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“Why isn’t she here tonight?”
“She doesn’t like bowling.” His expression deepened as soon as he spoke, which made me realize that ithadbeen a grimace. “Well, she actually doesn’t like this alley, she said.”
I nodded as I typed out his responses into my Notes app, and when I glanced up at our lane, I found my name blinking on the TV screen. Dang—not nearly enough time. “Thanks for giving me the info,” I told Landon as I pocketed my cell phone, even though we’d barely scratched the surface of the plethora of questions I wanted to ask. Like, who asked out who? Had they gone on their first date yet? Were they going to homecoming together? But I held back, because even though Landon had offered, judging by his posture, it was obviously too new for him to talk freely about. “Can I ask one more question?”
Landon nodded.
I laid my arms on the tabletop and leaned in, getting as close as possible to lower my voice. “Do you know why Reed quit the team?”
“Reed?” Landon’s gaze moved to the ball return, hesitating. “He didn’t really say, honestly.”
“He hasn’t told his best friend?”
“If you know Reed, you’ll know he’s not really a ‘talk about your feelings’ kind of guy.”
Of course, he was right.
“Ava, it’s your turn,” Alex said as he sat down beside me, picking up his drink with the expression of a pouty toddler.
My bowling shoes slipped a little on the carpet before I stepped to the clanking ball return, trying to ignore everyone around me. I reached for the orange ball, but at the same time, a tanned hand stretched out as if to grab it first. Our fingers collided, and we both froze at the contact.
I looked up and locked onto Reed’s gaze, which was inches from mine, directly on me. He pulled his hand away, but the tingling sensation remained. “Go ahead,” he said while tipping his chin at the ball, selecting a different one.
“I didn’t think you liked bowling,” I said as I walked to the mouth of my lane, staring down at the array of pins at the end.
Reed walked up to his lane beside mine. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“You’ve never tagged along with us before.”
“Maybe that says more about your merry band of friends than bowling.” His eyes glistened with amusement. “Bumpers?”
I hugged my orange ball closer to my chest, refusing to feel embarrassed. “It’s for Rachel. My ball doesn’t even touch the sides.”
That made Reed smile, wiping away the embarrassment trickling through my veins. A thrill replaced it, like I’d stuck my finger in an electrical outlet.
I swung my arm back and let my ball fly, and it clattered into the pins. My strike streak was ruined—my ball only knocked a path through the center of the pins, making it impossible for even a split.
I blamed it on the boy at my side, whose mere presence proved to be a distraction. I watched Reed get into position, lining up his ball, posture perfect.
“Guess your reign as Bowling Queen has ended, huh?” Rachel teased as she walked past me, and normal Ava would’ve scoffed, maybe rolled her eyes. She would’ve responded with something witty. Now I was wound too tight to banter properly with her.
I jumped as Cindy began clapping for Reed as he made his way to their table. “Aw, you were one away from a split. Good try, babe.”
Babe?They were already at the babe phase?
Chill out, Ava.One stupid kiss didn’t give me any sort of territorial claim over him. I didn’twantany claim over him. But these feelings and thoughts—they swirled around me like fog on a dark night, impossible to see through.
Maisie tapped her fingers against her soda, condensation rolling down the side of the glass. “He’s giving you a run for your money, Ava.”
The screen blinked happily as Alex sauntered back from the lane. “Yeah, yeah,” I muttered. “One strike doesn’t match my level of awesomeness.”
“It comes close,” he retorted, but I wasn’t listening anymore. Right before my eyes drifted down to my phone, I caught Cindy walking from her lane, eyes alight as she cleared all the pins. Reed slapped her hand in a high-five, but she surged forward and pressed her mouth to his cheek in a chaste victory kiss.
And hello, my insidesdid notlike that.
“I’ll be right back,” I announced to no one in particular, or at least I thought I said it—either way, my legs jerked me up from the chair and carried me straight to the entrance of the building.
From the outside, Allen’s Alley wasn’t exactly the cleanest establishment. The trash cans were overflowing, and the front patio smelled distinctly like fish, even though it wasn’t on their menu. Since it was an alleyanda bar, its clientele catered more toward adults who liked a drink or four rather than a family-friendly atmosphere. As soon as I stepped through the front doors, I was greeted with a cloud of smoke from the people huddled around the outdoor ash tray. I moved past them and their quiet chatter toward the corner of the brick building.
