The Quest for Epic

Chapter sixteen

"I can help", he supplied

I looked at him incredulously. "What gives?"

"Wow. Ellie, I just wanna help you hit those balls okay?"

I still gave him a sceptical look and he groaned. "Look, your ball has come up. Pick it up".

I did as he said, placing my fingers in the right holes. Suddenly I felt him right at my back, positioning my body in an angle and his hand on my hand with the bowling ball in it.

I became painfully aware of the scent of pine trees and Noah enveloping me.

"Okay, now just run forward and release your ball", he said gently, his warm breath fanning my neck and sending chills down my spine.

I tried not to flush, I ran forward and released my ball as he said and my bowling ball slammed against the two remaining pins with a satisfying crash.

"Ahhh!" I screamed, pumping my fists into the air "I got a spare!"

I turned around expecting to see a happy Rob but my excitement was not mirrored on his face. I walked up to him.

"We won! Why aren't you celebrating with me?"

"You could have gotten a strike on that, Ells", he said, his tone a bit cold. I reeled back. Okay, what was up with that?

"But we still won. What's your problem?"

"That's the problem, Ellie. You don't put in enough effort; we could have won that by a wider margin"

Okay, this was the part of Rob I disliked. Amidst all the charm and sweetness, there was this part of him that always wanted to be better than everyone else.

Shannon and Noah walked up to us just then.

"Congrats on the win, guys", Shannon said

"Yeah, good game. We'd probably win in a rematch though", Noah joked good naturedly, nudging Shannon's arm and she laughed. It hurt to see that, that they shared some kind of inside joke... That they shared any history, period.

"Oh, really?" Rob retorted a tad snidely "Care to prove that theory? We could go again".

And he was completely serious. I was appalled at his behaviour.

"Oh my gosh, no", Shannon quipped "I'm starved, people. Let's head to the food court"

With some unspeakable tension hanging between the three of us (Shannon seemed oblivious to it all); we headed to the food court just a short distance from the rink.

Noah, Rob and I ordered burgers with a side of fries, cokes for them and a Sprite for me. Shannon explained to us that she was a vegetarian and then ordered a Kale salad and a bottle of water.

We carried our food to a table nearby and we began to eat. Shannon was the first to break the silence.

"Okay I'm dying to know. How did you guys meet?" she said, looking between me and Rob, curiosity etched on her features.

I looked at Rob and my eyes met his, his mouth lifted in a smile as he began to turn up the charm. He took hold of my free hand that was on the table as he spoke.

"It was pretty simple really. We met in high school; we were on the same academic decathlon team. I liked her, I asked her out and we fell in love", Rob summarised

I couldn't help but smile back at him at the endearing expression he had, but I also felt the heat of someone's glare on the side of my face. I turned to find Noah glaring hazel daggers at me and Rob.