Page 45 of Foul Territory

“Are you nervous?” Joe asks as we wait for the clerk to collect the bowling shoes we requested.

Glancing over at the lanes full of bowlers and hearing the clinking and banging noise of bowling balls hitting the pins, my palms begin to sweat. “I am. The last time I went bowling the ball bounced over into the next lane.”

His eyebrows furrow together. “Bowling balls don’t really bounce.”

“Mine did. One of my many talents,” I joke, making him grin.

“What other talents do you have?” he asks. After he pays for our shoes, I take my pair off the counter. They should really make these cuter. Maybe brighter colors. The dark red and blue is going to clash with my outfit.

We walk toward a rack of bowling balls. At least I can pick one of these that will match. Not that I’m vain about it. I just appreciate color coordination.

“I’m pretty crafty,” I reply hoping he will remember the comment I made in one of our chats awhile back.

“Is that so?” His eyes travel from my shoes to the top of my head. I’m wearing another set of hair clips I madeand matching earrings. My thrifted jeans have colorful hand embroidered flowers on the back pockets. It was another project I had to try after watching a video online. They turned out pretty good for my first try.

“I did this,” I say, turning and showing him the pockets of jeans. I wince, realizing I’m telling him to essentially check out my ass.

“You did a good job.” He flicks his tongue over his bottom lip.

These jeans make ass look almost as good as my leggings do.Or maybe I just have a nice ass.I never really thought of that before.

“Do you know what size you need?” he asks, nodding toward the bowling balls in the rack.

“Hmm…I think maybe this one.” I point at the only hot pink one left.

“Solid choice. Follow me. We’re at the far lane,” he says after picking out his own ball.

Even with its close location to campus, the bowling alley is a lot busier than I expected it to be. “Are there always this many people here?” I ask, as we weave our way through a crowd of people by the snack bar.

“Not all the time. But on the nights we all come out and play it can get crowded. Once a month we have a mini bowling tournament. It’s supposed to be for fun but we’re a competitive group.”

I shuffle the bowling ball until I have it cradled securely in my arms. “Who’s we?” I ask, but the words die on my lips when I see my brother and his friends at the lane next to ours.

“A bunch of us from the athletic department.” He drops his ball in the return and reaches out for mine. “Is this okay?”

“Yeah of course.” I smile assuringly. Who doesn’t want to spend their first date with their little brother as the third wheel? It’s not like this hasn’t been happening my entire life.

I find an empty chair and switch out my shoes.

“Hi, I’m Sydney,” I tell the girl sitting beside me.

“Julia. You’re here with Joe?”

“Yeah. What about you?”

“I work with these guys.”

“Lucky,” I remark, glancing around. I recognize several football players sitting with Nash along with a few of his friends on the soccer team. Behind me I’m almost certain are players of both basketball teams.

“It does make the day go by faster. It also makes every one of these guys off limits.” She laughs when I pout. “Don’t be too sad for me. I’m biding my time. In a few months, I’ll graduate and they'll be free game,” she says with a wink.

“You would like my friend Charlie. The two of you would have fun trading dating tips and secrets.”

“She sounds like my kind of girl.”

I chat with Julia while Joe greets all of his friends and helps set up the game. There are six of us in this lane. Nash and his three friends are using the lane on our right.

“Hey Jules,” Joe says, taking a seat beside me. She gives him a brief wave. “You’re bowling fourth. Should I warn everyone about your arm?” he whispers to me.