Challenge Accepted

by Amanda Abram

  “I feel like I shouldn’t be here,” Riley said, glancing around.

  “It’s all good,” I said with a dismissive wave as I plopped down onto the loveseat. I opened the drawer on the side table next to it and grabbed two PlayStation controllers and gave one to Matt. “Women are welcome. They just usually don’t care to be here.”

  “Oh, good.” She smiled and took a seat next to me. Like, right next to me, so that the entire sides of our bodies were touching.

  I wanted to move away from her slightly, but I was already sitting up against the arm of the loveseat, so I had nowhere to go.

  Well, this was going to be fun.

  Matt glanced at us and smiled before dropping into the leather armchair he always sat in. In fact, he sat in it so much that my dad actually designated it as Matt’s chair, and never sat in it himself.

  “What do you want to play?” I asked Matt.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. Football?”

  I groaned inwardly. Matt always wanted to play football games and I always wanted to play shooters. Whenever we were at my house, since he was the guest, we’d play football. Whenever I went over to his house, we’d play something with either zombies or snipers.

  I turned on the TV and the console. “Well, what do you know? The disc is already in there because we always play this when you come over.”

  Matt grinned. “What can I say? It helps me stay sharp with the real thing.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” I said, rolling my eyes. He said that every time.

  A few minutes into playing, I could tell Riley was bored out of her mind. Girls typically didn’t like to watch boys play video games unless they were gamers themselves. But even still, most could probably stomach the games I liked to play because sometimes they were like watching movies. The sports games, however, usually sent girls packing.

  Which was probably why Riley had pulled out her phone and was busy texting or browsing a shopping app or whatever it was girls did on their phones when they were bored.

  I was surprisingly beating the crap out of Matt when Riley suddenly shifted sideways and stretched out, draping her smooth, tanned, bare legs across my lap.

  Normally, I would be all about that. I was a leg guy, so having a girl practically shove hers in my face was a welcome gesture. However, when I was in the middle of a game where I was trying to beat my best friend at something he should be winning, considering he played football in real life, it was more of an unwelcome distraction.

  But I didn’t say anything because, at the end of the day, Riley was a beautiful girl who was apparently into me. And she had a killer set of legs.

  “So,” I said, clearing my throat. I figured now would be a good time to throw out my double date idea, as promised. “Matt, I was just thinking the other day, it’s been a while since we’ve had a friendly game of mini golf.”

  Matt snorted as he kept his eyes glued to the screen. “That’s because you can never remain friendly when we play.”

  “What are you talking about?” I scoffed.

  “You know exactly what I’m talking about, dude.” Matt paused the game and turned to Riley. “This guy has a temper when it comes to competitive sports. Every time we play mini golf, I beat his ass and he throws a hissy fit.”

  “I do not throw a hissy fit,” I grumbled, even though what he was saying wasn’t all that far from the truth.

  Riley laughed. “Is that so? I’ve got to see this.”

  “Perfect,” I said, “because I was thinking the three of us could go play sometime. Maybe bring Emma along and we could play as pairs.”

  “Oh, yes!” Riley squealed. “That sounds awesome. I’m in!”

  Matt looked skeptical. “I don’t know…”

  “I promise I’ll be good,” I said. “Scout’s honor and whatnot.”

  He proceeded to think about it for a moment. “Okay, sure. Could be fun.”

  “Great. How about tonight? You guys have anything planned?”

  Matt and Riley exchanged a questioning glance and shook their heads.

  “No, tonight would be fine,” Matt replied.

  “Excellent.” I set my controller down on the table next to the loveseat and moved to get up. Riley took the hint and removed herself from me.

  “I’m going to go grab something to drink,” I said. “Can I get you guys anything?”

  “I’ll take some water,” Riley replied.

  “You can grab me a Coke,” Matt said as he snatched the latest copy of Sports Illustrated from the coffee table and began flipping through it.

