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Annie’s pretty sure she might be dying. It’s impossible not to feel that way when she’s lying flat on her back on the grass near the seesaw. The park is too busy and therefore too loud and it’s making her muscles ache even more, although she’s not entirely sure how that works exactly and she’s too tired to figure it out. Her body hurts in places that she didn’t think were possible and she’s panting more than any human should be capable of, not to mention she’s practically a puddle of sweat (and she’s starting to think blood and tears too at this point).
“You’re... A... Monster,” she manages to get out between breaths.
She thinks about lifting her hand to point accusingly up at Rio who stands by her head, hands on his hips as he stares down at her with a big grin. She thinks about it because both of her arms are like a dead weight and she’s not about to give him more satisfaction at her obvious suffering.
“You asked me to help,” he reminds her.
“I didn’t think you’d be so intense.” She closes her eyes and groans a little at the pain. “This is awful. Who does this for fun?”
“Me,” Rio says, which has her opening one eye to peer up at him. “It’s why you asked me.”
“Well, I thought you’d be more professional.”
“Ain’t my fault you’re out of shape.”
Annie glares at him. “Well, that’s just rude.”
Rio chuckles as he moves to stand by her feet. “I’m joking.” He reaches down and she does everything in her power to lift her arms so she can grab his hands. Once she’s grasped them, he pulls her to her feet with ease. “You just ain’t used to it yet.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it,” she admits. “This was stupid. I like my comfort food and my cinnamon schnapps-” She has to take a break to grasp her side and take a breath. “-and sitting on my ass in front of the TV. I don’t like running.”
He rolls his eyes at her and she knows he’s about to disregard everything she’s just said before he even opens his mouth. “Yeah, and last week you said wanted me to train you ‘cause you were sick of doing the same shit and making the same mistakes.”
“Okay, so I might have said something like that,” Annie says, not quite meeting his eye as she takes a couple of deep breaths. It’s definitely getting easier to breathe in general, it just hurts a ton and well, that doesn’t make the whole scenario any better in her opinion. She certainly hasn’t got that post-workout thrill that everyone keeps telling her about. “But in my defence, asking you to do this might have been one of those mistakes I was talking about.”
Rio raises a brow at her. “I remember you begging.”
She huffs out an annoyed breath, shoving him slightly (which is a mistake on her part because it hurts, a lot). “I hadn’t sunk that low.”
“Definitely begging and we didn’t even know each other that well.”
“And all this time I thought we were friends when I asked.”
“Yeah?”
Annie lifts her chin a little. “Yeah.”
He chuckles which makes her want to go on the offensive only he sighs as he looks over the park. When he looks back at her, there’s a trace of that usual smirk on his face. “A’ight, so your sister’s kids playing with mine these last few weeks makes us friends?”
“It could do but I mean, hey, if you want to pass up an awesome friendship, well that sucks for you, buddy.”
Rio nudges her, this time letting out a full-blown laugh. “No need to lay it on so thick, I was only messing.”
“Maybe I don’t want to be your friend anymore,” Annie mutters. He scoffs. “Yeah, you do.”
It’s only been about eight weeks, give or take, since she first met him at the park. It had been one of the first times that Annie had offered to take the kids so they wouldn’t be in the house while Beth and Dean dealt with their... stuff and it ended up turning into a regular situation. On that first meeting, Jane had practically forced her way into a game with Rio’s son, Marcus, and well, the rest was history. Rio had come over to investigate and after the kids continued to seek each other out during every trip, he started to sit with Annie.
The days with Ben were the better ones in the beginning because he was like a good buffer. Annie talked too much and Rio laid the sarcasm on a little too thick that it started to sound more like genuine insults. Eventually, the two of them found a rapport which led to Annie, amid of desperation, asking last week for him to help her get more in shape. (Because no matter what he says, she absolutely did not beg.)
“How come your sister ain’t ever here?” he asks, bringing her out of her thoughts, and to top it off, he nudges her to follow him as he does some stretches.
Annie copies his movements as she chews on her lip, debating if it’s the kind of information she should share. “She’s busy. Like, with some serious shit.”
“He wants them all to come over.”
“Marcus?” He hums in affirmation. “Oh. Well, I did tell her about you both but she really has been busy.”
