Handcuffed Rivals

30

What would you call a mess?

Arms linked tightly around each others wrists, yelling from each corner of my ears, Kings pulling me along because I can surely run as fast as him and his nondescriptable comptetitive side. I was exhausted, okay? And none of the boys made it easier for me, none wanted to quit and none wanted to admit defeat over a one point break.

„It's a tie." Jared fixed his sweaty lock that kept falling over his eyes, dripping wet and when being pulled over, it again bounced at the same spot. „It's not! We won!" Matthew defended himself or Anthony as well? I didn't know. At this point I didn't know if we were in teams or seperate, or was it just Jared that we all played against? Because frankly, I barely remember seeing Anthony to begin with.

Dad fell asleep on the chair in his perfectly shaded place, away from the sun with a beer in his hand, a little slobber coming out at the corners of his mouth. We all looked at him but realised that we indeed haven't heard a whistle in a long time. Ah, Dad, always the first one to jump up on the contest day and fell asleep the second we start.

„Who plays with who?" all heads turned to me and I should've been ashamed but I wasn't. I mean, do I know how to play football? Hardly, I just act like I know and, in fact, this is a faked one, one without rules, I can do whatever.

Jared groaned „It's you against the us!"

King and I exchanged a weirdly, uncoordinated, confusedly put glance and narrowed our eyebrows until King voiced out what we were both thinking „Wasn't it us two with each one of you?"

Anthony rubbed his head to take the dirt out of it and interrupted the fiasco „I thought we all played against Jared!"

Jared went crazy „What? Why would you think that?" I laughed at his horrified face „Is that why you kept pushing me around? I thought you were doing a camuflage so King wouldn't get the ball."

I laughed even harder, holding one of my hands near my stomach to stop the pain that I felt all around it, some from laughter, some from being pushed around like a doll „This is priceless!"

King looked down at me and then back at the boys again „Call it a tie? I'm kinda hungry and stinky." I agreeded immediately, just as the twins nodded and Jared cried in the back to give him a revanche.

„Nooo Jared, don't be a sore loser. Come on! Let's go eat!" I yelled after him, turning my head around to catch his sad expression „But I didn't loose!"

„Yet! So come on, let's draw on Dads unexisting beard and laugh it off the whole night." Jared took it pretty well after that, surprisingly. We did end up drawing a few pointers at Dads face while he snored in ours, having a laugh or two, just Jared and King and I. the twins faught for the shower and we munched on Aunts cookies, finally having a bite after a few days. All the game and drawing sure softered Jared a bit to me, at least cookies wise.

King and I excused ourselves from my mothers questions on where dad went and why are we all smiling, especially Jared who was expected to be crying by now. Poor guy, he never gets a break.

„You let him get to a tie, didn't you?" I sorta felt like his whole show today didn't reach his full potential. I can be wrong, I guess because I don't really know how he usually plays, but something told me he was way better then those few strides we made together.

„We're chained, of course we didn't run like usual." He didn't look at me, just carried on to the bathroom, giving me just his sweaty t-shirt, or was it Jareds again? He'll kill us once he opens that cabinet of his.

„I don't believe you." That made him slightly turn around, just for a second then back at the sink to wash his hands. He stayed silent as I continued „You wanted him to win didn't you?"