“...then just swing your arm forward in one smooth movement, and release,” said Tony.

  I followed his instructions, and the ball glided down the alley and hit the pins with a ctter. I jumped up, cpping my hands excitedly, “I did it!”

  “You did!” Tony ughed, “That’s an eight, Emmy! Killing it!”

  It felt a little strange at first, letting Tony coach me. It wasn’t like he was an expert bowler either, after all. Still, he was definitely better than me, and his advice was actually really useful. He let me use his first two frames to practice, along with my own, which was really nice of him too. He was such a good guy. Stupid ex-girlfriend didn’t know what she was missing.

  “I’m gonna kick your ass now,” I grinned, “Ready to py for real?”

  “Sure,” Tony said, “Thanks for the eight points, by the way.”

  I looked up at the monitor and realized that st turn had been one of Tony’s frames. Woops.

  “Well, you’re gonna need them,” I said smugly. I skipped back to the ball return and grabbed my little purple ball. I felt a dull pang of embarrassment seeing it next to Tony’s much rger dark blue one, but I pushed it down. Of course Tony’s ball was bigger than mine. It didn’t mean I was less of a man, it just made sense. He was much bigger than me, too. Bigger, and stronger, and… anyway, I was still gonna win this game.

  I took my pce at the alley, drew back my arm, leant forward and swung–

  “Nice ass, Emmy!” Tony called out.

  I jumped and dropped my ball at the exact wrong moment. Instead of zipping down the alley, it rolled forward at a miserable snail’s pace. I whirled around and put my hands on my hips.

  “That’s cheating!” I yelled.

  Tony put his hands up, feigning innocence, “Who, me?”

  “You distracted me!” I said, “You can’t psych me out when it’s my turn to bowl!”

  “I wasn’t trying to psych you out,” Tony grinned, “I had something important to say.”

  “Making fun of my butt is not important.”

  “I wasn’t making fun!” Tony protested, “You have a really nice ass, and I wanted to make sure you knew that.”

  I blushed, “I do not.”

  “Yes you do,” Tony said, “Especially in those jeans. God damn, Emmy.”

  I blushed, not sure exactly how to respond. As a straight guy, I should not be feeling so pleased about another guy complimenting me on my butt. If anything, I should be outraged. On the other hand, I had been teasing him pretty bad before. Poor horny Tony couldn’t help it if he got a bit excited about my ass.

  “Holy shit,” Tony said, “Emmy, look!”

  I spun around (probably giving Tony another peek at my nice ass) and gasped. My terribly thrown ball finally made it to the end of the alley and collided directly with the centre of the pins, knocking down every single one.

  “Oh my god!” I squealed and punched the air, “Strike! I got a strike!”

  “Way to go, Emmy,” said Tony, “I should compliment your ass more often.”

  “Maybe you should,” I grinned, “Clearly it’s good luck.”

  “You’ve got a great ass, Emmy,” Tony said, “It’s like, a perfect size, nice and round…”

  “Tony!” I giggled.

  “Looks really sppable…” he continued.

  “SLAPPABLE?” I gasped, then burst out ughing, “You wish, Tony.”

  “I really do,” he sighed, mock-dreamingly.

  “Okay, enough messing around,” I said, “You’re up, big guy.”

  Tony grabbed his ball and got in position. I stood back and smirked to myself, still thinking about what he had said. Here I was thinking he was doing me a favor, when all along he was actually just obsessed with my butt. I snickered at the thought, but then something serious hit me.

  I should totally get him back.

  I smiled wickedly. Okay, I couldn’t just yell nice ass again, that was unoriginal. What else could I say? I ran my eyes over Tony’s body, taking it all in as quickly as I could. Rats, he really did have a nice ass, even though his jeans didn’t show it off quite as well as mine did. Hmm, he had thick thighs, too, nice strong arms, but what really caught my eye were his shoulders. His tight t-shirt really showed them off, especially from this angle, highlighting the way his traps intersected with the round, bulging muscle of the shoulders themselves. It almost looked like he was hiding two extra bowling balls inside his shirt.

  “Nice shoulders!” I called out.

  Tony’s ball sailed down the ne and took out a solid six pins. He turned around with a grin.

  “What was that?” he said.

  “Nice– um,” my face went bright red. In retrospect, complimenting his shoulders wasn’t quite the same thing. “Never mind!”

