Page 52 of It's Always Sonny

“Don’t.”

“Haters gonna hate—“”

“Stop it.”

“—hate, hate—”

“You’re embarrassing yourself.”

“—hate, hate. I’m just gonna—”

“Your girlfriend is beating you at archery.”

I stop. “What? We haven’t even started yet.” I spin toward the target.

“I notice you didn’t deny that she’s your girlfriend.”

And I don’t deny it. Because I’m too busy gaping at PJ. She didn’t shoot a bullseye, but it was pretty dang close. And Sienna, Lauren, and Amber are all high fiving her.

“Was she always this good at everything?” Gabe asks.

“Yes. Everything.”

“Is she a secret ninja? A spy, maybe?”

“No. She was a killer gymnast, though.”

“How killer?”

“She could have competed for a division two school easily. Maybe even D1.”

“Shoot. That’s cool.”

“It really is. I showed her my standing backflip to show off on our second date, and she one-upped me by doing a round off back handspring back tuck. It was …” crazy hot is what it was. “It was about the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“She showed you up? I knew I liked her.”

I punch his shoulder.

Mom claps for Parker when she sinks the next two arrows right next to the first one. Holy moly, she’s good.

Everyone lines up to shoot. Like with the axe throwing, there are plenty of bows, arrows, and targets to go around. A few people hit the target, but it’s quickly clear that Parker made it look easy.

In fairness, so do I.

“Whoa!” my cousin, Daniel, says. “Are you moonlighting as Robin Hood?”

Daniel’s wife died shortly after giving birth to their son, Harry. Nine-year-old Harry is standing in the kid line with my nieces and oldest nephew, waiting to shoot. The equivalent of a camp counselor hovers over the kids to help them with the suction cup arrows while another plays with my youngest nephew, Max.

Suction cup arrows? Helpers for the kids?

Parker really did think of everything.

I admire my grouping. One arrow in the gold, two in the red ring just outside of it. “What can I say? I’m good at stuff.” I tell Daniel, tossing him the bow. “Did you see that, PJ?” I’m not sure what possesses me to taunt her, and I immediately want to take it back, because that’s who I’m not supposed to be!

She’s back in line, standing behind my dad. My mom is right behind her, talking PJ’s ear off. “Wow. Nice job!” she says brightly.

Brightly.

---