Chapter Seven #2
“And finally, our libero for the evening, number 5, Maki Quinn!”
Maki waves at the camera before looking up in our section. He holds his hand up for us before going to his teammates and giving them all high fives. I clap and whistle, hoping that he can hear me.
“Our head coach is Freda Heights and assisting him is Kasey Konnor!”
The three of us sit down, watching as everyone gets onto the court. Across from us is the bench and off to the side of both benches is a square on the ground where some of the players stand. Maki is one of the players in the box.
A ref goes through, writing down everyone’s numbers before going to stand next to the net between the benches. Once he gives a nod, Maki goes into the court while Amour goes into the box.
“I have no fucking idea why he just went in like that,” I say, taking a drink of my beer. “Volleyball rules are weird.”
“Liberos have special rules. They can go in and out at will, usually taking the place of a middle blocker who’s in the back row,” Kei says and I turn towards him, my mouth dropping open.
“What the fuck?”
“Don’t look at me like that. You’ll catch flies if you keep your mouth open like that.”
“How the fuck do you know that?”
“I watched a video before coming,” he says, rolling his eyes.
“Right. Of course. That makes total sense.”
“Shhh,” Rodney says from my other side. “The first serve is about to happen!”
The away team is serving first. I watch, my stomach filled with excited nerves, as the guy bounces the ball a few times. Once the whistle is blown, he tosses it up into the air, takes off running and then leaps. I suck in a sharp breath at the crack his palm makes against the ball.
“Holy shit,” I murmur, his eyes wide. There’s no way someone could actually hit that! It’s way too fast.
I was so wrong. Maki receives the ball. The sound of it hitting his arms is so loud that I can hear it even over the crowd.
It bounces up into the air where Oli, their setter, is ready for it.
He sets the ball, just barely above the net where one of their spikers, I think his name was Ivan, is already up in the air and waiting for him.
How did Ivan know he was going to do such a short, quick set?
It’s like the two of them have some sort of telepathic link!
The ball hits the ground on the other side of the court, their players unable to get there in time after such a quick set.
The crowd goes wild and I cheer along with them, letting out a long whistle for Maki and the rest of his team.
“Look at you getting into it,” Rodney says with a chuckle. “We’ll make a sportsman out of you yet.”
“You act like all I do is sit in my room on my computer. I’m capable of learning new things!”
“Hey, Rin?” Kei asks. “If you were athletic, what sport do you think you’d play?”
“If I was athletic?” I screech, shoving at my friend’s shoulder. “What the hell is that supposed to mean! I work out!”
“I asked what I asked.”
“Quit ragebaiting him,” Rodney says, doing his best to hold back his chuckles but failing.
“I hate you both.”
The game progresses. As they rotate, whenever Maki would normally go into the front row, he runs out, switching between the middle blockers, Amour and Kurstin. Amour stays in the back row in order to serve, having a nasty jump serve. When his serving is done, Maki goes back in.
They win the first set 25 to 20. Then the teams switch sides.
“Oh,” Rodney says with excitement, seeing a vendor walking through the stands. “Right here! Yes please!”
We each buy a hotdog. I look at Kei, waggling my eyebrows at him while shoving half the hotdog into my mouth. Just then, people around the arena start cheering.
I look up at the big screen, my face turning bright red to see my own face, my cheeks puffed up, half the hotdog still hanging out of my mouth. Below my face, there’s writing, indicating that the ‘famous local streamer Blue attends match’.
Kill me. Literally kill me. Someone. Anyone.
Great. Just fucking great. Chat is going to absolutely roast my ass when they see this.
I do my best to swallow and wave at the camera, throwing out a peace sign for good measure. Thankfully, the camera quickly moves on to other parts of the crowd.
“Oh my gods,” Rodney says, unable to keep it in anymore. He laughs so loud that I’m sure the players down on the court can hear him. He sounds like a rabid hyena. “I cannot believe that just happened. If God is real, he made that happen for me and me alone.”
