The rules are simple. The first team to score three touchdowns is the winner. Sadly enough, simple doesn't always mean easy.

Our plan is straightforward. Violet is the quarterback, because Chris is more suited to be a receiver. When he hikes the ball to Violet, he will sprint straight to the end zone. The real strategy comes into affect when Violet throws the ball to me instead. At this point, all three guys should be gunning for Violet, who has the ball, or Chris, who they expect the ball to be thrown to— leaving me wide open to catch and score.

That is, if I can catch the ball.

"Ready?" Chris calls out to everyone, to which we all give a nod.

With the football in one hand, Chris bends down. When the word 'hike' tumbles from his mouth, he snaps the football back to Violet. At first it startles her, but she manages to catch it firmly. By the time I look back at Chris, he's already half way to the cones. Damn he's fast.

Grant and Grayson are on his tail and that's when I realize that I've forgotten to do my part. I haven't even moved yet. In fact, the only movement that I've done, is taken two steps backward. With a groan of frustration, I sprint forward. Despite disliking gym class, I've always been a quick enough runner.

Running right past me, Justin charges towards Violet in an attempt to prevent her from throwing the ball at all. A part of me feels kind of melancholy to see that no one labels me as a threat. I mean, I guess I wouldn't either if I were in their shoes.

Aware of Justin nearing her, Violet lets out a squeal as she tosses the ball. It flies through the air, spiraling in the process. It ends up landing no where near me nor Chris, but rather right into Justin's arms.

"Violet!" I groan, tossing my head back.

"I can't help that I have long nails!" She pouts.

Justin practically walks it into the end zone, scoring his team their first point.

"Only two more to go before we lose the car for a whole month!" I shout towards her.

"I'd like to see you do better!" She snorts at me, scrunching up her nose.

"I bet I can!" I muse.

Our team comes together for a moment, and when we do, our previous plan falls apart. Violet decides that we should switch places, and that I should try throwing. With Chris's approval, we settle on that plan.

Although, because Justin made the touchdown, his team gets to starts this time.

"We're on defense now," Chris says to us. "We have to prevent them from scoring."

"How do we do that when you told us to practically steer clear of their whole team?" Violet asks, pulling her hair up into a pony tail.

"Good question." Chris shrugs.

Before I know it, we're all lined up next to each other, waiting for the ball to be hiked. By the look of it, Justin is the quarterback, throwing to either Grayson or Grant. Chris mentioned that he would charge towards Grayson, fairly confident that he was going to be the receiver. Which then leads Violet and I to back him up in case Grayson were to slip past him.

Sounds easy enough.

"Hike!" Grant snaps the ball to Justin, and then storms down the field towards Violet and I. Meanwhile, Grayson sprints down the opposite side. Chris trails him quickly, and Violet sticks to the plan by following Chris up.

Just as I'm about to do the same, I notice that Justin isn't looking at Grayson at all. In fact, his whole body is facing Grant. Was he not going to throw the ball to Grayson?

My speculations prove true when I see the ball soaring towards my direction. Grant is practically a few feet away from me as he opens his arms to catch the ball. I wouldn't be playing the game if I didn't try to interfere, so that's exactly what I do.

With a quick lunge, I step in front of Grant. My arms open wide, but instead of the ball landing in my grasp, Grant's elbow jabs into my ribcage. Completely caught off guard because of my presence, Grant's legs tangle into mine. No one ends up catching the ball and instead, we end up on the ground.

All 220 pounds of Grant slams onto me, deflating my lungs instantly. In this current moment, breathing seems impossible. Almost as impossible as me ever catching the ball in the first place.

The faint echo of Chris saying ouch is the only thing that I hear as Grant pulls himself off of me. Stuck in between his legs and arms, his head hangs over mine.

"Why'd you do that?" Grant asks.

"Do what?" I exhale.

"Get in front of me." His eyebrows furrow.

"Uh," what is this guys issue? "Because that's what you're suppose to do when you see the opponent about to catch the ball."

A layer of narcissism glosses over his gaze. "But you had no chance of—"

"Hey," Grayson's voice is powerful as he jogs over to the situation. I watch as he places a hand on Grant's shoulder, effectively pulling him off of me. "Get up."

Grant sighs, shaking the turf out of his shirt. He doesn't even bother to look at me before starting towards the sidelines to grab a drink. Keeping my back to the ground, my brain tries to grasp what just happened. Was he always that rude?

"Are you okay?"

