Page 46 of This Time Around

“Andy, you’re up,” Ollie said from behind us.

“Not yet, but I think you’re getting there,” I whispered in Andy’s ear.

“Later, I want you to show me all the other tricks you’ve been saving for a rainy day.”

“Baby, I can’t reveal that all in one night.”

A throat cleared behind us in an annoying manner.Go pray about something, Pastor Ollie.I reminded myself that he was Andy’s friend and sponsor. I rose from Andy’s lap and gestured for Andy to take his turn.

“Go get ’em, Slugger.” I clapped proudly when my man retrieved his ball and took his position in front of the lane. Like his practice run, Andy bowled a very convincing strike. I glanced up at the scoreboard to check out the cute graphics then noticed that the only score posted was Ollie’s since the rest of us bowled strikes.

I could’ve been catty about the four pins that Ollie managed to knock down, especially since he was a better bowler than that. I knew my performance shook him up and took him out of his game. He was on my team, therefore I needed to lift him up while hoping I rattled the frat boys.

“You’ll get them next time, Ollie.”

The next round had similar results since the other team felt that my strike was luck or a fluke. I showed them they were wrong by rolling another perfect strike. By this time, Ollie was smiling because he realized that I’d been playing all of them during warmups. He bowled a respectable spare, and Andy was pure perfection once more.

Since we weren’t professional bowlers, it was only a matter of time before we made mistakes. I started to see hashtag team frat boy lose a little steam in the seventh and eighth frames. I knew we could easily make up the difference if we stayed strong. We were neck and neck going into the final frame, so I motioned for our team to huddle up before we took our final turn since only one of the three frats bowled strikes.

“We can do this, guys. We don’t have to bowl perfect frames. Let’s just end strong.”

We bumped fists, and I approached the lane with confidence. I hadn’t bowled a strike in the last few frames, but I’d racked up respectable eights and nines.Come on, Peach.Let’s teach these boys a lesson in humility.I released my breath at the same time I let go of the ball then held it as it rolled quickly down the lane. I couldn’t resist doing a fun little shimmy when I knocked down all the pins.

“That’s my guy!” Andy yelled proudly. I refrained from jumping into his arms, but just barely.

I had two bonus rolls, and I earned a strike on the first roll and nine on the second. That made my final frame worth twenty-nine out of thirty possible points.

“Oh my God,” Adam groaned.

Ollie bowled a spare and earned an extra roll, earning a total of eighteen points. Then my guy got up and rolled a perfect frame with a total of thirty points. We beat hashtag team frat boy by six points. It wasn’t an ass-whooping but might as well have been by the dejected looks on their faces.

“How much time do we have left?” Brent asked Tyler.

“Um, about forty-five minutes,” Adam answered. “We won’t get an entire game in, but we can declare a winner when the time is up.”

“You guys think you can beat us again?” Brent asked.

“Uh, yeah,” I said confidently. “I’ll run and get us a pitcher of soda while you guys work on your comeback game plan.”

“I’ll go with you,” Ollie offered.

“I can carry a pitcher of soda by myself,” I teased. “Unless there’s something else you would like to buy.”Or something you want to say to me.

“Yeah, I’ll buy some snacks for the group and a bottle of water for myself.”

“Tag along then, friend.”

I expected Ollie to speak his mind as soon as we were out of earshot, but he said nothing until we were standing off to the side waiting for our order. In fact, he might not have said anything without a little prompting from me.

“It’s okay to say what you’re thinking, Oliver.”

“What am I thinking, Milo?”

“You’re wondering if I’m good for Andy, or maybe if I’m goodenoughfor Andy.”

Oliver nodded his head subtly.

“It’s okay that you doubt me since you don’t really know me, or even all that much about Andy.”