Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Fiona
It’s not far to the local bowling alley, which is where I’ve decided to take Khesan. I haven’t been bowling in ages, and I’m not very good at it, but it’s easy to learn and I think we’ll have fun.
What I didn’t anticipate was that the human bowling shoes wouldn’t fit Khesan’s clawed feet. Both the guy working behind the counter and I aren’t sure what to do, so he simply shrugs and says, “Guess he’s playing without. Should be fine. Just don’t drop a ball on yourself.”
Khesan rubs the back of his head. “Sorry,” he says as we leave the counter.
“What for?”
“That I can’t do all the things humans can do.”
I offer him a smile. “It’s all right. I’m sure there’s lots of things you can do that I can’t.” I gesture to the sides of my head. “I can’t tell everyone I’m pissed off without saying it out loud.”
Khesan snorts and grins back at me. “A good hiss helps, too.”
“Here,” I say, handing him a bowling ball. “Do your fingers fit into those three holes?”
Khesan demonstrates doing what I ask, and it looks like it’ll fit him.
“It’s so heavy,” he remarks as we head back to our lane. “Very odd.”
“So it can knock over all the pins.” I point at the white pins sitting at the end of the bowling lane. “If you can get a bunch of power behind it and throw straight, you have a better chance of knocking them over.”
“And the goal is to knock over as many as possible?”
“Exactly.”
I demonstrate with my first throw, winding my arm back as I approach the lane, then swinging it forward as I release the ball. It hits the waxed floor and rolls fast, straight toward the pins. But then it veers to the right, much to my displeasure, and only strikes two of them.
I groan and step back. “Well, that’s about par for the course for my bowling skill,” I say with a laugh. “Your turn.”
“Par for the course?” Khesan asks as he approaches the lane.
“Sorry. More sports lingo. Just means it’s the usual for me to miss.”
“I’m sure that’s not true. And it takes time and practice to master anything.”
Khesan winds his arm back like I showed him, then swings forward. He releases the ball a little too late, though, and it flies through the air, much higher than I expected. I brace myself as it hits the lane with a heavy thunk, then rolls slowly toward the pins.
“All right, you have to let go a little sooner,” I tell Khesan, giggling as his ball drifts into the gutter, only to hit the gutter guards. It doesn’t even knock over one pin before disappearing.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry! It’s your first time.”
I take my next turn, and this time my ball veers off to the left before knocking over four pins.
Khesan gives it another try, releasing his bowling ball a little lower to the ground.
But he also puts much more force behind it, and it rolls straight to the right, bouncing off the gutter guard before veering back onto the lane.
It hits the opposite gutter guard, then slams into the pins, knocking over six of them.
“Karakka!” Khesan crows, and a laugh bursts out of me. It was a terrible throw, but we’ll take what we can get.
“What does that mean?” I ask as I pick up my ball.
“Ah, it means… I am very thrilled. To be playing this game, and to play it with you.”
Khesan is standing right in front of me when I turn around, and it startles me. But he doesn’t back away. Instead, he leans down closer to me and tucks a stray strand of my hair behind my ear.
“It is my absolute pleasure to spend time with you, Fiona,” he goes on, “without that Shathar around.”
I wish these two didn’t despise each other so much.
“Have you tried making friends with him?” I ask, peering up into his alien face. “What if you didn’t have to be at odds all the time?”
Khesan scoffs and takes a step back so I can make my next throw.
“I have nothing in common with a liar like Shathar.”
Frowning, I reel back my arm and then hurl the bowling ball as hard as I can, putting all my frustration behind it. The ball rolls straight and true, slamming into the pins and knocking them all over.
“Woo hoo!” I say, raising a fist and pumping it in the air. “Strike!”
The computer overhead plays a fun animation for me, then I head back to where Khesan is waiting with his bowling ball.
“Why do you two keep insisting that?” I ask. “That one of you is lying about being my fated mate.”
