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‘Lucky you,’ I joke. It doesn’t land with Leila but Rocco snorts.
‘What do you do for fun?’ she persists. ‘Not bowling, obviously.’
‘No, not bowling,’ I reply. ‘To be honest, I’ve been quite boring for the last year. I bought a house and decided to do the world to it.’
‘You’re up,’ Tobias tells me.
Again? Already?
I puff air from my cheeks.
‘I’ll come with you,’ Rocco says.
‘Tobias, let’s go get some more drinks,’ Leila says. ‘While these two take their turns. I don’t think we’ll miss much.’
Rocco and I slowly make our way over to the ball rack again. ‘Toxic’ by Britney Spears is playing. I might suck at bowling but it’s hard not to enjoy disco bowling, even if I am embarrassingly bad.
‘Being a teacher and owning a house are both pretty grown-up things,’ Rocco says with a smile.
‘What do you do?’ I ask.
‘I’m an architect,’ he replies.
‘Oh, come on, that’s way more grown up,’ I say, giving his arm a playful shove. ‘What a—’
My feet vanish from under me. Stupid bowling shoes, they’re like glass underneath.
Rocco extends his arms and catches me, pulling me close. We both laugh – mine is mostly one of relief.
‘You were saying?’ he asks me while I’m still in his arms.
‘I was saying… What are you working on at the moment?’
‘You,’ he replies, and it’s the single sexiest thing I’ve ever heard. A static-like shock ripples through my body. My breath catches in my throat.
Rocco laughs as he steadies me on my feet again before releasing me.
‘I’ve always wanted to say that,’ he tells me with a laugh. ‘Come on, take your shot, and then I’ll go buy you a drink, and we can whisper about them. Do you fancy a soft drink, or another drink-drink?’
‘Oh, it’s going to need to be a drink-drink,’ I tell him. ‘If I’m going to get through any more turns of this.’
I grab a ball and throw it with all the confidence I can muster. It’s another gutter ball.
‘Have another go,’ he tells me with a smile. ‘Throw mine for me while no one is looking.’
I shrug, grab another ball, and throw. Another gutter ball.
‘If the goal was to hit the fewest pins possible, we might have a world champ on our hands,’ he says with a smile. ‘Drink-drink it is. Look at this.’
Rocco sticks his tongue out as far as he can. It’s bright purple.
‘Erm…’ I laugh.
‘Being here made me feel really nostalgic,’ he explains. ‘I used to love bowling when I was a kid and I would always have a slushie. Long story short, there’s a girl behind the bar who will stick a vodka shot in them for thegrown-ups.’
He says ‘grown-ups’ in a funny voice.
‘Consider me a grown-up then,’ I reply. ‘Let’s go.’
