Dinner and Bowling...

~ Queenie

Monday morning I woke to the sound of Ang yelling “Sambora!!!” I could only imagine what was going on. I crept out of bed and poked my head out the door to find Ang and Richie in the hallway, Ang looking slightly more than embarrassed and Richie standing there, wearing only a towel! Holy hell! “What is going on out here?” I asked trying not to gawk at a nearly naked Richie. Ang looked over at me “the second grader forgot to lock the damn door” was her parting shot before she slammed into her room.

As I was leaving my room to head downstairs I passed Richie in the hallway, he was looking quite proud of himself. “What did you do now?” He grinned and shook his head at me, “I’ll let Ang tell ya. She’s fixing breakfast if you’re interested.” He paused at Lucy’s door, “we’ll be down soon.” I continued to the kitchen to find Ang just ringing off the phone. “Who were you talking to?” She briefed me on the conversation she had had with Hath.

I smiled, “did ya see anything?” I waited and when she blushed and didn’t answer I knew the answer. “You did, didn’t you?! Front or back?” Hey, I had heard the rumors like all of you have, I wanted to know if they were true. “How old are you?” She teased. I wasn’t going to let her off so easy. “Come on Ang, spill sistah!” “Yeah, spill!” Lucy had come into the room during the conversation and had to add her two cents. I thought Ang’s head was going to come clean off the way she whipped it around when she heard Lucy. We finally convinced her to tell us and she swore she was going to fly home right then.

When Richie walked in she had a few more choice words for him along with his cup of coffee and at her parting shot I thought he was going to choke. She said he was hung like a kindergartner. I almost died. It was too funny. Poor Matt he walked in at the end of all of this and we’re all laughing, he had no idea what was going on. I finally managed to tell him I would explain later.
David and Hath showed up a short while later. We girls were all going to the doctor with them for the ultrasound. We wanted to know if we were going to be honorary aunties to nieces or nephews. We made David drive and the rest of us piled in the back of the van, chattering all the way like a bunch of hens.

After the excitement of Hath’s doctor’s appointment (they are expecting twins!), David dragged Hath out for a walk and the rest of us took over the kitchen. We had the radio going, and were talking and laughing when Hath came back, not only had she and David talked, but Jon had dragged her on an errand as well. She had an odd look on her face as she came over by me. “I need to talk to you” she said quietly so the others wouldn’t hear. I looked around and, without saying anything I took Hath’s hand and we high-tailed it down the hall to the room I was staying in. “What’s up?”

Hath paced back and forth, “remember that conversation we had in PMs with Jon about why we women go nuts for him?” Oh Shit! I swallowed, “yeah.” She continued pacing, “well apparently so does he.” I groaned, “Oh God, is the closet big enough for both of us? I’m so not going back out there.” Hath stopped pacing, “if we don’t, he’s going to know something is up.” I shook my head and looked up at the ceiling before looking back at her, “you’re right, but that doesn’t make facing him any easier. Maybe if we don’t say anything he won’t either. I just don’t know that I can look at him now.” We moved to the door, “if he figures out this is bothering us he’s not going to let it go, is he?” I really didn’t want to have to deal that. Hath shook her head, “nope, and then you’ll get to see the Jon I’ve been dealing with.”

We just started to head back to the kitchen when he bellowed, “Jeeves!” Hath rolled her eyes and I had to laugh. “Go ahead, I’ll be right there.” I continued on to the kitchen and she went into the living room. Jon was sitting at one end of the couch and Hath dropped to her knees in front of him, “yes boss?” He tried unsuccessfully not to smile, “I’m thirsty, get me a glass of water.” Hath stood and bowed slightly, “yes sir, right away sir.” As Hath headed to get him his drink Ang motioned for me to follow her. She had presents for all of us and she decided that since everyone was sprawled around the living room that now would be a good time.

Richie, being the overgrown child that he is, decided to help Ang with her suitcase figuring he'd get his present first that way. We all followed them up the stairs and got to the room just in time to see Richie throw all his weight into lifting the suitcase (Ang had told him it was heavy) and it going over his head with the momentum taking him with it and seeing him land on the bed. We all stood there laughing and Ang took off like a shot. She had gotten him good! Richie wasn't about to let it go and he shot up off the bed and took off after her. We all followed back down and got there in time to see Richie go flying, AGAIN! Ang had flipped him through the air and all six foot one of him landed on the couch!

