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“Get out of here. I didn’t know that. So, uh, what? You don’t hang with Bridge and the rest of the nerd herd anymore?”
Flushing because now Ryder was going to forever think of me as a nerd herder, I scowled. “Yes, I’m still friends with your sister. I talked to her Wednesday night. Remember? You answered the phone.”
He looked thoughtful a moment before he snapped his fingers and pointed at me. “Yeah, right. Okay.”
I caught myself just in time to keep from rolling my eyes.
“So why’re you going to Southeast?”
“Because Barry lives here.”
He blinked. “Who’s Barry?”
“My new stepdad.” I thought I was going to have to remind him that he’d gone to Mom and Barry’s wedding last month, but he snapped his fingers again.
“Oh, yeah. That guy, right?” He pointed behind me.
“Huh?” I spun around to find Barry opening the front door of the bowling alley, toting a small bag under his arm. My purse.
He lifted it and smiled when he caught sight of me. “You left this in the car,” he said, holding out my purse even as he glanced at Joel and then Ryder who flanked me on both sides. “Thought you might need it.”
Hurrying toward him, I offered a grateful smile. “Thanks. Yeah, I definitely would’ve needed it.”
As I took the purse from him and clutched it to my chest, he backed away from me as if he was going to head right back out the exit. “Have a good night.”
“Thank you.” I turned away only to find Bridget’s brother departing as well.
“Catch you later, Violet.” He waved over his shoulder as he disappeared into the video game room.
“Did he just call you Violet?” Ryder wanted to know, lingering at my side. When I nodded and rolled my eyes, he wrinkled his nose. “Why?”
Because he’s a complete weirdo, I was tempted to answer. Instead, I shrugged. “Because my last name’s Indigo, which…is close to the color violet, I guess.”
“Violet?” Ryder repeated on a frown. “I thought Indigo was closer to blue?”
I sighed. “It is.” But that was Joel for you. Not the brightest bulb in the pack.
Reali
zing I was standing next to Ryder and feeling a lot more settled than when I’d first entered the bowling alley, I cleared my throat. “So, where’s everyone else?”
“We’re it so far,” he said. He motioned vaguely over his shoulder toward the shelves of bowling balls. “Kiera’s still trying to find the perfect ball.”
I nodded and finally spotted Evil Cheerleader Barbie putting a ball back only to lift another and grimace as she hefted it.
“The rest should be here soon.”
“I guess I’ll go rent my shoes then.” I started away.
But Ryder stopped me. “Hey, you want to make a bet?”
I silently groaned. Great. If he thought I was going to be any kind of challenge to beat in real bowling, he was going to be sadly mistaken. The only thing I’d be good at was making gutter balls.
I paused to frown up at him. “What kind of bet?”
“Five bucks says every time Kiera kisses me tonight, Todd will turn to you and do something similar.”
My jaw dropped open, not expecting this kind of bet. “Excuse me?”