  I nodded. “Be right back.”

  As soon as I made it to the kitchen, I took out my phone and texted Emma.

  Me: if ur available 2night, mini golf with Matt and Riley is on

  A few seconds later, she texted back.

  Emma: Nice! Thanks for setting that up. You’re the best!

  I couldn’t help but smile at her response. I really was the best. I was now fully putting into motion her romantic future with Matt. It was entirely possible that tonight would be the start of it all.

  As I grabbed a couple cans of Coke and a bottle of water from the fridge, I felt my smile begin to fade. Something was suddenly nagging at me and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. But the feeling was short-lived, so I just ignored it as I headed back downstairs.

  It was probably nothing.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  LOGAN

  “You ladies are in for a real treat tonight.”

  I glared at my best friend as we neared the first hole of the mini golf course. “Watch it, Matt,” I warned him.

  Emma, who was standing beside him, gave him a curious look. “Why do you say that?”

  “Because Logan here doesn’t play well with others,” Matt replied. “And when he starts to lose this game tonight, he’s going to have a major meltdown.”

  I scowled as Emma began to laugh. She’d been doing a lot of that this evening, ever since she, Matt, Riley, and I got in the car to come here. Of course, she was only laughing at the stupid things Matt was saying, and I wanted to pull her aside and warn her to tone it down a little. She was being way too obvious that she was into him.

  But Matt was eating it up. He was used to girls fawning over him and laughing at all his jokes, so this was nothing new to him. But Emma was new to him, so I could tell he was quite enjoying it.

  “So, Logan’s a sore loser?” Emma teased. “Why am I not surprised by this?”

  “Hey,” I said defensively, “I’ll have you know that the one or two times I had a meltdown over a game of mini golf, it was because Matt cheated.”

  Matt put on his best innocent face. “I don’t cheat at anything.” He turned to Emma and added with a grin, “I don’t need to.”

  She smiled at him and I rolled my eyes. I was quickly starting to wonder why I’d set this whole thing up to begin with.

  “What do you say we play as teams?” Riley suggested behind me. “Emma and Matt versus me and Logan.”

  The most logical pairing, if I wanted to win, was me and Matt. Boys versus girls. But I wasn’t here to win a game of mini golf. I was here to start the ball rolling—no pun intended—on Emma and Matt’s relationship, so I nodded. “Sounds good.”

  “As usual, losers pay for ice cream later,” Matt declared. Again, he turned to Emma. “It was so safe to assume Logan’s going to lose, I didn’t even bring my wallet.” That was a lie. He’d taken out his wallet just minutes ago to pay for the game.

  But again, Emma laughed. Actually, it was more like a giggle. I’m talking a schoolgirl giggle.

  I bit my tongue to keep myself from saying anything I’d regret. That girl was going to owe me big-time for this.

  “Okay, I’ll go first,” Riley said, placing her purple ball down on the ground. “Don’t worry, Logan, mini golf skills run in my family.”

  Matt snorted. “You mean your lack of skills runs in your other side of the family.” Leaning in close to Emma, he added, “These
two are going to be no match for us. Start thinking about what you want for ice cream. Money is no object.”

  Another laugh from Emma. Another dirty look from me. Matt sure was good at pushing my buttons tonight. Maybe he was trying to impress Emma. Which should have excited me, because that meant my job as matchmaker would be a whole lot easier, but it didn’t. It annoyed me.

  Riley gracefully hit the ball with her putter, sending it down the long strip of green carpet. The first hole was just a simple straight shot with no obstacles, and while she didn’t get it in on the first try, it stopped only about an inch away.

  “Nice try, cuz, but you’re supposed to get it in the hole, not next to it,” Matt heckled, causing Riley to flip him off.

  I shook my head as I set my ball down. “And you claim I don’t play well with others,” I muttered. I lined the ball up as best I could with the hole and hit it with the amount of force I figured it would need to make it down there. It stopped just shy of Riley’s.