Grayson's voice draws me back to the present. My eyes jump from cloud to cloud before landing on him. Peering down at me, his expression shows a layer of concern, but by the look of his furrowed eyebrows, he tries to hide it.

That same nervous knot finds it's way back to my stomach. The feeling annoys me, so I sigh.

"I'm fine." I grumble. Standing up on my own, I step past Grayson. If he was going to be distant and cold to me and Violet, I can do just the same to him.

After insisting to Violet a hundred times that I'm okay, we go back to the game. Because of the accident, our team gets the ball first again. In the end, it looks like I'm finally useful. A few rounds go by, and somehow, by Chris's grace, the score ends up being 2-2.

This last touchdown is the winning point.

This time, Violet is the one that hikes the ball to me. When it ends up in my hands securely, she sprints towards the end zone along with Chris. In my peripheral, I notice a figure running at me. However, I don't allow the anticipation of their tackle to interfere with my throw.

But they're quicker, so much quicker than I realized. Just as the ball is rolling off of my finger tips, a body collides with mine. I brace for a hard impact with the ground, but to my surprise, it's almost as if I'm placed onto it.

When I open my eyes, I'm shocked to see Grayson's hair tickling my forehead. With his face inches from mine, my breath catches in my throat. I'm pinned in between his knees, my movements limited.

In the background, I hear running and shouting. The ball must've successfully been caught. By who? I have no idea. The only thing that I know right now, is Grayson.

For the first time in forever, our eyes get stuck in a tango. Grayson's look is full of mischief and mystery, while mine is filled with curiosity.

His emerald orbs dare my hazel ones to look away, and for the life of me, I can't make them. Everything around us fades away and when I feel his hand on my waist, my body stiffens. Slowly and carefully, I feel his fingers slip underneath the rim of my shirt.

Tracing my rib cage, his fingers barely graze my skin.

Unexpectedly, I wince. The soreness causes my gaze to pull away.

"So you did get hurt," Grayson's voice is low.

My eyes widen at his concern, but I quickly wipe away my surprise. "No, I'm fine."

He gives a little more pressure to my bruise, and just like that, I'm squirming underneath him.

"You're not." He says.

I glower at him, "get off of me."

Suddenly, as if a light switch has turned on, his whole persona changes. Instead of concern, his expression transitions to amusement. Leaning in, he gives me a dark smile.

Speaking into the nape of my neck, his hair tickles my skin. "But if I do this..."

His fingers lightly draw circles on my waist, inching upwards.

"... it might help us to remember that night."

My stomach flutters, my skin heating up like a furnace. My body shouldn't be reacting this way... not to Grayson. It's just not right. No more than half an hour ago, he was so distant and cold to me and Violet. What was with this sudden change?

Unable to look him in the eye, I focus on the trees to our left. I'm not going to give him a reaction, because I know that's all that he wants. Despite knowing I should be trying to shove him off of me, my limbs don't want to move. If I tried, would it even matter? He's much stronger and heavier than me.

I blame my submission on the exhaustion I feel.

"Do you want to remember?" His voice is warm against my neck and I can feel his grin. His stupid grin. Why is he messing with me like this? He always manages to find entertainment in my distress.

On a side note, he never use to tease me like this... not until we woke up next to each other. Before that, I was something like a little brother to him. Someone to shove around, ignore and make fun of. This tension between us is something new.

In the background, I can hear Violet shouting profanities at the boys. Despite her words being nearly inaudible, I can tell that she's unhappy with the result of the game. We must've lost.

Shifting my body underneath the weight Grayson, my arm scrapes against one of his side pockets. Through his fabric, I feel the outline of keys. Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I prepare myself to make a split decision.

Raising my eyes, I find his gaze.

"I do." My voice is slow and quiet. With one of my hands, I press it to his chest.

Grayson's eyebrows raise, and I watch as they briefly twitch. He's caught off guard, as I expected him to be. I'm not the type to ever say something like that as a response, and he knows it.

That's when everything happens all at once. Acting on pure adrenaline, I slip my other hand into his pocket, snatching the car keys. Before he can realize what's going on, I give his chest a hard shove, slithering out from underneath him. The turf irritates my bare my skin to all hell, but that doesn't stop me from getting to my feet.

"Violet!" I shout, already in a full sprint towards our bags. I don't even look towards her to see if she's aware of what I've done. "Run!"

Oh my god. What have I done?

If Grayson's been avoiding me, and I've been avoiding him— after what just happened... that routine is all over now. He is going to kill me.

*****