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A beach day was just what they needed. Classes were finally over for the summer, and Dragonfly was looking forward to releasing some stress by thrashing some strangers at volleyball.
Gerd followed along behind her, carrying the cooler full of drinks and snacks and humming along to the music someone was blasting further down the beach. If there was one thing she was sure she could trust him with, it was the food. He’d never let her down when it came to beer and snacks.
There were a couple of volleyball nets set up a short walk from the car park. Dragonfly immediately zeroed in on one in particular. Gerd came to a stop beside her and smirked.
‘This seems like a good spot,’ he said, dropping the cooler. ‘You got the blankets?’
Dragonfly rolled her eyes at him and set her bag down. It didn’t take long to set up a pair of blankets and a few towels for later. She was already wearing her bikini under her clothes so she didn’t bother to cover herself when she stripped off. She couldn’t help but glance over at the volleyball players as she did so.
‘I’m gonna go ask if they’re up for a game,’ Gerd said, grinning.
He was gone before Dragonfly could stop him, and she swore under her breath, marching after him. He forgot sometimes that women would take one look at him and assume he was hitting on them the second he opened his mouth. Dragonfly had made that assumption. Of course, then he’d gone and offered to introduce her to one of his classmates, who’d been too shy to talk to her herself. It had been a pretty good date, in the end, even though it never went anywhere.
When Dragonfly caught up, she could see the two women at the net were already rolling their eyes, getting ready to tell Gerd to get lost. The redhead seemed especially unimpressed.
‘- my friend’s pretty good. She was hoping to blow off some steam now that classes are done,’ Gerd said, giving them that winning smile of his that said that his head was empty, but his heart was full. It was probably only that smile that had convinced Dragonfly to keep him after that first conversation.
‘So your friend wants to play some volleyball?’ the blonde asked, smirking. ‘What are you planning on doing?’
‘Oh, I just stand there and look pretty,’ Gerd said, laughing a little.
‘You don’t play at all?’ the redhead challenged, one eyebrow raised. She didn’t look like she believed him at all.
‘He can play if you want,’ Dragonfly said, inserting herself into the conversation, ‘But he has no coordination to speak of. He sometimes joins to create a handicap if the teams are uneven. He’s very good at the looking pretty thing though.’
‘Well, if it’s just you we do have space for one more on our team,’ the blonde said, sticking a hand out. ‘I’m Ciri. Grumpy over there is Cerys.’ She indicated the redhead. ‘Losing team has to buy the ice cream.’
‘That works for us,’ Dragonfly said. ‘And we brought beers to celebrate when we win.’
Ciri and Cerys both laughed, and damn Dragonfly was into it. They were both gorgeous.
Between the three of them, they won every game, Gerd cheering them on from the sidelines. A trio of frat boys left utterly humiliated, and also very much rejected.
When they’d had enough fun, Gerd handed out the beers, then headed for the stall selling ice cream, winking at Dragonfly as he left.
‘You know, your friend’s less subtle than he thinks,’ Cerys said, grinning after him.
‘God love that boy, but he wasn’t blessed with much brains,’ Dragonfly sighed. ‘Good thing he’s so damn sweet, otherwise he’d be utterly doomed. Sorry though, he gets an idea in his head and then runs with it.’
‘He’s pretty cute too which probably doesn’t hurt,’ Ciri said, grinning at Dragonfly from where she was sprawled across a blanket.
‘He’s also incredibly gay,’ Dragonfly observed dryly.
‘Oh, I got that much. He’s not my type anyway. Not enough… bust if you know what I mean?’ Ciri said, winking. ‘But I know this guy. Is your friend single?’
‘He is indeed. Tell me about your devious plan!’
Dragonfly flopped down onto the blanket next to Ciri and Cerys settled in on her other side. It didn’t take long for Ciri to extol the many virtues of Ryfar. What Dragonfly heard was enough to convince her to accept his number on Gerd’s behalf and help hatch a plan to set them up.
‘If only I was half as good at finding a date for myself’, she sighed, flopping flat onto the blanket dramatically.
Ciri laughed. ‘Cerys said he wasn’t subtle, not that it wasn’t working,’ she said, winking.
Dragonfly did not blush.