The Boyfriend Rivalry by Milana Spencer

7

Curtis: Beach Soccer

The following morning, we eat breakfast around the kitchen table; the room filled with bright morning light. Some of us eat toast, others cereal, and there's a platter of fruit to share. I nurse my green tea.

We're chatting about going to the beach today. Erin looks at the weather forecast on her phone. "The good news is that it'll be sunny today. The bad news is that the water will be freezing."

"I'm sure it won't be that bad," Liam says, sitting beside me, at the head of the table. He's leaning back in his chair with his long legs sprawled out. I have to tuck my legs in to make sure we don't touch.

I don't know what to make of him bringing me tea yesterday. It was so strange, just like the other odd interactions these past few days. If he brought Kennedy tea, I wouldn't bat an eye — just like I didn't when he offered Bonnie lollies at the service station or handed around lollies last night while watching the movie. But doing some nice for me? That doesn't make sense. I was certain something was up, that he was only pretending to be nice in front of Kennedy, but Kennedy wasn't in the attic bedroom last night. It was a confusing mystery to fall asleep to. When I woke up, I still hadn't solved it.

"Oh, yes it will," Kennedy says. "I'd like to see you try to swim. I'd bet you'd get pneumonia."

"I'll just dip my toes in," Liam concedes.

"We can hang out on the beach, and tan," Bonnie says. "That's the main thing."

"By tan," Erin says, "I hope you mean applying a hell of a lot of sunscreen."

"Yes, yes," Bonnie says. "We can also bring the soccer ball."

"If we leave soon," Erin says, "it won't be too busy on the beach. It's already getting hot outside. Is everyone happy to do that?"

I hum in agreement while the others say yes, and after finishing breakfast, we disappear to our rooms to grab our stuff.

*

An hour later, we arrive at what the cousins pronounce to be the best beach in town. Rather than a straight strip of sand below the cliffs, this beach curves inwards, as if someone has taken a bite out of the cliffs and filled the space with soft, golden-white sand.

A wooden staircase leads us down to the beach, and even though it's before midday, there are already a few groups here. Closest to where we decide to settle is a group of people in their early twenties. I wonder if it's a quadruple date or a friend group who all ended up dating each other. Two straight couples lie together, a woman lays her head on her girlfriend's chest and two men hold hands as they sit in the sand.

We lay out our towels, and Erin pulls a large container of sunscreen out of her tote bag. Kennedy helps me apply sunscreen to the parts of my back I can't reach.

"Mm," I say, as she rubs in the sunscreen. "You could make a living as a masseuse."

She laughs before finishing and getting me to help her. I spread the sunscreen across the back of her neck, her shoulders, and her back, careful not to touch the strings of her bikini.

She's wearing a sage-green swimsuit that matches her complexion. The first time I saw her in it — during the summer holidays, at her pool — she told me it was made by an eco-friendly fashion brand and the bikini was made of plastic bottles or something. I was only half paying attention, my focus on how hot her body looked.

That day was the first time we went beyond kissing since Kennedy's parents were out. I'd fooled around before — never with girlfriends. I hadn't had a girlfriend since Year 8, and everyone knew that didn't count — but at parties and stuff, but Kennedy hadn't. Despite that, she'd been eager, and from that day on, we were excited to do anything together.

And we did. Except for sex. It shouldn't be so goddamn hard to do it, but it's true. At one point, I suggested we just do it in my car, parked on some random outskirt of town.

Kennedy considered it for a moment — you'd think girls would be grossed out by something as unglamorous as a car for losing their virginity, but Kennedy was always keen — but then decided she'd rather a comfortable bed and risk the chance of being caught.

And now we're here, on holiday. We need to discuss it in more detail, how we're going to have sex without anyone finding out. I still need to buy condoms.

Now, I finish with Kennedy's sunscreen and kiss the back of her neck. Beyond her, I see Liam helping Bonnie with her back, the pair of them laughing. Erin throws them a soccer ball, and Bonnie catches it with her free hands.

