this, but just so you know . . . I haven’t bowled since maybe fourth grade, and you guys refused to let me use the bumpers like I did back then.”
Nick shakes his head.
“You got this,” Shivan says.
I turn around and grab a ball, then approach the line. I try to mimic the posture I’ve seen on the guys. I bring the ball up to my eyes like I’m lining things up, like I have some sort of plan or strategy and I’m not flinging this ball down the lane and hoping for the best.
And then I go for it. I use all my strength to hurl the ball and then watch from behind my fingers as it slowly makes its way down the lane. It rolls, rolls, rolls, and then . . .
“STRIKE!” everyone behind me shouts. I turn around to see that they all have their hands in the air, expressions of shock and joy on their faces.
“A strike?!” I ask, incredulous. I check the screen to make sure.
“A STRIKE, Chlo-dog!” Doug says, then rushes toward me and picks me up, spinning me around. I’m laughing so hard that I can barely focus on Nick, but then I see him, staring right at me with a smile I can’t decipher.
* * *
* * *
When the game is over, the four of us sit down at a flimsy table near the snack bar, the laminate peeling up at the corners, and Doug asks Nick to go get us some nachos.
Nick sighs. “Really?”
Doug gestures toward me. “This is Chloe’s first time bowling with us. She needs the full experience, and that means nachos.”
Nick frowns but heads toward the snack bar.
“So . . . this is what you guys do every Tuesday? The three of you?” I ask over the sound of pins falling and a sudden cheer from someone who presumably got a strike.
“Pretty much,” Shivan says. “Sometimes a couple other guys from college join us.”
“T-Money and G-Man,” Doug says.
“Tim and Greg,” Shivan fills in. “But usually it’s just us.”
“Just a few dudes, getting our bowl on,” Doug says, leaning back with his hands clasped behind his head. He looks at me and the smile fades from his face. “It’s cool that you’re here.”
“Well,” I say, not sure how to take this sudden change in tone. “Thanks for inviting me. Or demanding I leave my place of employment, I guess.”
He shakes his head and leans forward. “No, I mean . . . Nick doesn’t really open up to a lot of people, you know? We’re glad he has you.”
I shake my head. “Nick doesn’t really open up that much to me either.”
“He does, though,” Shivan says, leaning forward on his arms. “He’s just . . . y’know, Nick about it.”
Somehow, this makes sense.
“He’s not into getting super close with a lot of people,” Doug says. “You know, because of all the stuff with his dad. It kind of messed him up.”
I sit up straighter. “What stuff with his dad?”
Shivan and Doug shoot each other a quick glance, then look back at me. Shivan opens his mouth.
“Nachos,” Nick says, plunking them down on the table. “Enjoy your years-old cheese sauce.”
“And subsequent diarrhea,” Shivan adds.
“I will, dudes,” Doug says, shoving a chip in his mouth.
I stare at Nick until he meets my eyes.
“What?” he asks.
“Nothing,” I say, grabbing a chip.
As I enjoy this delicious-if-risky plate of nachos, I can’t help wondering when the last time was that I actually went somewhere in the evening. I mean, most of my socialization takes place in Annie and Don’s living room. For me, a nighttime hot spot is the break room at an assisted living facility or my kitchen table, surrounded by textbooks. Do I go out with the occasional person? Sure, but not as often as Annie thinks, and those dates are more utilitarian than they are social calls.
But I’m having fun tonight. It was fun to get that strike and hang out with Nick’s dude friends. It’s fun to be out around human adults and laugh, forgetting for a few minutes about the cloud of responsibility that usually hangs right over my head. This wood-paneled, musty-smelling, old-fashioned bowling alley is kinda growing on me, and as I listen to Doug continue to make fun of Nick for refusing to eat these nachos, I wonder if I should do this more often.
* * *
* * *
Doug drives us back to the shop, and we get there right before closing. Tobin’s shoulders slump with relief