The Perfect Touchdown

Twelve

"Well, with Leah here, the teams are uneven now," Carter said, but Noah shook his head after counting everyone.

"If we split into groups of 5, the teams will be even again."

We then split into two groups of 5 and I had no say over who went where. Noah seemed adamant about keeping me on his team, which meant Ryan joined their group with Leah and Carter, and I got the twins, Isabelle and Noah.

"Oh yay, we're on the same team," Leah said and threw herself at Aiden.

He smiled down at her and it tore at my heart. I don't know what compelled me to speak after that. "I hope you can keep up." I had meant for it to come off as a joke, but my tone was too serious.

Aiden frowned but thankfully Leah brushed it off like it was nothing and turned her attention back to Aiden. We reset our boards and started our games, but I couldn't help noticing how much of a distraction and poor player Leah was.

I could tell it was taking everything in my brother not to freak out or scold her every time she rolled an obvious gutter ball. It was clear to everyone that she was pretending to throw the ball like an idiot to get Aiden's help and attention, and failed to realize how serious they were both taking the game.

When you pair Aiden and Avery up for anything, it usually ends with them becoming quite competitive. Drunk bowling was no different.

But Aiden was humouring her the entire time and I couldn't deny that it was starting to get to me. I felt irritated for no reason and turned to more alcohol to try and drown it out. Thankfully, Noah and Carter had snuck in more drinks in water bottles.

This was going to be a rough night.

~*~

Aiden

"Dude, she is killing me," Avery whined about Leah for the 10th time. I didn't blame him, the girl not only sucked at bowling, but she also sucked at pretending too. I was waiting for the first round of games to be done so I could take her to the side and remind her that I called off whatever it was we had.

"The game is almost over, then we can get Rylee back," I said.

Carter nudged me. "It looks like she is enjoying herself over there."

I looked over to see Rylee throw her head back as she laughed out loud with Noah, her entire face lit up. Something gnawed at my stomach and made me feel sick, I had to look away.

I tried to ignore their laughter, but it made it harder to focus on the game and I ended up playing like shit. Avery looked seconds away from tearing that smile right off Noah's face. Instead, I continued to pound back the drinks and Avery slammed bowling balls down the aisle.

The presence of Leah now irritated me, and her constant fake stupidity was getting on my nerves. Why did girls think that was attractive? I wouldn't want to date any dude you attracted with that behaviour. Rylee never once acted like she was dumb or ignorant just to get a guy's attention, she was always above that.

'Why does my mind keep wandering to her? I'm going to do something stupid at this rate.'

I had a valid reason to warn her away from Jake, but there was no reason for her to stay away from Noah.

'Ugh, what is wrong with me?'

"Jesus, man. You're really putting them back. Are you doing okay?" Avery asked.

I tossed another can into the trash. "I'm just fine."

"Bullshit, you didn't even want to party with us in the first place. The only reason you're here is because of my sister."