The Man of the House

Chapter 82

“A bowling alley? That’s where you’re taking us?” George asked with a slightly grossed out look before glancing at me for support.

“I like bowling.” I declared.

There was no way that I was going to offer George any support on this. Besides, I really did enjoy bowling.

I hadn’t known where we were going on this date. Abigail ended up driving me and we followed Mackenzie, who was driving mom’s car. She had initially planned to put me in her car, but she made it clear she wasn’t going to drive Abigail, and I wasn’t going to sit in the car with George, so I ended up taking Abigail’s car. This seemed to annoy Mackenzie, so that was all the more reason to do it.

We finally ended up pulling into a bowling alley parking lot and parking next to them. After getting out of the car, it was clear that George wasn’t particularly okay with this development. It couldn’t be helped, really. Mackenzie hadn’t dated very often and she lived in a household of girls. In a world that was reversed, it meant she only knew how to treat boys from me. Since I recalled having to go to girly movies and do girly things whenever we went out as a family as I was always outvoted, then I believed my counterpart would have experienced the inverse of that. Abigail wouldn’t be any better. After all, she was a loser girl who stalked boys.

Actually, thinking like that, I was starting to feel bad for dumping on my girlfriend and my sister. I actually liked those parts about them. Then again, I wasn’t the typical guy in this world. It was just something I had up on George. I could relate to them and enjoy the same things that they enjoy. Wasn’t that perfect?

George gave a helpless look as I played dumb and the two girls gave confused looks. Unable to come up with a reason that this wasn’t the date of his dreams, the group of us continued on into the building and rented our shoes.  The girl who was giving out the shoes was an older woman who was a bit fat. However, when she handed me the shoes, she touched the back of my hand and then winked at me. I was at least a third her age! She was actually hitting on me?

Even more hilarious was that Abigail grabbed my arm, shot a defensive look, and then pulled me away. Mackenzie, who was also in line, proceeded to shoot her an ugly look too until she showed just a bit of shame. It was honestly really nothing. I wasn’t bothered or anything. It just caught be off guard, but they were acting so serious about it.

“It’s fine.” I responded weakly to myself.

Abigail must have heard, because she turned to me with a serious expression.  

“It’s not fine.” She declared. “You don’t know what that disgusting creep would do to you if she had the chance.”

Feeling a bit helpless, and also amused, I leaned closer to her, “Hmm? What would she do to me?”

Abigail stiffened, not expecting such a question. “That… I mean… is it not obvious.”

I chuckled, putting my hand on her shoulder. “I’m just joking. I don’t think you need to worry about me so much.”

As I was whispering such a thing in her ear, her face turned red. This was just in time for Mackenzie and George to arrive with their shoes. Mackenzie had no expression on her face, but her movements were slightly stiff. George tried to be all smiles, but I could tell he was getting annoyed that his date seemed caught up on me.

“We should probably put the bumpers up for the boys.” Mackenzie spoke up to break us apart.

“I’m sorry, what?” I blinked.

“I mean, it’s just so the game is more fair.” Mackenzie continued.

“Are you suggesting that because I’m a boy, I can’t bowl?” I demanded.

Mackenzie blinked at the heat in my voice. “It’s just, last time we went bowling… you needed them. The twins were upset because they were trying to compete.”

“I’ll have you know, I’m great at handling balls.”

Yes, I heard that as soon as it came out of my mouth. It slightly annoyed me both girls looked at my crotch as soon as I said it, while George put his hand over his mouth and chuckled in an extremely obnoxious way. I glared at both of them.

“It’s fine… we don’t have to put them up.” Abigail declared.

“Ah… but I… ah… nevermind.” With me already voicing my opinion, George had no place to speak.

The game started shortly after, and Mackenzie ended up rolling and picking up a split. Then George went, and he only got one pin on the first try and two pins on the second. I had to admit, I was pretty amused by that. The third person up turned out to be me. I picked out my ball and then with the strength that only a man could have… it ended up in the gutter.