  “You like my shoulders, Emmy?” Tony raised an eyebrow and flexed his arms, making his shoulders stand out even more.

  “Never mind, I said!”

  Unfortunately, my pn had totally backfired. My next few frames were all over the pce. I couldn’t stop thinking about Tony and his stupid shoulders. Why did I say that? It wasn’t like I was horny for him or anything! He just had nice shoulders! Objectively! It wasn’t like I wanted to run my hands all over them, or kiss them, or gaze into a mirror and watch them flex as he spped my apparently-very-sppable ass!

  I shivered and sent another ball into the gutter. Okay, my mind was getting really off track now. I was thinking about those dumb stories again, the ones I read te at night when I was having a bad day and needed some kinky stress relief. I was not into Tony. Just because I was on a date with him didn’t mean I was gay, and just because I was wearing women’s clothing didn’t mean I wanted to be a girl. Grammy would freak, for one thing. And I wasn’t really into that stuff anyway. I only read it for the taboo, and I was only thinking about it now because I had been drinking, and because some of the stuff Tony had said about bossing women around had been uncomfortably familiar. I pushed those thoughts deep, deep down where they belonged and tried to focus on bowling.

  It was not working. Tony kept flirting with me, and smiling at me, and patting me on the shoulder when we passed each other, and it was all getting mixed up in my head and making me hot and flushed and confused. I was not into Tony! I was sure of it, no matter how much my heart was racing. I pictured kissing him, holding big, strong Tony in my arms like he was a girl and kissing him, and sure enough it felt super gross. I was a straight guy, and I was gonna keep acting like a straight guy, and soon this crazy night would be over and everything would be fine.

  I picked up my ball for my second throw, shivering as I walked past Tony again.

  “Hey, Emmy,” he said, “You’re getting sloppy.”

  I gulped, “W-what?”

  “Your arm keeps going off to the side,” he said, “You need to stay straight.”

  “I am!” I squeaked, my cheeks burning, “I’m staying totally straight!”

  Tony frowned, “I don’t think so.”

  “Well!” I protested, “I’m trying, okay!”

  “Here,” said Tony, “Let me help you.”

  He stepped up to my side and reached out his hand, and I froze. Was he going to–?

  Oh my god. He was. Tony pressed up behind me, taking my hand in his own so he could correct my form.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  “Mhm,” I whimpered.

  “Okay,” he said. He put his other hand on my hip, moving me into position, “Let’s get you lined up.”

  “Mhm,” I whimpered again. This was okay. This was okay. I wasn’t doing anything wrong. Tony was the one doing everything. All I had to do was rex and let Tony move me the way he wanted.

  “There we go,” he said. His voice was low as he pressed up tight against me. I could feel his hot breath against my cheek as he spoke. “Alright, now just lean forward…”

  He bent me over and I shut my eyes tight. Oh my god. I could feel my ass, my nice ass, my ass that Tony loved so much, pressing up against his crotch, with only a couple yers of fabric in between us. I exhaled shakily, then gasped as Tony tightened his grip on my wrist.

  “Just like that, Emmy,” he said softly, “You okay?”

  “Uh-huh!” I squeaked. I still wasn’t doing anything wrong. I was just doing what Tony said.

  “Now bring your arm back,” he said, and I obeyed his deep voice and his firm grasp, “And then swing it forward, nice and straight, and release.”

  I let go of the ball and pushed my ass back against Tony’s crotch. He hissed and I opened my eyes to see the ball crash into the pins.

  “”So good, Emmy,” Tony said, still holding my wrist, “That was perfect.”

  I looked over my shoulder at him. His face was so close to my own. I could feel his warmth, could smell his cologne, and his deep brown eyes were locked intently on my own. His lips were close enough to reach out and taste…

  Tony blushed and stepped back.

  “Shit,” he said, “Sorry, Emmy. Fuck, I didn’t even ask, did I? I just grabbed you.”

  “That’s okay!” I said, “It was really helpful!”

  “Still,” he grimaced, “I shouldn’t have–”

  “Tony,” I said, “It’s okay. I, um. I liked it.”

  He hesitated, “Yeah?”

  “Mhm,” I nodded, blushing deeply. I swear, I had spent half the night blushing.

  “Okay,” he grinned, “Well, I mean. I told you you were getting the full date experience.”