Chapter 10
*Stephanie*
"Yes!" I yelled jumping up and down in my ugly bowling shoes. "I'm winning! You're getting your ass whipped by a girl!" I taunted Cole. I had already won one game and we were about halfway through the second game.
"I'm letting you off easy. If we didn't have these side things up you would have got a gutter ball every time you bowl."
"Somebody's jealous...." I sang taking a sip of my slushie. We had only been here 45 minutes and I already had my triple chocolate ice cream, a coca cola and this slushie. I mean it was only 10.00 in the morning.
"I'm not! I could beat you anytime." He said arrogantly.
"Prove it Sparky." I said.
"Sparky?" he said with raised eyebrows.
"Yeah, you remind me of a dog we had when I was little."
"Great. So I remind you of a pet dog called Sparky. Good to know." He said sarcastically choosing a green ball. Damn they were the heavy ones.
"Hey! Sparky, was a good dog!" I yelled so he could hear.
He turned around. "But I'm bad." He said and winked before turning back and getting ready to bowl. Wow, he looked great.
He wasn't kidding, he put minimal amount of strength into it and...got a strike.
"Told you I could beat you." He said and came and sat down.
"Ehh, you haven't beaten me yet Sparky...that was luck."
He groaned. "I don't like that name. If anyone's Sparky, it's you, with all that sugar in your system!"
"How about Pork Chop? Or Pooh Bear?" I said giggling.
"I think you're a little bit hyper pretty girl." He said waving his hand infront of my face.
"Who's a porky chop??? Who's a porky chopchop?"
"Alright, I think we need to get you some fresh air." He said laughing.
"Noo. I want to finish the game and beat you." I said stubbornly.
"Okay...but I'm going to get you a bottle of water anyway." He said standing up and walking to the vending machine behind us.
I flounced over to the machine that spouted out balls and chose a pink ball, the lightest. Then I walked over to the lane and threw it. Quite literally. It went clunk on the shiny floor, bounced off the side railings and knocked straight into the centre pin, knocking a few others out with it leaving two pins on either side.
Maybe he was right, if I didn't have those side railings I would so have lost by now.
I bowled for a second time but missed both pins.
Cole came back and handed me a bottle of cool water. "Thanks Sparky!" I said. He gave me a withering look. I loved teasing him. It was so funny.
"Seriously? Drink that already, I can't deal with much more of that." He picked up another ball and...got another strike! What the hell?
"That's two flukes."
"Nah...I think I was just letting you get off with a win last time. This time, I'm bringing it home!" he said smirking.
"You're mean." I said pouting. His face fell slightly.
"Ohh I-m sor-" he started.
"Ha! What happened to the bad boy?" I asked laughing.
"No fair! You tricked me!" He protested, nicking my bottle and taking a long drink.
"Soo...what's your point?" I said taking my bottle back and downing the rest of it.
"You know that was an indirect kiss right?" he said.
"Ewwww Cole cooties."
"What are you. Five?"he asked amused.
"Hey. You're the one that brought it up." I retorted. "Ain't that right Sparky?" I added on the end just to annoy him.
He groaned again. "How the hell can something be so cute but so seriously annoying?" He muttered under his breath. He didn't intend for me to hear, but I did and it set my heart racing. To cover up the blush to my cheeks, I quickly went to choose a ball and threw it again. It again bounced off the side railing.
I turned back. Cole was sitting there, both eyebrows raised.
"What?"
"Nothing..." then he let out a laugh. "You just really can't bowl."
"Meanie." I hit his arm but my arm rebounded and almost hit me in the face!
"Oh I think you're phone went off. The whole bench started vibrating."
"Oh I bet you liked that didn't you." I said teasingly.
"Hell yeah." He said flashing his 250 kilowatt smile before passing me.
I laughed and fished out my phone from my bag. It was blinking in indication of a message.
Where the hell are you? M x. It was from Madison.
I didn't feel very well so I went home x. I text back...yeah she'll buy that, I hope.
Oh okay. I thought you might've been abducted by the devil. M x
Who?? X. What was she on about?
You know, Cole. M x
Oh...nah he was just sent to give me my phone. X
You still coming over later? M x
Yeah, should be feeling better by then x I lied. I think I'm coming in for cheerleading practice anyway...just needed some rest. Didn't get much sleep last night x
Okay, see you then hun, M x
I chucked my phone back in my bag. Jeesh she was hard work.
After 10 minutes more bowling we finally finished the game. Cole won. He deserved it really, I think he was just trying to be a gentleman the first game and let me win.
We made our way back to the front desk joking around. The desk guy was still their looking bored. He looked up hopefully as we approached but shrunk back as he saw Cole.
"Ready to be my girlfriend again?" Cole whispered in my ear making me shiver slightly.
I nodded, the sugar was still in my system and was making me lightheaded.
He grabbed my hand and tugged me over. Whoaa déjà vu.
"Can we get our shoes back mate?" he said to the desk guy who was nodding like one of those dogs that you can get to put in your car.
I took the clown shoes off and gave them to the guy who walked off mutely to get my boots.
All of a sudden I felt arms around me pulling me closer to a warm, firm body. Then Cole's face infront of mine. "Close your eyes." He whispered. I did as he told and next minute felt soft pressure on my lips. Oh my God what was he doing?
But before I could decipher anything from the kiss he pulled back and muttered. "He was making eyes at you again..." as if that was enough explanation as to why he just freakin kissed me!
