The Darings

Sweat covered every inch of Finn’s body as her run slowed to a jog and finally to a walk. Breathing in large gusts of air, she filled her lungs with oxygen after her two mile run around the football stadium. Running around the top of it was something that many of the students on campus liked to do. Especially for the girls, if there was boys football practice.

Licking her lips, Finn picked up her water bottle from the last row of seats that she had tossed her bag in, taking long swigs of the cold water from it. She was exhausted and the water made her feel better as her foot tapped to the beat of the iPod in her ears

Other people were running around her, but she paid them no mind as she scooped up her bag, turning around and make the incredible climb down the stadium stairs, going at a quick enough pace to be considered a leg workout, but slow enough that she would not trip and fall on her face.

Finn was a healthy person. She liked to run and sometimes do the stairs up and down to stay in a fit shape, and not become winded when walking from building to building for classes. She had gotten into the workout habit when with her brothers, who were football players.

Halfway down the stadium, she felt the burn in her legs, but kept going. If there was one thing that she had learned, it was that if your muscles were crying, you were doing something right. So she kept going to the bottom, where she finally stopped to breathe, whipping sweat from her brow.

Football practice came to an end just as she reached the bottom row, trotting down the steps to head for the parking lot. When a wave caught her eye, making her pause mid-step and look onto the green, plush field. Niall stood effortlessly on the field, on his home turf, beckoning her.

After a moment of indecision, Finn turned and took a different set of stone steps towards the field, opening the gate and walking into the pitch. It looked huge, walking onto the expanse of greenery, marked fresh with lines for practice. Finn always wondered why they wasted the paint to make lines for practice.

Dropping her bag on the sideline, she walked leisurely on the field. Niall was standing in the very middle in his white jersey, holding a ball in his hand, hip popped out as he stood. She noted it was a very feminine stance, and intended to tell him so. It was ironic, because he looked very boyish with his grass and dirt stains, sweaty face and hair standing in different directions, dark with sweat.
“You look sweaty,” Niall noted gesturing to her figure. She was in shorts and a sport bra, showing off her toned stomach that shone with a sheen of sweat. Finn was extremely confident in her figure, working hard to keep it the way that it was. “Can’t say that I mind it.”

“You look rather sweaty yourself. Can’t say that I like it.”

Niall rolled his blue eyes, dropping the ball in front of him and rolling it under his foot. “Everyone loves sweaty blokes. You play?”

She raised her brows. “Football? When I was in grade school.”

“Are you any good?”

She laughed, which seemed to startle him. It was always a surprise when Finn gave a real, honest laugh. It was nice to hear, sometimes. “Absolute rubbish, actually.”

“Oh yeah right.” Niall waved his hand at her and she crossed her arms, giving him a look. “The Finnley Wattz, bad at something? I simply don’t believe it.”

“We cannot all have the sublime skills of kicking a ball around a pitch like you, Horan. I suppose that I should be considerably impressed by your outstanding skills.”

Niall stared at her and she smiled, knowing she was annoying him. Niall hated when she started talking circles around him. When Finn talked, sometimes she talked in fancy sentences to confuse him. But she only ever did that to Niall, who was the simplest forms of being. Happiness and simplicity was Niall’s religion. “How about we see how long you can keep the ball away,” Niall informed her, tapping the ball with his foot. It rolled over to her, making the distance perfectly. “I dare you.”

“I hardly think it would be fair to complete a dare without the others.” She was not fond of football. “Although,” she added, not liking out she sounded like she didn’t want to take it on. “You three seem fond on coming up with things without me.”

He shrugged, a grin on his face. Everyone else was going off the field. The only other people remaining in the stadium were the people on the top floor running. Some where no doubt looking at the two of them standing in the center of the greenery. Especially because it was Niall Horan, the eye candy of all eye candy. “Wattz the matter, Finn? Scared?”

Her brows rose, but the rest of her face remained stoic. “In your dreams, Horan.”

Finn took off faster than Niall thought she was. She knew that because he seemed to blink in confusion when she bolted, kicking the ball and dribbling it away from him at lightning speed. A smile hit her face as he took off after her, trying to catch up. Finn had said she was bad at football because she was; she couldn’t get the ball away from other people and she couldn’t kick it past the goalie. But Niall hadn’t asked her if she was fast, which she was.

Running all the time gave Finn the advantage as she tore down the field much faster than Niall. But Niall also had the advantage that he was wearing cleats, so when Finn slipped slightly, Niall caught her- literally. He grabbed her by the waist and picked her up, spinning her away from the ball as he kicked it away from her.

“What?!” she screeched, fighting his iron grip around her waist. “This is cheating! Fucking rubbish, Horan!”

“You said you were bad! You cheated first.”

She struggled in his grip before he put her down, making her kick him in the shin. He yelled in pain throwing her a glare as she growled at him. Finn did not like being cheated out of points. She thought herself quite brave and liked to think she could rack up the most points. “I said I was bad at football! I didn’t say I was bad at running you bloody idiot!”

