Impossible Dreams

"You know, you both make a cute couple." I blushed.

"Thanks, I guess."

"She could use a man like you, if I'm bein' honest. Hell so could I, and I'm with someone! But any woman would be lucky to have you. The way she talks about you, my Lord, she makes you sound like a painting hanging in a museum."

"Really?"

"She truly does love you, Nick."

"It's funny you mention. She's moving in with me right as soon as we leave here."

"No way, get outta here. That's great. I'm really happy for you both. I'm glad Dottie found you."

"Actually, I found her. She was still a freshman in high school when I started sub teaching there. As graduation neared her senior year was when she started trying to get us going. Over time, I guess I grew into it. But I had told her that I wasn't ready to see anyone yet plus she was seeing someone else. I'm surprised she waited after they broke up. If that isn't commitment, I don't know what is."

"Still, you're fantastic together. Let me skedaddle before she finishes up. It was nice meeting you."

"The pleasure's mine, Leanne."

As if nothing had happened, I stood up once Dottie addressed me when she returned from the lavatory. "How the hell did we finish that thing in one sitting," I asked in extreme uncertainty as we walked out the door.

"I could tell you that I pretended it was you, but you said not to think about that 'til later."

"Very funny, now seriously, have you downed one of those by yourself before?"

"Nope."

"You're kidding!"

"I do love milkshakes, but not enough to force myself to have one that size on my own. I might have with Harley, but he didn't like milkshakes."

"Well, not everyone's perfect." That drew a chuckle from her. "Sorry, that was in bad taste, even if you got a laugh out of it."

"But it's true, you are perfect."

"Stop it."

"No, you are, really." I had to be the wise guy again for a moment.

"So if I'm perfect, then what does that make you," Dottie had blushed the brightest red I'd ever seen on her. Almost an impossible shade of red for a human without having an aneurism or something. She pulled me in with her back pressed against her car as we got there for a deep kiss.

"I love you forever."

"And ever."

"Yeah."

"Shall we continue this at home? At least after we figure out where your stuff can go in the short?"

"That's the one thing I like about this, there's no rush to figure that out."

"But you're gonna have to park in the driveway with me. I just put out the summer furniture in the garage."

"That's ambitious, why'd you move them from the terrace?"

"I didn't I took the furniture that gets stored in the shed during the winter. It's an Eastern European thing that everyone does when the weather gets nicer, though some do leave it up year-round."

"Talk about utilizing every space to the fullest."

"C'mon, lets get going."

...

"How much of this besides the clothes do you want to put away? I made closet space for you."

"Is it okay if we can just get the toiletries put somewhere and then call it a day?"

"Yeah, no problem." That was fine by me, especially since it meant she could actually relax the first day at the house and I got to leave the heavy stuff alone. "Is there anything you wanna do?"

"Well, can we watch a movie later?"

"That's fine but what about now?"

"I dunno, what did you have in mind?"

"How about bowling?"

"But we just got here!"

"You definitely haven't seen all of the nooks and crannies of this place yet."

"What?! You have one? Here?!"

~~~

"Come with me, my darling." He had a freaking bowling alley in his house! Wait, I mean OUR house. I still can't believe I'm saying that. This man knows how to keep me guessing. Or anyone for that matter. We went to the basement area which looked very peculiar. At the foot of the stairs were only three doors and without them would have looked like a dead end. "To the right is the curling ice."

"You would have a curling rink on the premises somewhere." I should have expected as much, bowling alley or not.

"Straight ahead is locked. Maybe we'll head in there a little later."

"You're not gonna tell me, are you?"

"Nope." Wishful thinking.

"It isn't a sex dungeon or anything is it?" Part of me kinda hoped - not because I'm into that (and I'm not) but because it would be a place where we truly could have private time.

"Fiddle faddle, of course not!" He brushed that off as if it were nothing.

"I take it we're going left, then?"

"Correctamundo." The lights came on as he turned the switches.

"Was this supposed to be a recording studio at one time?"

"No, although I could build one if you remember our chat about that from a while ago."

"Oh yea, I forgot."

"Anyway, I figured the equipment storage should be it's own room. Also, you may have been looking for these." He revealed what were a pair of canvas sneakers I was missing.

"When did you swipe those and how did you do it without me knowing?"

"Let's just say I had a helper."

"I have no clue."

"I had one of your roomies rendezvous with me three weeks ago so that I could have these ready." He pulled out what appeared to be a shoebox all wrapped up with a bow. "Go on, open it."

"Surprises aren't good for your health," I retorted.

"Don't be bashful," at this point he was insisting.

"Nick!" He had bowling shoes custom made for me. "Thank you!" Half pink, half a deep shade of turquoise. On the outside turquoise of the left shoe was my name stitched in tan lettering where as on the right, my name was in purple on the outside pink. This was a nice touch compared to the green and purple ones that were off to the side and typically found at your average bowling alley.

"I promise, they will be the most comfortable you will ever use." Come to find out, they were adjusted to my foot contours and cushioned. I put them on and boy were they easy on the dogs.

"They seem like a good fit."

"Go on walk around."

"Holy- it's like walking on clouds."

"Told you. and you don't even have to share 'em. Not even with me."

"Besides which, I suppose you have your own." Ironically, he was going to grab his as I said it. His were quite his style. Crimson and Aqua. The left shoe had a purple font with his signature atop the aqua. The signature on the other shoe was in gold yellow over the crimson. "Do you have spare bowling friendly clothes since I wasn't planning for this."

"Knock yourself out." It was a little early but I was going to use this as an opportunity to get him thinking of me. I'm a fairly superstitious person. When he asked me to move in earlier, I snuck something in my jeans pocket when he was preoccupied. When it comes to men, the first time I went out with anyone, before Harley even, I do well on first dates.

Both with Harley and Mike I had worn a pair of nude tights. Tights in general are a fashion staple although our school uniform when I met Nick was fairly casual and I never did for school knowing I would get a run in them somewhere. It just so happened that I had worn the same pair when the other two gentlemen were on our first date either time which were within a couple months of each other. So they became my lucky pair for big events when we were together - prom, weddings, etcetera. I hadn't had that moment with Nick since we weren't technically together before he took me to Hanrihan's for my birthday. I wanted to make up for that, and moving in is a pretty big deal.