“It’s cool.” Rio waves her off as if proving his point.
But God, Marcus’ little face is just swimming in her mind's eye now. His big grin, all teeth with puffed-out cheeks, and those bright eyes. He literally has the face of some kind of angel or something. She’s not entirely sure but she does know that he’s way too sweet and polite for her to allow his heart to be broken by being told there’s no playdate.
“Look, she might hate me for it,” Annie says quickly before she can change her mind. “But I’m pretty sure she might be free right now. Why don’t you drop me at hers instead and I’ll introduce you?”
Rio seems to mull that over. It gives her a moment to contemplate taking it back but then he’s shrugging. “Probably time I met her anyway.”
“Good, good,” she says, more to herself than anything. “I mean it when I say she’s been busy with things though.”
“Well, just so you know, if I’m gonna have five kids at my place,” Rio starts, pointing at her. “You’re helping me.”
“How about you just take my kid too and he can help you?”
Rio just shakes his head as he rolls his eyes at her. “Next you’ll be suggesting he takes your place and I train him instead.” At that, Annie grins, already backing away in the direction of the car. “You know what? That’s not a bad plan.”
When they pull up outside Beth’s house, it suddenly seems like a bad idea to Annie or rather, a worse idea. She knows it’s got the potential to be amusing as hell and that she's really looking forward to, but all the ways Beth could go off on her for bringing Rio around unannounced are clouding her mind even more than before. And well, it’s not like she hasn’t spoken a lot about Beth to Rio and vice versa because she has but the details have always been kind of minimal or vague, not entirely sure when the two of them would ever meet, if ever.
Regardless, there’s no time to actually worry about it because Rio is way too fast and he’s already out of the car and coming around to her side before she can even open her mouth to tell him that they should maybe do this another time.
“You coming or what?” he asks once he’s opened her door and when she doesn’t immediately respond, he grins. “Having second thoughts?”
“That makes you want to meet her even more, doesn’t it?” He shrugs, glancing up at the house. “Maybe.”
She slowly climbs out of the car. Although that’s more to do with the fact that her body aches even more than it did at the park. “I hope you know that if she’s not happy about me bringing guests ‘round without telling her, I’m using you as a human shield.”
Rio chuckles, closing the door behind her and then he’s by her side, he throws his arm around her shoulders as they walk up to the house. “That ‘cause I’m like a whole foot taller than you?”
She pokes his side. “Hey, it’s not my fault you’re the perfect size to hide behind.”
“I’m sure it’s not gonna be that bad,” he says. “Besides, I’ll just say a quick hello and leave if it’s an issue.”
“Honestly, she’d probably jump at the chance for the kids to be elsewhere with everything that’s going on,” Annie admits but then almost stops dead in her tracks. “But don’t tell her I told you she’s dealing with stuff!”
“It ain’t like you’ve given me details.”
“That won’t matter to her, the fact you know something is up will be enough.”
As they reach the front door, he removes his arm and imitates zipping his mouth shut. Giving a slight nod of approval, Annie lets them into the house. She pauses by the front door, listening out but she can hear the kids and then Beth telling them to play outside and so she motions to Rio to follow suit as she heads towards the kitchen.
“Your favourite sister is here!”
She can practically hear Beth’s eye roll. “You’re my only sister.” “I think Ruby would be offended by that.”
“Oh, well if we’re counting Ruby in this then she’s my favourite.” Annie scoffs. “I am deeply offended.”
As they reach the kitchen, Beth is at the island counter, pressing different shaped cookie cutters into some rolled out dough. She’s about to say something but when she looks up, whatever it was dies on her lips as she looks past Annie. “I... Hi?”
Settling onto one of the stools, Annie glances up as Rio comes to stand beside her. “This is Rio... Marcus’ dad.”
“Oh!” Beth nods, wiping her hands on her apron before reaching one out and Annie almost cackles at the way Rio’s eyebrow shoots up and he gives her a look as if to say, you weren’t kidding. Nonetheless, he reaches out and shakes it.
“I’m Beth. My Jane won’t stop talking about your son.” “Yeah, he’s the same. It’s kind of why I’m here.”
“Do you mind?” she asks, motioning to the counter and when he shakes his head, she goes back to cutting out the cookies. “Now, let me guess, he wants a playdate?”