Lucy, after first checking that Richie was okay started in on Ang and we were all laughing and amazed that Ang tossed Richie around like a rag doll. I think I need to take some lessons. It was impressive!

Once we were all settled down and Richie was over his embarrassment, Ang passed out her gifts. She had made each us girls an absolutely gorgeous cashmere sweater, mine was a deep red with a deep vee which pleased Matt to no end. I also got a t-shirt with "Queenie" on the front of it and "If you piss me off, heads will roll" on the back. She even had a shirt for Matt, his said "Queenie's KISA" on it. Have I mentioned that I love this woman yet?

She had t-shirts for all of us and, for David, an extra special care package. As she tossed it to him she told him, "this is from me and Hath!" It was a ton of new stage shirts! Of Richie complained that she was playing favorites and she threatened to deny him his Jack chocolates. That shut him up right quick, but seeing the look on his face she caved and told handed him a box and told him there was more upstairs. He took off and we could hear his triumphant "all right!" all the way down in the living room.

Before we girls headed out to the kitchen I ran into my room and grabbed two bags, handing one to Sam and one to Hath. They both looked at me, "what's this for?" I rubbed both their bellies, "for the little ones from Auntie Q." They pulled out the little sweatsuits I had found and there were awwwws all around the room. Sam squealed in delight at the Razorback one. "How did I not see you buy this yesterday?"

I smiled at her, "I had it mixed in with the others so you wouldn't see it." I gave her a hug and then turned to Hath,"you know you will have to dress one of the LJs in the Giants one at least once and send me a picture, right?" She laughed, "well if I have to. Thanks Steph. These are very sweet." I hugged her and handed one last small package to Ang.

"Aw you didn't have to get me anything." I rolled my eyes, "just open it." She smiled as she did, "whoo hoo Queenie's coffee!" Everyone laughed and I nodded, "yep, its going international now!" I heard a "hmph" and looked over to find Richie trying not to smile as he was pouting. "You got a problem Zan?" He nodded, "what about your Harem leader?" I laughed and went and kissed his cheek, "oh fearless leader, every morning when you drink your coffee, that's your gift from me!" We all laughed. There were hugs and kisses and thank yous all around and the girls headed to the kitchen to finish dinner.

Lucy took over one counter putting the finishing touches on her lasagna. She had made it once before for us back when we were all in Arkansas when Sam had her car accident, and it is out of this world.

Hath and Sam were at the table working on the garlic bread and homemade croutons while Ang was tearing lettuce and cutting vegetables for the salad.

As for me, I was at the other counter preparing dessert. Tiramisu was on order for today. Now, my recipe calls for Kaluha and having two mommas to be in the group, I had to ask before adding it.

“Hey Hath and Sam?” Almost at the same time they looked up “what?” I shook my head and laughed, “okay, that was scary. If I add the Kaluha, will you guys eat this?” “How much” Hath asked before Sam could even open her mouth. I shrugged, “couple of tablespoons.” Sam managed to get her answer in before Hath this time, “add it, just don’t tell the guys.” Jon walked in right then “don’t tell the guys what?”

Without thinking and without looking at him I said, “that we’re tired of hearing ‘Shout’ at the end of Bad Medicine.” What, it was the quickest thing I could think of. Jon rolled his eyes “don’t you girls talk about anything else?” I shrugged my shoulders and looked at the girls, “is there something else we should be talking about?” Jon shook his head and looked at Hath, “Jeeves,” he handed her his empty glass, “I need a refill, and bring it to me in the other room.” He started to leave the room but after getting a jab in the stomach from Sam, he turned back, “please.”

We continued working together and talking, getting the dining room table set and scuttling the guys back into the other room every time they came into the kitchen looking for a taste of something. First it was Jon looking for a taste of the sauce, Sam shooed him away. Then it was Richie trying for a piece of bread and I thought Lucy was going to break his fingers. David managed to grab an olive and a carrot from the salad bowl only because Ang had been distracted. When they sent Matt in he tried to stick his finger in the dessert and I smacked him with my spoon. “Enough! Go back in the other room and behave!” Matt put on his best pout and trudged back into the other room, defeated. I looked at the girls, “you’d think they hadn’t eaten today or something.”