Kei laughs as well, throwing his head back and everything, the dramatic fucker. “Fuck, that was so good. Volleyball is my new favorite sport.”
“I hate you both,” I murmur, sinking deeper into my seat.
The second set is a lot closer, the away team finding their groove. When they hit 25 to 24, I look around in confusion.
“Didn’t we win?”
Kei shakes his head. “You have to win by two. We need one more point to take this one.”
“I hate that you know this,” I say with a pout.
“You love me.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
I start biting my finger, watching as Amour serves. His jump serve is incredible and the big screen lets us know, it was sixty-three miles per hour. Jesus, I would not want to try hitting that!
The other team manages to hit it up but it’s not a very good pass. The setter has to run out of bounds to get it up to his spiker. The spiker hits it but our blockers are able to get a hand on it, tipping it up into the air.
Fuck. Maki isn’t even out on the floor but I find myself completely enthralled. I can’t look away. I don’t want to miss a single action that the ball is taking.
Our setter jumps up. His form looks perfect, just like his face. Just before he sets the ball to Bo, he instead knocks it over the net.
“That’s called a setter dump,” Kei says, the crowd going absolutely ballistic. People are screaming and clapping. I find myself up on my feet as well, overwhelmed by how excited I am that we just won another set in the match.
“That was so fucking awesome! It felt so sneaky but in the coolest way,” I say excitedly as I sit down.
Despite just winning, it looks like Bo is pouting because he didn’t get to hit a spike at the end. It’s weirdly endearing.
“If we win the next one, that’s the match,” Kei tells us.
“That’s so exciting! Winning all three sets in a row!”
Rodney nods his head. Then he suddenly looks a lot more excited. “Look! The Ninja mascot is walking up here!”
“Do you think we can get a picture?”
Rodney and I excitedly wave him over, hoping he won’t mind taking a picture with us.
“Mister Ninja, it’s an honor to meet you,” I say, giving him a slight bow. I can hear the person inside chuckle.
“I’m not supposed to talk but I just wanted to let you guys know I’m a big fan of you three.”
“Really? That’s awesome! Would it be okay if we got a picture today?”
The Ninja goes back to his mascot job, jumping up and down excitedly and nodding his head. Rodney and I get on either side of him, wrapping our arms around his back while Kei takes our picture.
“Thank you so much,” Rodney says with a grin. “It was really awesome to meet you!”
The crowd starts to cheer again and I glance up, seeing that we’re once again being featured. The three of us crowd around the Ninja, waving at the camera. Even Kei gives the tiniest smile though immediately after, he rolls his eyes and looks away.
Mister Ninja, who really, I should probably have asked for his name so I could know who he is in chat, runs into the aisle and does a cartwheel. We all cheer him on as he moves through the stands, saying hi and stopping to take pictures with kids.
The next set happens and even though we lose this one, Maki pulls off an amazing play.
The ball goes off Daniel’s arms, flying backwards from a powerful serve.
The play isn’t over until the ball hits the floor and Maki, with his amazing armspan and speed, somehow manages to fling himself across the floor and get an arm under the ball.
It sails up high enough for Bo to get under it and send it back over.
The entire team works so well together. Any time there’s a mess up, they all crowd around the person, slapping their back and telling them to focus on the next point. It’s incredible to watch.
Maki’s somehow made me into a volleyball fan. I can see myself getting addicted to this excitement, to following this team. I want to learn everything there is to know about the sport so that I can better understand it and better encourage Maki.
Maki and I have been on one date, but already, I can see this blooming into something really special. I really, really like him. Maybe he is ‘my man’. I should talk to him about that tonight, after the game. I can ask him to officially be my boyfriend.
During the fourth game, we get to see Sullivan come into the game.
He’s a pinch server with braces who smiles at his teammates through a mouthguard.
Kei explains he’s known for his jump floaters which means when he hits the ball, it comes slower, floating around in the air before landing.
They’re really difficult to receive because you never know how it’s going to hit your arms.
