2.3 Tim

OOOMMPH!

"Nice dig, T!" shouted Josh.

Tim spat out a mouthful of sand and grinned as he slapped hands with his friend.

His buddies on the opposite court applauded. "Timmmyyy! Good to have you back buddy."

As he stretched his shoulder, Tim thought about how badly he was going to ache tomorrow, but it was worth it - being on the court again after so long felt amazing.

He grabbed the ball and brushed it off preparing to serve. "Losers buy the first round guys!"

And with that he slammed a terrific shot over the net, but it was set and returned to him and Josh nicely. The teams were well matched and the game soon began to draw spectators. Beach volleyball was a traditional and much-loved spectator sport in the neighbourhood, and nothing drew crowds faster than a well-matched, fast-paced game.

"Dude, try not to show off too much," Tim said to his partner. "We want to win this."

"Ah, Tim?” Josh lowered his voice and adjusted his sunglasses. “Have you noticed the people watching us? And have you noticed that many of those people are hot girls wearing bikinis?"

It was hard not to laugh. Josh was a good six inches shorter than Tim, and was the kind most people assumed to be a geek at first - into computers, incredible history buff, and quoting Monty Python whenever possible. But he was in great shape, funny as hell, owned his own company, and was good with the ladies.

"Good point," replied Tim. "Bring on the show." And with that they used every trick they had to win the game and look good doing it.

Unfortunately, their competitors were just as determined to show off for the growing crowd. After a solid thirty minutes of play, Tim and Josh were up by only a point, and he had to admit he was getting tired. It had been a few years since he had played a game like this, and his body wasn't what it used to be.

He took a minute to catch his breath before he served, brushing sand off the ball and looking up into the spectators. "Wow," he thought, "Josh was right. There are some gorgeous girls here. Ok Jennings, suck it up and finish this game."

He brushed off the ball yet again and prepared to serve. Suddenly he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, like someone was watching him. He looked up and scanned the crowd, and found himself staring smack into the beautiful blue eyes of Miss Flip Flops, who was standing off to the side of the crowd.

She smiled that smile and gave a little wave, and his insides turned to water.

"Stay cool," he thought. "You're playing a game here."

Tim returned her smile, and then turned back to face the net. He gave the ball a final brush to wipe off the now non-existent sand, looked at his opponents, checked Josh for his signal, and reached up to smash the ball.

Right into the net.