It’s a good thing Lucy has a large dining room table. Tico and Hugh joined us that night so there were 11 of us sitting down to dinner. The table was loaded with a feast of favorites and, after a quick prayer of thanks, we dug into the delicious meal.

After the lasagna was gone and the dishes done, we girls excused ourselves to get ready to go bowling. Matt looked at me, “get ready?” I nodded, “yeah, gotta change clothes and pretty ourselves up a little.” He, along with the others groaned and rolled their eyes. “We’re just going bowling, what’s wrong with what you are wearing?” I looked down at myself, I was wearing a long sleeve t-shirt and loose comfy jeans. I shook my head, would these men ever understand? “Nothing if we were staying in, but we are going out and I want to freshen up a bit.” With that I turned and headed down the hall after the girls.

When I walked into the spare room I stopped dead. “What is that?” Hath had pulled out an outfit from the closet and was showing it to the girls. “It’s my old bowling uniform.” She told us about her bowling in college and this was the outfit they had all worn, each in a different color. Hath’s was pink, hot pink. Hot pink poodle skirt with a black crinoline slip underneath to poof it out, matching shirt, black scarf tied around her neck and a pink and white polka dot headband. She looked like she stepped straight out of a 50’s sock hop or something. It was fantastic.

I changed into to slim black jeans and my own cute bowling shirt. I bowl on a league and our shirts aren’t anywhere near as outrageous as Hath’s outfit, but they are cute in their own right. First, let me tell you that it’s a man’s shirt so I had had mine tailored so it actually fits me. Its black with a red collar and the button placket down the front is red as well. Our team name "Pin Heads" is embroidered on the back along with a googley-eyed cartoon bowling pin. I know, I know, its lame, but it works for us. Mine also has “SQ” embroidered over my left breast.

Ang took a look at me, “SQ?” “What’s that mean?” I looked at the girls, “you all know that I bowl on a league, right?” We had talked about it on the board and Lucy looked at me, “yeah, and?” I sighed “well, I wasn’t totally honest when I said I wasn’t all that good. I didn’t want to brag and sound all full of myself, but my average is 185 and the ‘SQ’ stands for Strike Queen.” Ang patted me on the back and looked at the other girls, “hot damn, we are going to kick their asses.”

I picked up my bag, which held my prized ball and shoes which matched my shirt. My ball is a custom black Brunswick with a red crown emblazoned on it and it weighs 12 pounds. When we walked back into the living room, the guys looked up and stopped. Jon laughed and told Hath that she and David were going to make quite the pair tonight. We turned then and saw David coming into the room with his own, let’s just call it colorful, satin bowling shirt with the joker embroidered on the back.

Matt came over and looked me up and down, motioned for me to turn, he hadn’t seen my bowling shirt before. “Nice shirt baby.” He traced the “SQ” with his fingers, “what’s that mean?” I gave him a quick kiss as David and Hath were doing a little dance “you’ll just have to see if you can figure it out.” “Can we go now?” Richie was getting impatient. We all grabbed coats and bags and headed out.

The bowling alley wasn’t far from Lucy’s house and she had reserved a private back room for us. More's the pity, we wanted to see the guys out in public bowling, but I guess beggars can’t be choosers, right? The room had four lanes, air hockey table, jukebox and we had our own waiter. This was going to be fun.

I wandered over to the computers and, as the rest of them were arguing about who was bowling where and with whom, I got us all set up. “Hey!” They all looked over at me, “do you wanna bowl or just stand there yapping about it?” Lucy came over to me, “what did you do?” I smiled, “we are all set to go, just find your name and that’s where you’re at.” I did manage to keep the couples together, but it was still boys against the girls, we would just tally up at the end. Lucy, Sam, Richie, Jon and Hugh were together and Ang, Hath, Tico, David, Matt and I were together.

