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My forehead creased as I looked into her eyes. She gave me a playful wink, and I realized this was just for show. She probably thought Tiffany, sorry, Abigail, could overhear us.
“We should go find our lane,” I said, placing my arm over her shoulder and joining in the act. I’d take almost any opportunity to hold Violet close to me. I was hardly about to miss this one—even if it was pretend.
She lowered her voice as we walked off. “Is it working?”
I couldn’t bring myself to turn and check. Not when Violet was so perfectly tucked under my arm. “I’m sure it is,” I replied. “You better stay close though to really stake your claim.”
She rolled her eyes and released a soft laugh. “Fielding pickup lines like that, I can see why you’d fake a relationship to avoid girls.”
“Yeah,” I murmured in agreement. Although, it wasn’t all bad. Not when that cringeworthy pickup line had landed Violet in my arms.
We reached our lane, and she pulled her arm from around me as she went to sit and change her shoes.
“Didn’t you say this place was packed with Ransom students on a Friday night?” Violet said as I sat beside her and kicked off my own shoes. She was frowning as she looked around.
“What? It is…”
“Reed, the only person I’ve seen who’s our age was the girl with the foot fetish back there—and she works here. Everyone else looks like they’re about twelve years old.”
I swallowed as I glanced down the line of bowling lanes at the various groups. She was right. There was nobody our age here. How was I supposed to know no one went to the bowling alley anymore and it had turned into the local preteen hangout? I guessed it made sense seeing as I hadn’t been here in years.
“It’s still early,” I said. “I’m sure half the senior class will be here later in the evening.”
“You sure about that?” Violet was far from convinced.
This was not going well so far, and I was getting dangerously close to being exposed. What had I been thinking when I’d come up with this plan? Surely, it was only a matter of time before Violet worked out I’d made up the whole fake dating emergency. If she hadn’t already.
“Reed’s right,” Grayson said suddenly. “It’s still early. There will be a ton of seniors here later for sure.”
I gave my brother a grateful nod. He obviously didn’t actually believe what he’d said, but hopefully it would go a long way toward persuading Violet.
“Oh, okay, if you say so,” she replied, flashing Grayson a cautious smile before she went to find a bowling ball. I wondered if she was still worried Grayson didn’t like her. There was no way he would have helped me out just then if he didn’t.
“You actually make a pretty good wingman, Gray,” I said, watching Violet join Paige over by the rack of balls. The two of them quickly slipped into conversation, laughing as they tried out balls in different sizes, weights, and colors.
“Don’t thank me,” he replied. “I just couldn’t bear to watch this car crash any longer.”
“Oh god, it’s not that bad, is it?”
He cracked a small grin. “I’m joking. You know I always have your back.”
I pulled my attention from Violet to look at my brother. “I know. Just didn’t realize that extended to girl troubles.”
“Well, it’s been a while since I’ve had a chance.”
“True.”
“And I can see how important this one is to you.”
“Thanks, guru.” I nodded at my brother and smiled, but he simply rolled his eyes and wandered away to grab a ball for himself. I probably shouldn’t push my luck with Gray tonight. He was already doing a lot for me.
As soon as we started playing, I stopped worrying so much about whether Violet was going to catch on to my emergency date ploy. Bowling was actually quite fun, and I seemed to have a natural talent for it. Grayson wasn’t having as much success. He bowled with far too much strength. I was surprised he didn’t dent the lane every time he flung his ball toward the pins.
“This isn’t shotput,” I told him after a particularly bad throw.
“Aww, Gray, it’s okay,” Paige said, patting him on the arm. “You can’t be great at everything.”
He grunted in reply. The frown he was currently wearing had been known to send guys his size running in the opposite direction, but Paige’s smile simply widened.
