Binding 13

"Why?"

"Because if I'm taking the opposition out wide, I'm depending on 12 to control the inside and vise-versa. If one of us fucks up, the other suffers, resulting in the entire team suffering." He exhaled a heavy breath and said, "It's a tight partnership that needs transparent communication."

"You couldn’t have made life a little easier for yourself, could you?" I breathed, feeling intimidated. "You had to pick the most challenging position on the team."

"Every position is challenging," he said. "Like the spokes of a wheel, if one goes down we all go down."

"Do you kick?"

Joh

"Grubber?"

"A kick down field to chase after."

"But you don’t do that often?"

"Not that often."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm usually busy competing for the ball and defending the line. I need to be able to take on the opposition in both attack and defense. My body needs to be ready for the hits I take, and I take a lot of fucking hits, Sha

"Why do you do it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Rugby," I explained. "Why do you do it?"

"I love it," he replied simply. "Everything about it. The shape of the ball. The physicality of the game. The adrenalin rush. The pressure. The rewards. Pushing myself. I fucking love the game."

I love you, I almost blurted out, holding the three terrifying words back just in time.

Oh my god!

Where did that come from?

I didn’t love Joh

I didn't even know him.

Not well, at least.

And sure, the parts I knew about him were good parts, decent parts, beautiful parts, but that in no way meant that I felt anything deeper for Joh

It was ridiculous.

I was ridiculous.

Stop lying to yourself, my brain hissed, you love him with every piece of your fractured heart…

Startled and disorientated from the troubling thought, it took me a few moments to realize that he was still talking to me.

"… you're assigned a ton of extra bullshit that I'm not going to go into detail and bore you with," I managed to catch him say.

He was shifting around again, legs stretched out at an awkward angle.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah." He dropped his hand to his thigh but quickly snatched it back again, casting me a wary look. "I seriously hate these long-ass bus rides," he said by way of explanation. "I'm too cramped."

"So, that's why you prefer sitting on your own?" I offered, giving him an out. "For the leg room?"

"Yeah." Joh

"Do you sit on your own in your classes, too?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I prefer it that way."

"Why?"

"Because I'm broad," he replied. "And those desks are narrow as fuck."

He was broad.

He was huge.

And beautiful.

Joh

My heart leapt in my chest. "You would?"

He gri

I huffed out a breath. "I still count."

"You know what I mean," he laughed quietly. "There's no fighting for leg room." He looked down at my feet, smile still firmly attached, and teased, "Are your feet even touching the floor?"

"Of course," I confirmed, then quickly felt for the ground with my toes to see if I was right. "See?" I tossed back, happy to discover that I was, in fact, right. Granted, my toes barely touched the floor, but there was definite tip-toe contact happening. "Ha-ha."

"Ha-ha?" Joh

"Says the guy ribbing me over my height," I replied, giving him my best indignant glare.

"I'm only stating facts," he replied i

Against my better judgement, I cracked a smile at his remark.

There was something about his tone that assured me this wasn’t vindictive behavior.

Joh

It was strange, unexpected, and surprisingly welcome.

"I decided to leave it at home," I impressed myself by retorting. "Thank god I did, because there's barely enough room in here with your ego."

"Sha

"Well, obviously not you." I smiled sweetly at him, ignoring the fluttering in my stomach when he said my name, as my body slowly relaxed, and my sense of humor peeked over my sky-high protective walls, intrigued by this boy's persuasive coaxing.

"Well, shite." Joh

Feeling a sudden burst of playfulness, I shrugged and said, "I know you are but what am I?"

"Now you're being a messer."

"I know you are but what am I?" I repeated, smirking.

"Sticks and stones will break my bones," he quipped, playing along now. "But girls will never hurt me."

"It's words will never hurt me," I corrected, finding myself mirroring his smile. "Not girls."

"Not in my world," he replied with a low chuckle.

"Liar, liar," I spurted, "Your pants are on fire."

A loud snort tore out of him.

"I suppose you're going to give me the whole 'bitch means dog, dog means nature, and nature means beauty' spiel next?" he snickered.

"That depends," I challenged, feeling both at ease and on edge around him.

I was begi

A wave of emotions that left me feeling both sick with nerves and giddy with excitement all at once.

It didn’t make sense to me.

But his smiles were addictive.

The more he offered, the more I craved.

Joh

"On whether or not you're calling me a bitch," I filled in.

"I wouldn’t dream of it," Joh

"You know I didn’t mean to do that," I protested. "I never meant to get you into trouble with anyone."

"Sure you did," Joh

I wasn’t naïve enough not to recognize the fact that this conversation was blurring the line between banter and flirting.

At least that's how it felt for me.

Joh

It didn’t matter, though, because when he looked at me like that, all smiles and interested eyes, I couldn’t stop myself from playing along.

I forced down a blush and replied with, "That's not true."

"Oh no?" He shot me another teasing wink before adding, "Now who's the liar with her pants on fire?"

"That would still be you," I replied. "And I'm not wearing pink."

He frowned in confusion. "Huh?"

"Pink to make the boys wink," I clarified, feeling smug at tripping him up in this little game we seemed to be playing. "I'm wearing blue, not pink. No need to wink at me."