As we started bowling, Ang sauntered over to the jukebox and, dropping more than a few quarters in, made several selections, and the guys cringed when “One Wild Night” started spewing from the speakers. She called out to Jon, “wanna give us a little cha cha cha?” He flipped her off. Hath and I high-fived her. “Nice song choice” Dave stuck his tongue out at her.

It got to be my turn and I have to tell you I was a bit nervous. I just hoped I could live up to the “SQ” on my shirt. I swear I could feel 10 pairs of eyes on me as I took my turn. Now, I throw a 12 pound ball and have been for several years and when I throw it, I throw it hard. I let the ball go and with a resounding “crack” the pins danced and fell. It was so pretty. I turned and everyone was looking at me, just like I thought. “What?” Matt grabbed me, “nice one. I think you’ve been holding out on us.” I fluttered my eyes at him, “who me? I just got lucky.” I winked at the girls. We were so going to win.

Hath got up and leaned over David to give him a good luck kiss and I wasn’t sure David was even going to be able to stand up what with Thelma and Louise looking at him like that. He took his turn and managed to get one pin. So much for Hath saying that he threw a pretty good ball. Ang put a little wiggle in her walk and took her turn, leaving the guys to wonder just what they had gotten themselves into.

When Hath got up to take her turn, she did a pirouette and kept it almost decent, but Richie was up on the other side and got distracted by the amount of leg showing and dropped his ball, behind him. Hath flounced over and laid her hand on his arm, "baby, that's no way to treat your balls." She bent over, giving Hugh and Jon a shot of Thelma and Louise that had Jon groaning and covering his eyes, picked up the ball, dusted it off and gave it a gentle caress. She handed it back to Richie, laying her hands over his "gentle, baby" then winked at him and left him to take his turn. He threw a gutter ball. Lucy patted his arm as he sat back down next to her, “its okay baby.”

Hath was finally able to take her turn and her ball, which is pretty cool with the flames on it, flew down the alley and she got herself a strike. Before she could sit down Jon yelled “Jeeves!” She looked over at him, “yes boss?” He held out a towel, “buff my ball.” She walked over to him, looked at Sam winked and shrugged before reaching for Jon’s belt. He started sputtering "what are you... STOP!" and grabbed her hands, “no you crazy bitch, my bowling ball!” He looked over at David, “control your woman man!” He threw his hands up, “she was just doing what you said.” We were all laughing so hard we could barely bowl.

By the fifth frame or the beer frame as it is sometimes called the guys figured out what we were trying to do and starting retaliating. When Ang got up to take her next turn David got up and walked past her, making sure his front came in close contact with her back. Well she got all distracted and ended up nearly missing.

The ever quiet, sunglass-wearing Hugh even got into the act. He stepped up to take his turn and missed. Now, if any of you don’t know, the beer frame is where the person who does not strike has to buy drinks. Well he and I were the last ones to go, everyone else had, miraculously, gotten strikes. He didn’t. As I got up he called out “hey Queenie.” I looked over at him, “yeah Hugh?” He took off his glasses, his dark eyes staring intently at me, “I’ve got $50 says you don’t get a strike and you have to help me get the drinks.” I looked around at the rest of them and before I could say anything Tico piped up, “I’m in” he winked at me and pulled a $50 from his pocket. The rest of the guys did too, including Matt! I looked over at him, “you sure you want to do that?” He nodded, “oh yeah.”

I looked at the girls, “well?” They all nodded, “go for it!” I looked back at the guys, “okay, ya’ll asked for it.” I went and picked up my ball. They all thought they could rile me, but I loved the added pressure. Made it all that much more fun when my ball flew down the alley and I got a strike pretty enough for TV. I turned to find the guys mouths hanging open, “did ya really think I was gonna miss?” I walked to each one of them plucked my money from their fingers, kissed their cheeks and said “thank you” when I relieved them of their money. When I got to Matt I kissed him and whispered “strike queen” in his ear. He looked at me with a big question on his face. “What?” I kissed him again, “SQ means strike queen.” He groaned and shook his head. “Guys,” he called out, “we’ve been had!”

I turned to the girls, “Girls, drinks are on me!”

By the end of the evening the girls had beaten the guys soundly two games to nothing and we were all in high spirits when we headed back to Lucy’s for dessert.

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