Sleet Sugar by S.J. Tilly

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

IZZY

“U

m, Meghan?”

“Yeah?”

“Please, pretty-pretty please, tell me those aren’t our dates.”

Meghan looks over at me, and then back at the boys who are walking in our direction, one of them waving frantically at my future ex-best friend.

“Yeah, that’s them. Why? They’re cute.”

“Cute?” I screech, then I lower my voice. “Yeah, cute like a couple of fuzzy puppies who were just weaned from their mother’s teat.”

“What the fuck?” Meghan chokes on a laugh, halfway between amusement and horror.

Exactly how I feel.

I grip her arm. “They look like they’re in high school!”

“Oh, please.” She rolls her eyes. “Benny is 24.”

“Benny? Seriously? He even has a kid's name.”

Meghan ignores me. “Zander… Well I honestly don’t know how old he is. But I’m sure he’s out of high school.”

She doesn’t sound sure at all.

“Zander? You set me up on a date with a child named Zander?”

“Well, technically Benny set you up. He’s been trying forever to go out with me. So when I saw him the other day, I told him we could go on a date, as long as it was a double and he brought a hot friend for my hot friend.”

“You said you know Benny from work. What did you do, plan his bar mitzvah party?”

“Ha, ha, funny girl. Keep it up. I heard men like a sense of humor in their women.”

“Keyword there Meghan, MEN!”

“Keep your panties on, this’ll be fun. And - I met him at his work. He works at BeanBag.”

“That coffee shop by your house?”

“Yep. He’s a barista.”

“I hate you so much,” I mutter, just as the boys arrive.

Our lane is near the far end of a very large bowling alley, so they had a lot of ground to cover before they got to us. And no, thankfully, this isn’t the bowling alley that hosted the infamous speed dating event. This one is, well - I’d say classy, but it’s still a bowling alley. It has a large bar in the center of the building, and behind that is a funky arcade area. The whole place is industrial chic, not employing neon colors, so it lends itself to a somewhat older crowd. Our dates being the exception.

“Hi Meghan!” Boy number one beams at my friend.

“Hey, Benny.” Meghan leans in for a hug, but she keeps her hips back and away from his.

Sorry Benny, looks like you’re staying in the friend zone tonight.

“Guys, this is my bestie, Izzy. Izzy, this is Benny and Zander.”

I wave. The motion catches Zander’s attention and brings his eyes off my boobs and onto my face, his neck turning bright red.

When I was dressing for this date, Meghan told me to wear tight jeans and a low cut shirt, so that’s what I did. But I also thought I’d be on a date with a guy who’d seen a nipple in real life before. I was mistaken, and now the sight of my cleavage seems to be giving poor Zander a case of asthma.

I hold back my eye roll.

“Hi Zander.” I extend my hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

His hand is the size of mine, his fingers are thinner, and his grip is limp. By the way he’s shifting his stance, I’m guessing that his hand is his only limp extremity at the moment. Great, my date is still working through his hormones.

“Hi!” Zander grins at me.

Minus the flush, and terrible handshake, he’s not unappealing. He has curly brown hair that’s cut closer on the sides, the top a little shaggy. He’s wearing a button down flannel and his jeans look clean. He’s about my height, which isn’t an automatic deal breaker. The deal breaker is the fact that he probably weighs 80 pounds less than me, and his face looks untouched by razors. And I don’t mean he has a beard, I mean it looks like he hasn’t advanced to the stage in life where growing a beard is a possibility.

My ovaries have put their hair in curlers and donned their baggiest yoga pants, checking out for the night. I can’t even pretend to think of this as a date. This is more like hanging with my friend’s kid brother. You know the one, the boy who was way too young for you but who had a crush on you and followed you around like a shadow. Like a Dateline Chris-Hansen will send me straight to jail for touching you kind of shadow.

“Zander, it’s great to meet you!” Meghan states loud enough to make poor Zander jump. “Let’s get our shoes on and start a game.”

I thought it was weird when we got here and Meghan pre-paid for a couple of hours on our lane. Now it makes sense. No way did their parents give them enough allowance to cover the cost of this place. I really am going to make Meghan pay me ten dollars an hour after tonight is over, since that’s the rate I got for babysitting when I was a teenager.

The boys sit in the seats facing us across the aisle, far enough away that there won’t be any accidental touching.