"Let's play," Liam announces, finishing with Bonnie's back and straightening up.

"Sport is not my forte," Kennedy says as we walk up to them.

"But you're competitive as hell, so that makes up for it," Liam says. "Let's go play over on that stretch there," he says, pointing to a slice of beach shaded by the cliffs, the sand darker from where the tide has washed over it. "We can draw lines in the sand for the goals."

"How are we going to split up teams?" Bonnie asks, throwing the soccer ball up and down as we walk over. "It's an odd number."

"We'll try to even it out by skill," Erin decides. "Everyone, say your skill type."

"Horrendous," Kennedy says.

Bonnie laughs. "Me too."

"I played in high school, but I'm super rusty now," Erin says.

"Curtis is the best," Liam says, jabbing a thumb in my direction. I look at him, surprised, and maybe it's because of Liam's odd kindness, or maybe I don't like having attention on myself, or maybe I want to get revenge on him for putting pressure on me, but I say, "Liam is just as good at me. He's quick." Long legs and all, I think, looking at them. His legs are slimmer than mine, though still toned with muscle. Sand gathers on his bare feet.

"Alright, how about Kennedy and Curtis, then Liam, Bonnie and me?" Erin suggests.

"But you have three people," Kennedy says.

"We can adjust the teams if someone wins too easily."

Everyone nods and starts drawing lines for the court. "What's the plan?" Kennedy asks me as we crouch down to draw the centre line.

"One of us can play defence, the other forward. The defence player will also play goalie."

"You be forward."

After five minutes, we finish drawing the court, and I walk up to the centre line, facing Liam. Their team also put him in attack, and the two cousins are spread out behind him.

"Are we playing with offside?" I call out, so everyone can hear me.

"What's the offside rule?" Kennedy echoes behind me.

Liam grins. "Guess not," he says.

I realise I'm smiling too, and smother it. "Okay, who's starting with the ball?"

"You can," Liam says, kicking it to me. "You've got fewer people."

I hesitate because I don't want to have the advantage. That means that they can complain about it when Kennedy and I win. But we do have a smaller team. I nod, and Erin counts down as a substitute for an umpire's whistle. Three, two, one —

And I'm off, dribbling the ball around Liam and rushing down the court. It's always easiest at the beginning of a game when you're full of energy.

I'm not super skilled — the last time I played soccer was two years ago — but it's easy to weave around the cousins and head towards the goal. I'm about to kick, the triumph already filling me, when someone rams into me.

I blink, and it's too late. Liam's taken the ball, and he's dribbling it up the court. Kennedy stands nearby the goal, looking worried.

God damn it. I run after Liam, my skin on the side of my stomach sore from where he elbowed me to steal the ball.

We're now in my half of the court, Bonnie and Erin screaming encouragement for Liam behind me. I approach Liam, getting closer and closer.

If he scores before me —

"Argh!" Kennedy screams, jumping out of the way as the soccer ball whirls past her, across the line in the sand.

"Motherfucker!" I hiss. I slide to a stop just in time from slamming into Liam.

He hears and turns around, smirking. "That was easy."

"Sorry!" Kennedy calls to me. "The ball is scary."

"It's okay," I say. I'll just play better so we don't need a defence at all.

We start again after Kennedy retrieves the ball. It's easy to get around Bonnie, but Erin downplayed her skills and frequently blocks the ball. While Liam's technique is a little sloppy, I can't believe how fast he is. He spins around me, and every time he gets past the halfway line, I have to force myself not to stop running after him, even though I know it's impossible to catch up.

As we play, the game gets rougher, and Liam and I tackle each other more. He might be taller and faster, but I'm heavier, so I can run into his side, pushing him away, or sometimes into the sand.

