Chapter 24 #4
“It was supposed to be easy. It was just the entrance to the rest of our afternoon.” Daisy walked through the door first and gave a sweeping motion of her arm to the actual bowling alley.
On the outside, the building seemed dilapidated, but inside, it was the fanciest bowling alley Connor had ever seen.
One side of the massive open space had a variety of vintage arcade games, and the remaining area had ten lanes separated from the shoe rentals by a bar that ran the length of the room.
Most bowling alleys he’d been to were made up of grimy, threadbare carpet tiles and garish decorations, and they smelled like dirty shoes and cigarettes.
This place boasted elaborate molding on the walls and a chandelier right at the entrance.
They rented black shoes, a far cry from the clownish blue and red ones he’d grown up wearing.
The arcade seemed well maintained with no out-of-order machines.
While Hazy typed their names into a fancy computer, Connor, Lover, and Daisy walked the bar, trying to find the perfect ball.
Daisy picked up a blue and purple, sparkling ball, bouncing it in her hand a few times, slipping her fingers in and out of the holes.
It must have passed muster because she added it to the rack by their lanes.
Connor and Lover followed her lead and placed their own balls on the rack
Daisy hip-checked Hazy out of her way and pressed some buttons on the computer, turning the screen a different color. “Go pick a ball. I’m ready to kick your asses.”
Daisy did in fact kick their asses. By the tenth frame Connor came in dead last, his score barely breaking 60 points. Lover and Hazy’s were more respectable, around 110. Daisy’s was over 200.
She’d bowled mostly strikes, and Connor had bowled mostly gutter balls. “Why is it,” he asked her, “that every activity you plan is something you’re phenomenal at?”
She stood by the ball return, holding her ball at her hip and placing her toes around dots on the floor.
He had no idea how that helped, but she played an incredible game, so there must have been some sort of method to her madness.
She took a few steps and flung her ball down the lane.
When it crashed into the pins, it left two standing, on opposite sides of the lane. Daisy threw her head back and groaned.
“Fuck.”
She stomped over to wait for her ball. “The better question is, why are you so bad at this? Did you never go bowling as a kid?”
Connor grabbed her hips and pulled her into him. “I spent time at the bowling alley. But it was more about spending time with pretty girls than the actual game.”
She laughed. “You probably could have impressed them if you had been good.”
“I had hockey for that. Besides. Bowling is like. The least sexy sport.”
Hazy and Lover were quick to agree with him, and Daisy took offense. “Hey! I did bowling. And look at me now. Impressing you dummies, years later.”
Daisy’s ball popped onto the rack, and she reset at the starting dots.
Hazy could never let her have a win. “You won’t get this spare. You played a great game, but you’ll be going out on a nine. Maybe.”
Daisy let the sparkling ball dangle from her fingers as she glared at him.
“Wanna bet?”
“No!” Connor yelled, remembering the last time she’d hustled them.
Hazy was unfazed. “Yes. I do. Name your terms. I’ve never seen someone get that spare. It’s impossible.”
“For the love of God,” Lover said. “Have you not learned that if Daisy says she can do something, she absolutely can?”
“I’m not singing again.” Connor promised, and Daisy laughed.
“Don’t worry. This one will be friendlier. If I win, you have to admit bowling is cool.”
Hazy smirked at her. “We won the bet last time, and I didn’t say anything about friendlier. If you win, I’m fine with your terms. But if I win, you have to explain in explicit detail how you got the massive hickey on your thigh.”
Her cheeks flamed red, and Connor couldn’t stifle his chuckle. She spread her legs, examining the obvious bruise there. “Oh my God. Connor!”
Connor elbowed Hazy. “Choose something else, dickhead.”
“If she’s so certain she’ll win, I won’t need to pick something else.”
Daisy rolled her eyes, assuming her starting position and refusing to stoop to Hazy’s level. She lobbed the ball, and it sent one pin flying across the lane, knocking over the pin on the other side. When she turned around, she stuck her tongue out and flipped them off with both hands.
Lover and Hazy had their hands on their heads, their minds blown by her skill.
Connor smiled. “Okay, bowling is cool.”
Hazy agreed. “That was pretty cool.”
Lover raised his hands for a double high five that Daisy jumped to give him. When her ball returned, she threw it again, knocking over eight pins and ending their game.
They reset the system, and Daisy left them standing there while she went to talk to the manager. When she was out of earshot, Connor scolded Hazy. “You can’t ask her about her sex life. That crosses a line.”
