes, and many more. And Play it Forward will match pledges for the winner of the tournament!"
Everyone cheered and Susannah smiled when she saw Conrad and Love together smiling at each other "Pledge tables still open, so please donate generously. And with that, I say let the games begin!"
Everyone cheered and Love looked at the trophy "that trophy is going to be so mine"
"Well, Watch out for those two" he pointed at some girls meters away from them "Her spike is lethal"
They started playing against the others, first they played against two men in orange who they easily beat, and Conrad and her did the hands game Love had made them practice the night before.
She beat the other debs teams too with an apologetic smile but she wasn't really sorry, she wanted that trophy and Conrad seemed to focus on her today, she was happy.
It was time to play the semifinals, they were against the girls that Conrad had warned her about, he squeezed her hand before letting go and going to his place on the right.
At first the other girls seemed to be winning, as Conrad said the girls spike was very good which made them lose some points. But then Love got angry, and when Love is angry, if they got another fail the other girls would win and they would lose.
So as the girl was doing her spike again, Love ran towards the flying ball and harshly hit it to the other side of the court, she watched holding her breath as the girls weren't fast enough to catch the ball, it falling inside the court.
She screamed in happiness and ran towards Conrad who hugged her by thread it and twirled her around. She kissed him when he out her down, and people around them cheered again.
She chuckled against his lips and he shortly kissed her again. They got out of the court hand in hand. Now they only had to wait for the next team to play and then the finals.
Yet when she saw her mother watching with her father besides her, her smile dropped and her heart started going faster.
"Hey, my parents are here, do you want to?"
Love asked.
"I was going to talk with my mom but I'll go later"
"Okay" she kissed him once before going where her parents where. She rubbed her hands in her shorts when she neared them and her breath hitched when her father turned to look at her.
"Amor-"
"Valerie" her father warned and her mother frowned worriedly "What were you doing?"
"I was playing-"
"Yeah, you were like a fucking child, you almost lost that round"
"But we won"
"Just because you won doesn't mean you were doing your best and I'm completely sure that wasn't your best"
"I am doing everything I can-"
"Do not be disrespectful, Love, if you lose and embarras me in front of all this people, you'll know what happens"
"Please, it's just a game"
"You should have thought about that when you joined it" he finished his hand twitching at his side and Love knew it was his need to raised his hand, instead he shoo her away. And her mother grabbed one of her hands when she was passing and squeezed it.
Her eyes were crystallized as she walked towards Nicole, her friend didn't knew entirely but she did now that Love hated being home when her father was there.
"Hey" Nicole said her voice soft at the sight of her crystallized eyes.
"Hi" Love hugged her friend wanting to feel comfort, Nicole hugged her back.
"You were playing so good!"
"Really?"
"Yeah, you could pass as a volleyball player" Nicole said, the rest of the debs neared them and with them was Johnathan.
"Valentine's value!" Johnathan greeted her messing her hair.
"Hey, boring day" a smile pulled at her lips, the girls behind him, frowned at the weird names but looked at her suggestively anyways.
"You were really good out there, you don't need that other player" Johnathan assured and Love frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"Uh- I just thought since he's playing"
"What?" She asked confusedly and Johnathan pointed to the court with a sorry frown. She looked out to the court the girls crowding besides her, her heart chipped once again when she saw Conrad playing with Belly in a yellow shirt, her pink shirt long forgotten. "What is he doing with Belly?"
"I think Belly was playing with Jeremiah but then asked Conrad if he could play with her" Sheila said with the same sorry frown as Johnathan.
Her breath started to come in rapid breaths it wasn't even because of Conrad's
If you embarras me you know what happens
This would definitely embarras him, her loosing because her boy decided to play for other team in the finals.
"Does someone wants to be my partner?"
"There's a rule where other debs can be each other's partner" Gigi explained with a frown.
"Well, lucky for you i play volleyball in my school" Johnathan added smiling proudly at Love.
"Would you play with me, please?"
"Of course"
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