He seemed to think about that for a moment, making a face. “Oh. Well you have a point there, so I won’t argue.”

“I still want points.”

“For what? Giving me a good kick in the shin?”

“I’m about to give you a good kick in the arse.”

He grimaced. “Fine, two- okay don’t look at me like that, how about four?”

She evaluated that. “Fine.” She turned to walk away, dismissing him with a flick of her fiery red ponytail. “See you later, Horan.”

“What- hey don’t leave me.”

She continued walking, listening to the sound of him scrambling to pick up his things. He jogged up the steps to catch up with her. She did not hesitate a single step, knowing he would catch up to her. “Are you coming to the game tomorrow?”

Finn shrugged her shoulders. “I suppose I could make time to come to the game.”
Niall grinned, knowing that was a yes from her. “You should get a jersey with my last name on it, they might give you VIP seating.”

Finn looked at him. They stopped walking, on the edge of the parking lot, their cars in two different areas. She tilted her head to the sighed and purred, “Why would I wear your jersey when I have my brothers’?

Niall blinked in surprise, obviously not considering it. Her smile was curved and sharp as she wagged her fingers in a goodnight, turning and walking away from him. Despite their difference in personalities, Finn liked Niall. And she liked being around him. “Don’t worry your pretty little head, Finny,” she muttered to herself as she got in the car. “He’s just a boy.”

*

“You stick out like a proper moron,” Harry commented as Finn and Ash sat down in the stands. Finn was dressed in high-waisted shorts and a King’s College football shirt on, the words Wattz etched across the back. Many students gave her glares but said nothing once she swept the area around her with a glare. “Why are you wearing that bloody shirt?”

“Family before morons,” was Finn’s answer as she placed her designer bag on the arm of the chair, leaning back in her seat and screwing open the top of her silver flask. The insignia of a swan was on it, something that had been in her family. She had no idea why swan’s were there thing. “Tough tinsel, darling.”

Harry rolled his eyes and sat back. Ash sat in between Harry and Finn fiddling with the cap of her water bottle as she fixed her eyes on the field, the whistle going off as the game started. “This is going to be fun!”

Finn smiled at Ash’s excitement. It would be enjoyable. Finn rather liked watching football, though she was complete rubbish at it. The only sports she had ever excelled in was running, which is really were her talent stopped. But Niall- it seemed he had fabulous genes, seeing as he instantly took possession of the ball as a forward, driving it down the field.

Anxiously, Finn watched as her brother Xander stole the ball from one of UCL’s players, causing a audible groan as Finn screamed her brother’s names. She was now getting several glares, and Ash sunk down in the seat next to her slightly, clearly not liking the looks. It made Finn smile. She liked standing out.

“Hey Finny,” Harry said loudly over the sound of the stadium. She tossed him a poisonous glance, absolutely detesting that particular nickname. He wasn’t looking at her but he smirked, knowing it irritated her to no expanse. “I say the next time Niall makes a goal, we take off our shirts and spin them.”

Ash grinned, looking at Finn and Harry both, then asking, “How many points?”

He seemed thoughtful, making a noise as another UCL player lost the ball on the pitch. “Three. Each.”
“Deal,” Finn and Ash answered in unison, leaning forward with anticipation.

Down on the pitch, the fight for the ball was going viciously. Players were smacking into one another and the lads were digging their cleats into the grass for power, fighting for possession.
Finn constantly kept her eyes on her both of her brothers while glancing back at Niall always. He was easy to spot, with his blonde hair standing on end with sweat, running down the field.

A long while went by before Niall was able to rip the ball away from Finn’s brother Brandon, which result in both a twinge of disappointment and surge of pride and excitement as Niall began tearing down the field with exception speed.

“He’s not,” Finn said, leaning forward as the crowd watched him get through the other team, making his way at the goal. They were all on the edge of their seats, beginning to stand as Niall kicked the ball hard, aiming right at the top most corner of the right side of the goal, a place to high for the goalie to reach as he missed it. “Oh my god!”

Unanimously the stadium jumped to their feet, roaring and throwing hands in the air. Without warning, Finn, Ash and Harry all ripped their shirts of their heads, bearing their bras and for Harry a bare, toned chest, spinning their shirts around their heads and screaming.

Crowd response was immediate as people screamed and point at them in school pride, cheering them on as they spun shirts obnoxiously. Down on the field, Niall turned and angled his head towards them, seeming to locate them as halftime took over, shaking his head as he leaned over, clapping his stomach in laughter.

Putting her shirt back on, Finn sat down next to Harry and Ash. “That was well worth the three points,” Ash said lightly and in high spirits, pulling her shirt over her head. Finn gave her a small smile. She had not thought Ash would do it, or that it would be out of her comfort zone. But it seemed Ash Hughes was made out of tougher stuff than Finn gave her credit for. “It was fun.”

“Yes,” Finn agreed, settling. “It was.”