Hailey laughs and stands on her tiptoes to get in Aiden’s face. “We’re going to kick your asses.”
The men chuckle and shake their heads at us as if we’re cute. We’ll show them! I nearly rub my hands in glee, but I manage to keep my poker face in place. I happen to be an awesome bowler. Beer and bowling are my jam. Hailey isn’t too bad either, since I often drag her to the alley with me.
I plop down to put on my bowling shoes.
“You have your own bowling shoes?” Grayson asks.
“Yep.” I don’t tell him it’s because I bowl all the time. No, I’m having too much fun scamming them. “I’m not putting my feet where other people have. How do I know their socks are clean?” I do an exaggerated shiver.
Of course, he swallows my lie hook, line, and sinker. Being a compulsive cleaner comes in handy sometimes. He looks at his rental shoes for a long moment before shrugging and sitting next to me to change shoes.
I bump his shoulder. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine.” I wait for him to expand, but he doesn’t. Whatever. I’ve got him. I’ll fix his problems.
“Suzie,” Hailey shouts. “You’re up first.”
I open my bowling bag and remove my bowling ball.
“You have your own ball?”
I’m prepared for his question. I wiggle my fingers at him. “Tiny hands equal tiny fingers.”
He takes a bit longer to swallow this lie, but he does. This is going to be too much fun.
I give my rear an extra wiggle as I walk to the approach area. Once I’m there, I let all the noise fall away and concentrate on my throw. The ball flies down the lane and boom! Strike, baby, strike!
I twirl around and bat my eyelashes at the boys. “Must be beginner’s luck.”
I watch as Grayson takes his first throw. He’s obviously bowled some as he knocks down eight pins. He winks when he notices me watching him. I cross my arms over my chest and wait for his second throw. It should be an easy spare, but he misses both pins on his second chance. I may smirk.
“Phoebe, you’re up,” Hailey shouts from where she’s sitting at the command center.
It’s not literally a command center. Everything in bowling is automated nowadays. There’s no need to keep score, but she likes to sit in front of the computer and pretend she’s in charge. I let her.
Phoebe bites her lip as she stands.
“Do you need help?” I ask, but she waves me away. Alrighty then.
She glances over at Ryker to see how he’s putting his fingers in the holes. She follows his lead and adopts a conventional grip. Then she watches as he takes his first chance. When he finishes, she scrunches up her nose and studies our lane.
“You got this, Pheebs.” I clap to encourage her.
She swings the ball back and then throws it forward. But instead of the ball flying down the lane, it sails upwards toward the ceiling. “Aaaah!” she screams and covers her head.
The ball curves and drops in front of a young girl, barely missing her. The girl’s eyes widen to the size of saucers. She stands frozen staring at the ball that literally dropped from the sky to land at her feet. I hear the sound of water splashing and look down to see the poor girl has literally peed herself.
“Ohmygod!” Phoebe rushes to her, but at her approach, the girl screams and bursts into tears. I can’t blame her. The ball scared the stuffing out of me, and I wasn’t anywhere near the danger zone.
The girl’s dad rushes to her and picks her up and carries her off. Phoebe tries to follow but the man gives her a vicious look stopping her in her tracks.
Ryker tags Phoebe’s hand and leads her away. “Come on. There’s nothing you can do.”
“Clean up on aisle five,” I shout.
Ryker snarls. “Not funny, Suze. Not funny.”
He sits and places Phoebe in his lap. “I am never bowling again!” she declares.