11. CODY

CODY

“ H ere,” I knelt in front of her on the bench, despite the deep pain in my side, and tied the laces of her bowling shoes for her. When I looked up to see if they were too tight, she stared down at me with the stars in her big blue eyes.

The lights from the dark bowling alley reflected back at me, paired with her big smile, was enough to drive a boy over the edge of insanity. It had been such a short time, but I couldn’t remember a moment without her now. She consumed all my thoughts, to the point that until this very moment, I had stopped to think about my Dad or baseball.

I just didn’t care about any of it when I was around her. It was terrifying and exhilarating all at once. I knew full well that baseball needed to be focused on. It was my ticket out, and now I had another person to take with me.

I’d be damned if I left her behind in a town that doesn’t see her light.

I needed to work hard, finish my papers, and practice more. I had a newly formed responsibility to her and myself. To be the best I could.

“You’re going to start to smoke if you think any harder.” She said, her fingers brushing under my chin to hold my gaze.

“Lost myself for a second. Luckily, I have the North Star sitting in front of me.” I beamed at her and stood up from the floor. “Come on, show me those skills.”

She took my hand in her own, never saying a word, but her cheeks blushed deep pink, and she tucked in close as we navigated the busy bowling alley. There were tons of kids here today, a few families, but mostly the senior crowd that liked to waste Saturday afternoons gossiping.

“We’re number nineteen,” I said to her, and she weaved around a group of old ladies sipping coffee to find our alley. “Do you need the bumpers up to score your perfect game?”

“Do you?” Lorraine countered as she set her shoes and bag on the cushioned pinstripe bench.

“You’re cocky, Starlight. This won’t end well.” I teased her.

“You may be good at baseball, Cody, but you can’t cheat math.” She ran her eyes over me with a smirk and took her turn first. “Watch closely now. Maybe you’ll learn something.”

I laughed loudly and leaned back against the bench to watch her score a perfect strike. Her small hands commanded the bowling ball, and with a simple side step, she bent her knee and sent the ball down the lane toward the pins for a strike.

I sat up and clapped for her slowly, “alright that was pretty impressive.”

“Afraid to lose?” She asked me. Strands of her dark hair fell around her face, and her smile was infectious.

Mirroring the look on her face, I stood up, “for the first time in my entire life, no. I’m not.” I said to her because it didn’t matter if she kicked my ass at bowling, she could do it every day for the rest of our lives, and I’d lose every time, fair and square, if it meant I got to see that smile.

“Show me what you got,” she spun away from me and plopped down to the bench with her body leaning toward me, her hands cupped against the fabric to hold her steady as I chose a ball. “They’re all the same.”

“No, no,” I hushed her playfully. “They aren’t; they give off auras.” I teased as my lips pulled into a smirk.

“You’re mocking my play style, I see you,” Lorraine giggled with a roll of her eyes.

“I would never,” I commented, stopping my hand with a funny gasp as I reached a dark blue ball with green flecks. “This is the one,” I said to her, my heart racing.

“How do you know?” She asked with so much curiosity in her eyes.

“I just do,” I said with conviction.

Her shoulders were tense for a hair longer before she finally took a breath and relaxed, it was apparent that she still wasn’t completely convinced with my decision. I could see the doubt flicker around her face but just as soon as it had appeared, it was gone again. I was slowly finding my way through her defenses to the darker corners of who she was and who she could be.

I stepped up to the line, dropped the ball to my side, unaware of how heavy it was, and grunted. “How do you even throw these things?” I gaped at her, but all she did was shrug.

I tried to ignore how it felt to have her eyes on my back as I attempted to prove her math theory wrong. Swinging my arm back, I stepped forward, and as soon as I let the ball go, I knew I’d never hear the end of it. The ball bounced awkwardly before rolling into the gutter.

“You get three,” was all she said when I turned around to face her.

“Uh, huh.” I shook my head and took the second ball. I could tell she wanted to give me pointers, but she kept her mouth closed and let me flounder.

After another gutterball I finally managed to actually throw the ball straight, knocking over two whole pins.

“I guess you’re better at catching,” she teased from the bench.

“I’m warming up.” I shrugged. “Are you hungry?” I asked her, and she nodded gently. " Soda?” I added.

“Please,” her voice was quiet as I leaned over her, trapping her on the bench with my arms as I kissed her slowly, right there in the middle of all that chaos. Her body was tense at first but slowly relaxed under my touch. “Breathe, Starlight. No one cares about two teenagers making out in a bowling alley,” I told her as I stole another kiss and backed away to grab her snacks.

Leaving her there, I pushed past a few crowds to the counter and waited to be noticed. Carson, our center fielder, nodded at me and excused himself to come help me. His fiery red hair and abnormally sized blue eyes paired terribly with the pinstripe bowling uniform.

“What’s up, Cody?” He said with that dragged-out drawl of his.

