Chapter Four – The Amazing Bouncing Bowling Ball
Mina would never have admitted it - particularly not to either of her brothers or her mother, all of whom would give her very distinct “I told you so” looks if she did - but moving to Los Angeles, even if just for the summer, had been difficult for her. Mina prided herself in not being afraid of people different from her, but she had never before sought to spend so much time with them, and even with Ivy around, it was easy to get lonesome for her parents’ house or Wigglesworth, where everyone had at least one thing in common - magic. It was this typically human longing to feel at home that brought Mina to a small brick building in West Hollywood at least once everyday.
The Daily Brew could only be found by those who knew where to find it. It appeared to those outside of this group of people to be nothing more than a deserted old building on the corner of quiet intersection. Inside it was cozy, but larger than it looked from the outside. A fire was always burning and the temperature was always comfortable, regardless of the weather. Overstuffed armchairs were situated around coffee tables across from a coffee bar with unusually comfortable bar stools. Ivy had worked at this shop since she first arrived in LA a few years prior to her cousin’s arrival, and Mina felt more at home there than she did in her own apartment. It was here that Mina found herself the afternoon of her first date with her new research subject.
“We’re going bowling,” Mina responded to the inquiries of two very curious Daily Brew employees, Belle and Ralph.
“What is bowling?” Belle looked as though she couldn’t decide between being confused and disgusted.
“Hang on, I think I’ve heard of that!” Ralph exclaimed before Mina had a chance to respond. “That’s the game where you wear funny shoes and toss heavy balls about, yeah?”
“That’s the one.” Mina laughed in acknowledgment. “I’ve never played, but I read about it in a book once.”
“I saw it on TV,” Ralph explained his knowledge of the subject. Mina and Belle both looked at him curiously and he shrugged. “Sometimes there is nothing good on any of the wizarding channels, okay? And I am compelled to turn to the very few non-wizarding channels included in my cable package.”
“Do you find that bowling makes for good television, Ralph?” Ivy asked in amusement as she approached the side of the bar where Belle and Ralph were standing neglecting their jobs.
“Well, sure. Have you seen the shoes?”
“You bring up a good point.”
“What? What about the shoes?” Belle was beginning to feel distinctly left out of the conversation.
“Hilarious,” Ralph informed her succinctly.
“Well, I’m looking forward to it,” Mina stated, swirling the few remaining drops of hot chocolate around in the bottom of her mug. “It should be an interesting experience if nothing else.”
“What’s it like dating a guy who isn’t a wizard?” Belle wondered aloud.
“Pretty much the same as dating a wizard except they don’t slip truth potions in your drink because they think you’re cheating on them,” Mina replied, a hint of bitterness creeping into her voice as she recalled her last boyfriend, Michael, who had done precisely that. Ivy couldn’t help chuckling.
“Not that that’s ever happened to you,” she joked with a smirk.
“No, of course not. I would never be dumb enough to date a psycho like that.” Mina rolled her eyes and slid off the barstool she was sitting on.
“I definitely want to hear more about this,” Ralph requested eagerly.
“Have Ivy tell you.” Mina nodded towards her cousin. “I have to go figure out what one wears bowling.”
“At least they pick out the shoes for you,” Ivy reminded her, grinning. “That’s the hardest part right?”
“Right,” Mina laughed. “See you guys later.”
“Let us know how it goes!” Belle called after her as they all waved goodbye.
***
“Which one?” Justin asked Izzie. She was sitting at the coffee table in their living room looking through the photos he’d just gotten developed as Justin stood bare-chested, holding up two shirts and waiting for her to make a decision for him. She glanced up briefly.
“Beatles,” she replied, her eyes returning a picture of a child in the park playing with a dog.
“Izzie, you hardly even looked,” her cousin whine.
“Oh my God.” She was irritated with him and his feminine ways, as usual. She looked back up and stared at the two shirts for an annoyingly long time. Justin rolled his eyes.
“Come on…”
“No, I have to take them in,” she told him, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “I wouldn’t want to miss some important detail and give you the wrong advice, now would I?”
