When John and Sinbad finally arrived at the courts, things were a lot less awkward than Meg had anticipated. Despite being potential rivals, Flynn and John actually got along really well. After demolishing the pizza, the guys broke off into two teams of three; Flynn, Aladdin and Eric versus John, Sinbad and Phoebus. For the girls' "enjoyment" (as Sinbad put it) they decided to play shirts versus skins. Phoebus, John and Sinbad were on the skins team.
Sinbad took off his shirt and dropped it on the ground before jogging onto the court. Phoebus slowly took off his shirt, making a show of it, then tossed it at Esmeralda. Esmeralda whistled and boosted her boyfriend's ego with catcalls. Meg, however, barely noticed any of this. She watched John take off his shirt, his muscles flexing in the process. Her eyes widened and she couldn't help but stare. His body was perfectly sculpted and toned. His skin was creamy and flawless. She forced her eyes up to his face and really looked at him for the first time. He had thick blonde hair, dark blue eyes and a chiseled face.
How can everyone be obsessed with Flynn with a man as perfect as John Smith walking through school halls? Meg thought. She immediately felt silly for thinking it, though. After all, Flynn was her best friend and she had liked him for so long. But, she had never seen a man like John before.
When the game began, Meg cheered for Flynn like she was supposed to. Still she found her eyes wandering towards John more often than they should have. Whenever he dribbled the ball or made a shot, the veins in his forearms would pop out, causing Meg's heart to beat just a little faster and her cheeks to grow hot.
What the hell is wrong with you? Meg scolded herself. He's just a boy. Not to mention Eugene's rival.
Meg focused her attention on Flynn the rest of the game. In the end, Flynn's team lost by only two points. It was hard to tell who was the better player; John and Flynn played fairly equally. It was this reason, though, that it seemed there was suddenly a little tension between them.
After the game, Flynn walked over to Meg and put his arm around her shoulders. "What did you think?" he asked her.
"You were great," Meg replied.
"Not good enough, though," Flynn said, glancing over at John; who was now using his shirt to wipe the sweat off himself. "John's better than I expected."
"Don't worry about John," Meg told him. "You'll have a good season no matter what."
Now Flynn turned to look at her. "Always the encouraging best friend."
"I mean it, Eu-Flynn. You've got a lot skills; you'll be fine."
"It seems like he's got a lot of skills off the court as well."
Meg glanced up to see John now standing in front of them. He was still shirtless and had his shirt draped over his shoulder. Meg had to tell herself to keep her eyes on his face.
"Your reputation with the ladies precedes you, Rider. Somehow you already managed to get the new girl," John said.
"Well, who can resist Flynn Rider?" Meg asked, with a slight mocking tone. She gave Flynn a teasing smile.
"I don't think we've met," John said. "I'm John Smith."
"Megara. But you can all me Meg."
John smiled at her. "I like Megara. A girl with exotic beauty like you, should be called by a name equally as beautiful."
Meg did her best to conceal the fact the she was blushing like an Irish school girl. She had no idea how to respond to that. Luckily, Flynn cut in.
"You're cheesy, man."
Meg nodded. "Yeah, John. You should try Flynn's approach." She lowered her voice and imitated Flynn the best she could, "Hey, babe; I'm Flynn Rider. I'm popular. We should go out."
John laughed. "Does that actually work?"
Meg shrugged. "It must. He got two dates in less than ten minutes this afternoon."
"Is that how he got you?" John asked.
Meg stole a glance at Flynn. To her surprise, he looked somewhat insulted. She then realized that she must have embarrassed him by making fun of him to his rival. She looked up at John. "Actually, I only date guys who can beat me at basketball. That's how Flynn got me."
John raised his eyebrow at Meg. He looked at Flynn, then back at Meg. "In that case, I challenge you to a game of one-on-one."
Meg gave him a flirty smile. "All right. You're on."
Meg stood up. She slipped off her leather jacket and handed it to Flynn. She then picked up the ball off the grass and slowly dribbled it as she and John walked onto the court. They stopped at mid court. Meg checked the ball to John and he checked it back. Meg bent over a little bit and started bouncing the ball; hoping the fact that John was still shirtless wouldn't distract her too much.
"First one to ten points," John told her.
"Don't hold back."
"I won't."
John came towards her. She spun away from him and shot the ball. It swooshed into the basket and she had immediately scored three points. John looked shocked for a moment, but quickly recovered and ran to catch on the rebound. He did a lay-up and scored two points. The game went back and forth like that. They stayed pretty equal the whole time. Meg had to admit John was a strong player. The game was now tied at seven and Meg knew she had to step up her game. She shot the ball, but it bounced off the rim and flew backwards. John caught it and started dribbling towards the basket. Meg ran towards him and stole the ball. She brought it to the three point line and shot it. It bounced off the backboard, hit the rim and rolled right into the basket.
John grabbed the ball and turned to look at Meg. He had an impressed look on his face.
Meg gave him a triumphant smile. "Ya know, your team may have beat Flynn's in your little game, but he was still able to win against a girl and you couldn't. So, I think that makes him the better player."
Meg started walking back to the picnic table and saw that everyone was staring at her. They all looked shocked, except Flynn; he looked amused. He knew she was a good player; he was the one who had been training her for the last several years. Meg walked back over to Flynn and sat down next to him.
Flynn gripped the side of Meg's head, pulled it towards him and kissed her cheek. "You're the best friend ever!"
