Fowl Play (Tuft Swallow)

60. Kodi

CHAPTER 60

Iwake up with a healthy helping of nerves coursing through my veins on the morning of the championship. Brian stirs beside me as I sit up, reaching up a hand to stroke my turquoise hair as it tumbles across my shoulders.

“How’s my mermaid feeling?”

My stomach flares with heat at his new nickname for me. It takes me back to last night, when we tried some things in this bed that were firsts for both of us.

And I have to admit. It makes me pretty excited to see what other fantasies Brian has in mind for New Kodi moving forward.

But now is not the time for sexy distractions. Now, it’s time to face the music.

“Nervous.”

He sits up and presses a kiss to my shoulder. “No matter what happens, I’m still proud of you.”

“Thanks,” I say. And I mean it. It’s nice to know that even if I fail, I’m not alone. “Let’s get to it.”

Mr. Landon, Geneva, and I are warming up at the Spitz-Shein Sports Complex at quarter-til showtime. Brian and Nick are manning the water station and chatting up any Tuft Swallowers that come up to the sidelines to wish us luck or ask where the rest of the team is.

Lily texted me twenty minutes ago to let me know she was running a little late, but she and Callie would be there soon. I believe her, but that doesn’t stop my heart rate from increasing ten bpm for every minute she still isn’t here.

Come on, Lily.

Across the turf, Zeke smirks at me with his dark, beady eyes. He eyes the countdown clock on the scoreboard pointedly, then taps his wrist. Time’s running out, he mouths at me.

I almost chuck a bean bag right down his handsome throat.

For his part, Brian’s been ignoring his ex completely. I overheard a few nosy Tit Peepers make inquiries about him by the water cooler, which he fielded with grace.

“We dated a while back, but then I found out how much of a jerk he really is.”

I couldn’t help but smile when he said that. We locked eyes, and I felt the words he left unspoken.

“I’ve got someone better now.”

I aim a few more bags at the plastic boards on the sidelines, getting a feel for the slippery surface. It’s not ideal, but it isn’t as bad as I assumed it was based on how badly we did last time. I weigh a beanbag in my hand, trying to tell if it feels light or heavy.

Something feels like it isn’t adding up.

At five minutes to showtime, one of the refs approaches me. I suck in a breath. Lily and Callie still haven’t appeared, and with only three of us playing, there’s no way they’re going to let us compete.

My shoulders sag. It’s too late. Even if Lily and Callie weren’t running late, we still don’t have the seven minimum players to qualify.

The glare from Zeke’s fluorescent teeth travels all the way across the field as he grins wide, following the ref’s path with his eyes.

Don’t let him get to you, Gander. You’re a new woman. You’re not a failure. You’re–

“We’re here, we’re here!”

Callie’s voice rings out into the busy arena, and she waves her arms frantically as she bursts in through the side entrance.

The complex goes quiet as both sides of the stands turn to face her. And then the doors open, and Lily walks inside.

Behind her is the last person I ever thought I’d see.

“Logan?”

The blonde asshole struts into the building, tossing a beanbag casually into the air, flanked by Brad and D’Shawn on either side. “Miss me, Captain?”

Oh jeez.

I didn’t. But at this moment, faced with a slack-jawed ref and a whole team of assholes on the other end of the field who were champing at the bit to see my downfall, even Logan’s smug mug is a welcome sight.

“Get over here, Gilgax.”

I grab him by the shoulder and shove his head down into a noogie as I ruffle his hair.

“Hey!”

“It’s good to see ya, kid.” I let him go, and he narrows his eyes at me.

“Helluva way to show your gratitude!” He smooths his hair with his hands, and I laugh.

“Well, you missed my big apology last night, so that’ll have to do.”

“I don’t think so, Kodi,” D’Shawn pipes up. “Lily said you have something to say to us?”

I lift my head to face the other two guys that came in with Logan and Lily, and my chest clenches. Because it isn’t just the three of them.

The whole team stretches before me. All of them. Even the ones who quit early in the season. They’re all here, looking at me expectantly.

Tears spring to my eyes, and I hear a cough.

“Jeez, Kodi, I think I’ve seen you cry more this summer than I ever thought I would in my life.”

I wipe my eyes. “Sorry, Ginger. I’ll try not to make a habit of it.”

“You better not.”

I glance at Lily, expecting to see her roll her eyes. But instead, she returns the big, goofy grin that I can feel stretching all the way across my face.

Thank you, I mouth to her.

You’re welcome, she mouths back. Then makes a go on motion with her hands.

I turn back towards the waiting team, and take a deep breath.

“I’m sorry I’ve been such a menace all season.”

