Page 14 of Begin Again
“I’m going to leave it in the truck,” she exclaims, but she isn’t fooling anyone.
When we get to the bowling alley, I turn off the truck and grab the book from Annie’s hand.
“Hey,” she says, reaching for it. Her shoulder brushes mine and I get a whiff of her strawberry shampoo. It nearly undoes me, but I manage to keep my composure.
“You said you wouldn’t bring it inside,” I tease.
“Go, Sam,” Emily cheers as she gets out of the truck. Noah gives me a smirk over her shoulder as he watches from outside. He thinks I’m doing this for Emily.
“I’ll put this in my pocket for you,” I say, and Annie stills.
“Really?”
“Sure,” I say. “If things get too boring, I’ll give it back to you.”
“Alright.” Annie follows her friend and slides away from me and out of the truck.
I get out and slip the small novel into my back pocket. It’s way bulkier than my phone, but it’s fine. I feel like I’ve got a little piece of her with me, and I’m not sure I want to give it back.
Once we’re settled in our lane, Noah says, “Annie, let’s go order some food.”
She scrunches up her face. “Didn’t you just eat lunch?”
“Come on,” Noah says and I give him a nod as if to say thanks, even if I don’t mean it.
I watch as Annie grumbles but follows Noah to the small concession stand.
“I know you like her,” Emily tells me.
My head whips around to face her. “Wh-what?” I stammer.
Emily smiles at me. “Noah told me that you have a crush on me. I just smiled and went along with it, because while I’m flattered by the rumor, it’s obvious to anyone with eyeballs that you care about Annie.” Then she frowns. “Except maybe the Jones siblings. Neither one of them seems to have caught on.”
“Thankfully,” I murmur.
“So I was right?” she asks.
I nod. “You gonna tell her?” I ask her, worried.
She shakes her head. “No, but you should.”
I want to ask why, but Noah and Annie return with a tray full of nachos and pizza.
“We’re going to eat nachos while we're bowling?” Emily asks with a raised eyebrow. “Like we’re putting our fingers in those bowling balls that probably haven’t been sanitized ever and then you’re just going to eat?”
Annie groans. “This food is garbage anyway. I could have made us something if I’d known you’d wanted to eat.”
I point to her. “We should have let her make us food.”
Noah just laughs. “Come on, greasy pizza and gross nachos are fun sometimes.”
“I cannot believe we’re related,” Annie says as she watches Noah dip a chip into the nacho cheese—or whatever it is. Annie has always been a bit of a food snob. She always wants to eat the best things. But after taking a cooking class her freshman year, she started cooking at home and making up her own recipes and they taste pretty good. Which is nice, since my mom doesn’t cook very well and Annie and Noah’s mom works a lot so she’s not usually home for dinner.
“Mmmmm,” Noah says. Annie rolls her eyes.
“I’m gonna bowl.” She stands and grabs the six-pound ball, the smallest one they have, and it still looks too big for her and her petite frame.
I try not to be obvious as I watch Annie bowl, but Noah is distracted by his nachos so I watch her as she bowls a seven and then doesn’t hit any more pins.
