Accidentally Amy(16)

“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?”