Accidentally Amy(15)

“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.