Sullivan holds the ball in his hands, spinning it around before the whistle blows.
He does an approach, tossing the ball into the air.
When he jumps up, it’s more reserved than some of the other servers.
He connects with the ball and from this angle, I can see it wiggle and wobble through the air. It’s incredible!
The Scouts aren’t able to connect to it properly, giving us a point.
“That’s called a service ace,” Kei says, pointing up at the big screen. “Sullivan has gotten 67 service aces this season so far.”
“Wow,” I breathe out. “That’s really incredible. Isn’t the season only halfway through?”
“Yeah. His floaters are some of the best in the league.”
Sullivan gets two more aces before they’re able to finally return the ball.
I giggle to myself as the screen shows a giant 69 next to Sullivan’s name.
A few of the players seem to notice it as well, teasing Sullivan down on the court.
His cheeks are bright red when he’s finally subbed back out when it’s the Scouts’ turn to serve again.
This game feels like it’s going on forever. Somehow, the score is 31-30 with us one point away from winning. Oli and Kursten jump up for a block but the spiker on the other team hits it lightly right over their arms.
“Shit,” Kei hisses out.
Somehow, Maki dives forward, just barely able to get his arms under the ball but he hits it too hard.
The ball sails up into the air, back over Kurstin and Oli.
The spiker jumps back up, slamming the ball down again.
Maki has to twist himself to the side in order to make contact but somehow he manages.
“Fuck,” I say, watching with wide eyes as the ball sails up into the perfect range for the spiker again.
Thankfully, this time, Kurstin is able to get a hand on the spike. The bad thing is it hits the side of his hand. It looks like it’s going to hit out of bounds over by the benches.
Maki is moving so quickly I barely notice him until he’s there, sliding across the floor, feet first. His foot makes contact, hitting it back up into the air towards his team. There’s no fucking way he’s getting back on the court in time for another receive.
Oli somehow manages to underhand the ball across the court to a very excited Bo. Bo jumps up and hits the ball past three blockers. When the ball hits the floor, it bounces back up so high it lands up in the stands afterwards.
The crowd is silent for a moment before all hell breaks loose.
“Jesus Christ,” Kei murmurs.
“Yeah,” I say back with a nod.
“Listen,” Rodney says softly. “I know he’s your man but I think that was probably the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. I’m half hard in my pants right now from watching him.”
I gasp out, shoving at my best friend. “Hey! He’s my boyfriend!”
Kei smirks. “Oh yeah?”
“Fuck,” I say, covering my mouth, my eyes wide. “I didn’t mean to say that.”
“You’re so cute when you’re being all jealous and possessive,” Rodney says, cooing at me.
“I’m not being jealous and possessive,” I say but my voice sounds flat even to my own ears.
Who am I kidding? Of course I’m being jealous and possessive.
Can I really be blamed though? I like Maki.
I like him a lot and seeing him participate in the thing he’s so passionate about? Seeing him being so fucking good at it?
Yeah. I want him. I want him to be mine.
I’m gonna do everything I can to make him mine.
“You gonna do anything about it?” Kei asks, raising a brow at me.
I let out a long breath. “Yeah. I think I am.”
“Good,” is all he says back as we sit down and wait. The teams shake hands and then have interviews. After that, Maki says the team always shower and get dressed before going out to dinner.
“I’m kinda nervous. What if his team thinks I’m lame?”
“You are lame,” Kei says with a shrug.
“But everyone is lame in their own way,” Rodney adds on. “We play video games for a living. We’re nerds. That doesn’t mean they won’t like us.”
“Exactly.”
“Hey, do you think I have a chance with that pretty setter?” Rodney asks with a grin. “He’s just so pretty and he was so fucking good. I kinda wanna kiss his pretty face.”
I can’t help but chuckle. “I guess we’ll see when we have dinner with them.” Although, if the looks that Oli and Ivan kept giving each other are anything to go by, I think maybe Rodney should keep his hopes in check.