Undercurrent

Chapter 16

"Nina! If you're not down here in the next two minutes, you're going to have to walk!" Mum's voice carried up the stairs.

I checked the time on my phone – it was only just after five, early even by my standards. I took a quick look in the mirror, figuring that it didn't matter too much what I looked like – it was only crazy golf after all.

"Coming!" I shouted down the stairs as I grabbed my bag and headed out of my room. I looked over my shoulder at the piles of clothes I'd left strewn around the place. Maybe I wasn't as laid back about what I was wearing as I'd tried to convince myself.

"About time," Mum said as I came into the kitchen. "Thought you'd fallen asleep up there."

"It's not even quarter past!" I protested. "Anyway, I'm ready now."

Mum smiled. "Come on then."

I hadn't been to the new entertainment complex in town before. I'd mentioned it to Zach a couple of times but he'd been reluctant to go and neither crazy golf or bowling was something you could really get away with doing on your own.

Mum almost pushed me out of the door towards the car. If I didn't know better, I'd say she was more excited than I was about me actually having some kind of social plans. To be honest, I did know better and she absolutely was more excited than I was.

My stomach churned a bit as we headed towards town. I tried to go over a list in my head of things that normal people talk about, so that I wouldn't stand out massively. I'd just mentally written down 'the weather' when I felt my phone buzz.

OLLIE: Did I miss anything yesterday?

That was it. I waited a few minutes to see if there was going to be a follow up text but there was nothing. No mention of why he wasn't there. No mention of last week. Was he really going to just leave it at that?

I was still deliberating how to reply when we pulled into the car park. As usual, I was embarrassingly early. I'd told Mum we were meeting there half an hour earlier than we were, just to make sure we weren't late. I figured I'd just loiter around the arcade games, waiting for Ro and her friends.

"Let me know when you need picking up, Nini," Mum said, leaning over and giving me a quick hug. "And have a lovely time. You deserve to have some fun."

"Thanks, Mum. See you later." I shut the door behind me and headed to the entrance. Mum waited a little longer than she needed to in the car park but when she saw me reach the door, she waved and drove off. I smiled to myself; I'd really got lucky in the mum department.

The bright lights and buzzing sounds of the arcade hit me hard when I walked into the complex. It swarmed with people and I felt pretty overwhelmed. I wandered aimlessly through the different machines, trying to find my bearings. I managed to locate the bowling alley and the stairs up to the cinema but the crazy golf seemed to be evading me.

I decided my best bet was to wait for Ro out the front. I'd never find her inside and the flashing lights were starting to make my head hurt. I desperately hoped that the crazy golf course was darker and quieter.

My phone buzzed again when I got outside. It was Ro, telling me she'd be about five minutes. I smiled, knowing that meant at least ten minutes. I didn't really mind, it was cooler outside and I definitely needed a bit of fresh air.

I clicked off of Ro's message and spotted Ollie's, sat there unanswered. Had he missed anything yesterday? Honestly, no, not much. Just my existential crisis I suppose.

NINA: Nothing important. Gloria just had us using different pencils for tone.

Grey dots bounced along the bottom of the screen.