Looks and noises of surprise spread through the small crowd, and I let out a laugh. “Yeah, yeah, I know. Never thought I’d say it either, but I’ve been a real hard-ass this summer. Y’all didn’t deserve it. As a wise woman once said, this is supposed to be fun. And for the past two months, I’ve sucked just about every bean of fun out of this game.

“But today? Today, I want to make up for all of that. Nick?”

The muscly man jogs up with a cooler full of expensive craft beer, ciders, and canned cocktails that I spent a whole week’s paycheck on this morning at the Plume N’Zoom. He opens the lid, and a few of the players mumble their appreciation.

“Everyone grab a drink! I want to make a toast.” Nick hands me a canned gin and tonic, and everyone else picks their can or bottle of choice. Once the whole team has got their alcohol (and Geneva, her Gatorade), I raise my can to the ceiling. “To the love of the game!”

“To the love of the game!”

“To beating the Spitters!” Lily shouts.

“To heartfelt apologies!” Callie adds.

“To holy shit, this is good beer!”

I laugh, and chug another crisp, refreshing sip myself. “Who are we?”

“The Mighty Swallows!”

“And what do we say?”

“Spitters are quitters!”

And for the first time in…well, forever, I charge the field with the whole team behind me.

At the end of the second round, we’re behind.

The score sits 4-2, and it’s up to me to decide who gets to play the final round. There’s no tie-breaker to decide the end game this time; it’s down to the final three teams, and we all have to win to secure the championship.

I’ve been saving Callie and Lily as my aces in the hole. Cooper and Tammy are also shoe-ins, as they’re probably our best players after them. I also have yet to play, and it’s between Mr. Landon and Logan as to who my partner is going to be.

He’d be my last choice in any other circumstance, but I can’t deny that Logan’s a better shot than Mr. Landon is. I call the seven of us into a huddle.

On the other side of the field, Zeke huddles with five of the Spitz Hollow guys, and I see they’ve also pulled a few boards over to practice their shots in the last remaining minutes before the round. As if that will help.

I kick myself for not thinking of that.

“Okay, guys. This is it. The final round.”

“We know how it works, Kodi.”

Lily elbows Logan in the stomach. His oof is very satisfying.

“Cooper, Tammy, you guys are always good in a pinch. I know you got this.”

Tammy holds up her sunglasses, and I grin. The whole team brought them today, and they’ve been a game changer in helping out with the glare. I find myself, once again, so grateful that I leaned on Callie and Lily to help me fix my mistake. I look toward them next.

“Lily, I want you to team up with–”

“I’ll play with Logan.”

My jaw drops. “Really?”

He smirks at me. “Not everybody thinks I’m that bad, Captain.”

“Oh no, you’re that bad,” Lily counters. “I just know that you and Kodi would be a terrible match. So I’m taking one for the team.”

He rolls his eyes at her, but I shoot her a grateful smile. “Thank you, Lily. Then that leaves me and Callie for the last pair.” I frown at the seventh player in the huddle. “Mr. Landon, I’m sorry, but–”

“No, no, that’s alright,” he says, waving me off. “I wanted to get some fries from the concession stand, anyway.”

We share an understanding smile, and he walks off to the other side of the field to get in line for food. I turn to the rest of the team. “Alright then. This is it. No matter what happens out there, I want you all to know that–”

“Aaarrrgh!”

We all jerk up as a man’s strangled cry echoes across the sports complex. Confusion spreads across the crowd as everyone on the field and off try to locate the source of the noise.

A solid five seconds go by before I spot the screamer. Mr. Landon lay prone on the opposite sideline, and Brian’s rushing over there to check to see if he needs medical attention. As he gets close, he slides a little on the turf, and catches himself by dropping to a knee to the man’s side.

That’s weird.

I look back to the huddle and hold up a hand, letting them know I’ll be right back. Then I jog over to the other side of the field to see if Mr. Landon’s okay.

In the same spot that Brian slipped, I slow down, noticing that the patch of plastic grass around them is slightly shinier than the rest of the turf. It’s a little slippery, too.

“Is he okay?” I ask Brian.

He nods, slowly tilting the man’s wrist back and forth. “He caught himself. Might be a sprain, but it could just be a little sore from the impact.”

“Do you two hear that?”

“Hear what?”

Mr. Landon cups his uninjured hand to his ear as he sits up. “It sounds like something’s hissing…”

Brian and I tilt our heads as we try to listen in, but over the sound of the crowd gearing up for the final round and the Tuftettes dancing across the field, I can’t hear anything like he’s describing.

“What–”

“Shh! Listen!”

And then I hear it. Super faint, like air letting out of a bicycle tire, or someone using a can of spray paint.

