When Ryan knocks on the door to pick me up later that night, I’m ready to go because I’ve been bored all day.I grab my windbreaker from the hook in the foyer and lock the door from the inside before closing it behind me.
On the way to King Bowl, Chris tells me that Steff’s bringing her little cousin along tonight.Great,I think to myself,I really just want to have a fun night with my friends for my birthday, I hope her cousin isn’t lame.
We get inside and grab a table with two lanes and Chris starts putting our names into the computer so we can keep score.I’m pretty sure he’s going to win again.Chris always wins.I’m trying to come up with a strategy for our first round when I lock eyes with her.
Her.Big brown eyes.
Her.Damn!Those eyes.
I snap back when Steff starts talking.“Guys, this is my cousin, Ellie.She’s visiting from Virginia.”
“Hey Ellie!”I smile.She smiles at me, and I already know she’s stolen my heart.I don’t even know anything more than her first name but right now, I want to know everything about her.
I don’t care that Jennifer and Ryan are laughing at me because I can’t stop smiling.I grab an empty chair from the table and slide it next to the bench where Ellie and Steff are sitting.I don’t know what to say so I just start tying my shoes and then I ask her how old she is.
When she answers, my heart skips a beat.Her voiceactuallymade my heart skip.I’ve never felt like this.I ask her to be on my team so I can be near her longer.
We were all having so much fun bowling and it’s turning out to be a better night than I imagined.Ellie doesn’t know how to bowl, but I sure had a blast showing her how to.The first time she threw the ball, it bounced over the divider and into the next lane; she felt so bad and kept apologizing to the family that was next to us.
I realized halfway through our game that I was competing for her attention because Chris kept asking her stupid questions about where she lives and what’s Virginia like.Every time she would answer one of his questions, she would glance over at me as if she was expecting me to change the subject to something more fun.She laughed at all the right moments, and I couldn’t get enough of her voice.
Then she hit her first strike and to celebrate, Chris got the idea to pick her up and pretend to swing her down the lane.So, we snuck up behind her and grabbed her arms and legs.We swung her a couple times until she was laughing so hard we had to put her down before we dropped her.
I think Chris likes Ellie.
Chris can’t like Ellie because I like Ellie.
I ask her if she wants to go outside to get some air for a bit and when she says yes, I know she doesn’t like Chris.We walked out to the front of the building to sit on the stone wall.It’s kind of cold and I scoot next to her, so that our legs are touching.I just want to keep talking to her, so I ask her to play thirty questions and spout off all sorts of random things: what’s your favorite color, when’s your birthday, what grade are you in.Tell me everything about you, Ellie.
She’s cold, I can see her shivering.I take my windbreaker off and slide it onto her shoulders.
“Thanks.”She says.I want to kiss her, but I also don’t want to move too fast, so I grab her hand instead and lace her fingers into mine.
I think this is my favorite birthday ever.I’ll probably remember this day for the rest of my life.
Chapter Four
Dylan
Present Day
Today I was supposed to be at the beach with my mom.We haven’t had a vacation in a long time, and we were finally going to enjoy some time away, but mother nature had other plans.
After we got home and I showered, I went straight to bed.I was exhausted from driving for nearly twelve hours, but I couldn’t sleep.I was thinking about what my mom said in the car when I asked her about my dad.We don’t talk about him because it makes her cry, and I don’t like to make Mom cry.
I’ve seen pictures of him, and I know I look like him – I just wish I could have met him.Most of the time, I don’t really feel like anything is missing in my life but there are days when it gets to me – the whole not having a dad bit.It hits me especially hard when I’m at a ball game and hear my teammate’s dads out in the stands cheering them on.Then there’s me, out in the field, with no dad calling out:
“You got this Dylan!”
or
“Yeah Dylan, that’s my boy!”
or
“Nice catch”.
I mean Mom comes to all my games – and I am so grateful she does – but it’s not the same.