“I just need some sodas and popcorn.” I pointed to the board, and he nodded.

“Since when does Cadence drink soda?” He laughed while pouring the drink.

“I’m not here with Cadence,” I shook my head and looked around, trying to get a look at Lorraine, but the crowd had shifted and my line of sight to her was closed off. I tapped my fingers on the counter impatiently, desperate to get back to her. I laughed at myself, so foolishly attached and so fast. But it only bothered me when I thought about it. When I told myself how foolish I was being, every other moment with Lorraine was an adventure. It wasn’t too fast or too soon. It was just right. It felt right to be that in love with her in that moment and everyone else could think what they wanted.

All I wanted was her.

“Who are you here with then? Paisley?” He asked, setting down the cups. “I hear she—”

“Carson, don't finish that sentence,” I said as he slid the popcorn across the counter. “I’m here with Lorraine Field.”

“Loner Lorraine?” He laughed, and I cocked my head to give him a dirty look. “Sorry, yeah, that was dumb, it just—”

“It’s just what?” I growled as I leaned over the counter and grabbed a package of candy. “You’ll cover this for me, right?” I waved it in the air at him with a smile that screamed, “If you ever talk about her like that again, I’ll do more than steal candy. “

“Yeah, man, on the house.”

“Good, thanks, Carson. I’ll see you tomorrow at practice.” I said scooping everything into my arms and walking back to Lorraine. She was exactly where I left her, but something was wrong. She looked pale, and her hands were gripping the bench to get her upright. I slid everything on the table and knelt in front of her.

“Rae, you okay?” I asked her, and she nodded, but I could tell it was just her brushing me off. “What can I do?”

“Nothing. I'm just a little dizzy,” she said quietly, inhaling a slow, methodical breath.

“You have to breathe out,” I said to her when she didn’t, and a little chuckle fell from her lips as she released a shaky exhale. “Good, do that again.”

She listened, slowly filling her lungs before exhaling all the air. After a tortuous few minutes, the color finally returned to her face and she opened her eyes to look at me.

“What happened?” I asked her, reaching for the soda to give to her. She wrapped her lips around the straw instead of answering me and sipped on the dark, sugary liquid.

“I just stood up too fast, is all,” she confessed, “I’m alright, I think I was just hungry.”

I watched her and tried to gauge whether she was actually telling me the truth, but I couldn’t tell. She was too good at hiding what she was really thinking.

“I bowled another strike while you were gone,” she chuckled weakly as I tried to find my bearings on the situation.

“Of course you did.” I shook my head and looked at the scorecard. “Are you sure that you’re okay?”

“Stop ruining my birthday with your worrying,” she responded.

“Says that girl who didn’t even want to celebrate her birthday today,” I laughed. “After this game, I’m taking you home. It's the end of the story.”

Lorraine nodded in agreement, but something was missing that had been there before… a light that had been snuffed out. I left her where she was sitting to take my turn, and all three of my balls went in their own direction, hitting one pin each and doing nothing for my score.

“I can throw a ball at fifty miles per hour, can’t make a bowling ball go in a straight line…” I said as I sauntered back to her.

“Bowling isn’t baseball. Maybe that’s why you’re so bad at it.” She shrugged gently and pushed from her seat on shaky knees.

I watched every move she made with concern. It was clear she was hiding something, that much I had figured out, but the ‘what’ was making my heart race faster than it ever had, and I wasn’t sure I could go much longer without plying her with questions she probably didn’t want to answer.

“You need to separate your feet and not force the ball to where you want it to go. It’s a soft and powerful swing, not an aggressive one, " she explained with a small smile. “Like this.”

I watched her struggle to carry the weight of the ball without a small stumble in her step, but when she lined herself up for the throw, it was like watching the wind. Her movements were soft and gentle. It wasn’t like she was throwing a ball. It was like she was guiding it. Her hair licked at her neck, and her smile bloomed wide as all the pins crashed around, and she scored another strike. She turned to me proudly and arched her brow at me in a cute but cocky way that I had never expected from her.

“Rae, that was the hottest thing ever.” I held my hands up in the air and admitted defeat. “You really are the bowling Queen of the Wild West.” I mocked a bow, tempted to get on my knees and sell it, but she rushed forward to make me stop in a fit of laughter.

“They’re staring again. Stop it,” she giggled. When she leaned back away from me to catch her breath, my lips found the base of her throat. Her skin was colder than before but heated up on contact as she melted into me.

“I like it when they stare,” I whispered to her.

“Of course you do; you thrive on attention.” She scoffed, but she let me kiss her anyway.

Lorraine ended up winning the game. I hadn’t stood a chance against her skills.

Even wobbly and maybe even dizzy, she nailed every ball she threw. It was infuriating.

“Rematch next weekend.” I smiled at her as we left the bowling alley.

“Deal,” she cooed and slid her hand into mine.