5. Chapter Five

“Wrong.” Kyle, Josh’s best friend, smiled from across the kitchen table and said to Blake, “Haribo eventually found success with gummi bears, but Hans Riegel’s first product was actually hard, colorless candies.” “Dammit,” Izzy muttered, impressed by Blake's knowledge of trivia but irritated by his unwillingness to consult her before just blurting out an answer. “That means the point goes to us,” Kyle said, looking smug as he put the card back into the box. “Unless you want a physical challenge.” “We’ll take the physical challenge,” Blake said, looking unfazed. He probably assumed it was something easy, a random athletic task that someone muscular like him could do in his sleep. “No, we won’t,” Izzy said. “We’re only down by one - no need to panic.” “Too late - he said it,” Kyle said, reaching into the red box for a card. “Physical challenge it is.” Izzy groaned. “I’ve got this - no worries,” Blake said. Izzy just shook her head and sighed. Typical man, assuming he knew something about something he knew nothing about. Kyle said, “Your challenge is as follows. The two of you must crab walk down the stairs, side-by-side, without falling. You must have hands and feet on the same steps at the same time. For example, four hands must be on the same stair at all times, as well as four feet on the same respective step. Also, you may not speak to each other during the challenge; non-verbal is the only acceptable form communication.” Blake asked, “Did you say crab-walk down the--” “Also,” Kyle continued, ignoring Blake, “you must sing Someone Like You by Adele throughout the entire challenge. Any questions?” Blake looked speechless, which made Izzy want to scream I told you! Blake asked, “What if I don’t know that song?” “Only one team member has to sing. But how do you not know that song?” Blake looked at Izzy and said, “Do you know it?” She looked offended by the question. “Of course I do - how do you not?” Josh started singing Adele at the top of his lungs, and everyone else - who wasn't Blake or Izzy - joined in. There were a total of 10 people playing - Izzy knew four of them - and they’d definitely all hit the booze harder than Blake and Izzy. “Can we have a one-minute conference before time starts?” Izzy asked. “Forty-five seconds,” Kyle said. “Can you show us the crab walk?” Izzy knew what a crab walk was from gym class, but hopefully this was some sort of forward-facing deviation she was unfamiliar with. Josh dropped to the floor, propped himself up on his arms and started moving backward. He looked ridiculous, pale and shirtless and crab-walking around the living room, and if she weren’t so tense, she’d be cracking up. “You’re going to die,” Ella said, shaking her head. She was Kyle’s girlfriend, and usually stayed home on game night. “There’s no way you can do it backward down the stairs.” “Her legs are so much shorter than mine,” Blake said, as if that would matter to any of them. No one even responded, because the game was all about having to do the impossible. “Okay,” Kyle said, “Ready for your forty-five?” Izzy said to Blake, “We have to talk fast, all strategy. Got it?” He gave a nod, looking as serious as he had in the boardroom. “Okay - we’re ready,” Izzy said. Josh set a timer on his phone, and Kyle said, “Forty-five second strategy starts…now!” “We go slow,” Izzy said, “I’ll nod every time we should move down a step.” “I’ll nod,” Blake corrected, and for some reason, Izzy trusted that it was the right call. He said, “And we rest our asses on each step - that’s the only way not to fall.” She verified, “So hands-down, ass rest, feet down, and so on?” “Bingo.” Blake flexed his jaw before adding, “And total eye contact - only look at me - so we don’t get dizzy.” “Okay. And I’ll sing super slow to set the tempo.” “If you start to fall,” Blake said, “Forget about the game.” “Ditto.” “Time’s up.” The entire party left the apartment - door wide open - to stand on the landing and watch the event. It was just one flight of old wooden stairs, covered with thin carpet that would do nothing to soften a fall. “It’s only one point,” Josh said to them, looking serious for a second. “You sure it’s worth it?” “Every point counts,” Izzy said, focused and ready. “Agreed,” said Blake, giving another quick nod. They looked at each other, and Izzy wanted to laugh because it was obvious that he was just as stupidly-competitive as she was. For someone wildly unathletic, Izzy had a hard time ever saying no to a challenge. Hence the herpes billboard. Blake and Izzy sat down at the top of the stairs. “The challenge starts…NOW!” Kyle yelled. “I heard,” Izzy sang, looking at Blake. He gave the nod, and they each propped themselves into a crab position before moving their hands down to the first step. “That you’ve, settled down.” He gave another nod, and they both slowly moved their hands down yet another step. Izzy felt like she was going to topple ass-over-feet down the stairs, but she kept her eyes on Blake’s face and focused on their synchronized movements. He was so much bigger than her that she barely had any room on the step. She had like an eighth of the space, and her entire right side was smooshily-glued to his left side. She sang, “That you - found a girl, and you’re - married nowww.” The group at the top of the stairs started singing along with Izzy, which wasn’t surprising because Josh and his friends went to karaoke nearly every weekend. Blake nodded