"I want you, bless my soul..."

They went to the bowling alley.

Why? Neither of them had any other ideas, the food was fairly good, and it was three blocks away from campus, so they didn't have to walk far.

Aru thought they kind of looked like losers with only two of them, but she could live with it.

"What's your shoe size?" The lady behind the counter asked.

Aiden got his bowling shoes from the second person behind the counter as Aru bent down to check her sneakers. "7 and a half," she said when she straightened up. The bowling lady gave her the shoes.

As two of them walked to their assigned bowling lane, one of the bowling shoe workers whispered, "They're cute together," to the other. Aru and Aiden caught each other's eye and muffled their laughter, but something flipped in Aru's stomach.

When they got to their lane, Aiden turned and asked Aru something. Unfortunately, she couldn't hear him over Whitney Houston's "I'm Every Woman," which the bowling alley was playing at a ridiculously loud volume.

"What?"

Aiden asked her again, louder.

"What?"

He leaned in and practically yelled, "Do you want to put your name in first?"

"Oh! Yeah, sure."

It was that moment that Aru realized how close Aiden had leaned in to talk to her. His face was just a few inches away from her's. Aiden seemed to realize too, because he stepped back with an apologetic look on his face.

Aru and Aiden typed their names into the bowling lane's screen, and they began their game.

—

Two hours later, Mini was walking out of the library with a bag of new books and a clear head. Maybe it was the quiet atmosphere, but places filled with books always seemed to calm her.

The feeling faded a few seconds later when her phone pinged from the bottom of her bag of books. She fished it out and checked the message.

+1 805-457-4992: heyyy mini its poppy

+1 805-457-4992: sorry aru gave me your number a few days ago and im wondering what she wants for her birthday

Huh? Mini knew that Aru and Poppy were doing a project together, and they were friends, but she didn't know they reached the giving-gifts-on-birthdays stage yet.

Okay, Mini didn't necessarily like Poppy, but she didn't have a real reason to hate her. Yeah, sure, she could help her.

Mini: She would probably want something LOTR related.

+1 805-457-4992: whats lotr

Seriously? Who becomes friends with Aru and doesn't learn what LOTR stood for within 5 minutes of knowing her?

Mini: Lord of the Rings? Those movies she always talks about? Ring a bell?

+1 805-457-4992: shes never mentioned it before

+1 805-457-4992: i thought she would want clothes from a store or something

+1 805-457-4992: bcuz thats what she always talks about

Mini blinked once at her phone. Then blinked again.

Mini: Have you seen her? She barely puts any effort into her appearance.

What was this girl talking about?

+1 805-457-4992: weird

+1 805-457-4992: ill ask her about it ig

I'll be asking her about it too thought Mini as she places her phone back into the bag and began the walk back to her dorm.

"Now you gotta tell him, I think he knows..."

—

DON'T call Poppy's phone number it was supposed to be the Pizza Guy from Stranger Things and Argyle would actually pick up but I just tried and they changed it.