“I hate you.”
“Shhhh.” She paused again, furrowing her brow dramatically. “Beatles.”
“You’re such a bitch.” He glared at her as he plopped down next to her on the couch, pulling the Beatles t-shirt over his head.
“Thank you, asshole,” she replied sweetly, her eyes remaining on the photos. Suddenly she stopped flipping through them and frowned, picking one up and showing it to him. “Who’s this?”
“Oh, that’s Mina. The girl I’m taking out tonight.” He grinned proudly, but his expression quickly dropped when Izzie burst into laughter. “What?” he inquired defensively.
“You’re taking out the girl from the grocery store!” she exclaimed through her laughter.
“No, I’m not,” he protested, though he realized she might be right. He knew he’d seen Mina somewhere before. Izzie shook her head.
“Justin,” she began, holding the picture up again. “Didn’t you recognize her? It’s the same girl I told you to ask out when we were at Safeway.”
“No it isn’t,” he insisted. His basic goal in life was to never admit that Izzie was right about anything. She tended to get a big head if he did.
“Yes it is, dumbass!” She gave him a hearty smack on the back of his head before returning the picture to the pile. “Man. When I’m right, I’m right.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I told you to ask her out and you did,” she reminded him, standing up and grinning from ear to ear.
“Well, I didn’t ask her out at the store because that is just stupid and desperate.”
“Whatever. Not the point.” She continued to grin obnoxiously, hands resting on her hips. “I know everything. You should listen to me more often. Oh, wait. You already do!”
“Shut up.”
***
Mina stood in the parking lot, staring up at the big brick building in front of her, the words “Super Bowl” flashing in neon lights. She didn’t know why, but she was nervous. She had been the entire time she’d been getting dressed at home and now here she stood, unable to bring herself to actually enter the building. She felt the usual excitement about beginning with a new research subject, but there was something about her decision to try and stick with this one for a while that made it more intimidating than usual. Taking a deep breath, she strode towards the front door, making mental notes of everything she passed along the way – the cars, the trash in the parking lot, the little kids screaming at their parents that they don’t want to go home yet – anything could be important.
“Hey, there you are!” Justin greeted her mere seconds after she stepped foot in the loud, smoky building. He had offered to pick her up, but Mina had insisted on walking since the bowling alley wasn’t that far from her apartment.
“Hi,” she returned the greeting with a smile, her eyes drifting to the man and woman accompanying Justin. She’d known it was going to be a double date, and she made a note in her head to observe how this affected their interactions.
“This is Trace and Elisha,” he introduced his best friends quickly, gesturing to them as he said each of their names. “And this is Mina.”
The three greeted each other, exchanging handshakes and “nice to meet you”s before the group headed to their lane.
“You look really nice tonight,” Justin told Mina quietly as they walked slightly behind Trace and Elisha, who were arguing loudly about which of them had beaten the other the last time they’d gone bowling.
“Thanks. So do you,” Mina returned the compliment sincerely. He was just wearing a baggy pair of jeans and an old Beatles t-shirt, but somehow the way the clothes fell on his lean figure made him look really good to her. She wished she had her notebook with her, but she had to settle for recording the image of him in her head as he smiled down at her.
“Okay, I’m gonna go get some food and beer,” Trace announced as they arrived at their lane. “Justin, wanna come help me?”
“Sure.”
“So.” Elisha smiled at Mina as the men retreated in search of pizza and beer. “How’d you and Justin meet?”
“Oh, um…in the park. He was taking a picture of me.” Mina slid into one of the chairs as she responded. Elisha nodded.
“I have to tell you, I am so glad he met you. Trace and I were really happy when he called and asked us to come along on this date. It’s the first one he’s had since he broke up with his girlfriend,” Elisha informed Justin’s date, not thinking about the fact that this was probably more information than he wanted her to know at the moment.
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. He’s been so bummed out about life lately too. No girlfriend, no job…he’s finally working on getting back into film school, though. I guess that’s why he was taking those pictures.”
“Yeah, probably.”
