A Bump Into Love || Matt Sturniolo

Chapter 7- We did it!

Olivia's POV

The time after Rylee's birthday party seemed to move so fast. We were packing that night and we left the next morning. It was about a 2 day drive with a few stops, but we kept ourselves pretty well entertained.
Now time seems to slow down.

Matt was pointing at me. He was calling me on stage.

I pointed to myself in disbelief 'me?'
He nodded and called me on stage.
I looked at Rylee. She was freaking out. "You gotta go up!" She said, shaking my shoulders
"You don't mind?" I asked
Her jaw dropped "Are you kidding? This is huge!"
Just then security came up to me. Ushering me on stage. I smiled back at Rylee as I made it on stage.

Matt walked over to me.
"Hey." I said, trying to keep cool.
"Hey." He said smiling, "I was wondering if I was gonna see you again."

I blushed. I couldn't help it. He didn't seem to notice and he led me over to his brothers and their partners. The butterflies from the mall had fluttered back into my stomach as he did so.

"Okay," Nick said "Let's introduce our teammates! Each teammate will get the mic, introduce themselves and tell us one fact you want the crowd to know about yourself. "

He passed the mic to his teammate.
"Hello, I'm Haylee." She said nervously, "And I have been a fan for 2 years."
Nick cheered into the mic and the crowd erupted in claps and cheers.

"We're next!" Chris said, handing the mic to his partner.
She took it from him confidently. "Hey, I'm Lily and I really like pizza? I don't know." She laughed and handed the mic back to Chris.

Now it was time for Matt and I. He handed me the mic and I took it from him slowly, thinking about what I should say. Then it came to me.
"Hi guys." I said softly into the mic. "I'm Olivia, and..."
I looked at Matt "I'm very clumsy."
He laughed as I handed him back the mic.

Seeing his laugh in real life is even better than on a screen.

"Okay!" Chris said "Let's start the games!"

It took a minute but we set up the canvas for the art challenge.

"Okay," Matt said, "This challenge is called: 5 minute portrait, and it is exactly how it sounds."

"Wow way to be descriptive Matt." Chris said. His partner laughed with him.

"I'll explain it." Nick said "Basically Matt is right, it is exactly how it sounds. Each teammate will receive a canvas and paint, and will have to paint the triplet that they are paired with."

Matt rolled his eyes and looked at me, "That is exactly what I said."
"Yep." I laughed, "But just letting you know...I'm not very good at art."
"That's alright. He said touching my arm supportively "Just do your best."

Matt had a way of making me feel better. Now, I am motivated to win.

I smiled at Matt and walked up to my canvas. There was a picture of Matt glued to the top right, that I had to recreate. It looked difficult. I hope I can recreate it. I grabbed a thin paintbrush and just started winging it. It started out a bit rough but by the end, I thought it looked pretty good.

Matt walked over. "Looks great!" he said, high fiving me. He studied the painting "Looks just like me."
We smiled at each other.
"Thanks" I said

A backstage member came around for judging. They did this so it would be fair and unbiased. When he was done, Nick put the score on the board.
I got second, right behind Chris' teammate Lily, then Nick's teammate Haylee in third.
Next was basketball.

This should be fun. Matt and I get to play this one together.

Luckily we had time to observe because we were shooting last.
Nick and his teammate got 4 out of 6 in the net and Chris and his teammate got 5 out of 6 in. When Chris was done shooting he smirked at Matt.

Matt seems to be a bit annoyed at Chris' score. It's almost like winning this game is really important to him.

"We got this." I said to Matt
He smiled, "Yeah."
Matt took a deep breath and walked up to the shooting line. He shot each ball to the net. 1...2...3 in! He walked back jumping up and down in excitement.

I was nervous, I didn't want to mess this up for him. He noticed and reassured me.
"You got this. Just aim your hands at where you want the ball to go."
I took a breath and walked up to the line. I did as Matt said. 1...2...3 in! I jumped up in the air in celebration and ran back to Matt.
When I got there he put his hands out for fist bumps. "We did it!" he said
I fist bumped him. "Yeah we did."
Matt and I looked at Chris, he looked very mad.

I guess winning this game was super important to him too.

"Now," Nick said "Don't get too excited. There is still one more game!"
"Jenga!" Chris yelled

We set up for Jenga and when it was set up, the game started. We went in a circle, each pulling out one block at a time per teammate. We went for about 5 minutes before something weird happened. I pulled out a block that had a question mark on it. I showed it to Matt.

He took it from me and showed nick. "What is this?"
"oh!" Nick said excitedly "Looks like you have found the change it up block!"
"The what?" Chris asked
"Well, I hid that there." He smiled "Whoever pulled that out, has to now pull out two blocks, at the same time on their next turn.

I looked at Matt, terrified. "How am I supposed to do that?" I asked
He shrugged. "I guess it's over for us."
I frowned and awaited my fate.
Matt pulled out his block.

This is it. At this point there is only one place that I can take out two blocks at a time. The bottom. Every other layer of the tower was one on top of the other. Impossible to get out.

"Okay," Nick said "If Olivia could successfully get these blocks out, she and Matt would win. But if she failed, she would let Matt and the rest of team Sharks down and Chris and his teammate would win. So, no pressure."

I laughed nervously and looked at Matt. He gave me a thumbs up. I turned to the tower and placed my hands on the two bottom blocks.

I closed my eyes and pulled. I waited a second, expecting to hear the crash of blocks. Instead it was the sound of cheers and claps.I opened my eyes. The tower was still up!
I looked around in disbelief.

Was this real? Did I really do it?

Matt ran over to me. Pulling me into a big hug. "We did it!"