The Tortoise and His Sunrise | ✓

15. Bowling

"Strike!" Cody yelled, throwing his hands up as the last bowling pin fell over by the impact of the ball.

I sipped from the bottle of iced water that I was sharing with Nolan.

"Seriously," I said to Ashley, who was giving Cody a thumbs-up, "Mr. Jack-of-all-trades strikes again. Wait, pun not intended. Is there anything your guy doesn't have a hobby in?"

She gaped at me. In an instant, her fingers unfurled, and her palm went flying towards my mouth.

I just narrowly evaded her by ducking my head.

"Chelsea Arnold!" she whispered. "Are you trying to give me high blood pressure?"

"You make yourself sound old when you throw around medical terms like that," Nolan told her, snickering when she gave him an unimpressed glare.

"Call him 'my guy' again, and I-I-I'll make you regret it!" Ashley whispered harshly.

I merely responded with generous amounts of snickering.

Melissa walked up to me with two cups of chocolate mint ice-cream in her hand.

"Here's yours," she asked, thrusting one into my hands.

"Thanks." I picked up the small wooden spoon that had been stuck into it and scooped up some.

Ashley eyed the two of us. "I'm still stuffed from earlier. How can you eat ice-cream now?"

"Ice-cream is basically liquid," Melissa informed her. "It's like drinking water."

"What she said," I said, savoring the refreshing minty taste.

Nolan gave me a funny look.

"Why are you eating ice-cream? Didn't you just say you were freezing?"

"Um," I said. "Your jacket will keep me warm! Right, darling?"

With a short laugh, he shrugged off his denim jacket and handed it to me. "If you wanted my jacket, all you had to do was ask."

I delightedly put my arms through the sleeves. As usual, it was toasty inside his jacket.

"I did," I said as I beamed at him, "in my own way."

Not five minutes later, I faced the consequences of my regrettable decision. I tried to pick up the bowling ball, but my fingers were too numb to curl into the holes.

"Why did I do that?" I wailed.

Ashley, who was standing beside me, jumped at the abrupt noise.

"What? What did you do?"

Whimpering, I set the bowling ball into her arms. "Eat ice-cream. I can't even feel my fingers. Can you play for me? I think I need to go outside."

"I guess," she said, "but you know I suck at this, right?"

"It's just a game," I said. "I can't play. My hands are falling off."

Nolan came to stand beside me. He was holding my ice-cream cup for me because it was my turn.

"I told you so," he said.

"Have some sympathy," I groaned.

Ashley stepped up to the bowling lane in my place.

"I can go out with you," he said. "I don't want you alone outside."

"Thanks." I hugged myself.

"Be back in a few," Nolan told Derek as we passed him. "Chelsea needs to thaw out."