again, and they slowly moved their asses to rest on the next step. Another nod, and they slowly moved their feet. “Old frennnnd,” Izzy belted out, “Why are you so shyyy?” She looked at Blake, but instead of nodding, he grinned at her song, a full-on smile that showed all of his teeth and those gorgeous dimples. Dimples so gorgeous, in fact, that her cheeks warmed and she laughed, which made her hand slip, and then in a split-second, she was somersaulting and falling rapidly backward down the stairs. “Izzy!” She heard Blake yell her name - had he ever said her actual name before? - just as she fell to a stop against the door at the building’s entrance. Thankfully, Blake was incredibly good at trivia. After losing that point - and stopping the game for ten minutes so the entire group could tend to the cut by Izzy’s eyebrow, they got back into it. Blake sat beside Izzy at the kitchen table, and they proceeded to win the next eight points. Team Bliz - her name choice, not his - was now surprisingly in-synch. Every time they got a question, they put their heads together and quietly conferred for their full fifteen seconds. Of course, the more she drank, the more aware she became of the size of him, the smell of him, and the deep, rumbly sound of his voice. And also the shocking existence of his playful side. She was having fun with her teammate, comfortable as if they were actual friends. When they got Ted and Wally’s ice cream flavors as a topic, Izzy said, “I’ve got this one - step off.” To which Blake replied, “Your knowledge of junk food is truly staggering. I defer to your genius.” She laughed and flipped him off, to which he responded by reaching out and physically lowering her finger. Which made her laugh even harder and say, “You saw it this time.” It was as if they were already old friends, even though they were far from it. Just after midnight, the game reached an epic finish point where there was a three-way tie. “Physical challenge decides all,” Josh said, grinning at his friends. “The way the game was intended.” Applause broke out, though most of it came from the people no longer in the game. “I won’t let you down this time,” Izzy quietly said to Blake, leaning close enough to breathe in his cologne. Her eyes wandered down to his chest, because that chest, which made him lean in even closer and purr, “My eyes are up here.” She looked up at his smirk, just above hers, a breath away. The flirty moment held, their eyes locked, and Izzy felt like she couldn’t breathe for a second. “Time to draw numbers, folks,” Josh shouted, breaking the moment as Blake looked away from her and toward her cousin. Was it hot in there or was it just Blake? The six of them drew their challenges from a stack of handmade cards, and Josh and Kyle were first up. Their physical challenge was to run - while piggybacking - down to the stop sign waaaay down at the corner in under ten seconds. “Impossible,” Blake said, looking out the big bay window. “That’s impossible.” “Nothing is impossible,” Kyle said, looking like he truly believed that. “If you want it badly enough.” Blake looked at Izzy in a way that made her feel a little something in her stomach, but the moment got swallowed up by everyone bolting for the apartment door. Blake went with them, and she followed close behind.  The rain had let up and it was only sprinkling now. The entire group cheered as Kyle climbed onto Josh’s back. When had he put a shirt on? Their strategy was for Josh to only focus on sprinting, not holding Kyle, and Kyle was going to focus on doing his best to hang on. “It’s an interesting strategy,” Blake said, talking to Izzy while he watched the contestants. “Although I feel like I’m flying high and loose with the word strategy here.” “Yeah, I give them five steps - tops,” she said, allowing herself to drink him in while he watched her idiot cousin get ready to race down the block. She’d realized while they’d been playing trivia that it wasn’t just his good looks that made her a little swoony around him. No, it was the one-two-three punch of intelligence, confidence, and charm. She was certain if someone screamed “Ohmigawwwd it’s the zombie apocalypse,” Blake would know exactly what to do to keep everyone safe and would delegate appropriately. While being polite. Of course, in her mind, he’d also have to do a lot of shirtless wood-chopping. There was no end to the amount of wood they’d need if zombies were afoot. “On your marks. Get set. GO!” Izzy laughed as Josh took off running, swinging his arms as hard as he could. Kyle struggled to hold on, choking Josh for a brief moment before grasping at his back, and then slowly falling off, pulling Josh down with him. They both ended up tumbling to the pavement, looking like dying June bugs stuck on their back as they laid on the pavement. After a solid minute of groaning, they sat up and checked to see just how badly they’d scraped their elbows. “Are you ready?” Blake asked. She looked away from them, and Blake was watching her from his spot to her right. His voice had been quiet and low when he’d said it, and it had to be the beer that made it sound suggestive. She took a deep breath and said, “Oh, yeah - I am ​beyond ready.” Then she and added, “As ready as I can be. Um, when faced with a Billboard Asshole Physical Challenge, that is.” It felt like his gaze sharpened when she said that, like her words showed him exactly what was happening in her perverted