Chloe's POV
Get ready for a surprise I reread the text on my phone screen, my finger highlighting every word. Josh was just too sweet, but he was a little late. He said he’d pick me up at 5 and it was already 5:15. In fifteen minutes my mom would come home and she cannot find out I’m going out with Josh. Especially not after I told her I was hanging out with Paige tonight. One good thing that came out of this fight is that my mom and Kelly were so distant that they didn’t even bother checking plans with each other. I started to feel a little guilty, for deceiving my mom like this, but once Josh’s car rolled into my driveway and he gave me that gorgeous smile and a small cute wave, any melancholy was forgotten, partially due to the fluttering and thumping of my heartbeat. I crawled into the front seat and quickly drew in for a kiss.
“Hey.” I whispered in his ear. He leaned in for another kiss, but for the second I had my eyes open, I got a glimpse of the clock on Josh’s dashboard. I pushed him back and quickly buckled my seat belt.
“What was that?” Josh asked me quickly, stumbling on each word.
“My mom gets home at 5:30 and it’s 5:25. We need to get moving if you don’t want to get caught.” He gave me a quick nod and sped out of my driveway and down the road.
After we were a good mile or two away he finally spoke, and sped down. “You know Chlo it’s kind of cool.”
“What cool?” I asked him hesitantly.
“Us sneaking around. I kind of feel like we’re in a movie, one of those crappy ones you and Paige watch all the time.”
“Hey! They’re not crappy, they’re romantic and sweet.” I exclaimed defensively, no one insults my romcoms.
“Whatever.” I saw him roll his eyes when pretending to read a sign out his window and I almost let out a gasp, almost.
“Hey I saw that! And now I’m going to force you to watch one with me. Take your pick, ‘Dear John’ or ‘The Notebook’?” He started to chuckle, but I shot him an I’m not kidding face and he immediately fell silent.
“Besides,” I said, “I don’t think hiding your relationship from you friends and family qualifies as ‘cool’.”
“Well I’m not hiding anything from my friends.”
“Wait you told them about us?”
“Well ya, just Mikey, Nate and Ben.”
“Why? If they tell Paige I’m screwed!”
“I only told them because I wanted to rub in their faces that I have an amazing girlfriend.” He was sweet, but I was stubborn.
“Well I don’t think it’s fair.”
“What’s not fair?”
“You get to tell your friends and I don’t get to tell mine.”
“Go ahead and tell them! I’m not stopping you.”
“If I tell my friends then Paige is going to find out and Paige can’t find out!”
“Why can’t Paige find out again?”
“You know how Paige is. She’s going to overthink everything. I’m not coming over to see her, I’m coming to see you or if we break up I’m not going to want to hang out with her anymore or something crazy like that and she doesn’t need that stress right now, especially this week.”
“What happened this week?”
“Abby gave Paige and I a duet.” Josh looked confused so I started to clarify. “Your mom said last week that she doesn’t want Paige doing any dances with me, except groups.”
“That’s just ridiculous! My mom is just such a-“ Beeeeeeeeep He slammed a fist against the horn in frustration.
“Don’t say that! She wasn’t thinking she was just doing.”
“Has my mom really been that terrible to you?”
“It’s not really me, it’s Paige. She tried to take Paige out of the company during pyramid. Abby had to threaten her with Brooke’s recommendation letter, to keep Paige on the team. Thank god she did.”
“How did I miss all of this?” I looked into his sad, worried eyes.
“Because, you are busy planning extra special romantic dates for us to go on.” I exclaimed, with a newfound positivity that I hoped would cheer him up.
“I guess.”
“So where are we going anyways? We’ve been driving forever!”
“We’re almost there. Just a little while longer. Ok, close you’re eyes.” I didn’t like the idea of me, closing my eyes, in the passenger seat, especially during rush hour, but I agreed after much persistence. I felt us turn into a parking lot and then waited as the car slowly rolled to a stop.
Once Josh took the keys out of the ignition I asked, “Can I open my eyes now?”
“Not yet, just give me a second.” I heard a car door open, then another one open, then I felt a hand guide me out of the car.
“Now?”
“Now.” I opened my eyes and looked at the gigantic bowling alley standing in front of me.
“Bowling.” I exclaimed.
“Ya, I thought it would be fun. Plus, with all those dance competitions I thought you’d want a new form of competition. If you don’t want to we could go somewhere else like-“
“Nope, it’s perfect! I’m just surprised we drove so far. Isn’t there one 5 minutes from your house?”
“Yes, but everyone goes there, plus this place has the best curly fries in the Pittsburg area. So what do you say?” He stuck out his hand and once I grabbed it we dragged each other inside. Once Josh opened the doors I was immediately blinded by the neon lights, and I lost all hearing in my ears because of the blaring 80’s music coming from two speakers right next to us. It took a minute for me to adjust, but when I did I began grinning ear to ear. Everything was bright from the multicolored ceiling to the glow-in-the-dark splatter painted wooden floors. The lanes were lined with pink and green neon tape and the pins shined a bright florescent blue.
