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I ignore him and continue shoveling the fork into my mouth. Both him and my mom stare at me with wide eyes as I go.
“What’s the rush?” my mom asks finally.
I pull a napkin to my face and attempt to swallow enough to talk. “Emmett is picking me up,” I reply. “Date night.”
They grin and glance over at each other. “Date night?” Brendan questions with a teasing tone. “You sound like an old married couple.”
“They will be before you know it,” my mom taunts.
Their jokes make me stop for a moment, but I’m quick to roll it off my shoulders and get back to cleaning my plate. It’s not the kind of thing I want to get into with them right now, but the assumption that Emmett and I will be together forever is making me more uncomfortable every day.
Of course, I love him and can’t imagine life without him. But I’m not naïve. I’ve heard less than stellar reviews about high school sweethearts who got married. Aside from the grim odds of our relationship actually surviving college and the early adult years after that, there are all the other reasons I have to be wary about where this is going. All the things Brendan and my mom know nothing about. But thankfully, it’s all weighing on me a little less ever since I was able to vent to Bridgett.
I jump up the second the doorbell rings. “That’s him,” I announce, my voice still muffled with food. “I’ll be back later.”
“Have fun!” my mom calls out to me as I bound for the door. “Don’t stay out too late!”
Regardless of what happens five or ten years from now, tonight I am just excited about going on a normal date with my boyfriend.
“Hey you,” I smile as I hop into his car and lean over for a kiss. “What’s on the docket for tonight?”
“A big surprise,” he grins. “Something we’ve never ever done before.”
I buckle my seat belt and brace myself for whatever mystery thing he has planned. As he drives, I study his face as the passing lights move across it. Sometimes the sight of Emmett takes my breath away. Especially now that he’s out from under the expectations of his family and he’s become more down to earth. His shaggy curls and crooked smile, all leading to those piercing gray eyes that always spark with something dangerous but alluring. I can’t stop myself from sliding my hand across his knee, teasing toward the top of his thigh. He responds with a smirk but is quick to cup his hand around mine, stopping it from traveling any further.
I shrug it off, hoping we’ll have some time for that kind of thing later in the evening. But it’s hard not to let it get to me. Ever since his family disowned him, we’ve been having sex less and less. The tinges of anxiety I feel about it only worsen as he pulls up to our destination.
“Bowling!?” I shriek.
“Yup!” he beams back proudly.
I shift in my seat, remembering my parents’ jokes about us being the old married couple. Sure, bowling is fun. But for date night? Maybe we’re even closer to being in some middle-aged, sexless relationship than what I thought. But Emmett looks so excited, I can’t bring myself to give him too hard of a time about his choice.
I follow along as we go in to rent a lane and some shoes. We order pizza, wishing we could have some beer along with it. Each turn I take is comically bad, and I start to think goofing off with rolling the ball in ridiculous ways will be more fun than I originally gave it credit for. But then I notice how serious Emmett is taking each of his turns. He poses carefully before rearing his arm back and skillfully gliding it across the waxed floor. Eac
h time it pummels towards with pins with good aim, usually getting him a spare or a strike.
“Have you been skipping school and coming here to practice?” I ask skeptically, only half kidding.
He looks pleased with me noticing his good performance. “Not exactly,” he smirks. “But I have been practicing.”
I feel him watching me as I shrug and bite into a slice of pizza that’s dripping with cheese. I shouldn’t have any room for it after dinner, but a good pizza is too hard to pass up.
“I’ve been thinking of joining a league,” he blurts, sitting back in his seat casually.
“Huh?” I shoot back. “A bowling league?”
“Yeah,” he rolls his shoulders defensively. “Why not? I mean, you’ll be busy with college soon and I feel like I need a new hobby.”
“But…once we move…Aren’t you going to think about college? Or work or something?” I ask lightly, trying to hide my rising panic.
I’ve been understanding of Emmett needing time to figure things out after all that’s happened, but now I’m worried he’ll get too comfortable and lose all ambition. As he leans back and adjusts the waist of his pants, I suddenly see a flash of him twenty years from now. I imagine him with a gut and a mustache, drinking away in the bowling alley several nights a week while working some dead-end job.
“On that note…,” he answers slowly. “I meant to tell you…” He winces slightly, hesitating to finish his thought.
“Yeah?” I stare back expectantly.
He looks around and shifts uncomfortably as if he’s struggling to spit it out. “Well,” he stands, taking a few steps back towards the revolving line of bowling balls. “I talked to Theo the other day.”
