Shiloh straightened, standing from the bench and spinning around to stand beside me and face her friends. My hand landed on the small of her back of its own accord, desperate to have some contact.
“Um, guys, this is En–sorry, Nox. My boyfriend.” My chest swelled with her possession of me, and I smiled, giving the group a nod in greeting.
“Nice to meet you.”
Jae cleared his throat beside me.
“Hi,” he said confidently. “I’m Jae. Nox’s brother. It’s nice to meet you all.”
I could see the confusion on their faces, the way they kept bouncing their eyes between our extremely different features. They were likely trying to figure out if we were stepsiblings or if one of us was adopted. Jae had used that introduction in the past with my coworkers, and they had almost always assumed thatJae, being the Asian one of the two of us, was adopted. Definitely a racist stereotype, but a logical assumption.
“Bro, seriously. You’ve gotta stop telling people we’re siblings. It just confuses them,” I said with look in his direction.
“But we are,” he said under his breath, giving me the same intense stare back. I knew what he meant. Didn’t mean it wasn’t misleading and confusing to everyone else.
“We’re cousins you dip,” I said with an eye roll, glancing back to the group.
“We’re blood related and you’re my ride or die best friend. So…my brother.”
I shoved Jae playfully, turning back to the group. “Anyways, um, I’ve met Lottie and Cole,” I said, gesturing to the two of them.
“Right,” the second male in their friend group said. “I’m Mason, Lottie’s husband.”
“And I’m Hannah. Lottie’s sister.” Hannah looked to Jae with a smirk. “Heractualsister.”
Jae sucked his teeth, narrowing his eyes at Hannah. “Nice to meet you.”
“So,” Mason said with a smile, “should we get a lane and some shoes?”
We managed to snag a lane in the far corner, not too close to the large rowdy group of teenagers. After changing into our shoes and getting everyone a slot on the scoreboard there was an awkward silence as the first person, Lottie, went up to bowl.
Shiloh was sitting between Jae and I on one bench of seats and I couldn’t help but keep a hand on her thigh.
Lottie squealed with glee as her ball made a strike and spun around to face the group. Mason reached up, slapping her ass with a smile on his face. She blushed and swatted his shoulder, shoving him up from the bench.
“So…” Jae started, drawing everyone’s attention. “How did y’all meet?”
“Em applied for an open position when we were just starting our gym. And to be completely honest she actually wasn’t our first choice.” Lottie replied, taking the open seat that Mason left on the bench opposite us.
“What?” Shiloh asked with bewilderment. “You never told me that.”
“Sorry,” Lottie winced. “But…you didn’t exactly scream best fit for a front desk receptionist. You didn’t have any knowledge of rock climbing or any prior experience in customer service.Butyou had the availability. Not many people were willing to take a job that paid little and made you clock in at 4:30 in the morning.”
Mason walked back to stand by the ball-return. “So, we took a chance and the rest was history.”
“So, you guys became friends quickly?” I asked.
“God no,” Lottie laughed, eyeing Shiloh. “It was like prying open a stubborn clam. It took months before she accepted an offer to hang out outside of work. I thought she was uncomfortable because I was technically her boss, but then I realized she was just shy and needed some coaxing to come out of her shell.”
“Has she always been like a stray cat?”
My brow furrowed at Cole’s question, and I glanced at Shiloh.
“Excuse the fuck out of you, you did not just call me a fucking stray cat!” She glared, but I could see the smile in her eyes.
“Do elaborate,” Jae said, crossing his arms over his chest with an amused smile.
“Well,” Cole started, keeping his eyes on Shiloh with a half-smile, “she’s quiet, reserved, draws you in with those sad littleeyes of hers. But if you get too close too fast, she’llbite and scratch the shit out of you. If you’re patient, though, and find out what she likes, she’ll let you see that she’s really just a scruffy little thing who needs a bath and some snuggles.”