“This place is amazing!” I shouted over the thumping music. Josh laughed as he paid the girl at the counter for our shoes. Mine were lined with pink tape and his, with blue. We headed over to our assigned lane, which was on the far left side. It was on the opposite side from the snack bar, where all the action and partying seemed to be happening, but I didn’t mind. It was better this way. The thumping music didn’t reach the far left lane, so it sounded almost normal and we were completely alone. This was going to be perfect. I strapped on my shoes and walked up to the lane. I picked up a splatter-painted ball and got ready to throw it as hard as I could. My legs were strong, from dance, but as for my arms, well lets just say they could be broken easier then a pair of twigs.
“Don’t worry Chlo, I’ll go easy on you.” Josh exclaimed from the bench behind the lane. I turned around and stuck my tongue out at him. He just laughed and continued to lace up his shoes. My competiveness suddenly turned on, almost like someone just flipped a switch. My eyes narrowed and my body tensed up. I probably looked like a complete idiot flailing the ball towards the pins, but I didn’t care. I was in the zone. I started to tip my body from side to side, like I was controlling the ball with my body. The black ball blended into the dark alley, so that just the painted colors showed. It reminded me of a ball of light hurdling towards my enemy, the pins. I flashed a victory smile as I watched every single blue pin fall onto the wooden ground. I spun around and locked eyes with my boyfriend, who was currently gaping at my success.
“Don’t worry Josh, I’ll go easy on you.” I exclaimed mock-sympathetically, while pouting my lips slightly. The rest of the game consisted of almost solely strikes and spares, for both of us. He was good, but at the end of the day I was better.
“I knew I should’ve taken you to the hockey rink. I would’ve beaten you there.” Josh exclaimed. Apparently he wasn’t taking losing that lightly.
“Ya, you’re probably right there. I can barley skate, it’s rather pathetic.”
“I can imagine.”
“Well then you’ll just have to teach me.” I said flirtatiously. “Oh, and what about my victory kiss?” I added, which made him grin ear to ear. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he pressed his lips against mine.
“Chloe?” I heard someone shout from a few lanes over.
“No, that’s not Chloe!” I heard another girl shout. I was afraid to open my eyes, but I new I had to. By the time I did I was staring face to face with Kendall and Nia. I immediately wanted to curl up into a ball and roll myself down the lane.
“I’m going to get some of those curly fries everyone’s talking about.” Josh blurted out, rushing off. I couldn’t believe he just ditched me.
Thanks a lot Josh. I though to myself, but that was the least of my problems at the moment.
“I told you it was Chloe!” Kendall exclaimed, while pointing her finger at me.
“Chloe what the heck are you doing here with Josh?” Nia asked me, while flailing her arms in the air.
“Bowling.” I replied as innocently and sweetly as possible.
“Honey, we were bowling, you were making out.”
“With Josh!” Nia added.
“So, you saw that.” I said.
“The entire bowling alley saw it Chlo! We were about to tell you to get a room then we saw it was you.” Kendall exclaimed.
“Ya, kissing Josh!”
“Ok, I get it! Is anyone else with you?”
“So, Paige doesn’t know.”
“Of course she doesn’t.” Nia huffed
“Hey!” I exclaimed, “Don’t get all judgey with me! I thought we promised not to be judgey with each other!”
“How can we not judge? It’s you and your best friend’s brother!”
“I know! I know! It just happened ok! I don’t know how to describe it.”
“How long has this been going on?”
“Since the last competition.” I replied guiltily, wanting desperately for Josh to come and rescue me.
“I knew something was up with you! Nia, didn’t I say something was up?”
“Yes, but that’s not the point! You know we have to tell Paige, right?” It felt like someone threw one of the bowling balls into my stomach.
“We want to tell Paige.” A boy’s voice sounded behind me. I instantly felt a wave of relief, finally someone in my corner. “We just know how much stress she’s been under, with our mom fighting with Abby and Christie, and we just didn’t want to pile this on top of it all.”
“I would never want to hurt Paige in a million years.” I exclaimed.
“Then why are you dating her brother behind her back?”Nia questioned.
“Listen, we’re not doing this to hurt Paige. I love Chloe and-“
“Wait, you love me?” I practically whispered.
“Well, of course I do Chlo. You’re amazing.” A wave of emotions swept over me and a tear started to trickle down my cheek.
“I love you to.” I choked out. He wrapped his arms around me and held me as I tried to control my emotions and keep them bottled up, until I can soak my pillow at home.
“Did I forget to tell you that?” Josh asked me.
“Just a little bit.” I exclaimed, burying my head, deep into his shoulder. He unwrapped his hands and placed them against my cheeks.
“I love you Chloe. Always have and always will.” We stood there with our eyes locked, like we were the only people in the world. Then Kendall interrupted.
“I’m crying! Nia I don’t want to tell on them! That was beautiful! Besides, we’ve always shipped them anyways.
“That’s not the point! We can’t lie to Paige! Doesn’t anyone remember Paige?”
“Of course I remember Paige!” I replied, “I really hope Abby’s plan works out and that our moms solve their problems because right when they do I can tell Paige and all of the secrets can be over.”
“Well I hope your right because Paige is smart and if you don’t tell her soon she’s going to figure it out anyways.” I let out a sigh of relief. Everyone was safe, for now, but I knew Nia was right and I hoped that I was right to.