Chapter 16: Chapter 15
UNEDITED...
The following Friday evening.
Out of all days, for River to have to work late, it was the one night she had plans. She left work in a hurry and went straight to the bowling ally still dressed in her lab coat. The place was nearly empty, and kinda dark, almost like a bar. Not a place she was expecting. Next time she should look up reviews before she just picks a destination. She walks passed the check-in desk and finds Landen sitting all by his lonesome in the bowling aisle four while staring at his phone. He was dressed very casually, soft jeans, and a soft black tee. "Hey." She stands before him.
"Finally." He puts his phone in his pocket. "I was starting to think you were going to stand me up."
"I'm so sorry. I got held up with some work stuff." She explains.
"I hope you're a size six." He holds up a pair of blue, wore out, bowling shoes.
She lifts her bag off her shoulder and onto an empty seat in their lane. "Actually, I am."
"Forget about work now, lets have some fun. He hands her the shoes and without warning, moves behind her to assist her in taking off her coat. "Change into theses, I'll get the game set up." He moves to the monitor and enters her name as 'Ree' and his as 'The Winner.'
"You're gonna have to change that?" She watches from the scoring monitor above their heads.
"I highly doubt that." He disagrees arrogantly. "When is the last time you bowled?"
"I used to bowl all the time with my friends." She finishes tying her laces and walks over toward the screen.
He turns to face her and blocks it. "What do you think you're doing?"
"What do you think I'm doing? I'm going to change it. There's no way you're going to be the winner."
"Wow. You are either overly confident or not at all." He folds his arms.
She places her hands on her hips. "Look who's talking. Mr. I'm-Going-To-Win. And we haven't even started the game yet."
He was so amused. It was written all over his face. "Truth hurts doesn't it?" Okay, maybe your right, maybe I shouldn't be so blunt. We could at least pretend for your sake, that you have a shot against me" He smirks.
"Step aside Brenner." She orders.
"No." His smirk grows.
"I'm changing that." She declares.
"No, you're not." He disagrees. "Cuz lets face it, you can't move me."
"You brought me here to make up for the fact that you made me faint. Is this how you do that?"
His expression changes. His eyes searched her intensely for a few seconds. He was trying to figure her out, and he noticed her features didn't budge from serious. Stepping aside he apologizes. "I'm sorry Ree."
"Ha." She laughs and begins spelling out Brenner on the machine. "You don't need brawn to make something move. If you get smart enough you can make people do it for you." She teases.
"I can't believe you would stoop that low."
"I can't believe you would declare yourself the winner when we haven't even started the game."
"I will be the winner, but I guess I could show you first." He grabs a ball from the rack and stands in the center of their lane. With high concentration, he accesses his average and strength needed before sending the ball flying.
Strike!
He turns back and waves his brows confidently. "Your turn."
"Damn it." She says to herself. Yeah, she went bowling with her friends a few times, but she was still just mediocre at it. She grabs a yellow ball and waits as the pins are reset. After all that premature talk about him being the winner, she wasn't so sure he was wrong anymore. She blows out a breath and releases the ball.
"Gutter ball," Landen announces as soon it touches the wooden floor.
Sure enough, it was.
With her mouth now a bit pouty she turns around and grabs another ball.
"Don't fall." He troubles her.
"You're so mean." She brings the ball in front of her chest and releases another failing launch.
"I just don't want you blaming me for something else." He grins.
Her mouth opens in shock.
"You started it." He grabs a ball and switches positions with her.
"Started what?" She acts innocent.
"Playing dirty."
"I don't know the meaning of that."
"Sure you do." He sends the ball down the lane for another strike.
They swap places again. River takes another ball and concentrates on getting it to hit the direct center of the pins. She throws the ball and it ends up in the gutter again. "Shoot." She mumbles. More determined now, she grabs another ball and gets herself into position. She closes her eyes.
Meanwhile, Landen sat in front of the monitor with his arms folded. He watched her with satisfaction and awareness. She was adorable. All his teasing was making her competitive and it was the cutest thing. He was competitive by nature, and he knew it well. So it was a strange feeling to want her to win. He slowly rises from his seat.
River gasps when Landen's palm trailed her forearm. He shifts her arm position to bring the ball closer to her chest, then he grabs her shoulders to adjust her stance. "Stand like this."He wraps his arm around her and helps her grip the ball. "Like this." He whispers too close to her ear. He then guides her hands in a back and forth motion. "Swing just like this, and aim for the center."
"Well, what do you think I've been aiming for?"
"Shhhh." He shushes her and guides her hand one more time before letting go.
After swallowing down any hesitation, she did exactly as he said, and sends it straight in the center "Yes!" She turns and jumps up. She knocked down all the pins except one.
"At least its progress." He shrugs
"Yes yes yes!" She does a happy dance.
He pushes her shoulder, stumbling her out of her dance. "Don't get too excited, you're still not going to win."
"God, you're so mean." She rubs her shoulder.
"Hey, Landen." They were interrupted by two girls. Both dressed similarly. Short jean skirts and sleeveless matching tops. Their hair was dyed different colors at the bottoms. One was hot pink and the other was neon green.
Landen nods subtly toward them. He turns his head quickly away in an attempt to give them the signal. Don't come over here. He should have just said it aloud because they didn't get it.
They step into the lane and individually had to give him a hug. "How are you?" Pink asks. "It's been a while. We missed you." Neon adds.
"I'm good." He replies. "Just you know." He makes a gesture to River waiting in front of the game monitor.
"Is that your girlfriend?" Neon asks.
River steps closer and joins their little circle. "Hi, I'm River, not the girlfriend, the sister." She heard the question and didn't want Landen's lady friends to get the wrong idea. She thought Landen might appreciate that also.
Pink, began touching his bicep immediately. "You wanna come over later?"
He slides his arm from her quickly. "She's not my sister." He makes that clear.
"Okay...."Pink looks at him strangely, and so does River. Here she is thinking maybe being a sister is not a bad thing. She could say she has brothers. But now she isn't wanted as a sister.
"So, you wanna meet up later?" pink asks again.
He lets out a breath from his nostrils. "I have plans."
"Okay." Pink turned bright red with embarrassment." We're just gonna go. It was nice meeting you." They smile at River and walk down to the other end of the bowling ally.
Landen turns around and looks at River as normal. "Ready to get back to our game?"
"Yeah." She takes her seat but wasn't as normal as him.
He could tell right away something was wrong and exhales. "What's the matter?"
"I'm not good enough to be your sister?" She couldn't meet his eyes.
"It's not like that River." He grabs a ball and throws it down the lane. This time it wasn't a strike.
"Then what is it?"
He grabs another ball. "I just can't look at you like that." He sends the other ball down and knocks down one of the two pins left.
River almost wanted to cry. She guessed maybe she wasn't around long enough to develop that kind of bond with her. She didn't know why, but it really bothered her. Maybe it's because she thought they considered her family. "I think I wanna go home now."
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