Page 48 of Here and Now
“What are you willing to do for it?” Everett asks.
“What?”
“Well, you want it bad, we’re all assuming it’s because Penelope is watching. If you want us to kill ourselves so you can get a date, then we need to be incentivized.”
I really hate my friends. “I’ll pay for your coffee for a month.”
“Two months,” Everett counters.
Killian rolls his eyes. “Let’s not pretend you don’t want to win too.”
Everett huffs. “Fine, one month.” He puts his hand in and we all follow. “All right, let’s give it all we have. I need free coffee.”
We break and try for the one play that seemed to work before. Lachlan takes the disc and flicks it to Killian, who is about ten yards downfield. Instead of going for big gains like we’ve been doing—and failing—we’re going incremental.
Killian catches it and then throws to Everett, who finally catches a fucking pass. Now we need to keep leapfrogging. I line up to take the next one, but the defender is pretty much attached to me. I move right, then left, but he stays with me. Lachlan is catching up and moving, and Everett tosses it to him.
Thankfully he’s able to get it and move forward.
Now I need to do something other than get shown up by some twenty-five-year-old who clearly is in better shape than me.
“Come on, Uncle Miles!” I hear Ethan yell.
I’m trying, little dude.
I move around again, kind of giving this guy a stiff-arm, and am able to break away. I call out to Lachlan, who makes a pretty ridiculous move and tosses it around his defender. It’s a little high and,honestly, I’m not sure I’m going to catch this, but I leap into the air and somehow grab it.
What I don’t do is land.
Instead, I kind of half fall, but on my way down, I flick the disc toward Killian and pray it gets there. I slam into the ground, my breath leaving me for a second, and hear a loud cheering.
I really hope the other team didn’t catch it.
I lift my head up and see Killian with the Frisbee over his head.
Thank God.
Now I can lie here and die.
I drop back to the ground, really fucking hurting for air, and see my three friends’ heads in my vision.
“You dead?” Everett asks.
“I’m not sure.”
“He looks dead,” Lachlan notes.
“Well, he thinks he’s still young, and today is going to remind him he’s not.” Everett again. Always the asshole.
Lachlan looks over at them. “Should we tell him that Penny didn’t even see it?”
“Fuck off.”
They laugh. “Not dead.”
“Did she see it?” All three turn to find her in the crowd, and I groan. “Smooth, assholes. Really fucking smooth.”
Killian, the most mature of this group, chuckles and speaks up. “She saw. She’s watching for a sign of life.”