***
“So…how do I do this?” Mina inquired, biting her lip when it was finally her turn and looking back at the table of expert bowlers who accompanied her. They stared back at her incredulously.
“You’ve never bowled before?” Justin replied faintly, as though overwhelmed with the shock of this realization. He had never met a person his age who hadn’t been bowling before.
“Nope.” Mina shook her head. “Sorry.”
“No, that’s okay,” he assured her quickly, standing up and abandoning his pizza to stride over to her. “It’s just…what have you been doing all your life?”
“You don’t want to know,” she replied with a laugh.
“Fair enough,” he chuckled and rested a hand on her shoulder as he instructed her. She was wearing a tank top, so the shoulder was bare and he stopped briefly to register the softness of her skin. “Okay, it’s really easy. All you do is aim for those arrows. Those are the pins. Take a couple of steps and, I dunno…let it roll.”
“Okay,” she acknowledged his advice slowly and he looked down at her.
“You got it?”
“I think so.”
“Okay, go for it.” He stepped back to let her do it.
Mina furrowed her brow in concentration and stepped forward slowly. She focused on the arrows as she’d been told to do and released the ball from her grip. She stepped back as she watched it go straight for the gutter and groaned.
“It’s okay,” Justin assured her from where he was standing. “First times always-“ He cut himself off, his jaw dropping as the ball bounced out of the gutter and back into the lane, heading straight towards the pins. “That is…unusual.”
“Yeah,” Mina agreed, turning around to face him, her face showing a small amount of either fear or embarrassment. “Weird. I, uh…have to go the rest room.” And with that she rushed passed Justin, leaving him and both of the others to marvel in silence at the unusual bouncing behavior of her ball.
***
“I’m sorry I suck so much,” Mina apologized to Justin as they walked away from the bowling alley and towards her apartment. He had insisted on walking her home and she had given in, not able to think of any reason why he shouldn’t. After the initial incident of her ball acting in a distinctly magical manner, she had made an effort not to repeat that, and as such had pretty much played the worst game of bowling seen to man.
“Hey, that’s okay. We can’t all be good at everything, right? I’m sure you have your strong points.” He grinned down at her as she laughed.
“You were very good,” she observed in response.
“Yeah, at least we know I’m good at something.”
“Oh, come on. I’m sure you’re good at other things too.”
“Yes.” He nodded. “I am very good at eating.”
Mina laughed again and shook her head. “Elisha told me you’re trying to get back into film school. So there’s something, yeah?”
“’Trying’ is the key word there,” he informed her. “I’m not sure I’m so good at that.”
“I bet you are.” She nudged him encouragingly and he glanced down at her, smiling.
“Not really, but thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“Anytime. And this is my place.” She stopped in front of the door of her and Ivy’s first floor apartment, turning to face her companion.
“So this is where you live, huh?” He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he looked up at the pastel blue colored building.
“Yep, this is it. Home sweet home. For now, anyway.” She nodded in affirmation.
“It’s nice.”
“Thanks.”
They stood silently in the moonlight as Mina tried to decide what to say and Justin’s gaze returned to her. He let his eyes linger on her thin frame and dark, moonlit hair since she was looking at her keys as she fiddled with them in her hands.
“I had a really good time,” he told her finally. She looked up, her face breaking into a smile.
“So did I,” she replied, almost surprised at the truthfulness of her words. She had almost forgotten to keep taking mental notes on the evening for her studies.
“We should do it again.”
“We should. We definitely should.”
“Yeah.”
The silence returned. Mina could tell from the way he was looking at her, his eyes slowly drifting down to her lips and lingering there before he realized he was staring and looked away, that he wanted to kiss her goodnight. She didn’t think she should let him. He was her research subject and normally she would allow it as part of the research, but a nagging voice in the back of her head told her it would be unprofessional in this instance.
“Well, I better get inside,” she said softly.
“Yeah.” Justin nodded in agreement. “Yeah, you probably should.”
“Goodnight.”
“’Night.” He gave her a little wave before she disappeared inside the apartment.
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