  “Aw, man, that’s too bad.” Matt slapped me on the back. “I’ll let Emma go first, and then I’ll show you how it’s done.”

  Now he was really starting to piss me off, but I said nothing as I stepped aside to let Emma play. She glanced at me with a small smile before taking her shot. She was by far the worst out of all of us; her ball made it nowhere near the hole.

  With a sheepish smile, she said, “I’m rusty. I haven’t played this in a while.”

  “It’s okay,” Matt said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving a squeeze. “You did just fine.”

  Her cheeks turned dark pink—her signature shade—as she stared down at the ground, tucking a strand of hair nervously behind her ear.

  My eyes narrowed at the scene. Riley and I had been very close to sinking our balls and Matt harassed us about it. Emma’s ball landed nowhere in the vicinity and Matt was being all sweet and encouraging.

  This whole night was starting to get on my nerves.

  Matt took his turn next and sank the ball in one shot, then turned to me and Riley to gloat. “See? That’s how you do it.”

  “See? That’s how you do it,” Riley mocked in a baby voice and stuck her tongue out at him as she proceeded to take her next shot.

  Both she and I both sank our balls on the second try and it took Emma two more swings—which meant our teams were tied, but it was still very early in the game, and we still had seventeen more holes to get through.

  It was going to be a long night.

  “So, Emma,” Matt said as we headed for hole number 2, which consisted of a small bridge over a stream. “What have you been up to so far this summer?”

  I glanced at him curiously. Matt was making small talk? That wasn’t like him.

  “Um…” She examined the pink golf ball in her hand. I could tell she didn’t know how to respond to that.

  “She’s been organizing her book collection,” I offered, immediately wondering why I would tell him that.

  Emma appeared to be wondering the same thing—and she wasn’t pleased, if the narrowing of her eyes was any indication. The goal here was to not make her look like a loser in front of Matt.

  Riley chuckled and stopped when she noticed nobody else was doing the same. “Oh, you were serious?”

  “That’s not all I’ve been doing,” Emma mumbled, staring at the ground.

  “Do you have a big book collection or something?” Matt asked.

  Emma seemed taken aback at Matt’s question, like she wasn’t used to anyone expressing interest in her love of books.

  “Yeah,” she replied sheepishly. “A few hundred or so.”

  Matt’s eyes went wide, but not in a judgmental sort of way. “Wow, that’s impressive. I’m not much of a reader, but that’s only because I don’t really have time to read anything. Between school, football practice, and hanging out with friends, I don’t have a lot of time to do much of anything.”

  Emma nodded like she understood. “Well, if you ever get some free time and would like a book to read, I’ll let you borrow one of mine.”

  “Thanks,” Matt said with a genuine smile.

  “I’m not sure you’d really care for any of her books,” I chimed in before I had a chance to stop myself. “Unless you like romance novels about shirtless dudes.”

  Matt snorted, while Emma looked like she was about to kill me.

  “Emma, why don’t you go first this time?” Riley suggested, suppressing a smirk.

  “Sure, okay,” she said through clenched teeth. She set her ball down and swung at it a little too forcefully. It went airborne, soaring over the bridge and bouncing off the ground before leaving the brick barrier and landing in the area belonging to hole number 3, narrowly missing a guy who was about to take a swing of his own.

  We all had a good laugh at Emma’s expense as her cheeks turned three different shades of red.

  “Sorry,” she called out to the guy, who just smiled and waved dismissively. She moved to go retrieve the ball, but Matt was way ahead of her. He jogged over and grabbed it, apologized to the guy himself, and jogged back.

  “Looks like you need some lessons,” Matt said with a grin, handing Emma her ball. “Maybe I can help. Here, stand like this.”

  He placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her sideways, and then stood behind her and moved his hands down to hers.

  “Okay,” he said into her ear, “Put your left hand up here, and your right one down here. Now, when you swing, you don’t want to put too much force behind it or the ball’s going to, you know, fly off and almost hit someone.”

