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zach's pov
sometimes grace is so stubborn and i want to kill her, but she's also sweet. when she goes to sit down at the bowling lane and starts helping reese put her shoes on, i can't help but smile. jasmine was never like this with reese, heck she was never even friends with reese or ryan.
i walk back to the counter.
"hi, can you please add one more person to our game please?" i ask the cashier.
"i just don't understand what she's thinking," he says. ok i know he's probably in high school but what does that even mean.
"huh?"
"like, if she's your girlfriend, why wouldn't she let herself join the game, you know?" oh no.
"no no no, she's not my girlfriend. far from it. she just babysits my sister,"
"ouch, she just got babysitter zoned,"
"no i didn't mean it like that!" why am i defending myself to this random 16 year old.
"anyways it'll be 10.27 to add her,"
"that's fine," i hand him my card.
"cool, alright have a good rest of your day," he says to me. i say it back then walk away back to grace.
"hey what's your shoe size?" i ask her.
"like an 8, why?" i don't answer her question and i walk back to the shoe counter and grab her size then give them to grace.
"here," i hand her the shoes.
"zach, we'd have to pay for another person for me to join, and i don't want to intrude on this family game time,"
"grace, you're so annoying. i already paid for you, and you're not intruding ok? we're asking you to join, so stop trying to be the better person," i admit that was a little bit harsh but it needed to be said.
"you're a bitch," she whispers so that only i can hear.
"yeah that's why i just paid for you to join the game," i remark.
"if you're going to hold that over my head, then take this," she hands me a twenty dollar bill. this isn't what i was expecting.
"what's this for?"
"for adding me to the game, keep the change. i don't want you to use this against me every time i say something,"
"no i didn't mean it like that, please take the money back," i basically shove the money back into her hand. she finally gives up and takes her money back. she then puts on her shoes. i don't know why but i've never noticed how pretty she is. nope. never saying that again.
i'm up to bowl first.
i somehow get a strike.
"yay! good job zach!" grace claps.
"proud of your boyfriend?" ryan asks. i am going to have him killed.
"no, i just find strikes exciting, usually only talented people get them which is why i'm so surprised," grace has a nice comeback not going to lie.
she steps up to bowl. she completely misses and it goes in the side thing.
"guess you're not talented like me," i tease her.
"shut up herron," she punches my shoulder on the way back to her seat.
it's reese's turn to bowl and i go up to help her.
"hey, if i get a strike, then zach has to take grace out on a date!" ryan says as he walks up to take his turn. why is he always trying to put me and grace together?
"absolutely positively not," grace almost shouts. ouch.
"zach you better get used to grace rejecting you i guess," ryan says.
"what makes you think grace would have anything to reject? i would never give her anything to reject," i see grace's expression change from happy to just, disappointed. maybe she's just bored of being here.
grace goes up to bowl again. she actually gets a strike. i don't know why but i'm actually so happy for her? she basically is leaping back to the seats.
"see zach! i did it! i got a strike!" she runs up to me and i just have the instinct to hug her and pick her up. do i know why? absolutely not. but i just picked her up and twirled her. i put her down.
"uh zach? what was that?" she looks so weird out. i don't even know why i did that. i guess i let excitement get the best of me.
"i just am so used to doing that with reese and i was actually proud of you that you got a strike," i fake wipe a fake tear from my face.
"lame excuse, we both know you're in love with me," she laughs then twirls her hair in a joking manner.
"you caught me," i put my hands up as if to surrender.
after we finish bowling, we head home. i'm kind of embarrassed that grace has to drive us.
"wanna swim in our pool with us?" reese asks grace. grace looks at me like she's asking if i'm okay with her being there. i nod my head.
"i'd love too reese!" she's so good with reese and ryan. and reese and ryan love her, it'd be convenient if we were dating like ryan wanted us to.
grace drops us off at our house and she goes home to change.
me, reese, and ryan were all just hanging in the pool until we hear feet running towards us.
"incoming!" i turn my head to see grace jumping into our pool. we all laugh.
"surprised?" she asks.
"definitely not the entrance i was expecting," i say to her.
"well i'm known for being spontaneous and unpredictable," she flips her hair.
we started playing water volleyball which made me think of when grace kissed me. i know it was part of the bet, but i didn't hate it. at all.