“You aren’t fucking her, I figured maybe it was someone else.”
Lover’s eyes widened. “Are you serious? They were making out in the dark during the escape room. How the fuck did you miss that? They were loud as fuck.”
Connor’s face got hot. Hazy’s grin widened when he held up his fist for knuckles.
Connor smacked his hand, and Hazy laughed.
The lights went out in the building, leaving the glow of various computers to illuminate the room until purple light filled the space and party lights flickered rainbows onto the walls and floor.
Lover let out a hoot and trotted over to the jukebox to pick a song. “Bye Bye Bye” came on, and Connor hollered across the building that he still wasn’t going to sing.
Daisy rejoined their group and picked up a ball. “Okay, new game.”
Connor rubbed his hands together, excited for anything she’d planned for them. “Let’s go! What’s the game?”
She approached the edge of the lane and turned around to face them with her feet planted close to each gutter. She swung the ball a few times and threw it between her spread legs, bending over to watch through the gap as the ball meandered to the pins. It knocked over six.
“Unconventional throws. Get creative, because whoever wins gets to pick how we spend our arcade tickets.”
They spent the next hour dancing under the black lights and trying to one-up each other’s crazy techniques. Connor thought Daisy would come out on top since she crushed the normal game, but Lover shocked them all by beating everyone by a good margin.
Daisy was great at bowling, but she was trash at arcade games. Connor was an expert at a few, and with his Coin Dozer and basketball skills, he earned tickets quickly.
Lover and Hazy circled the arcade together, favoring the electronic games.
Daisy had scheduled three hours for their team-building session, but it had gone much longer.
A bored twenty-something approached them and told them it was closing time.
He checked his watch to find that it was past eight pm.
Lover insisted on going to the prize counter alone, saying he wanted his choices to be a surprise.
Connor, Hazy, and Daisy returned their bowling shoes and gathered in the parking lot, waiting for Lover. Connor leaned against his car and pulled Daisy into him.
Hazy said, “God, you guys are gross.”
Daisy pressed her cheek into Connor’s chest and stuck her tongue out at him. “You love us.”
“Doesn’t mean you aren’t gross.”
Connor pressed a kiss onto the top of Daisy’s head. “What are you doing for dinner tonight?” he asked her, choosing to ignore Hazy.
She shrugged. “Takeout. It’s too late to cook, and I don’t have anything prepped. Why? Do you have a better plan?”
He whispered in her ear, “You could come to my place. I’ll make you dinner. We could hang out. Maybe you bring an overnight bag?”
“Yes, that. That’s what I’m doing.” It was adorable how excited she was.
With new plans for the evening, he was dying to be home, and Lover was taking forever. It must have been half an hour before he exited the building with a giant penguin under one arm and a fistful of random junk.
He held the penguin out to Daisy. “For you! You deserve the best prize. We never would have come together like this without you. It was the best option to represent the Freeze.”
Daisy hugged the penguin close to her chest, the size dwarfing her. She beamed at Lover. “I love it so much!”
With his arms free of the giant stuffy, he handed them each a string of beads.
Hazy laughed. “Bro, friendship bracelets?”
“Aww,” Daisy kept her grip on the penguin but held her wrist out for Lover to tie her bracelet. “I love this one, too!”
When they stuffed her penguin in her car and she drove away, Connor kicked himself for offering to drive. If he had let Hazy drive like he’d offered, he could have gone home with Daisy. Instead, he had to get Hazy and Lover home before he could get there himself.
“Finally taking Daisy home tonight, huh?” Hazy prodded when they pulled out of the parking lot.
“Wait, for real?” Lover asked. “Haven’t you only been on one date?”
Connor furrowed his brow, second-guessing his choice. They had been on one official date. Plus one interrupted breakfast. Was he moving too fast? It felt like he’d known her for years. Taking advice from a boy who had never had an actual partner was maybe not his best path forward.
Hazy interrupted his internal panic. “Dude, all these activities we’ve done have basically been dates. And they were making out in the dark earlier, so I’d say she’s on board.”
Lover got quiet.
Connor considered the situation. “The timing is right,” he decided, voicing the sentiment.
“You had better hope so. You can’t fuck this one up; we need her.” Hazy told him.
Lover agreed with him. “True. She says she’s not part of this, but she’s the glue to our line.”
Hazy and Lover were right, but he wasn’t concerned, because he’d do anything in his power to make sure she stuck around.