Page 11 of Totally Fanatic

“I think I know this guy,” Ryan says, and he leans the phone toward Alan. “Doesn’t he look familiar?”

“Fuck, he’s big,” Alan replies, then holds the phone closer to his face. “I mean, there are a lot of buff guys around Savannah. I might have seen him before.”

“I’m sure I’ve met him before. I just can’t put my finger on it,” Ryan adds, and I grab my phone back and look at the zoomed-in picture of Lion that Duckie found through my feed. It’s a shot posted by the media after our win against the OG’s, and I’m actually pretty surprised Duckie spotted him in the crowd of people in the shot, though, he’s a foot taller than most of them and twice as wide, so he does kind of stand out. He looks so happy in the photo. He’s got one arm raised above his head, and he’s cheering.

Ryan relaxes back against Alan. “I dated a fan once,” he says, and Alan turns toward him.

“You did?” Alan asks.

“Yep, it was only one date, but it was fun.”

“No one is saying Tim’s going to date this guy,” Chloe says.

“From the way Tim is still staring at his phone, I’d say he’d want to.”

“Shut up, he’s… nice looking, alright.” I say, and I get a few raised eyebrows.

“He’s better than nice looking, he’s large enough to throw you over his shoulder and carry you off to be ravaged,” Alan replies, and now all I can picture is Lion doing exactly that.

“Tim, dude, come on, phones down,” Duckie says, and I shake away the delicious thought and slip my phone into my back pocket. “You don’t want seconds?” I ask, but my gaze then lands on the tray of pulled pork and the miniscule scraps left over. “Okay, so you already had seconds.”

“And thirds,” Ryan replies, leaning back and rubbing his belly. “You sure know how to barbeque. Sorry we ever doubted, man. You open up that restaurant one day, and we’ll be there every night of the week.”

“I don’t want a restaurant. I want a food truck. Then I can travel, too.”

Duckie sweeps his finger through the sauce left on the rib plate and pops it into his mouth. “You don’t want to move back to kangaroo country when you’re done playing ball?”

“Why? There’s nothing left there for me, my parents are traveling all over the world. They’re in Greece right now, I think.”

Pat sighs. “I can see myself staying in Savannah, even when Banana Ball is over, but I hope it’s not over for a long time. How shit was it last year, wondering if we’d be kept on for another year?”

“It was horrible,” Chloe says, snuggling into Pat’s side. “You got so stressed.” She peers up at him with worry and love in her eyes, and as my gaze moves over them all, I’m reminded again how much of a seventh wheel I am tonight. Fuck you, Calvin and Dave for bailing on me.

“Okay, game time, it’s Uno or Hues and Cues,” I declare, grabbing them from behind the lounge and dropping both on the coffee table. Ryan, Alan, Duckie and Ian are on the lounge, while Pat and Chloe are on the floor cushions with me. I’m the odd one out tonight, and it’s hard not to feel like the host to some couples’ game show.

“You choose,” Ian says, and I slide Hues and Cues to the floor, and Ian picks up the two decks of Uno cards.

“Terrible choice, I rule this game,” Duckie sneers, rubbing his hands together like he’s some evil genius figuring out his master plan.

“You say that about every game,” Ryan says.

“Because I am the best at all of them.”

“Except Chutes and Ladders,” Pat laughs, and Duckie throws him a glare.

“Fuck off, that game was totally rigged.”

“How was it? You rolled the dice yourself.”

“The board was rigged, no way is it possible for anyone to hit every fucking shoot on the board.”

“You did,” Pat replies, and Ian squeezes Duckie’s hand.

“Okay, let’s deal. Who’s going first and what direction are we headed?” Ian asks, shuffling the cards together in a giant stack before smacking half in a pile in the middle of the table and dealing out the others to us.

“Clockwise, and I’ll go first,” I say and quickly follow up with, “cause I’m hosting. That means, you’re next, Pat, then Chloe.”

“Okay, and rules, are we going with unlimited drops?” Ian asks.

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