Go for them all! (and miss)

You watch the gals playing two-on-two sand volleyball and their friend at the table next to yours, who seems to be keeping a close eye on the game.

"Your friends are good," you open. "Do they play here a lot?"

The young woman at the table turns her head to look round at you. She has long, straight dark hair and dark eyebrows above her gold-rimmed aviator sunglasses. "I suppose," she says. "They told me the food here is good." She takes a sip of her drink and sizes you up.

"Sure is. They do great Baja style fish tacos," you say.

"WIN WIN WIN!" comes a shout from the ball court. "All right! What did I tell you!"

It's the energetic, talkative girl who was pumped up at the beginning of the game.

"Rematch?" the girl with the dreamy, spacey look asks.

"Let's get Fairouzeh in on it," says the tall girl on the winning side.

The square-built gal with the soccer-player legs shrugs. "Teams?" she says.

"Hey, who's that dude?" the first girl asks.

"He says you're good!" the young woman next to you says.

She must be Fairouzeh. Wasn't that Persian or something?

The pumped-up girl laughs. "How would he know?" she mocks.

"I play volleyball!" you protest.

"Okay, come on down!" she says. "We get Fairouzeh, you go with Kath and Luna."

You and Fairouzeh kick off your shoes and join the others on opposite sides of the sand court.

Kath is the gal with the soccer-player build, and Luna is the spacey looking one who has an uncanny knack for getting under the ball. On the other side are Fairouzeh, looking a little out of place in a tailored linen sundress, with Tara, the toned, energetic girl, and Jennifer, with the classic tall volleyball build.

It's a spirited game, but despite Luna's knack for defense, she doesn't have much of a serve, and the bruise Karen left in the middle of your chest starts hurting as soon as you start making energetic moves. Fairouzeh proves unexpectedly adept, setting up more than one spike for Jennifer to hammer over onto your side of the net. The loft in her sundress when she jumps is a little distracting. Well, more than a little. She has lace edged granny panties on, as best you can tell. Not exactly what you were expecting under a fancy sundress. But you fight on despite the pain and the bouncing boobs and billowing sundress, until you miss a crucial dig.

"WIN WIN WIN! Ha, Joe, you suck!" Tara mocks. "Beat you INTO THE SAND!"

Well, losing by four isn't exactly getting beaten into the sand. But your chest aches, and your back as well. Maybe this wasn't a great idea. But it was fun.

"Hey, I had fun!" you say.

"Ooh-hoo, was it good for you too? Rematch? Shall we beat on you again?" Tara says.

"You can have the glory. I had a long work day," you say.

"Ha ha, you suck!" Tara says, laughing.

The girls' food arrives at their table and they start digging in.

This didn't start well, but the night isn't ruined yet. Can you talk your way back into their good graces, or will you move along?