~~~

I had everything that you would find at a bowling alley except the locker rooms were extra. They got periodical use when friends wanted a round at least as far as sneakers went. But I kept the ladies room extra stocked thanks to my aunt who with her husband both competed in a weekly league. I figured that qualified her to have at least a emergency basic bowling wardrobe. Dottie appeared to find something that actually seemed quite fashionable, as if I'd expect something less.

"I see you've found it easy." She found a cute light gray mid length skirt that matched her bowling shoes that accompanied one of the white blouses that was available. My aunt said the younger female bowlers at her lands were sticking with blouses and khaki shorts or skirts. I do see a lot of shorts, I must say.

"Whoever chose the decor did a good job."

"That would be a bowling magazine that I read in some office somewhere. Or maybe where I get my haircut. I took pictures of every visual in that and asked around what people thought. I forget exactly who chose that specifically."

"It looks really nice."

"Speaking of nice, you look cute."

"Gee, thanks," she said softly while twirling her hair.

"If you're ready, head on in. Enjoy the two lanes on the right." After she passed the changing rooms, she opened the door that led to the lanes with only the light from the equipment room showing through the windows. Then I turned on the black lights then followed her in and the white on her shirt and laces began to glow.

"You had to have put a lot of work into this."

"You'd be surprised how low budget this is. Curling, on the other hand, not so much."

"Why did you chose this side? There are only five pins."

"May I introduce you to five-pin bowling, the most popular style in Canada."

"I know you have an eccentricity to you, but really, Nickie?" She seemed confused as to why this was yet another nuance to my life.

"Here," I said as I grabbed a ball for her. They are roughly softball size but a little heavier and of course, a lot smoother. "Crash course. You get three bowls per frame. The outer pins are two points next to those are three points and the headpin in the middle is five."

"That's it?'

"And you get to reset the pins yourself manually if you don't get a mark by pushing a button. Now that's it."

"I think you should go first 'cause I wanna see just how much harder it is."

"No no no. Ladies ALWAYS first." I wasn't hoping she'd make a fool of herself, I was being polite. After all how many times have I been down here to have a round independently. "Besides, you have no pressure, it IS just us." She knocked down the two pins on the right.

"You said five?"

"That's right," I said giving her a smooch on the forehead as she came back for another ball.

~~~

I managed to knock down the pin on the far left on the second and managed to spare on the last. "See, you'll be fine."

"We'll see about that." He was getting ready to take his first frame.

"So I normally alternate lanes between frames like the pros do being a private alley only because I want the lanes to roughly have even wear when they need maintenance." He got only the headpin.

"Does that happen a lot."

"Frequently with a lot of bowlers. One of the worst outcomes even though you get two more bowls in the frame." He wound up picking up the spare himself and did so in two bowls on the next.

We finished our round and we teased each other over who was going to win. He did by 18. "Now had we done this the last time or two you were here and it were your first time, I might have tossed the game. But you live here now so all bets are off."

"Well you did shower me with love the whole time. I don't know if you were trying to throw me off or if I actually won because you didn't care how well I did."

"Just count your blessings already.

"Speaking of which, let's make our way back to the daylight since I wanna enjoy our first sunset together. on the front porch."

"There's something that we need to do first."