After Liam's team reaches eight goals to Kennedy and my five, I pipe up and say we should adjust teams. Liam raises a brow at me, cheeks pink and hair messy, and I know he's about to comment that I'm whining. I add that Liam, Bonnie, and Erin won that round. The last thing I want to be seen as is a sore loser.

We try with Erin, Kennedy and me on one team, and Bonnie and Liam on the other, and my team wins easily. We adjust again and again until Kennedy suggests Liam and I be one team.

Everyone stares at her.

"They would destroy us," Bonnie says.

"But it would be two versus three," Kennedy says, her eyes on Liam. She's trying to send him a message, but I don't know what. "I've had practice now, I swear I'm a better goalie."

"I guess…" Erin says.

"Let's try it," Liam says, eyes on Kennedy, looking a little reluctant.

I raise my brow at him as we walk to our side of the court. "Why would you agree? It's so unfair."

He shrugs. "Why not?"

We play, and as expected, it's ridiculously easy. Liam and I are almost never in our half of the field because there's no need to defend. Instead, we kick to each other, running to empty spaces and kicking goals. Every time we score, Kennedy says, "one more time!"

Weirdly, Liam and I work well together, and he's always in the spot I need him to be when I have the goal. In fact, after one goal, I forget that he's my mortal enemy for long enough to clap him on the back. "Good job!" I cheer.

His brows jump up, but a moment later he's grinning too. "Thanks."

"I'm tired," Bonnie declares. "Losing over and over is exhausting."

I am pretty tired too, muscles sore from all that running around. From the look of everyone else, they are too, so we head back to our towels. Erin takes out some fruit and water bottles from her backpack.

We snack, and everyone stretches out on their towels, enjoying the sun. Time passes, and Liam and Bonnie wander off to see how cold the ocean is, despite Kennedy yelling out threats of getting frostbite. Erin gets a phone call from her boyfriend and walks down the beach to talk in private.

I lean closer to Kennedy, pressing a kiss on her shoulder. We're lying on our stomachs beside each other, and Kennedy's donned a straw sunhat.

"They're having fun," Kennedy murmurs, eyes out to the ocean.

I follow her gaze to Liam and Bonnie splashing each other. Liam laughs, his head tipped back with his eyes closed, his thick black hair falling back. The sight of him like that, with the water shimmering below and the sun above him, makes my stomach flip. It reminds me of the weird feeling I got around Mr S, my sixth-grade primary school teacher, or when I watched Avatar: The Last Airbender as a kid and season 3 Prince Zuko would show up on my TV screen. Or that time I slept over at Jasper's after a party, and we —

"It must be warmer than we thought," I say to distract myself.

"Or they're both crazy," Kennedy says.

"That's more likely." I lower my mouth to kiss her arm.

Kennedy twists around to kiss me on the mouth, and I part my lips so she can slide her tongue in. We've kissed each other so much that I know exactly how our kisses go. In a moment, Kennedy will pull apart and I'll kiss her neck and then she'll snuggle her head under my chin.

And that's how it happens. It's still fun kissing Kennedy, but it's not as exciting as it was in the beginning. Maybe that's why we're both so eager to have sex. To make things exciting again.

I've had sex a couple of times before, always at parties, and as you can guess, it didn't go amazing. But I want it to be different for Kennedy. I want it to be special for her.

"They've gotten close, haven't they?" Kennedy says, eyes back on Liam and Bonnie.

"I suppose," I say after a moment. "I guess we all have."

I know what she means, though. Bonnie and Liam have gotten particularly friendly very fast. Maybe it's because they're the same age as each other, and Kennedy and I are dating, so they've latched on to each other.

Bonnie seems enamoured with Liam, in fact. It's strange because I don't think girls at Easton Grammar are like that. Well… I rake my eyes over Liam's body. Yeah, girls are interested in him.

