Page 33 of Cinematic Destinies
“I’m up for anything. Your choice. Just let me know what I owe you.”
“It’s my treat.”
“Well, then dinner will be on me,” she insisted. “I’ll find us one of those snazzy pretheater menus you mentioned.”
He smiled and they continued eating.
“This is so incredibly good,” she gushed.
“After we clean up, let’s finish the bathroom floor. It’s gorgeous out. If we get done early enough, maybe a run through Central Park?” he suggested.
“That sounds great.”
“But I want to watch the YouTube video one more time. Just the last part. Don’t be mad. I’m a bit of a perfectionist like you. Secretly you love that about me.”
She smiled. They sat quietly eating for a few minutes before Betty looked up from her food and said, “You’re right. This turned out to be a pretty great way to spend the weekend.”
CHAPTER 9
“Strike!” Ryan declared as his bowling ball knocked down all the pins. He high-fived Albert and said, “You may be the king of laser tag, but I’m the king of candlepin bowling. You’re up. It’s your last turn, so make it count.”
Albert selected a ball, lined himself up, moved forward, and released. He scrunched up his face as the ball flew into the gutter.
“Shake it off. Shake it off, Al,” Ryan said, clapping his hands.
Albert grabbed another ball, took aim, and released it straight into the gutter. He turned toward Ryan and laughed, his face bright red.
“You’ve got this. You’ve got this,” Ryan assured him, smiling and clapping. “The last one’s always the charm.”
Albert took another ball, stood at his mark, and then turned around, his back facing the bowling lane and his legs far apart. He winked at Ryan, shut his eyes, and then bent down and pushed the ball backward through his legs. He turned to watch as the ball rolled down the center of the lane and smashed into the pins, knocking eight over.
“Holy shit!” he said.
Ryan jumped up, hooting and hollering. Neither of them could stop laughing.
“Move of the night, Al. Bold. I may have won the game, but you won the night as far as I’m concerned.”
Albert smiled. “Figured I couldn’t be any worse if I literally wasn’t even looking.”
Ryan’s phone beeped with a new text. He read it and said, “My friend Lucy’s having some people over. She graduated a year ago. That was before you and I met, so I don’t think you know her. She’s this sweet, feisty little blogger chick with a pixie cut, kind of like Tinker Bell. Wanna go?” Albert looked a little unsure, so Ryan added, “It’s just like seven or eight people. A small chill thing, all good friends of mine, all creative types. She’s right over in Brookline. We could hop on the Green Line. We definitely shouldn’t go hungry. Lucy’s cupboards are either bare, or worse, she’s cooked. What do you say we finish this pizza and stop by?”
“Sure.”
THEY WERE ALL SITTING ON THE LIVING ROOMfloor around the coffee table laughing hysterically after Lucy had convinced everyone to play with her Ouija board.
“I always suspected this place was haunted. My roommate never believed me. She’s in for an earful when she gets home,” Lucy said, her gold bangle bracelets clanking against each other as she ran her hand through her short brown hair. Albert had liked her right away when she greeted him with a hug, whispered, “Ryan is so crazy about you,” and then launched into an overly personal story about her ex-boyfriend. Her friends were just as cool as she was—outrageous and kindhearted misfits. Ryan always fit in effortlessly, and on this night Albert felt like he did too.
“Okay, we’ve talked philosophy and politics, eaten that truly frightening dip Lucy made,” Greg said, “and now we’ve communed with the spirit world. What’s next?”
“Hey, that dip wasn’t so bad,” Lucy protested.
“Uh, it was chunky.”
She threw a pillow at him. “We need someone with a talent to keep us occupied. Who can play an instrument or tell a really good ghost story?”
“Al can draw,” Ryan volunteered.
Albert looked at him with trepidation.
