Match

53: I Want To Kiss You

Excitement builds with every sweep he makes to brush leaves in a large pile on a deck. Tonight he's returning to the field to practice with Cole. Charlotte passes by him, noticing the smile on his cheek.

"You're in a great mood."

Jonah stops for a moment, then leans on the handle of the broom. "Hell yeah I am."

She snorts. "What's the occasion?"

"I'm getting back to playing on the field!"

"Oh? Ah, 'cause your knee's better."

He feels himself freeze for a second, but melts with another confident smirk. "Exactly."

Just like that, they continue working away. Jonah maneuvers around some potted plants, gathering leaves and pine needles before grabbing a garbage bag. He hears the door slide open and turns to see Carol emerging.

"Charlotte can you help me for a sec?"

She stops scrubbing a table. "Sure! Jonah, you're captain of the deck for now." She jokes with a wink.

"No problem," he slides on some gloves to pick up the dried brush.

As he shoves the leaves in the bag, he takes note of the sunlight inching closer to where it's shady. He's only been outside for ten minutes, but it's already gotten sweltering hot in the morning. He thinks back on his dad watching the news earlier, where the anchorman warned of an incoming heat wave for a week. Now he just hopes the temperature will drop enough to manage soccer practice.

———————————

Jonah's eyes fixate to the burnt section, still masked with tape and patches of brown. It still baffles him how much of the field is damaged. He crossed out another name, and now his detective work is running a cold case. Suddenly, a car pulls into the lot. His eyes catch Cole in the driver's seat.

He turns around to act busy by grabbing the soccer ball and bouncing it off his right knee. The sun is high and burning the air. Already he wants to grab his water bottle and down a gulp. So he does just that.

Cole plopping his bag by Jonah's startles him out of his distracted daze. He raises an eyebrow at him, who's trying to hide it by taking a gulp of water.

"So you're a free man," he says with a raised brow.

"Hm?" He twists the cap back on and tosses it onto his bag. "Oh, yeah! Feels nice to be back on the field."

He nods, kneeling down to fix his socks. Jonah twirls the ball on his index finger, spinning it with his other hand.

"Aren't you gonna ask Indiana Jones here how he got away unscathed?"

"Uh," he stops for a moment. "You kinda told me the whole thing last night."

Jonah holds the ball to stop it. "Oh yeah."

His eyes travel to the gate with a smile. "You really blew up my phone with all those texts. It would've been easier to just call me."

"Right," he scratches the back of his head while wearing a sheepish grin. "My bad!"

"Nah, it's cool. Just a suggestion. Anyway," he stands up, eyes fixed to the lush green. "Uh, practice, yeah?"

"Yup!" He drops the ball to his feet, it landing in a loud thud. "You said you wanted to work on your shots?"

"Yeah," Cole rubs his arm. "Uh, one of my teammates who's the main striker hasn't been around, so I've been uh, trying to pitch in."

"Uh huh."