I looked away, my lips felt all tingly. Nothing like the way they felt when I kissed Jeremy this morning.
The desk guy was looking uncomfortable as he placed my boots and Cole's shoes on the desk. "Thank you..." I purred seductively. Why not have some fun? Get my mind of the kiss.
"We need to go pretty girl." Cole said from behind me. How did he get his shoes on so fast?
"Alright! I'm coming Sparky!" I said hurriedly pulling on my boots over my jeans and hopping around on one foot.
The desk guy sniggered at the nickname but Cole shut him up with a dirty look.
"See you around." I said to desk guy and sent him a wink before turning around and latching onto Cole's arm who was shaking his head and muttering "such a tease."
"Yup, that's me." I said and then spotted the dance machine. "Awww Cole, can we go on it. Prettyyyyy pleasssseeeeeeeeee?" I widened my eyes.
He looked pained. "Really? I just told the guy that we had to go."
I just pouted my lip.
He squeezed his eyes shut for a second. "Fine."
"Yay!!" I said and made my way over to the token machine and started rummaging around my bag for some money.
"No way. I'm paying." Cole said pushing me behind him as he blocked the machine.
"No, you paid for the bowling. I can pay for this considering I want it so much."
"Na-ah not budging." he responded.
I tried tickling him but all I got was the feeling that I wanted to rip his shirt off. Cole didn't move at all. In the end I gave up and let him pay for it and then we were both on the machine dancing to Cotton-Eye Joe.
Well dancing in my case. In Cole's case, not so much.
"You know, for someone that played so much football and cricket you are rather uncoordinated." I said bouncing up and down.
"You don't need to learn to do this sort of stuff." He answered, his focus on the screen even though his feet were in completely different places. I glanced at his face which showed concentration, and then his lips which only minutes ago had been on mine. I felt the fluttery feeling in my stomach again. Did he feel anything when he kissed me?
"Hey stop pitying me!" he said. I yelped slightly and looked at the screen. I had missed loads of steps because I had been staring at him, and he had almost caught up with me.
"I wasn't. I was just letting you catch up a bit." I said, trying to cover up my staring fest.
"Sure you were." He said, but I saw the corner of his mouth lift up in a smile.
His perfect mouth...
Concentrate Stephanie! God what was wrong with me? I was turning into some hormone crazed girl!
After three rounds, of course I won, we decided to use up the rest of our tokens on some shooting game where you had to shoot zombies. I failed dramatically. I mean, I've played COD with the guys, but this game was rubbish. You couldn't even see where you were shooting, yet Cole still managed to get to level 10 and had to keep respawning me because I kept dying.
By the time we finished our arcade game frenzy, it was half eleven. Aww no. where had the time gone? I had to be back in an hour for cheerleading practice.
Cole dragged my outside and started to walk down the road with me in tow.
"Where we going?" I asked him as I matched his brisk pace, my heels clicking along the pavement.
"You'll see pretty girl." He said flicking me on the nose.
There he goes again. Calling me pretty girl. I decided not to bring it up this time. I kind of liked it, especially the way he said it. Maybe I should come up with a better nickname for him.
We walked for about 10 minutes until we came to a huge lake. It was beautiful. The water was pretty much crystal clear and you could see fish darting around everywhere. There was a pebble bank near where we were standing and surrounding the bank were pretty flowers, all different colours and species.
I gasped. "This is beautiful Cole!"
"Thought you'd like it. I found it with a couple of university mates yesterday." He said smiling. Then he picked out an exceptionally stunning purple flower and handed it to me.
"Umm thanks" I mumbled.
" A pretty flower for a pretty girl." He said and turned and started to make his way to the pebble bank.
I was just left standing there. Confused. He did think I was pretty. OH My Sugar Puffs!...this was the best day of my short-lived life!
We sat on the bank, under the shade of a tree, and talked, just talked for half an hour. You would think after all these year's that we would run out of things to talk about, but oh my your so wrong. Then Cole got up and handed out his hand to me to help me get up.
I didn't want to take his hand. Not because I didn't like the feel of his hand in mine, because oh yes I most definitely did. No, because I didn't want the morning to end. I was having the best time ever and I didn't want to go back to worrying all the time. When I was with Cole, it all went away.
In the end, I took it and we walked, hand in hand back to Cole's car, in which he drove me back to sixth form.
"So I'll see you at work?" I asked, trying to be nonchalant about it.
"Oh, it's a Tuesday. I don't work Tuesday's remember, but I'll see you tonight." He said happily.
My heart sank. " Oh, I'm staying round Madison's tonight." I said watching carefully for his reaction. His smile vanished and was replaced with a frown.
"Oh...okay...well I'll see you tomorrow then."
"Yeah." I said sadly. "See you tomorrow." Then I got out and closed the door. He waved to me before driving away and I walked into the school alone.
"Steph!" shouted a voice.
I turned to see Jeremy running frantically towards me.
Let the pretence begin once again.
So, that was their little outing. Isn't that sweet...well I think it was anyway.
So Cole's nickname for Steph is pretty girl but what nickname should Steph have for Cole...any ideas?
Anyway thank you for everyone's votes last chapter. I didn't upload because my computer had a virus that completely messed up my computer so I was going on Wattpad on my phone, but I couldn't actually upload.
Next upload: 5 days. If you vote, it might inspire me to write faster ;)
Ari x