Cowboy Casanova

22

The group of us stood in the classroom, waiting for my dad to arrive. All of us were still in our civies, upon dad's orders. For me this meant, a black cropped tank top and shorts because of how hot it is. Most of the time, the humidity was the worst part because it could be a nice 75 degrees but the humidity is at 90% which makes it feel like the hottest place on Earth. Javy and Jake walked in at the same time, wearing a pair of jeans and a white tee. We made eye contact, holding it for a second, before we both looked away. There was so much that I wanted to say to him, but I didn't know what to say. Dad walked in soon after, wearing jeans and a black t-shirt, his classic bomber jacket on top. I wasn't sure how he could wear that in this heat. Seemed insufferable. In his hands, he held two footballs: a red one and a blue one. I smiled. Dogfight football. It's a game that my dad had invented and I used to watch my dad play it as a kid with some of the other aviators. "Today we're going to be doing a team-building exercise. We will split you up into two teams to play a game I like to call dogfight football. Hondo and I will demonstrate how to play at the beach by the Hard Deck. Go change and meet at the beach. You're dismissed." I looked over at Bradley and Natasha and the three of us rushed out of there to race to the beach. Nat rode with Bradley and I smiled. I was hoping that they might rekindle their romance.

Once everyone made it to the beach, shirts were off and jeans were rolled up. I had taken off my top, a sports bra underneath but I left my shorts on. I threw my hair up into a ponytail, catching Hangman looking in my direction. He was shirtless too and it was taking everything in me not to stare at him. As much fun as dogfight football looked, I really wanted to jump into the ocean. Dad explained the rules of the game. There were two balls and we had to defend our side of the beach while also helping our teammates score on the opponent's side. It reminded me a little of flag football. Dad picked team leaders and they picked their teams. On one team there was Mickey, Nat, Hangman, Halo, Yale, and Fritz. Our team was Bradley, me, Coyote, dad, Harvard, Omaha, and Bob. Hondo was the ref. Bradley and I gave each other a high five, before he looked over at Nat. "You're going down." He mouthed to her, sending her a wink. The two teams huddled up, discussing their strategies. As much as I loved this game, I had no idea how to play football. My strategy was to get Bradley to throw me the ball and run as fast as I can towards the opposite end. I grabbed a pair of sunglasses from my back pocket and slid them up my nose. The whistle blew and the game was off.

A few plays in and the teams were tied. Bradley had pulled me to the side and told me to go long. Hangman stood right in front of me, giving him the perfect view of my cleavage before the whistle blew. His eyes lingered on my chest before I broke off into a sprint, running past him. I waved my arms in the air to Bradley, as he threw the ball. To my own surprise, I caught it and ran as fast as I could to the end zone. I threw my arms up in the air. "That's how you do it." Hangman, who had run as fast as he could to catch up with me, shook his head.

"That was mean." I winked at him.

"Not my fault you're easily distracted." I went to walk back to my side but Hangman picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder as he ran me back to my side. I laughed, hitting his back to make him put me down. When he set me down, he winked at me. In the next play, dad got knocked to the ground by Hangman. I was walking over to help him up when Bradley reached his arm out. I stopped in my tracks, watching the two men slowly mend their broken bridges. The dad called it quits, going to sit on the sidelines. I saw him give a little wave to Penny, who waved back and my smile grew. Eventually it was a tied game again. The whistle sounded and I ran so Bradley could throw it to me. But Hangman had other plans. He ran over to me and blocked the shot. He towered over me, which easily destroyed my chances of getting the ball. I huffed, shaking my head as I struggled to find a way around him. I jumped onto his back and tried to get into a good position. I look up, watching Bradley throw the ball. Both Hangman and I freeze, not sure where the ball is going. Both of our eyes followed the ball and it landed in the arms of Bob who had a surprised look on his face. "RUN!" Bradley and I yelled at him, laughing. Payback ran after Bob but he had scored a touchdown. I threw my arms up and cheered, sliding off of Jake's back, bragging about the win in his face. We all gathered around Bob as he got lifted onto Bradley's shoulders and we chanted his name.