Not Your Villain (Sidekick Squad #2)(50)

“That’s not the only lead we have,” Abby says. “Don’t worry, the program is solid.” She looks expectantly at them.

Jess groans. “Please don’t say the rest of this meeting is going to be working out. Please.”

“We should do something to take our minds off of dead ends, something fun.” Emma lights up. “We should go bowling! Carlos is really good, and he said he’d teach me. And he can meet you guys finally! How about Friday?

Bells bites his lip.

“I haven’t been in a while,” Abby muses.

Jess nudges her and grins. “Bet you’d be great. It would be fun! As long as you don’t make fun of me if I’m terrible.”

Abby scoffs. “Please, I’d make fun of you whether you were terrible or fantastic.”

They seem so happy together. Bells is not bitter. He’s not. He’s happy for his friends, really.

“Bells, you’re not working Friday, right? You should come!”

Bells can picture it already: Jess and Abby making eyes at each other, and Emma and Carlos ostensibly on their—what, sixth date, no, seventh. He can’t believe the guy’s lasted this long. Is this going to be a thing? Jess and Abby, Emma and Carlos…

Just a few months ago, he was the youngest hero in the Heroes’ League of Heroes. Now, he’s a wanted “villain”… and a fifth wheel.

Or, maybe not.

“I can bring a date too, right?” Bells isn’t sure why he blurts it out, and regrets it immediately because now he has to bring a date, especially given the way Emma grins at him.

“Of course! You didn’t tell me you were seeing anyone!” She all but squeals.

“Uh, we just started dating,” Bells says. “Hey, I gotta go; see you guys later!”

Christine answers the holocall with a bored, “What’s up?”

She’s lounging on her bed in silk pajamas, eyeing Bells with carefully disguised disinterest. The wire crinoline of her superhero outfit is beside her on a mannequin.

“Hey, are you busy Friday?” Bells asks.

“Maybe,” she says. “Why?”

“Do you like bowling?”

“Does anyone?”

Bells laughs. “Uh, a few of my friends and I are gonna go. Do you want to come with me?”

Christine sits up. “Are you asking me on a date? I thought we figured out that wouldn’t work for us.”

Bells rubs the back of his neck. “No, no, as a friend? Would you like to come?”

“So it’s not a date?”

Bells tries his best to explain. “Look, my friends all have dates, and I’m the only single one, please will you come…”

Christine quirks one eyebrow.

“Pretend to be my date?” Bells winces as he says it. It’s a lot to ask.

Christine grins and winks at Bells. “Sounds like fun. Who are you trying to make jealous?”

Bells groans. “Is it that obvious?”

*

Christine picks him up in a silver designer car, a model with its own solar panel instead of a hookup to use at charging stations. The sleek car looks out of place on his street. “You ready? We’re gonna be the cutest, most adoring couple.”

Bells snorts. He’s just hoping for believable.

“Come on. You trusted me with your secret identity—your real one. You don’t trust me to be able to act? Look, I even dressed up the way the kids do nowadays.” She gestures at her outfit: a trendy pink-and-green dress instead of her usual blouse-and-petticoat combo.

“Aw, I like your style. You don’t have to change that.”

“Good,” she says. “I was thinking of my character and her motives, but I didn’t have time to come up with a backstory for this glitzy, pop princess vibe.” Christine’s outfit shimmers and then changes to a cropped pink jacket over a dress with a full skirt.

The car’s computer voice speaks up. “Destination?”

“Andover Bowling Alley,” Christine says. From the console she grabs a bag of potato crisps. “Snack?”

Bells munches on the savory chips and takes the offered soda from the car’s fridge. Riding in a car equipped with the latest of everything is fun. They chat about The Hay Hay’s new pop song and some of Christine’s new clothing designs and soon they arrive.

Bells is nervous. He’s told Emma everything about anyone he’s dated from his first kiss. What if he and Christine don’t pull this off?

“Hmm.” Christine eyes the dilapidated building. The flickering holosign projecting the word BOWL is broken; the lights simply proclaim B O.

“Yeah, it isn’t much. We’re not Vegas, I know,” Bells adds, laughing.

“Psh, it looks great.” Christine pushes open the doors and they walk in.

The bowling alley is empty. Christine swipes her DED at the counter, then turns the control pad over to him. Bells enters his shoe size, and then Christine, smirking, takes it away.

“What?”

“You’ll see,” she says, finishing signing in with a flourish.

The dispenser beeps. Bells takes out two pairs of shoes, hands hers to Christine and tugs his on while he watches a lane flicker to life. The holopins glow and almost look real. Real pins or not, Bells is terrible at bowling.