As I Fall Asleep- Joshua Bassett

Chapter 17

"Hey" I say, opening the door further.

"Hi. Um, these are for you," he extends the bouquet to me, and I take them, thanking him.

"I'm just going to go stick these in some water, you're welcome to come in."

Noah steps inside and closes the door behind him. He follows me into the kitchen and waits by the counter while I fill a pitcher up with water.

I finish putting the flowers in a vase and am about to suggest that we get going when my dad walks in. Oh great.

"Hey dad, we were just going," I say, pulling Noah's arm and hoping he gets the hint and leaves with me. Instead, he holds out his hand for a handshake.

"Mr. Barstow, it's nice to meet you."

My dad looks at Noah's extended hand for a moment before finally taking it in his own.

"You must be Noah. It's nice to meet you too."

I butt in, "Ok great, now that introductions are done, we should really get going." I try to pull Noah's arm again, but he stays firm.

"What are your plans tonight?" my dad questions, making me groan internally.

"We are going bowling and then maybe get ice-cream. I will have her home by 11 if that's ok?" He forms the last sentence as a question, asking my dads permission.

"10:30," my dad says, and Noah nods. "Have fun kids," then my dad walks out of the kitchen.

We finally exit the house and make our way to his car.

"Sorry," I say sheepishly.

"It's totally okay," Noah responds. "If I had a daughter like you, I would want to make sure she was in the right hands too." I blush.

I reach for the door handle of the car, but Noah beats me to it, opening the door for me. What a gentleman.

We engage in small talk on the way to the bowling alley and when we finally arrive, Noah gets out of the car and opens the door for me, once again.

We go inside and get our shoes, then head to our lane.

"I have to warn you, I'm pretty good at bowling," Noah says as he lifts a bowling ball and examines it closely.

"I'm not too shabby either," I warn, lifting the ball I want to use.

The truth is, I'm not the worst at bowling, but I'm not that great.

After we each take 5 turns, the score is 46-22, with Noah in the lead.

"I thought you said you were good at this," Noah says, laughing.

I sigh and roll my eyes. "Ok, maybe I'm not the best."

"No duh," he says under his breath with a smile, making me hit him in his side as I laugh along.

My next turn comes up and I walk to the line with a ball. To my surprise, Noah comes along and stands by me.

"You want to crouch down a little more... yeah, like that. And make sure to fling your wrist a bit more when you release the ball."

I do as he says and hit 7 of the 10 pins, which is better than I've done all night.

I turn and smile at him, "Thanks."

I go back and retrieve another ball, waiting for the pins to reset into their positions.

"Any advice on how I get the last 3?"

Instead of answering, Noah comes up behind me and places his arm along mine placing his hand on the ball, covering mine.

"So, you want to bring it back," he pulls his arm back slowly, taking my arm with him, as well as the ball, "then you want flick it, like this," he makes a snapping motion with his wrist. "Got it?"