“We beat you,” I said, helping him out. Words couldn’t hide from me. I always found those bastards. “You’re having a terrible time,” I reminded Alicia and Lydia. “You’re so upset!”
“Yeah,” Luke agreed. “We rightfully kicked your asses!”
Be devastated! Luke and I glared at them. They weren’t hiding their enjoyment anymore, which made Luke and I madder, which made them happier. A vicious cycle.
“We didn’t plan on you catching on,” Alicia admitted.
Lydia smirked. “We thought you were gonna take off your shirts, use shoe polish as war paint and start running around with the pins on sticks.”
“While screaming and throwing other people in a makeshift bowling jail,” Alicia added.
I crossed my arms and gave them anI’m not angry, I’m just disappointedlook. “Now we’ll never know, will we?”
Luke sounded mournful. “Now we’ll never know,” he echoed.
Even though I’d never done this before and my coordination skills were, well, it was really generous of me to put it in a way that assumed Ihadsome coordination skills. Even though that, Luke and I still were eager and determined to kick ass.
Lydia and Alicia, instead of following the damn rules of bowling—which even I managed to do despite not knowing the rules—decided it would be more fun to throw the game, let us win, and watch us get more and more into it.
I got why that might be fun. If it were me doing it to someone else. I wasn’t, so I was justifiably morally right and outraged. In a totally serious way! They had ruined my first-time bowling and this wasn’t fun at all. This twist at the end corrupted everything and totally didn’t help cement it as a night to remember and—
Fine, I had a good time, but… oh no.
Oh no!
…
I still got prizes, right?
6. Heart to Heart Conversations
Minus the heart?
Luke
My go to move was to worry and worry and worry some more. Sure there was an answer if I just kept thinking the problem to death. Except I wasn’t doing that this time. It was surprisingly easy to go hang out with Ryan instead. Maybe that was my answer. That’s how I was supposed to spend senior year.
The weekend ended, days passed, and I still didn’t start panicking. Yeah, I wanted to be captain and win, but I don’t know. I could want something else now. I wasn’t sure what yet. I just didn’t want the baseball team had to offer me.
Oh, actually I do know what I want now.
Girl Scout cookies.
Ryan liked the cookies that had thank you written on them in different languages because it was a learning experience and a snack all in one. He was such a nerd, so I had to get him some of those because he was a nerd I loved. Even me getting him a present as insignificant as a box of cookies would probably result in him being pleased and making the best faces, so. Totally worth it.
My favorite were the do-si-dos. All the do-si-dos and thank you cookies. God, who came up with these names?
… Girls, probably.
I had my order ready and if anyone else from my family wanted to add something, they could freakinggo to the front doorjust like me instead of shouting from various places in the house. God, even Mom, who would never shout if there was company over. She was now saying—or yelling—she would disown me if I didn’t get the coconut caramel ones that I thought were really gross. She liked them.
If I got them, she would probably pay for the whole thing, so. Okay, I would get some of those.
Why we all thought the person ringing the doorbell was a Girl Scout? I had no idea.
I almost laughed when I opened the door and found Zach there. Seriously, joining the Girl Scouts? That’s not even a gay stereotype, I don’t think, it’s just weird and I could make fun of him forever but…
Oh. He wasn’t a Girl Scout.
