"Goddamnit."
"Everything okay over here, Lo?" Joey asked, walking over to Lauren who stood frowning at an empty target. They were doing archery this morning, and it seemed that once again Joey's previous training had put him at an advantage. While he was just about good enough to be able to coach kids on the technique, Lauren could only supervise, and had decided to try her hand at it herself.
"I just want to hit it once," she cried in despair. "Just once!"
"We're gonna make it happen," he reassured her.
"A bunch of teenagers are better than me at this," she scowled, indicating Alex, who was approaching the target to retrieve their arrows, all centred around the middle.
"Yeah, but you'd kick all their asses in a dance competition," he said, and she smiled gratefully at him.
"We just gotta work on your technique," he told her. "Stand sideways, and spread your legs a little."
She raised an eyebrow at him, and he flushed, but she did as he said, trying to hide a smirk. Joey didn't give her the satisfaction of acknowledging it.
"Okay, now you want to hold the bow like this," he said, moving around behind her and lifting her arms into position. "Pull the arrow back like this..." He wrapped his hand around hers. "Slowly line it up with the target." He could practically feel the concentration thrumming through her and realised he'd begun holding his breath, only now becoming aware of how close he'd positioned himself to her. "And release," he whispered, talking to both her and himself.
Together they watched the arrow shoot towards the target, hitting way off centre, but firmly lodged in it, all she was really aiming to do. Lauren squealed, and spun around to face him, barely an inch from his chest and having to tilt her head back to see him.
"It worked!" she cried.
"You did it!" he cried back, beaming. With her this close he wanted to kiss her in celebration, but settled for hugging her instead.
"You're a really great teacher," she said as she finally pulled away.
"Just add it to the long list of things I'm good at," he grinned. She laughed, shoving at his chest.
"Try adding 'being modest' next."
"I'll work on it. Now do another one without me, make sure it wasn't just a fluke."
She did, landing an arrow still within the outer circle, but a little closer to the centre, and she jumped up and down before hugging him again. He wanted to stay and keep watching her practice the skill, but other kids needed his help so he left her to take another shot by herself. He did keep glancing over at her target, glowing with pride when he saw how consistently she was hitting now, and once or twice caught her eye with a smile.
"I can't believe how easy you made it seem," she said to him once they were done and on their way to their lunch break before a costume fitting that afternoon.
"It was all you, babe," he told her.
"Up and coming Olympic champion," she joked.
"I'd be right there cheering you on."
They'd reached the cafeteria, and he put a hand on her back to let her in the doors first, for which she shot him a grateful smile. She ate quickly because she'd been roped into helping with costumes and had to get over to the hall early, and Joey was sad to watch her go even though he'd be joining her before long. But he didn't get much time to dwell on it, because Jackson shortly flung himself into the seat opposite him, a grin on his face telling Joey that this conversation wasn't going to be much fun for him.
