sunshine // joel miller

TWENTY

Chapter Twenty
Monkeys!

Five days had passed since they'd set off for the fireflies camp - five days that were spent playing around, small touches, and many a joke from Ellie about how clingy the two adults were.

It felt bittersweet when they finally came close to the university, horses still going strong as they trotted through the old roads that led to it. Joel was in the process of explaining American football to the two girls. It was hard to follow, the man trying to remember the rules for himself as he taught them.

"Okay, so if you mess up your fourth down, then you give the ball to the other team?" Ellie asked him, trying to recap the rules as she had her horse next to theirs.

"Right. It's called a turnover." He answered, seeming a little proud that she was starting to understand it.

"Turnover." Ellie nodded at the word, "But if you make it to 10 yards, then you're back to first down?"

"Yep." Joel nodded again, hearing a small scoff from behind him.

"So, basically just moving in one direction." Ellie asked, ignoring the scoff.

"Basically... but violent." Joel told her, but upon hearing another scoff behind him, he turned his head, "what's got you huffin' and puffin' back there?"

"Football everywhere else in the world makes much more sense," Fran told him, "not American football; which you could've given a whole other name instead of demoting real football to soccer."

"What makes your football so much better than mine?" He asked her, his voice showing slight offence.

"How about how you use your feet. Foot-ball." She started, "your one defeats the whole purpose of the name."

"You can drop kick at kick-off," Joel argued.

"But kicking otherwise is a no. So why call it foot ball?" She argued, not letting it go, "stupid."

Ellie giggled at the insult as Joel threw one of his hands behind him and poked into a little sensitive spot on Fran's waist. It made her scream and try and get away from him as Ellie started to laugh loudly.

Joel had discovered Fran had a very sensitive spot on her hip three days ago after trying to subtly wrap his arm around her. She slapped his arm at it at the time, but now any time she pissed him off or ganged up on him with Ellie he was quick to poke it, knowing she hated it.

"Do not encourage him," Fran pointed to Ellie with a look at her laughter, Ellie holding her hands up.

"Why are you mad at me! It was Joel!" She argued with more laughter.

"You called me stupid," Joel argued, shrugging his shoulders, "fair is fair."

"Do you think it would be fair if I shoved you forward and off of the front of this horse?" Fran asked him, raising her eyebrows.

"You wouldn't be able to," he said, suddenly leaning all of his weight backwards as Fran's arms reached up to push on his back, "you don't have the muscles."

Fran tried to push him off, Ellie laughing at her attempts as she did so. Joel just stayed leaning back and unmoving, smug smile on his face.