“Well, traditionally, Arshurians only have one fated mate. So if I am fated for you, then he is lying. It’s simply logic.”
Khesan positions himself in front of the lane and tries to throw again, this time launching the bowling ball downward a bit more. It still hits the lane with an exceptional noise and rolls to the right, scraping one pin on the way out. Khesan hisses something and backs away from the lane.
Now I understand some of their animosity, I suppose. Each of them thinks the other is lying.
I tap my finger on my chin. “But what if… what if you both did bond with me?”
“It is unlikely,” Khesan says in a guarded tone, “but I suppose it’s possible. There are tales of bonded Arshurians who have more than one mate, but it hasn’t happened in a long time. Many, many years.”
I consider this as I pick up my ball and take my turn. I don’t get another strike, but I manage to knock a few off the side.
What if Khesan and Shathar did both go through this change? Would they maybe back off of one another if they knew they were both telling the truth?
My face turns red-hot at just the suggestion of what that would take.
Our conversation turns elsewhere after that, which is intentional on my part. I ask Khesan more about his life, where he came from.
“I received a message from my parents earlier today,” he says. “They are very happy that I’ve found my fated one, and perhaps someday, you could meet them. They suggested a trip to visit in the future.”
“I’d love to meet your parents,” I say. I wonder what they’re like. “Are they also fated mates?”
Khesan nods. “Yes. My father walked past my mother on the street in the market and smelled her immediately. She came from a well-to-do family, so it wasn’t easy for her family to accept him, but no one denies the true mate bond.”
Interesting. So he grew up with parents who were destined for each other, too.
“What made you decide to pursue the military?” I ask.
“I was a troublesome child.” He winds up for his next throw. “I needed some… correction. I was forced to join, but then I enjoyed it much more than anyone expected.”
“What did you like about it?”
“The adversity,” he says, letting the ball go. Surprisingly, he hits the pins down the middle and knocks over most of them. “Military training tests you at every turn, and I responded well to that. There is also a very strict structure that helped me grow more mature.”
When his ball returns, he tries once more to knock over the remaining pins and manages a spare. I offer him a high five, but he stares down at my hand, clearly confused by it.
“Hold up your hand,” I instruct, and then I slap our palms together. “This is a high five. One of the ways humans congratulate each other for a job well done.”
Khesan’s eyes glitter as he high fives me again, then winds one arm around my waist. He leans down so I can feel his breath against my hair.
“What are the other ways?” he asks. “Do humans sometimes give out kisses as rewards?”
I’m taken aback by his question as a grin spreads across his face.
“O-oh, sure. Sometimes there are kisses.”
Khesan is attractive, and we’ve had a very good time today. I want to be nearer to him, and definitely, I want to kiss him.
I stand up on my toes and Khesan pulls me closer, as if he’s done this before. He cradles my cheeks in both hands before stooping down to press his lips to mine. He’s gentle and tentative, though, only applying the faintest pressure. Maybe like Shathar, he’s only seen this on television.
To encourage him, I respond to his kiss passionately, winding my arms around his neck as I deepen it. Khesan stiffens, then pulls me even closer as he explores me with his lips. I can feel his want through this kiss, and it makes me grow warm all over.
At the sound of a loud gasp, we both pull away. When I glance around us, I find a little kid watching with his mouth hanging open.
“Oops,” I say in a hushed voice. “Maybe we should leave that for the car.”
Khesan grins. “I will happily kiss you again in the car.”
By the end of the game, our scores are fairly even, both of us doing badly. We laugh when I tell him what a good score looks like.
“Perhaps it will take time for me to get better,” Khesan says with a grin. “I’d like to come here with you again, Fiona.”
I nod in agreement. I’ve had a great time getting to know him better. After I return my shoes, he winds an arm around my waist as we head out to the parking lot.
“Thank you,” says Khesan, squeezing me against him.
“It was a blast.”
Then we make out again in the privacy of the car, and I can’t wait for more.