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Chapter 37

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"What about you?" I ask as the bottle leaves his lips.

"I'm studying journalism."

I nod. "Do you play football for the college?" I ask as I point to his sweatshirt.

"Yeah. I'm a tackle."

"Oh, nice. I've heard that Towson football is doing a lot better this season."

"Yeah we sure are. The department got some common sense and fired the dingus we had calling the plays last year."

"Are you a sophomore?"

"Yes, well no. After today I have now become a junior." He says with a smile. "How about you?"

"I'm a freshman."

"Going into sophomore year?" He questions. I try and think about how college works.

"Well that would be the case, but I had to drop one of my classes so I'm technically still a freshman."

"Ugh. That's the worst!"

"You're telling me!" I raise the bottle to my lips to celebrate the successful lie.

"Do you play any sports for UM?"

"No. I only play volleyball in a college club."

"That's awesome. Are you any good?"

"Hmm. Depends on what your definition of good is." We both laugh.

"I see you got a ball. Want to play?"

"Only if you're not afraid of losing." I say sarcastically with a smile. He stands up and grabs the ball from the sand in front of my chair. I follow his lead and follow him away from the crackling fire. He tosses me the ball and I catch it while taking a few steps back.

"Ready?" I ask as I bend down to serve the ball.

"As ready as I'll ever be." His football built body looks funny as he tries to stand as a volleyball player would. I bend down and quickly straighten back up to propel the ball into the air. As the ball begins to come back down I hit it with as much force as I can. The black and white volleyball goes gliding through the air as he puts his hands together and swings hitting the ball towards the waves. I laugh slightly as he looks at me before laughing himself. He walks down and grabs the wet ball from a returning wave. He throws the ball in my direction and trying to impress him I dive into the soft sand to propel the ball back into his direction. He catches the ball and starts to walk towards me. I stand up with my nearly bare body covered in sand. "At least tell me I'm not the worst volleyball player you've ever seen." He says.

"Don't worry. I've seen worse." I smile.

"Now when it comes to football I could beat you in my sleep."

"What makes you so sure I'm not secretly a football player during the winter?" I laugh.

"Ooh. Hmm. I guess I should be scared." He says smiling as he turns around and walks a few feet back in the sand. I look down and start to wipe the sand off of my bare stomach. "You ready?" He asks brining my attention away from the sand. Before I can ask him about what I should be ready for he starts running towards me. If he isn't joking around I am a dead woman. As he reaches me he puts his arm around my waist and picks me up off the sand with ease. I scream and start to laugh as he playfully dodges invisible football players on the field. He then stops and raises his other hand in the air and yells touchdown causing the people around the fire to glance over. He gently places me onto the sand and looks down at me laughing. He holds out his hand and I grab it brining me back to my feet.

He grabs the volleyball from the sand and we start to walk back towards the fire. "How long are you down here for?" He asked as he looked over at me.

"I'm only here until Sunday evening."

"Oh. I was going to say that we should meet up again sometime before you leave." I continue to walk silently unsure how to reply to his statement. "I guess I can't wait the socially acceptable three days before calling you." He says smiling.

"Who says I'm going to give you my number?" I say laughing.

"Oh come on... From that football stance I'm sure no one else is teaching you football correctly." I laugh at his statement and put my hand out waiting for his phone. I have purposely avoided my phone since this morning hoping to not think about the life I would have to return to on Monday morning. I feel the cell phone touch the palm of my hand. I take it and put my information into the already displaying contacts page. I hand him his phone back as we reach our chairs. I grab the bottle from the cup holder and take another sip making the bottle almost empty.

As the night continues, Alyssa and I end up adding each person to our Snapchats and begin snapping as we all stand up dancing to the radio Crew pulled from the back of his truck. By the time all of our snap stories are overly posted, I was half way through my second bottle. The effects of the alcohol was beginning to buzz in my head as it started to become a little harder to focus on things. Alyssa and everyone else in the group had drank at least double me and were certainly acting like it.