I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally saw her stumble across the sand, the strap of a sports bag over her right shoulder, this time wearing flip flops, short pants, a tank top and sungla.s.ses. She was alone, which made my stomach do a somersault but I did not want to count my chickens before they hatched, since her friends or even worse; Ryan could show up later.

Her hair was tied in a ponytail again. When she spotted me, she smiled.

'Phew, hey, am I late? I am sorry, I had to drop off my little sister at the soccer field and should have calculated a little more time for that.' She put her bag on the ground and pulled her ponytail tighter.

'It's okay to have to wait a little for a beautiful woman.'

She blushed slightly but then firmly said: 'Just to be clear, for this day to work, you are not allowed to flirt with me.'

'I can't promise anything and in case it happens again, I surely don't mean anything bad by it. By the way, this is our timetable.' I changed the topic.

'Sweet, thanks for getting it. When is our first game?' She took the sheet from my hand and studied it.

Then we searched for a place where we could leave our bags.

'So, you have a sister? How old is she?' I asked.

'Yes, 14, and a rather energetic and annoying little bundle.' She readjusted the strap of the bag on her shoulder.

'You seem quite active as well.' I remarked.

'Well, yes, but I put my energy into sport only and not into yelling and being loud at home. Do you have any siblings?'

'No but I have a dog. Sometimes I feel like he understands me better than any human could.'

'Yes, I know what you mean. I always wanted a cat but my dad hates them and so we never got one.'

We dropped the bags at the edge of our first field. A game was going on already and so we couldn't warm up on that s.p.a.ce but that did not matter. Fiona produced a volleyball out of her bag and we started to pa.s.s it back and forth a few feet aside from the field.

'Perhaps, I should have told you yesterday, that I haven't played volleyball in a long time.' I said and pa.s.sed the ball back to her.

'Well, so far so good. You haven't made a fool of yourself yet.' She laughed. 'But same here. For me, this is more about the fun and being outdoors.'

'But you are a quite a compet.i.tive person, aren't you?' I asked.

'I am but I can make a difference between what is worth to be compet.i.tive about and what not.'

'Ah intelligent and aspiring.' I said in a praising tone.

She caught the ball and raised an eyebrow.

'What?' I looked at her straight-faced.

She shook her head. 'Nothing.' And played the ball back to me.

The referee blew the whistle and we placed ourselves on our side. I did not know our opponents. Neither did Fiona. They were about in their thirties. The woman was unnaturally tanned in fancy new sports clothes and the man looked more like a couch potato. The opening whistle was blown and we could start with the serve because our names were listed on top. While it was not very hard to attain points against the other couple, the game was very entertaining. The woman was practically standing at the same spot like a pole the whole time shouting commands at her spouse, who was tripping after the ball all over the field. Sometimes Fiona and I could only grin at each other and shake our heads.

The game was over when we reached 21 points. For the two of us, this game was good to get used to each other as a team. We even had a few nice pa.s.ses. As we had another match on the same field right after this game, we could stay there. We drank some water and she ate an apple.

I took off my shirt because even if I did not have to move a lot in the game before, it was getting pretty warm. Fiona was still wearing her yellow tank top and black hot pants but I could see the strings of her bikini under the shirt. We talked a little about school and track but there was not much time until our next opponents showed up.

You could see that this game was going to be much tougher. This couple was only a little older than we were, moreover they looked very sportive. The man was also only wearing bathing shorts and he had a visible six-pack. I wished I hadn't taken off my shirt. My body clearly wasn't built as well as his was. I glanced at Fiona who directed her concentration at the woman who was about to serve for the first time.

The ball flew so fast that even though we attempted a slight jump, none of us could catch it. The other couple high-fived each other. 'Ace!'.

Fiona looked at me and I shrugged. 'I guess we have to put some effort into this now.' I said.

It was quite exhausting and after a while, even Fiona became too hot to keep her shirt on. I swallowed hard, took a long breath and all of a sudden became very eager in examining the ball. How could one girl look so d.a.m.n good?! She was svelte but not too thin and she probably knew why she bought this green bikini top because it fitted her perfectly. Having her in my vision somehow made me lose my muscle control and I served the ball directly into the net.

'Ugh, sorry.' I ran my hand through my hair.

'No worries. My wrists are not used to this. I kind of wish for an ice pack.' She rubbed her wrists which had the consequence that her b.o.o.bs were slightly squeezed together and looked even better. I rubbed my eyes and stared to the opposite side of the net. This time, I caught the ball and played it high in front of the net, so that Fiona could jump and smash it down to the ground on the opposite half of the field. Score!

'Now that is what I call a good interaction.' I yelled.

'Yes!' My team mate was so happy that she came and gave me a hug. I swear my heart skipped a beat when she did that. I grinned at her and she grinned back, her eyes sparkling. At least that time my huge smile was appropriate, the others did not have to know that the score was not the only reason for it.

When the ending whistle blew because they reached 21 points we congratulated them.

'Oh well, was still fun though, wasn't it?' I said to her when we were back at our bags.

'Yes, we had some great interactions! Sometimes we could even keep up with them.' She gave me a beautiful smile. 'But what are they doing at a game like this anyway. They are pros and should play in the real league and not here with us ordinary people.'

'I'm curious who else we will encounter today but now I'm ready for a break.'

'Yes, me too.' She rubbed her wrists again. 'Good that our next game isn't until later.'

