Page 59 of Love Is…?

As Jayde typed that epiphany into her ‘Love Is…’ notes, her phone rang. A quick glance told her it was an unknown number, and she was about to let it roll over to voicemail when her gut feeling told her to answer the call.

“Jayde Ferguson.”

“Jayde. Cool. It’s Grace.”

Jayde wrinkled her brow. “Grace Taylor?”

“The one and only. I have a request.” Grace had to be smiling because her voice held happiness.

“I thought you didn’t own a phone. Don’t you hate them?”

Grace cackled. “Oh, I absolutely do, but they’re necessary for phone calls, right? Calls, maybe a text or four, but that’s really all that a phone should be.”

Jayde couldn’t help but laugh. “You and my Dad would get along famously.” She closed the lid of the laptop, deciding that the delete key was likely to self-destruct if she kept up her ruminations.

“Anyway, back to my reason for using this device.”

Again, Jayde heard the grin. Smart and funny were the adjectives to feature in Grace’s contribution to Abby’s profile. She made a mental note to pin Grace down to a date for the remainder of her interview.

“The request.”

“Yes. It’s my fifteenth birthday on the weekend which means a sixth of my life will have passed.”

Jayde cracked up. “Morbid.”

Grace joined in the laughter. “Possibly. Anyway, I’m inviting you.”

“Really? But two-sixths of my life have passed. How will I keep up?”

“Tessa’s coming, so you can hang out together, being old and whatever. You can help each other lift the balls.”

Jayde widened her eyes in confusion. If one of her friends had said that, Jayde would have jumped on it and run with the innuendo. Probably not a good idea with an almost-fifteen-year-old.

“Balls?”

“Yep. We’re going bowling.”

Grace really was a blast from…not the past. More like another universe. Such a cool kid.

“Bowling? Okay then.”

“It’s important to participate in all the sports, don’t you think? So, you’ll come?”

Jayde grinned. “Absolutely. Thanks for the invitation, but I haven’t bowled in years so God knows how I’ll go.”

“That’s okay. Tessa reckons she’s great at it, so you can watch her for tips, like, really pay attention to her form.”

The earnest yet sly tone gave her away.

Jayde chuckled. “Uh huh. I’ll be sure to do that. Thanks, Grace.”

“Y’welcome. See you Saturday.”

Grace hung up and Jayde immediately fired off a text to Tessa.

Bowling?

Tessa’s response was quick.

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