Sunkissed Serendipity

Chapter 9

Julian

I've been proven wrong when I let Isla play the way she always does with me. The way I missed several balls in a row and ended up stumbling over my own two feet was very humbling. By the end of the game, I'm evidently sweating, and my hair is damp. I'm in desperate need of a shower.

As Isla wraps up the game by spiking the ball on me, she cheers trimpunalh with a hand fisted in the air. She looks carefree, and there was no doubt that this game had made her feel better. The energy she radiates on the court is unmatched, and I don't think I've ever felt that way before.

I groan at the thought of having to lose another round. "No more," I say out loud with a hand in the air in surrender.

"Really?" Isla shouts back to me with a laugh in her voice. "Are you sure you don't want to play me one more time? I thought you said you could handle it."

I don't even try to defend myself, as I say, "Well, I stand corrected."

"Hm," Isla says, moving to my side of the net and standing in front of me. "You sure do."

I roll my eyes when, in reality, I want to laugh at my dismay. She gives me a large grin as she goes down to pick up the ball. She places it under her arm and then looks toward me. "Well, let's get on to the house, loser."

I chuckle as she reaches out and grabs a wrist of mine. My body threatens to light up from her touch, but I swallow and force it to move on. She was friendly with me, and I didn't need to feel flushed and awkward around her. As she pulls me into the house, I take my arm away from her and say, "Well, I'm all sweaty and gross. I'm going to go shower. Afterward, I can make us some dinner."

She gives a thumbs up as she moves in the direction of her room. I head up the stairs and to my own room. Once I'm there, I immediately pull out the things I need for my shower and get into the bathroom.

Once I'm down and head down to the kitchen, Isla is already sitting at the counter. She looks over at me as I walk in and says, "You took very long."

"Hm," I answer her, not knowing if I should add that when I was just about to hop into the shower, my mom had called me, and the phone call had taken longer than I had expected. I knew that when I finally got home, there would be a lot of things I needed to sort out.

Isla tilts her head to the side, her eyes watching me with a mischievous look. "What? Don't tell me you took a very nice bath."

My smile comes onto my face unconsciously, and I wipe it off with a hand. I walk over to the stove area and say, "I enjoy a good bath."

Isla snorts from behind me, and I stiffle a little laugh as I look to see what I can make for dinner tonight. After looking through the fridge and the pantry, I find that there is a last bit of rice and salmon. I decide that would work for me and take it over to the stove area. While I'm cutting up the salmon, I glance back at Isla and ask, "Do you like salmon?"

I watch as she wrinkles her nose up at my question, and before she can respond, I say, "That's fine. There's left-over chicken from lunch that you can eat with your rice."

"Thank you," she says, heading over to the fridge to probably find it. I shrug as I say, "But you know, salmon is really good, so you are missing out."

She gives me an impassive look and then shakes her head; whatever she was deciding now gone. "I mean, I eat it whenever it's necessary to, but I don't prefer it."

"Maybe you haven't tried good ones," I say nonchalantly as I finish cutting off the salmon and bringing out seasoning to coat it in.

Isla laughs from behind me, the sound closer than I had expected, and I glance back to find that she is closer to me than I had realized. She hits my arm with her hand, a move I have come to expect from her, whether she does it in a joking manner or not, and says, "Yeah. And you're a really humble one."