'Let me see your arms.' I held out my hand. She held her hands palms up so that I saw that her arms had some traces of yellow.

'Ouch, yes, in my professional opinion as a sports doctor I'd say you need some cooling sea water on them.'

'You want to go into the water now?' She made an incredulous face. 'It's October!' She exclaimed.

'But it's summerlike warm, so why not?' I made a few steps towards the water. 'Come on!'

'You first.'

I bolted to the water. It was colder than I had expected. Too late, I already dove. When I reached the surface I saw that Fiona was still standing only with her feet in the water.

'Come on, it is not as bad as it feels at the first moment,' I yelled.

She carefully advanced one step but then waited again, immobile.

Thus, I waded back to her. I took her left hand and pressed her wrist against my cold upper arm. Her skin was soft and warm.

'Oh, my personal ice pack.' She smiled.

'Does it feel better now?' I asked, feeling an agreeable warmth spread over my body from where her skin touched mine.

'Yes, it does. My other wrist needs some help as well.' She held it against my other arm. We were standing pretty close now. I didn't dare to breathe, and my heart pounded very fast again.

She laughed shyly, took a step back and tucked some hair behind her ears.

Could it be that this was a sign of nervousness on her side as well? My breath returned to normal. 'I think I could use a warm towel now.' I said.

'Good idea.'

I lay down and rested while Fiona sat up and wrapped herself in her towel.

'By the way, thank you for coming today. You did not have had to do that.' She said.

'My pleasure. I wanted to play and I am having a lot of fun.'

'Yeah, me too,' and then she added in a more serious tone, 'Ryan behaved like such an idiot yesterday. I am really glad you came.'

'Well, it's Ryan's loss. I wouldn't miss a second I could spend with such a beautiful woman.'

'You are sweet.' She smiled.

'Topic switch, are you also hungry? Do you want to get a bite to eat?' I asked.

'Now that you mention it, I am starving.'

Consequently, we put some clothes on and went to the food stand paradise.

'When did you start running?' I asked her.

'Hm, I don't remember. My mum likes to jog, and I accompanied her as a child already. At school, I always did sports that involved running, and in high school, it showed that this might be my chance to receive a scholarship.'

'Good for you. I started with track in 9th grade. I enjoy it a lot but above all because it gives me a reason to go outdoors. I used to take Brownie, my dog, on a daily run but now he is too old.'

'What else do you like to do?' She asked.

'I'm good with my hands. I like to fix or build things. I can spend weekends fixing my neighbor's lawn mower or if you have a piece of IKEA furniture, I gladly put it together for you.'

'Ah, good to know.' She said. 'And what do your parents do?'

'My mom works as a secretary at the court. My dad used to be a constructing engineer but he died when I was two.'

'Oh, no, I'm sorry.' She furrowed her brow.

'It's okay.' I didn't want her pity. 'I was too young to know him. Plus, I don't feel like I missed out on anything. You always hear other people say, father and son bonding is important, it builds character, blah, blah.' I snorted. 'I learnt how to make a fire or how to set up a tent at boy scouts. And with the help of my friends and my family I turned out pretty fine I'd say.'

'Yes, I think so, too.' I detected another sparkle in her brown eyes.

In the afternoon we had three more games. In the first one, the strength of our opponents was about the same as ours. However, Fiona seemed to be a little more relaxed than in the morning and with every point, we high-fived each other or even hugged. When we won, I lifted her up.

'Woohoo.' She yelled and laughed.

The second game continued in a similar manner and again, we won.

'Wow, if this continues like that we might have a chance of winning something today!' She exclaimed.

'My main prize is to be here with you.' I smiled.

'You just can't stick to the rule of not flirting, can you?' She flicked her hand down my chest but smiled.

For the last game, we didn't have enough power anymore after all and lost that one.

'So, what now?' I asked.

'Well, now we wait for the award ceremony! We still have quite a good track record, so who knows.' She answered.

I didn't mind at all, that my time with her wasn't over yet. How would I get her to see me again though?

For once, luck was on my side because at the award ceremony predictably our second opponents were the big winners but guess what? Fiona and I made 3rd place and we received a small prize in the form of a voucher for a special "lover's sundae" at Giovanni's Ice Palace.

'Well, I guess now we have to see each other again. b.u.mmer.' I pressed my lips together and shook my head until I couldn't suppress a grin any longer. 'But I am sure we could also ask for two small sundaes; in case you are worried about Ryan.' I strongly hoped that she would say no. I held my breath to wait if she'd come at all.

'No, I am very curious about this lover's sundae and besides, we've earned it. Ryan did not want to play, so he is not allowed to complain now.'

I relaxed. 'Great. When do you have time?'

'Hm, I don't know. Ryan usually is pretty busy anyway, so I don't think it matters to him when we will use the coupon.'

These were great news for me and so I set a date with her for next Sat.u.r.day.

'So, where should I pick you up at, let's say 7 pm?'

'I'll text you my address.' She said and fumbled for her phone.

I gave her my number and sent a thank you prayer to the sky that we would stay in touch.

'By the way, I really enjoyed today.' She said, when we arrived at her family's van.

'Me too. I had a lot of fun and I am glad that this isn't the last time we met.'

She smiled and nodded. 'Well, see you Sat.u.r.day.'

I already knew then, that this was going to feel like the longest week of my life.

Chapter 4.