Page 23 of Anytime I Want

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Graham

Challenge accepted. Good night, J.

Julia

Night. I’ll see you tomorrow.

Graham

I can’t wait.

Oh, by the way. I would definitely eat anything you made me. I’m Hawaiian. We love salt. ;)

Chapter 13

Graham

“Okay! Let’s do this. Gray versus green. Gray team is me, Julia, Chloe, and Fletch.” I wave behind me a few feet where they are standing. “Green team is Nathan, Josie, Greg, and Paige. Last man standing wins. You’re out after three hits. Just to make it interesting, the losing team buys the pizza. No face shots; keep it clean, friends, keep it clean. Oh, and here are some jerseys to make sure no one gets confused.” I throw the green vests at the other team. Nathan catches it on his chest and then holds it up for an inspection. The front of the vest has a crude dragon drawnon with black marker. Underneath it says TEAM DRAGON, each letter getting progressively smaller because I ran out of space. An artist, I am not. The gray team jerseys were simple, each one reading TEAM KNIGHTS. That’s it. Even I have too much pride to try and draw a knight logo without being embarrassed.

“Team Dragon? Why did you pick that na…?” Nathan lets his voice trail off. “Dragons. As in slay a dragon for her? I’m the dragon? You have got to be kidding me. Let me see this.” He reaches over and grabs Greg’s pinny shirt. It’s a solid green, no team name or dragon. “Come on! I am theonlydragon? You’re going to be gunning for me the entire time! Here, Greg. Trade me?”

“Haha, no way. This sounds way too fun.” Greg, a guy from the school basketball team, grins.

“Paige? Please? Be brave. Take one for the team since your boyfriend won’t.” Nathan holds his hands together, begging.

“Hard pass. Sorry, Nate. You got this though. I’ve heard about paintball with Graham. He’s not that good, right? Just indiscriminately fires, no method to his madness. You’ll be fine.”

Nathan takes a deep breath, looking relieved. “You’re right, he’s not that good. You will all help protect me, right?” He looks around his team, all of them nodding encouragingly. Nathan slips the pinny over his protective gear from the paintball field. They all put on their helmets, and Nathan nods at me. “Okay, we’re ready to go.”

“Perfect.” I grin, and Nathan narrows his eyes suspiciously. I turn and nod at my team, giving them the go ahead to get geared up. “Just one more thing,” I say, smirking as I drop the visor on my helmet. “The list item is actually ‘encourage me to slay my own dragons.’ I’m not sure if you remember, but while I am a wild card, shooting all willy nilly as my Tutu says, Jules is a little more detailed and, well, let’s face it, nasty. Good luck, dragons.”I turn and run toward my team's base to the glorious sounds of the other team groaning in fear.

***

Julia

“Okay, we are murdering them. It’s just Nate left, and Josie might have one hit left. I’m not totally sure. She’s turning out to be a wily one,” Graham reminds me, while we are both lying on a straw bale tower I have been using as my high ground. We’ve been playing for an hour, and I’ve been pacing myself, picking them off one by one. Paige was an easy out: three shots, right in a row. Honestly, I think she was grateful. She’d much rather sit and watch than participate, but she’s a good sport, especially for Greg. Greg was a little harder, more motivated to stay hidden. Eventually Graham got him in the leg for the final hit. If someone asked me what Chloe and Josh were doing, my guess would be as good as theirs. I haven’t seen or heard any part of them since we left the base with our initial plan. Graham was going to be a distraction and be willing to sacrifice his body for the cause, and I was supposed to take people out from my sniper perch. Did Chloe and Josh even have a role? I don’t think so. I’m too excited to really pay attention. I love paintball, and I was thrilled when Graham told me that would be date number two. Besides it being one of my favorite ways to spend an afternoon, it is a lower pressure date since we are in a group. I had kind of hoped to get to shoot Graham, but Nate is a good second choice.

“Okay. I’ve been hit once. I’ll distract Nate, but you have to hurry. He’s a good shot too, and I’d hate to die before you can take them out.” Graham starts to stand up.

I reach out to stop him. “No, we need to get Josie out first. Where are Chloe and Josh? Can they help us flush her out?”

“Josh, can you hear me? Josh?” Graham speaks into a walkie talkie the field provided.

“Yeah, I hear you. What’s up?” Josh’s staticky voice comes over the small speaker.

“Where are you?” I say, pulling the walkie talkie toward my mouth. “We need you and Chloe to distract Josie so I can take out Nathan.”

Josh’s voice comes through the small speaker. “Chloe has taken herself out of the game. She’s talking to Paige and has been for a while now. She said it wasn’t worth it to get shot.”

“Chloe. Always wants to be involved, never wants to participate.” I chuckle. “Okay, have you got this, soldier?”

“Soldier? Uhm, you’re kind of intense there, J. And to answer your question, probably not, but I’ll do my best. Where is Josie, anyways?” Josh answers.

I prop myself up on my elbows, looking around as carefully as possible. I can’t see her bright green pinny anywhere.

“I have no idea. Good luck. Be prepared to die for the cause,” Graham answers, winking at me while he talks to Josh.

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