little mind. He gave a terse nod and muttered something that sounded like, “Fucking A right,” but she couldn’t be sure because he turned and walked toward the building the minute the words had left his mouth. Oh-kay. “So what happens if we all lose the physical challenge,” Ella asked as the group went back to the apartment. “Rock-paper-scissors,” Josh replied. “You’re kidding me,” Izzy said, touching her tender forehead with her index finger. “We risk a trip to the ER for a game that boils down to a playground game of rock-paper-scissors?” He laughed and looked pleased with himself. “Well, our version includes an actual rock, a sharp pair of scissors, and a wall-sized sheet of fly paper.” She shook her head. “God help us all.” When they all made it back inside, the next physical challenge was floor lava. Ella and her friend Claire had to make it to every room of the apartment without their feet touching the hardwood floor. It might’ve sounded simple, but alas, it was not. They each fell hard enough to make even Blake laugh-cry as they leapt from the couch to the kitchen table like incredibly clumsy flying squirrels. As soon as the laughter died, Josh reached for their challenge card. “Okay,” Blake said to her, leaning closer. “It’s do or die time. The other teams failed, so we just have to complete this one tiny challenge and we win.” She wanted to mock him, but she found it somehow sweet that he thought winning a physical challenge was even possible. It was so optimistic. “Okay, Team Bliz.” Josh read the card and smiled. “Super simple. One competitor does fifty pushups with the other competitor on their back. The ride-along competitor has to bounce a tennis ball - one bounce per pushup. Pushups must be continuous, as does the bouncing of the ball. You lose if you stop or if you lose control the ball.” On his back. “Also, the spectators will be shooting Nerf foam bullets at you the entire time.” “C’mere,” Blake said, grabbing her sleeve and pulling her off to the side. That intense look was back as he said, “So you’re going to want to lie on me face-down, which I’m sure you’ve figured out. That way the balance won’t hinder the pushups, since you’ll be glued to my body, and you can bounce the ball in front of us fairly easily.” “You want my…um, chestal parts imprinting upon your back?” That made him bark out a laugh and his dark eyes crinkled at the corners. “I guess you could say that.” She asked skeptically, “Do you think you can do fifty pushups with me on your back?” He shrugged and seemed chill about it. “Maybe. Let’s go.” “How do I, um,” Izzy said, feeling a little foolish. “Embark?” That made his smirk return, only this one was a little bit filthy. His dark eyes were all over her when he said, “I’m going to lie down, and then you can climb on top of me. Cool?” She couldn’t manage words, so she just nodded. Blake effortlessly dropped to the floor, lying on his stomach with his hands under his shoulders. Izzy got down on her knees, at his side, and got the giggles because of the ridiculousness. Six people stood around them, Nerf guns in hand and trained on them, while she tried to figure out the best way to mount her boss’s boss. “We can do this, Iz,” Blake said, giving her a face full of confidence. “That’s twice,” she said, quietly so no one else could hear, “That you’ve said my real name.” “Well, hop on and make me say it again when we win.” He didn’t mean that suggestively, did he? She knew the answer, but he just made her so fucking aware of him. She said breathlessly, “Okay - boarding.” Izzy climbed onto his back, her legs on his legs, her chest on his back. Josh handed her the tennis ball, and she lowered her face to Blake’s ear and said, “Are you good?” “Fine,” he said, his voice tight, “Let’s do this.” “Okay,” Josh said, gleefully, the little prick. “On 3, 2, 1 - let’s go!” Blake started, and Izzy gave the ball a tiny bounce as Josh’s friends unloaded their guns. Blake did push-ups faster than she would’ve imagined, and she carefully gave the ball another bounce, glad he’d had a solid plan. The ball was right there, in front of her, so as long as she kept the bounces small and controlled, they might pull it off. The Nerf bullets were annoying, but light enough where they just kind of bounced around. She asked, “You doing okay, Blake?” “Never better,” he said in time with the push-ups, and it almost felt like he meant it. His pushups were so smooth, fast and flawless that she stopped feeling guilty about her weight on him; obviously he could handle it. “It’s totally unfair,” Josh said to his friends as they scrambled to reload their guns, “That this particular challenge was drawn when Izzy brought the fucking Witcher to our party.” Izzy kept her concentration on the tennis ball, but she was impressed as hell as he pounded out the pushups. When he reached 40, she started getting excited. Holy shit - they were going to win a physical challenge! The group started counting loudly, shooting and reloading faster and directing their aim at Izzy’s face once it became clear that Blake was unshakable. She was the weakest link. When they hit fifty, Blake collapsed face-down on the floor with Izzy lying on top of him. She started laughing and said into his ear, “You’re a damn hero, Mr. Chest. Now say my name.” He started laughing while gasping, still face down, and groaned Izzy! at the top of his lungs. She smiled and nodded. “That’s right, baby. You say it.”