A Tournament For My Heart

Chapter Twenty Four- Catch Fast

"Look henna tattoos let's stop by there. I've always wanted one." I say in excitement.

We are currently walking down the Charleston strip. And we actually have been walking a while. We make our way into the henna shop and the lady offers me a seat asking what tattoo I would like.

"What do y'all think?" I question.

"Get a basketball." Jace suggest.

"What about a butterfly?" Jaz offers.

I tell the lady what I would like and the other lady next to her says "Y'all are going to make her get one by herself?" She teases.

She waved them over and Kayden sits down in her seat telling her what he would like on his already tattooed arm. The older lady smiles in awe.

The guys decide to be nosy and peek at what the lady was tattooing on his arm. While Jaz and Shayla stood on either side of me to support my non-needle tattoo.

"It can stay up to 2 weeks." The lady says.

After we were done we paid the nice ladies and left the store. "So when is the real tattoo?" Moose questions me jokingly.

I look at my tattoo "but it is real. She says it can last two weeks." I say matter of factly and we all laugh at my seriousness.

"Okay, are we heading to the beach now?" Jace ask.

"Yes please." Jaz says. She is sweating bullets if we're being honest. Moose hands her his water bottle as Jace leads the way toward the beach.

We all wore our bathing suits under our clothes. While the boys wore their swim shorts under. While us girls have our bathing suits under. Our towels are packed into our book bags that we carry on our backs.

"Here's a good spot" Jace says as he leads us onto a spot on the sand. We all laid out our towels out next to one another.

I lay my backpack down next to my towel "I'm gonna go stand in the ocean I need to cool down." I say.

"Right beside you sista." Jaz says and we walk together to the ocean.

She sighs happily as her feet touches the water and I laugh in response. "It's like an immediate body cool down." She describes.

"For sure." I look over to her and nod. Then as if on impulse I push her over to the side when I see a football flying towards her.

So instead it hits me right in the shoulder. Hard. I scream in response rubbing my shoulder with a bit of tears in my eyes.

"KALI! Are you okay?" Jaz questions with a concerned face checking my shoulder for injury.

Two guys come rushing over with concern and sympathy covering their faces. "I am so sorry." One of them states quickly.

"I'm fine y'all. It just hurts a little right now." I say easing the mood.

"Are you sure I don't mind paying for a ER visit if I need too. It's the least I can do." He says genuinely.

I finally look up at him and was he handsome. Dark skinned with a low cut and waves. Not to mention the six pack. Well I mentioned it didn't I?

My mouth was open but no words formed. "Is she sure she's okay?" The other guy asked Jaz for confirmation.

Jaz placed her arm on my opposite shoulder "Kali?"

I was immediately snapped out of my trans. "Yeah I'm sure. I'm fine." I say making eye contact with each of them so they know I really mean it.

"The fuck was y'all thinking?" I hear Jace say as he runs to us.

He was not happy from the facial expression he wore currently. The guys turned around, one with there hands up in surrender "truly was an accident my guy."

"Yooo Jace." The dark skinned guy said in a voice the showed recognition.

"Chris?" Jace says in surprise. He gives him a dap going into a hug. A guy thing I guess. "What are you doing here?"

"It's spring break." He says obviously.

"But bro you missed two summers back to back. I thought maybe y'all sold the home." Jace says.

"I'm in the army I was off on deployment. I thought my parents told your parents."

Jace shakes his head in disappointment "no one told me man. Congrats that's big."

Chris nods his head "Thank you bro."

"Now that the formals are out the way. The fuck are y'all throwing footballs right by the ocean for? There's so much more sand and space up there." Jace points towards the sand that is in fact vacant.

The friend of Chris looks where Jace points "We were making our way there. But this idiot decided to throw a 'catch fast' on the way there. As you see I was not able to catch fast." He says bluntly.

"Yeah it's all me man. I should've been paying attention. I really do apologize bro." Chris says sincerely.

Suddenly I feel a random shooting pain through my arm that makes me wince. "Shit Kali. You okay?" Jace says as he notices my face.

I nod my head. "I just think I need to sit."

"Here I can lead you to our chairs they're pretty close." Chris says waiting for me to follow him.

I sit in the chair and Will who I learned as the other guys name. Jogged over handing Chris a bag of ice. I guess to hand to me.

Chris sits next to me in the beach chair and hands me the ice. "Maybe this will help a little."

I grab the ice and hold it to my shoulder I sigh in instant relief. "Again I really am sorry. I was being immature earlier."

I look at him shaking my head "No, you were just having fun. There's a difference." I say with a small smile. The bag of ice then falls and he quickly catches it before it hits the sand.

"Nice save." I say. He then takes on the job of holding the ice to my shoulder himself.

I look at my shoulder then towards him "Thank you."

He shrugs his shoulders "It's the least I can do."

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