Kapitel 16: Bowling

Stephanie's POV

Stephanie was on the phone with Kate, and she was freaking out. She didn't want to mess up this 'date' she has with Alexander. She knew 'it's a date' was just a saying, but it doesn't matter. Alexander said the saying to her.

"What should I wear, Kate? It feels like I have like no clothing. What does someone even wear to go bowling?" Normally, Stephanie would know the answer to that, but right now, her brain is not thinking at all. She heard Kate laugh from the other side of the phone, and she glared at her phone hard even though the other woman couldn't see her.

"Calm down, girly, stop panicking. You know what to wear to go bowling. Come on. Don't forget, you're a fashion icon," she said, laughing, referring to the comments from the bee followers on her Instagram, which have been growing so much since she did Anabelle's show. She went from having about four thousand followers to having well over sixty thousand. It was so overwhelming, but she decided to just not think about it.

"Shut up and focus, Kate. I need you to help me," she stated, glaring again at the device from which she was hearing her friend's voice.

"Alright, alright. Let's switch to a video call and see what we're working with," she said. Stephanie switched the call and let her friend see the mess that was in her room.

"Well, a disorganized Stephanie Sanders? I never thought I'd see the day; Mr. billionaire has quite the effect on you, I see," Kate commented, Stephanie muttered a'shut up' which made Kate laugh again, much to the annoyance of Stephanie. "Okay, okay. Move me closer. Hmm, okay, you can wear those pants and the sweater. Nothing too serious. You need to be giving casual, unbothered, I do this for a living," Kate said after helping her pick a simple outfit of a light blue jeans and a light green off-shoulder sweater. She thanked Kate and got off the phone with her to get ready.

She paired her outfit with a cute sneakers and her black purse. She did minimal makeup and did her hair in an updo. After she was done, she arranged her room as best as she could because she really didn't like coming home to a disorganized space. She made her room look decent enough and went downstairs to wait for Alexander.

15 minutes later, she heard her doorbell ring. She opened the door to see a casual-dressed Alexander. Seeing him in something other than a suit was a surprise. A very pleasant one. She ushered him inside.

"Do you want anything to drink? Tea? Coffee? Water?" She asked nervously. She wasn't even sure why she told him to come in anyway. He just always stays by the door, and it was a bit weird.

"No, love, I'm good. Are you ready to go?" He asked expectantly.

"Yeah, I am," she said as she turned off her light and locked her door. She went to his car, and he opened it for her to get in. They drove off with the only sound in the car from the soft music on the radio. Stephanie was always comfortable with silence; today, however, she felt like she needed to fill it. Also, she just wanted to talk to Alexander.

"So tell me something no one knows about you?" She asked him out of the blue. He turned to face her and then faced the road, thinking.

"Hmm...I broke my big toe when I was fourteen," he said finally. She looked down at his toes even though she knew he was wearing shoes, which made him laugh. She really liked hearing him laugh. She wished he would laugh again; she didn't even mind if it was at her.

"How did you manage to get away with that?" she asked him.

"I'm actually not sure, I broke my toe. Well, maybe I just dislocated it, and I didn't want to stress anyone, so I simply ignored it. I watched YouTube videos on popping it back in place. It didn't particularly work, but it hurt less until it stopped hurting completely, but now I have a crooked right big toe. My grandfather noticed it like months later, and I simply said I didn't know what happened," Alexander explained.

"Damn, that is crazy, but I can definitely see fourteen-year-old Alexander doing that, but it most definitely couldn't be me; I would have brought down the whole house with my scream, she said, as they pulled up to a magnificent-looking building. They went in, and it was the most luxurious bowling alley Stephanie had ever seen, and Alexander was right—it wasn't crowded at all. The alley was so big that she wasn't sure it could be crowded even if it tried.

"Wow, it looks so good," she said as they went in. They changed their shoes, and they began to play.

Stephanie was really good at this, Alexander? not so much. His ball kept going in every direction but the direction of the bowling pins. After a few more rounds, it was safe to say Stephanie had won their unspoken competition.

"Good game?" Stephanie said laughing after they were done. Alexander looked at her and rolled his eyes in a way Stephanie felt was cute. Who was she kidding, though she thinks everything he does is cute.

"How are you so good at this anyway?" Alexander asked.

"My mom and I used to do this every Friday as a tradition. Um, ever since my mom's dementia started getting worse, we didn't do it as often." Stephanie said sadly, she didn't want to ruin the mood, but talking about her mom always made her down. She omitted telling Alexander about the visit to her mom in the hospital while they were texting the day before because she didn't want to offload all of her baggage on him.

"Oh, I'm sorry about your mom," Alexander said, holding her hand.

"It's fine, really. Speaking about parents, how's your grandfather?" Stephanie asked, trying to change the topic.

"He's fine, as fine as he could be. Speaking of which, he'll like to meet you on Saturday for dinner most likely, if that's okay," Alexander asked, still holding her hands. The implications of what he said hit her, and she was reminded once again that this wasn't real. At the end of the day, it was just a means to an end, and she'll try her best not to forget it.

"Um, yeah, yeah, it's fine. Just tell me the time, and I'll be ready. Can we head back now?" she asked, gently removing her hands from his

"Yeah, sure, we can," they got to his car, and they drove quietly back to her apartment.

"Take you so much. I had so much fun," she said, hugging him when they reached her place because she truly did have fun.

"Anytime, love, I'll see you soon," he said, hugging her goodbye. She waved him goodbye as she went into her apartment, and he drove off.

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