Tough Love - Chris Sturniolo

Winning

Chris

What Anastasia didn't realize about me was I was hustling. I'd been intentionally letting her keep the ball, gearing up to make this bet. Easy win.

What I didn't realize about Anastasia was how much of a competitor she was. Seeing the spark in her eye when I challenged her set yet another fire in me, which she did to me over and over without even trying. She clearly loved to win, but so did I, and she was about to find out how much.

She spun around with the ball and I crowded her, ignoring her pretty ponytail as I chased her and it brushed my chest. I tried faking left, I tried reaching my foot between her cleats to roll it back, I tried getting in front of her, but I'd underestimated how skilled she was. She knew how to move and fuck, if I weren't losing this bet, it would be 10x more of a turn on.

I could feel my time running out and as I started to circle her, she swung the ball to the left, ran around my right, and snagged it back in an instant. She was wind on her feet, and when the sound of my phone alarm went off, her breeze carried my plans away.

"WOOO," she exclaimed, pointing at me. Stopping the ball, she threw her arms in the air in celebration. But more than that, she laughed. Sure, she was laughing at kicking my ass, but fuck me if it wasn't the most gorgeous thing I'd seen in ages.

"Fuuuuck," I exhaled, putting my hands on my waist and looking up to the sky.

"Sorry, babe," she giggled, approaching me. "You lost!" My eyes flicked down to hers as she called me babe, and I felt my blood pulse just a little harder at the playful look in her eye. Not to mention her panting chest under that pink sports bra.

"I thought that meant we couldn't flirt anymore, babe," I mocked on a smile.

"Oh I can flirt all I want, it's you who has to be good," she smiled back. She was truly enjoying this, and as much as I hated losing, I somehow felt like I'd won something. In all the interactions we'd had so far, I hadn't seen her smile or laugh yet. It made me nervous for a moment, but I pushed that down.

"Alright, you won," I reached out my hand to congratulate her, and shaking it, I looked her in the eye. "No more shameless flirting," I conceded in a pretend sad voice.

"To be honest, I expected you to resist. Like offer a rematch or something," she replied. I realized then she might not think that highly of me.

"No, I play fair," I stated plainly.

"Hmm," was all she replied, playing around with the ball at her feet.

"We're going back to the apartment now, Ella's there," I blurted out. I knew our little game was over, but I didn't want to say bye yet. "You should come. Nick ordered food."

She wasn't that much shorter than me, but she looked up at me with something in her eye, like she just didn't trust me.

"What did he order?"

I laughed lightly at her question. This girl challenged everything.

"I dunno, but I'm sure it's good," I replied. "Just come, hang out with us," I encouraged her genuinely. She thought on it for a moment.

"Yeah, alright," she nodded, flicking the ball up from her feet into her hands. "I'll come."
God I wanted to make a dirty joke.

"Good, grab your stuff," I said, smiling, and started heading back to the boys on the other side of the field.

Like I said, even though I lost, I still felt like I'd won something.