  Emma’s bad mood instantly turned around as she giggled.

  With his hands still on hers, he gently guided the putter back and swung it to hit the ball. It rolled smoothly over the bridge and stayed in a perfectly straight line as it headed for the hole.

  And sank right in.

  “Yes! A hole in one!” Emma exclaimed as she and Matt high-fived.

  I rolled my eyes. “Hardly. Are you forgetting your first shot? Your ball landed in somebody else’s game.”

  “That one didn’t count,” Matt said, shaking his head.

  “The hell it didn’t.”

  “C’mon, dude, lighten up.” He placed his own ball down and I bent over to scoop it up.

  “Nope,” I said. “If you’re not going to count Emma’s first swing, then we’re going to count her ‘hole in one’ as yours since you’re pretty much the one who sank it, and she can go again—without your help.”

  I could tell Matt was getting irritated with me, which was fine. The feeling was mutual. Throwing his hands up in surrender, he stepped aside and motioned for Emma to return to the spot she was in just a few moments ago.

  “See what I mean?” he leaned in and muttered to her. “The meltdown is imminent.”

  My hand clenched around my putter so hard I could feel my knuckles turning white. Riley must have noticed because she stepped in front of me and placed her hands on my chest.

  “Ignore him,” she said. “He’s just trying to throw you off your game.”

  My gaze flickered over Riley’s shoulder to look at Matt, but it landed on Emma first. She was clearly not impressed with my attitude and the disappointment etched in her features reminded me why we were here in the first place.

  I took a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm myself down. “Whatever. We’ll count Emma’s last swing as a hole in one and Matt can take his turn.” I forced a smile onto my face. While I was seething on the inside, I wasn’t going to give Matt the satisfaction of seeing it.

  There would be no meltdown tonight.

  We continued on for a few holes with no issues. Emma started getting better with her swings and between that, and the fact Matt kept sinking his ball on the first or second try, by hole 18, it was obvious which pairing was going to win.

  But I kept my cool. I didn’t freak out. It helped that my partner was hot, so I would just push away my irritation and instead focus on her butt every time she bent
down to pick up her ball. And she was very touchy-feely tonight. Every time either one of us scored a one or a two, she would throw herself at me, squealing with joy, pushing herself right up against me.

  Definitely a good distraction.

  Emma, however, couldn’t seem to hide her irritation. I had no idea what had gotten into her, but while she was perfectly cheery and chatty for most of the game, she started becoming quiet, reserved, and moody around hole 14.

  After taking my shot at the last hole and Matt prepared to take his, I pulled her aside, out of earshot of the others.

  “What’s wrong?” I whispered.

  Emma shrugged. “Nothing’s wrong.”

  “Liar.” I crossed my arms over my chest and studied her for a moment. “You should be over the moon right now. Matt seems to be digging you. I’ve never seen him have so many conversations with a girl before—and with a genuine smile on his face no less. I think he likes you.”

  For a brief moment, her eyes lit up with what I could only guess was a glimmer of hope before they clouded over again.

  “He doesn’t,” she said with a frown. “He’s just being nice. Because he’s a nice guy. But you certainly haven’t been helping, you know. What were you thinking, talking about my book collection like that? It was your idea to make me look cooler to him, and you turned right around and told him how much of a nerd I am. What’s up with that?”

  It was a good question. One I really didn’t know the answer to. Luckily, Matt interrupted before I had to try and come up with a response.

  “As expected, Emma and I beat the crap out of Logan and Riley,” he said proudly, holding up the scorecard. He shifted his gaze to me. “Would you like to have your tantrum right now, or do you want to wait until after you buy me and Emma our ice cream?”

  “I’m cool,” I lied. “Good game, guys.”

  Matt narrowed his eyes. I could tell he was suspicious of my calm demeanor, but he let it slide.