“Guessing yours has been asking the same?”
“All four of them,” Beth agrees. “I’ve been meaning to get Annie to mention it to you.” She glances up and actually blushes and all of the worry Annie had before just drains away in an instant. “It’s a good thing you dropped by.”
“It was all this one’s idea,” Rio says as he nudges Annie with her elbow.
She glares at him before turning to Beth who’s already eyeing her. “I figured you wouldn’t be all that busy seen as the kids are here and Dean’s got those meetings.”
“The husband?”
Beth’s eyes snap to him and Annie watches the cogs turn as she tries to figure out a suitable answer to that. “Something like that.”
Despite the present company, Annie snorts but quickly pushes the conversation on. “So, this playdate?”
Rio rolls his eyes at her but it’s hard not to notice the way he instantly goes back to looking at Beth. “Yeah, I got Marcus next weekend.”
“Kenny’s got a swim meet in the morning on Saturday,” Beth says. “But I could always bring them by or meet you somewhere after that? It’ll be around noon if things go well.”
“Any time works for me, I’m cool with figuring a more exact time out closer to the day,” he says and it’s Annie’s turn to roll her eyes because he’s so predictable when he says, “your sisters got my number.” And he must catch the look on her face because he throws an arm around her. “Although, I was gonna drag her into helping me.”
“You’ll just have another child to look after.”
He grins. “Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“You wouldn’t survive without me there,” Annie insists.
“You were just offering to send your kid to help me instead.”
Beth gives her a disbelieving look so Annie pokes his side. “He would have fun.”
“Well, it probably is a good idea that you don’t do it alone because while I’m sure you know what you’re doing, five against one hardly seems fair,” Beth says to which Rio nods in agreement. “I’ve got some things to deal with that day so Annie might have to be your best option if we don’t want to cut the whole thing too short.”
At the look on Beth’s face, Annie sobers a little. Rio must sense it because he edges a little closer against her. “Is this about...?”
“Yeah,” Beth says, placing the pieces of cutout dough onto a baking tray. “It’s the thing I’ve been pushing for.”
“Oh! Maybe Rio here should take them by himself and we can go drinking.”
Rio scoffs. “I ain’t keeping them overnight, not got enough space for them to sleep.”
“They’re kids,” Annie objects, waving him off. “They can sleep on the floor.”
“I’m not using a playdate as a way to go and get drunk.”
“Is it something worth celebrating?” Rio asks.
“Hell yeah,” Annie declares at the same time Beth says, “maybe.”
The two sisters share a silent conversation and Rio chuckles. “Then I’m sure you ladies will figure something out.”
At that, Annie gasps. “Judith!”
Beth groans. So dramatic that even Rio notices, his eyes flitting between the two of them.
“Mother-in-law,” Annie clarifies for his benefit but hurrying on. “And she would be the perfect choice, they love it there, she’s been begging to see them.”
“And when I tell her...” Beth trails off. “ What we’re celebrating?” “Duh, don’t.”
“I can’t just do that.”
“Yes, you can.”
“It’s wrong.”
“It’s practical.”
Suddenly, Rio’s arm hand is gripping Annie’s elbow and tugging her off the stool. Conveniently just as Beth lets out some exasperated sigh. “I’ll get this one out of your hair.”
Beth smiles. “Much appreciated.”
“Remember, I’m your favourite sister.”
“I remember disagreeing with that.”
“Don’t worry, I know the truth.”
Annie watches the way Beth rolls her eyes but more curiously at how Rio smirks. “I’ll give him your number.”
“Yes,” Beth says, blush forming. “Please. That would be useful.”
“I’ll text you,” Rio says, his eyes dipping over her form, head tilting to the side slightly, and just-
Gross.
Annie shoves him towards the front door. And, sure, she had a reason for bringing Rio to the house besides a playdate but that doesn’t mean she won’t stop him from starting to undress her sister right in front of her, even if it is just with his eyes. They could wait to be alone for that or just away from her at least.
Not that Rio cares. As they’re about to step outside, he twists around to take one last look at Beth who’s already moving to put the baking tray in the oven and that’s got him giving her that look again, only Annie pushes him out the door before his eyes have a chance to dip lower than her face because seeing that obvious attraction slip into a sheer look of awe is grosser from close up.