But Liam's never had a girlfriend. I wonder if he's a virgin. The randomness of the thought makes me a jolt. Why would I care? I try to think of something mean about Liam to distract me, but instead of finding pleasure, I just feel guilty. Now that Liam's being civil, it's exposing how awful I am to him.

How did I become this way? Sure, Liam was an asshole first, but I couldn't help retaliating until we were locked in a war of insults and snide comments. Kennedy must be exhausted.

#

Hours later, everyone holds their shoes in one hand, and their towel in the other as we climb up the cliffside stairs. The stairs are old and made of wood that is being eaten away by weeds and bushes. I'm at the back of the group, following Liam up the steep and twisty path.

His skin is milky compared to the tanner complexions of the girls. I'm close enough to his back that I can see pale acne scars from his younger years.

Liam turns around and my eyes shoot up to meet his.

"You played well," he says.

"Oh. Thanks," I say. "You too."

He shrugs like I'm just being nice, but it's the truth. I knew Liam would be fast, but I didn't expect him to be that quick. But I guess looking at his body, it makes sense. I've seen Liam shirtless in the past — at school swimming carnivals, for example, but only during this holiday have I seen up close the hint of his abs, his slim waist.

"Do you play soccer competitively?" Liam asks.

"I played on a school team, from Year 7 to 10. But I dropped it last year."

"Why?"

I shrug. To focus on school, I was too busy volunteering, I lost interest. They're not very interesting answers, and why does he care?

"Do you play any other sports?" Liam asks.

We arrive at the top of the stairs. Around us, the park is busy with people having picnics and little kids playing on a nearby playground. Across the road, the street is full of shops painted with bright colours — tourist places, cafes, op shops. In front of us, Kennedy, Bonnie, and Erin lead us across the park.

"No," I answer. "These days, I work out at the gym."

"Makes sense. You're so healthy." Liam gestures at my body. "You eat healthy too."

As Liam begins rambling about food, I look over at Liam's body, comparing them. I'm more built, with broader shoulders, but Liam has the lean body of a model. And even though Kennedy has insisted she's not, it wouldn't surprise me if she found Liam attractive. That body… and that stupid face with those stupid cheekbones.

"Hey, I have a question," I ask, interrupting Liam's spiel about how he's addicted to sugar and how his dentist has asked him to stop.

"Yes, I know I should eat healthier. Yes, I eat nutritious meals at home, I just snack a lot. Yes, my dentist told me about how sugar leads to cavities —"

"How do you get away with eating so much junk food and looking… looking the way you do?"

His brows jump up. "The way I do?"

My skin heats. "You know what I mean."

"No, I don't."

I can't tell whether Liam's being genuine or whether he's teasing me. Surely he's aware of how his body looks.

"I mean, you look… fit," I say, feeling irritated. "Which is strange, because yesterday I saw you scoff down half a packet of lollies in three minutes."

Instead of getting offended, he laughs. "I shared those lollies. And I don't know why my body works the way it does. My parents say the same thing. Maybe it's genetics? Maybe I have a fast metabolism or something."

I wish I could eat whatever I wanted, the way he does. "I want your body," I murmur, appraising him.

Liam's eyes widen for a moment, and then he laughs quietly. "Oh. You mean you wish you had my metabolism. Ah, thanks… I guess."

I don't know what he's embarrassed about, but it makes me feel self-conscious. Why the hell did I compliment him? It makes me feel like I'm losing the competition between us.

Then again, I didn't exactly compliment him. I just told him the truth.

"Liam!" Bonnie calls.

A few metres ahead, the girls wait at the end of the park, nearby a zebra crossing that leads to a street full of shops. Erin and Kennedy talk while Bonnie smiles at Liam.

"They've got a pharmacy over there," she says, pointing across the road at the ocean-facing street full of square-shaped shops. "Want to buy stuff for a manicure? You promised?" She wiggles her fingers.

Liam laughs. "Of course! I'm thinking blue colours." He takes a few long-legged steps to join her, and something inside me winces. I don't know why.