Let Love In

“We have a day off tomorrow, what do you want to do?” Garrett whispered into Noah’s ear as the two cuddled up on the back porch swing overlooking Noah’s back yard. After getting everyone settled, Max and Tim had quickly taken over the backyard barbeque to feed the masses, and everyone scattered themselves throughout the yard, enjoying the warm late night summer heat. Kennedy and John had since returned from their beer run, setting up a mini bar of sorts which took up half of the picnic table. The moon was slowly making its appearance in the clear gray sky above their heads, shining a natural light on the pool currently occupied by several moderately sober individuals.

“I don’t want to waste a single moment while you’re here. Let’s do something memorable.” Noah nestled herself against his chest, intertwining her fingers with his. “Should we go to the beach? Or did you want to go to Disneyland? Can we just go for a drive? What about just me and you? Do we have to take everyone else with us?”

“We could stay in bed all day for all I care.” Garrett rubbed his thumb across the back of Noah’s hand, keeping their fingers intertwined as he replied, his voice low.

“Oh really now.” Noah’s eyebrow peaked as she giggled, sitting up and leaning back to look him in the eye. He blushed sheepishly as she smiled at him, adjusting herself to sit up properly against the back of the swing. “Y’know what I haven’t done in far too long?”

“What’s that?”

Noah pushed herself away from Garrett, standing up from the swing to face him. “Cosmic bowling.”

“Bowling.”

“Yeah, y’know like late at night when they turn on the black lights and whatnot and play those Top 40 songs everyone loved from middle school? We should do that tonight! It’s hardly nine pm right now, we should go!”

“Cosmic bowling right now? Noah, half of the guys are drunk, and the other half, ourselves included, are on their way. They’re not going to let us in.”

“Psh, I think it’d be fun. Besides, like I said, I don’t want to waste a moment while you’re here. I’m trying this whole spontaneity thing, it’s new for me. Don’t rain on my parade.”

Garrett sighed in defeat, holding his hand out for Noah to grab as he stood up. “Let’s go bowling.” He kissed her forehead before turning toward the pool. “Hey, you guys, Noah thinks we should go cosmic bowling since it’s still early. Who wants to go with us?”

“I DO, I DO, I DO!” Pat jumped out of the pool as fast as he could, tripping over his own two feet as he reached for his towel. Some of the others nodded their heads in agreement and slowly made their way toward the house to dry off and change.

“John? Riley? You two care to join us?” Noah glanced over at the couple still cuddled up in the hot tub as the masses passed them by. The two looked at each other before John stood up.

“Yeah, we’re coming.” Riley gave Noah a “we’ll talk later” look as they climbed out of the hot tub and headed inside.

——————
Everyone was ready in record time. As they gathered in the living room, the front door opened and Sarah and Colin walked through the door.

“What’s going on? Why is everyone congregated in the living room?” Sarah asked as she surveyed the crowd, making her way toward the stairs with Colin in tow. Noah turned around at the sound of her sister’s voice a few feet away, pausing mid-sentence in her conversation with Riley when she discovered Colin staring directly at her.

“We’re going cosmic bowling, you wanna come?!” Pat stood from his seat on the stairs to move out of the way, excitement prominent in his response.

“That actually sounds like a lot of fun, you wanna go babe?” She turned to face Colin, tugging at his hand for a response.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Cosmic bowling. Everyone’s going, you wanna go?” Sarah grabbed his hand, pulling him closer to her as she spoke. “Or did you want to call it a night and head upstairs?”

Colin paused before responding, turning his attention back to her and Pat. “Yeah, err, that sounds like fun. Cosmic bowling. Let’s go.”

Noah stood there for a moment, focused on Colin’s stare before she felt a hand on the small of her back and Garrett’s sweet scent wafted into her senses.

“You ready love?”

“Oh, right. Yeah, I’m ready. Hey, everyone? ATTENTION EVERYONE. We’re leaving now that Tim unhooked the trailer from the van.”

As everyone piled in the van, they realized there were more bodies than seat belts available. “I can drive for anyone who wants to ride in my car.” Colin spoke up, his stare on Noah as she stood still on the sidewalk. Noah turned to the van and saw Garrett tucked away between Jared and Kennedy, completely oblivious to her not being in the van. A slight ping of disappointment hit her as she stood there, holding everyone up by not moving in any direction.

“Noah, did you want to sit here? I can go ride with Colin if you want to sit by Garrett.” Kennedy noticed her standing there, and reached to unbuckle his seatbelt. Garrett stopped mid-laugh, finally noticing her not already in the van.

“No, um, I’ll just, um, I’ll just go with Colin. It’s fine.” A slight embarrassment washed over her when she realized everyone else was already in the car. She stumbled across the sidewalk toward his car parked a few feet away and quickly hopped in the car as Colin started it up.

Colin caught Noah’s eye from his rearview mirror for a moment before driving off, that familiar nervousness hitting her hard as she turned her attention out the window to avoid everyone else in the car.