I look around to see if maybe the teenage boys from the last game are vandalizing the walls behind the bleachers, when Brian points to the Spitz Hollow huddle behind us. “There!”

I follow his finger, to see that Zeke and his two meathead cronies are huddled over the boards they stole from the field. Zeke’s kneeling over one, and in his hand is a can of…

Is that cooking spray??

“Cheating! Cheating!!” I shout, jumping to my feet so fast I kick Mr. Landon in the shin. He groans under me, and I shoot an apology over my shoulder as I run for a ref. “Sorry, Mr. Landon! Hey! Hey! Spitz Hollow is cheating!”

Zeke and his cronies spin around, and I watch as he slips the cooking spray into a gym bag at his feet. I flag down the ref’s attention, pointing angrily at him.

“Ref! Ref! Number 17 is oiling the boards!”

“What? That’s preposterous,” he drawls in his pompous accent, shoving the gym bag under the team’s bench with his foot. The ref comes over to me, and I rush over to Zeke to reveal our discovery.

“What’s all this about?” The ref asks. I point to the gym bag under the bench, which Zeke immediately steps in front of.

“Zeke’s spraying the boards with cooking oil!”

The ref eyes him up and down. Zeke shakes his head, then looks at me with pity in his eyes.

“Oh, Kodi. You poor, sweet summer child. Letting your jealousy get the better of you, eh?”

Fire ignites in my chest.

Nobody looks at me like that anymore.

“What the hell are you talking about, Zeke?”

“You just can’t handle that your boyfriend and I used to date, can you?”

My mouth opens wordlessly, and the ref’s eyes bounce between us like he’s watching a tennis match. I shake my head. “Ref! The can is in his gym bag. If you look–”

“Gary, I’m so sorry about her. You might remember, she’s the one who couldn’t hold back the redhead that started the fight at the last match versus Tuft Swallow. You see, her boyfriend and I have a history, and–”

“That’s got nothing to do with this!” I shout, wincing at the way my words come out all shrill and screechy. “You’re cheating, and if you’ll just look–”

“Now, Miss Gander. You’ve already been disqualified once this season for disorderly conduct. I suggest you calm down.” The ref nods at me, hands on his hips.

“Calm–calm down??” I sputter, and Zeke’s cheeks crinkle in that shit-eating grin of his over the ref’s shoulder. “He’s cheating–”

“Excuse me,” a calm, deep voice cuts in beside me. Brian steps into the confrontation, and I freeze as he places a hand on Zeke’s shoulder.

Zeke jumps, and his dark eyes trace a line up my boyfriend’s muscled chest and to his face. Time seems to slow down as I watch Brian give him his most heart-melting smile, the one where his sometimes blue-sometimes green eyes go all sparkly and send my head into a tailspin. The look seems to work on Zeke, too, because his eyes widen and his lips part just the slightest bit as Brian’s healy hands make contact with his deltoid.

“B…”

Brian keeps eye contact as Zeke stutters on his name, and then he slowly kneels beside him.

Zeke and I are both speechless as we watch his head lower, down to his chest, then his abdomen, until…

He reaches behind Zeke’s foot into the gym bag, and pulls out the can of cooking spray.

“Here you go, ref. He was spraying it on the boards.”

He straightens, tossing the can to the referee and walking to my side without giving Zeke a backwards glance.

The ref’s eyes widen, and he blows the whistle. The sound is shrill and piercing and super close to my ear, but it doesn’t even phase me. Because Brian’s looking straight into my eyes, and I’m melting in the teal ocean of his gaze.

“Spitz Hollow is disqualified—unauthorized ingredients on the field! Automatic forfeit to Tuft Swallow. Mighty Swallows win the Championship!”

I know the words are important, but they all kinda blur into the background as I look into my partner’s eyes. He stood up for me. He saved the day.

We both did.

A smile tilts his lips, stretching his scruffy cheeks in a truly delectable expression. As the complex erupts into a swell of jeers and jubilation, he sweeps me into his arms and nods to the scoreboard.

“Looks like you’re a champion,” he says.

I kiss him.

In the swirl of my periphery, I hear the team all circle around us, cheering and hollering and drinking and carrying on like we’re bringing home the Stanley Cup instead of just defending a title we’ve had for the past fifty-four years. Or fifty-five now, I suppose. Hands clap my back, voices scream my name, Lily and Callie cry tears of joy and Winston the Goat baaaaahs in triumph as he accepts the gold medal as our town mayor.

And through it all, I kiss Brian. Again and again, over and over, until I get tired of it. And then I kiss him some more.

Because I never get tired of it. And deep down, I don’t think I ever will.