Interlaced (book 2 of Intertwined)

Chapter 7: Hot Pink Balls

            Lilly opened the door and there stood my two best friends. North gave her a flirty smile, but Oli gave her a normal one.

After staring at the guys for a minute or two she said with a small smile, "Oh, uh, hi Oli and person I don't know."

"It's North, it's a pleasure to meet you," North said, reaching out his hand.

I walked up behind Lilly and did the universal bro handshake. "What's up guys? I'm really sorry about bailing on you guys last night, but once Lilly Bud and I figured out that we were old family friends, we had to catch up. My mom spent hours talking about Lilly's mom and her," I sent Lilly a small smile, I knew her mom was a rough subject. "I'm sorry for bringing up your mom," I explained.

"It's ok Cole, I get it," she said, but it didn't really help how bad I felt.

"Ok, let's get going, times a wasting," I said slinging my arm around her shoulders. I was hoping she'd let me keep it there, but then she laughed and shoved me off of her before punching me in the arm. I held my arm as if in pain and started laughing with her when I saw her face scrunch up. As we walked down the stairs, Oli held me back.

"What's up man?" I asked Oli. He seemed to be upset with something, but I'm not totally sure what it is.

"What's going on between you and Lilly? Did you guys ever go out?" Oli asked, worry etched onto his face.

"No man, we've just been friends since forever. It's nice to finally see her in person. I didn't even have a picture of her. Our moms have been friends since high school and that's how Lilly and I started talking," I explained. Yesterday, I was attracted to her sure, but I didn't know she was the love of my life. I can't just take back what I said to him.

"Why didn't you guys recognize each other if you've known each other forever?"

"Neither of us had pictures of the other and we were more like pen pals, we didn't do Skype or anything," I said.

"Ok man, last question," Oli said, "Do you have feelings for her? I know yesterday you said I could go for her, but that was before you guys realized your connection."

Well, he nailed the connection part. This could be my chance to say that she's the girl I'm completely in love with. "Nah, you called dibs remember?" I said faking a laugh while inside I was dying. Oli is my cousin and my best friend, it wouldn't be right to take back my word.

We continued walking behind North and Lilly, making our way to Oli's black Impala. That was his pride and joy. He worked odd jobs, extra shifts at his mechanics job, and saved every penny for a year to get that car. Lilly's eyes seemed to pop out of her sockets, when Oli pulled out the keys. Well, score one for Oli. He put the keys in and unlocked the door when I leaned over to North, both glancing of us glancing at Lilly.

"Let Lilly sit in front man, Oli's got a thing for her," I said, if I wasn't going to go after her, Oli is the best person I could imagine for her. They have a lot in common and both are the kindest people I know.

North nodded and got into the backseat, and Oli ran over to open the door for Lilly. Her neck and face turned red and when she managed to squeeze out a small thank you Oli flashed a smile towards her. He closed the door and ran back around to his side. Oli opened his door and got in. He turned around and said," So where to now?"

North rented our shoes for us, because his family is pretty well off from their music shop in town. We went down to the farthest empty lane and sat down to change our shoes.

"Have you ever gone bowling Lilly?" Oli asked.

"Yeah, but the last time I did my mom took me, I was 10 and I used the side rails," Lilly admitted. I remember her telling me about it. She still somehow managed to end in someone else's lane three times that day. I couldn't help the small smile that touched my face. I don't think Lilly noticed this, but I could see pink rising up her neck. She was beautiful when she blushed.

"Well, I can promise you, you've never bowled the fun way," North wiggled his eyebrows at her. North used to have a steady girlfriend, but found her cheating on him with one of his teammates from football. Ever since, he's been a bit of a player, not like I could really blame him. He was shattered when it happened.

"Isn't the normal way supposed to be fun?" Lilly asked slightly confused.

"You'll see Lilly B- Lilly," I said, barely catching myself. I needed to distance myself a little so that Oli can make his move.

"What was that about? Why did you stop from calling me Lilly Bud?" she asked curiously.

"Maybe later," I dismissed her question. She tried to talk to me, but I put up my walls, and she tried to make eye contact but I couldn't meet her eyes. It all hurt too much.

"Ok, here's how we play, at the beginning of each round, we pick a weird way to release the ball and each of us have to do it. This way it evens out the odds," Oli explained to her. We've been playing it this way since freshmen year. It was the only way that Oli stood a chance against North and I.

"Ok, let's do this," She said laughing. Three round later, we've down both the forward and reverse granny roll, and a spin and release that North and I dubbed The Spin Cycle. North and I were neck-and-neck in first while Oli and Lilly trailed behind us. It felt right being here with her in person.

I needed to break this tie going on between North and me so I went to grab my lucky hot pink bowling ball from the rack. I could tell that North was thinking the same thing, but I was clearly going to reach it first, so what does he do? He freaking tackles me. We wrestle back and forth on the floor throwing punches back and forth. We were like brothers and wrestled like this all of the time. What I didn't expect was the bowling ball coming at me, I moved away before the ball crashed through the plastic seat. A huge chunk of the seat was taken out of it. North and I jumped apart and looked at the broken seat.

The owner, Jimmy, a short, old man with a bald head, came racing down the aisle to us. He was yelling at us in Italian. He had a rolled up newspaper in his hand waving it around as he yelled at us and I could feel my face growing redder each second. I saw Lilly cover her mouth in attempt to cover up her laugh, but when she looked over at Oli, she lost it. His face was turning purple in the effort to hold his laugh in. It was good to see her laughing, these last few years have been extremely hard on her. She used to be so happy before her mom disappeared.

Jimmy's daughter came over and when she touched his shoulder, he tensed before he saw her face and relaxed. They had a heated discussion back and forth between the two before the women looked at North and me sternly.

"You two caused the damage to the seat correct?" The women asked in a slight accent.

"Yes ma'am, we're very sorry and are willing to pay whatever it cost to get it fixed," North explained politely.

"My grandfather would prefer to have you charged for destruction of property and vandalism."

"Oh ma'am please no, we really are sorry and didn't mean to do it," I said apologetically.

"Really miss, we'll pay for the damages right now just please don't have us arrested," North continued.

"Here's what's going to happen. You two will pay for the damages you caused and from then on, you are banned. Does that sound fair or should I press charges?" the lady asked harshly.

"Yes ma'am," we replied in unison.

Twenty minutes two-hundred dollars later, North and I had our pictures on the wall marking us banned which won't last long. Oli and Lilly were told they were allowed to come back only if they came without us.

We all piled back into Oli's car and busted out laughing. Once we all calmed down, I looked around and asked, "Where to next guys?"