Meghan and I start to put our shoes on, and I nudge her with my elbow. Hard.

“You’re going to owe me so many coffee cakes for this,” I whisper.

Meghan’s home baked goods are a treasured commodity in our circle.

“I already have two in my freezer. You can have those," she shrugs.

That she didn’t even put up a fight tells me she knows just as well as I do that this is going to be a disaster.

Finished with my shoes, I sit up and see that Zander has been watching me. I’m sure bending over, in combination with my wardrobe choice, gave him quite the view. I’m not mad. For all my insecurities, I can admit I have some pretty great tits.

Rising, I walk over to peruse the bowling balls.

Zander comes to stand next to me, courage starting to fill his veins. I’d prefer testosterone.

“So… Benny really didn’t tell me anything about tonight, other than that I’d be on a date with a hot girl.”

Girl. Ugh.

“Um, thanks.” I think? “I went into this pretty blind as well.”

“Guess that’s why they call it a blind date, huh?”

I want to slow clap for him, but not sure he’d get that I was being sarcastic. So I just nod.

“So… what do you do?” He asks.

“I’m a financial advisor,” I say, simplifying the truth.

“Oh wow! What a coincidence - my dad’s one, too.”

Behind me, I hear Meghan cough her way over a laugh.

“That’s nice,” I reply. “What do you do?”

“I’m a student.”

“Oh, yeah? What grade?”

Meghan coughs again.

“Uh, 15th, I guess?” Zander scrunches up his nose. “I’m in my third year at the U downtown. I’m a Poli-Sci major. Not sure if I’ll do law school afterwards or head into a consulting field.” He shrugs. “Time will tell.”

And now I feel like an asshole. This kid is clearly smarter than I’ve been giving him credit for, and I need to stop treating him poorly. Like it or not, he’s my date for the evening.

Just then, a server comes over and asks for our drink order. Even with my newly found acceptance, I’m sure as hell drinking tonight, so I order a vodka cranberry. I watch in rapt attention as Zander asks for a draft beer and shows the gal his ID. She looks it over, hands it back, and moves on to Benny.

Well, would you look at that, little Zander is at least 21.

By the time we’ve entered our names into the computer thing, the drinks have been served and everyone is starting to settle down. It’s still a little weird, but I’ll these guys are more fun than I was expecting. We’re definitely sticking to the casual vibe, a little middle school, with the boys on one side and the girls on the other, but the conversation is starting to flow.

I opted to be the last to go in our foursome, and - unfortunately - it’s my turn already. I enjoy bowling. Or at least I thought I did, but it’s been a really long time. Grabbing my sissy ball, as Meghan called it, I step up onto the slick wooden surface and line up for my first throw. I take a step, swing my arm back, swing it forward, release my grip, and watch the ball roll straight into the gutter.

Meghan laughs.

“It’s just a warm-up shot! You got this!” Zander calls out from his seat.

I can’t help it, I smile. He’s being nice.

When my ball is spit back up from the retriever, I launch it for a second try. This time it makes it about halfway down the lane before it veers into the gutter. Meh, progress.

Meghan’s up next and just shakes her head at me as we pass each other.

“Izz, you didn’t tell me you were shit at bowling. I’m a little embarrassed right now.”

“Shut it, hoe. Not all of us can be so skilled at handling balls.”

Benny chokes on his beer. Zander grins.

I don’t get much better as the evening goes on. We’re part way through our first game and I’ve only just now broken into double digits. Clearly, I’m worse than I remember. Or maybe I always played bumper bowling? Even if I asked for bumpers, there’s no way Meghan would allow that. She’s way too competitive to let me cheat the system.

It’s my turn again, and Zander has been really sweet about cheering me on, even though I’m terrible. Lining up, I let my ball fly. Seeing that it’s veering towards the side, I turn away from the lane to wait for my ball to return.

“Holy crap!”

The excitement in Zander’s voice has me spinning back around, hoping to see my ball hit a strike. But all I see is my ball roll past the pins, in the gutter.

“What?” I ask, confused.

But Zander isn’t looking at me, he’s looking a few lanes down from us.

“Is that Ash LeBlanc? And… Woah, is he with Zachary Hunt?”

I spin to look where he’s pointing, and I lock eyes with Zach.