***
Even though I told Jackson all I wanted to do was get my nose pierced for my birthday, he took me to an indoor glow golf course.
“I haven’t played mini-golf in forever. I think the last time we went was with Julie before she moved,” I said.
Jackson handed me an orange ball while he grabbed a blue one. “Yeah, same. I wish she flew back for your birthday.”
I sighed. “Yeah, me, too. But she called and left a voice mail.”
Jackson started writing our names on the playing card as we stepped up to hole 1. “She’s flying back for graduation, at least.”
“It’s coming up so fast.” I balanced my putter between my legs while I tied my hair up into a ponytail. I crinkled my nose, and a little pinprick of pain radiated from where I’d just gotten it pierced.
“Don’t remind me,” Jackson said. Graduation was a sore subject right now, because neither of us had a plan for the fall.
Jackson took his turn first, the ball bouncing off the wall and ending up mere inches from the hole.
“Can you go easy on me? It is my birthday after all,” I joked as I bent forward to swing at my ball.
“It’s ‘cause you always smack it too hard. Hit it lighter,” Jackson said.
I took a deep breath and lightly tapped the ball. It hardly rolled a foot. Jackson burst out laughing. “Notthatlight. Here, let me show you.”
Jackson stepped behind me to put his hands around mine on the club, but I whipped around and pushed him back. “Stop,” I said firmly.
His eyebrows furrowed. “What?”
He never tried to touch me like this when he was sober, and as I gauged his reaction, I wondered if he even remembered the times he’d touched me when he was drunk. Thewayshe’d touched me.
I attempted to play it off. “I was trying to hustle you. I know what I’m doing.”
He gave me a smile, and one of the overhead lights reflected off his nose ring, which was a reverse mirror image of mine. “You’re a menace, Addie.”
I waved him off before I hit the ball, firmly but with less pressure. It rolled down the course and bumped into his ball, pushing it farther away from the hole. I shivered at the metaphor that it represented between us; he got too close, and I pushed him away.
“Hey, you hit my ball!” Jackson whined.
“Which one? Your testicular torsion ball?” I teased.
Jackson gasped and shoved me in the shoulder, causing me to lose my balance as we walked to take our second turns. “Don’t make jokes about the worst thing to ever happen to me.”
“But it’s my birthday,” I said as I batted my eyelashes.
“Then stopthinkingabout my balls,” Jackson said as he nudged me in the shoulder with his own.
“Trust me, that’s thelastthing on my mind,” I shot back.
Jackson stared at me with an amused look before shaking his head. “You’re lucky it’s your birthday,” he mumbled. We both broke into laughter.
***
After we played mini-golf, we swung by Delvecchios’ for pizza, and everyone who was working sang Happy Birthday to me while I blew out the single candle that was placed in the cannoli in front of me. I took one bite before handing it to Jackson to finish off.
“Do you want to come over for a little? I picked upThe Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1from Redbox.” Jackson wiggled his eyebrows. I smiled, thinking about our matching Peeta and Katniss costumes from his parents’ anniversary party when we were sophomores.
“I heard Peeta is barely in the movie, but obviously yes,” I said.
Jackson drove us back to his house, and we sat on opposite sides of the couch. Both of us got bored during the movie, and since his parents were at the restaurant, we each took a shot of whiskey from Phil’s stash.