“Pfft!” George looked away, covering his mouth.

Mackenzie gave an “I told you so!” look that made me want to punish her even more. As for Abigail, she gave me an encouraging smile. I could bowl! I mean, I wasn’t good at it, but I could do better than gutters! This time, I would show them! Another gutter ball!

“I’m just rusty!” I declared.

“Don’t worry, I’m a bit rusty too!” Abigail waved defensively.

I didn’t even look George’s way. I wasn’t awful at bowling! I was just putting too much pressure on myself. I definitely could get a 7 or 9 most of the time and even pick them up occasionally. I swear! Abigail gave me one more sympathetic look, and then she went up. On her first roll, she ended up with a strike. Of course that damned geek would be good at bowling. It totally fit in with her character.

As she returned to her seat next to me, she noticed me fuming and gave a questioning look. I shook my head and gave her the cold shoulder. If she couldn’t figure out why I was mad, I wasn’t going to tell her. Wait… something about this situation felt off!

Mackenzie went again, only getting a 9 and no pick up. George hit it right down the middle and ended up with a 7-10 split. Then, it was my turn. I got up to bowl, and as I stood on the line, I suddenly felt to arms wrap around me.

“I can help you.” Abigail said.

I was just about to tell her to shove off, but then I noticed Mackenzie watching out of the corner of my eye. I wasn’t trying to be vindictive, but since Abigail was going to help, I wasn’t going to throw away the opportunity. I tried to act shy, probably screwing it up.

“I-if you want.” I responded.

How do girls from my world blush on demand? I didn’t have that ability. Instead, I just overexaggerated some movements. I was over doing it! I just let Abigail guide me. It was kind of silly, since she was shorter than I was. In the real world, a man was taller, so he could wrap his arms around a woman and help guide her movements with his longer arms that had the space. That wasn’t the case at all, but I guessed this was normal for this world.

She guided me down the lane, and since I didn’t want to accidentally hit her with a bowling ball, I ended up throwing it far slower than normal. As a result, it ended up going down perfectly, and hitting 9 pins. I let out a shout.

“See, I can do it!” I spun around, only to find my lips a few inches from Abigail.

This was a good point to stick it to Mackenzie. However, when I glanced up, Mackenzie wasn’t paying attention at all. She was looking at the score sheet. I made a vexed noise. Abigail who was leaning toward me backed up and turned her head. A wry expression appeared on her face.

“You’re still just trying to make her jealous, huh?”

Abigail’s voice sounded somewhat sad, and I felt a sudden jolt. Trying to see things from the other side, I really was being like all of those bitches who just used men. The longer I lived in this world, the more I felt pressured to act within this world’s gender norms. I could see myself changing in sometimes subtle ways. I don’t think I’d ever get to the point where I didn’t love pussy and women, but I definitely didn’t want to be one of this world’s equivalent of a frigid bitch. I might be a lot of things, but I could at least reciprocate a woman’s desires.”

As she tried to turn away, I squeezed her butt and then bit her ear. She stiffened at that, and when she turned around, her hand just happened to brush my crotch, palm first, and squeeze slightly. That was the pervert I knew. Hopefully, no one else noticed. Mackenzie had seen the end of that, but I hadn’t done it to upset her that time, so seeing her with her brow furrowed actually made me feel slightly annoyed. She continued to stare at me though.

“What?”

“You get another role?” She frowned.

I turned red. I knew that! I was a bowling master! Who said I wasn’t? I turned and grabbed the ball, but I wasn’t able to pick it up and Abigail didn’t try to help me again, still trying to calm down from my ear nibble. As I returned back to my seat, my eyes moved to the bar. Dawn and I had made a plan. It wasn’t intended to hurt anyone, but it would help Mackenzie realize her feelings for me, and also get George to abandon her. I looked at my watch, and it seemed to be about time.

“Hey, Abby…” I spoke in an ingratiating voice.

“Hmm?” Abby asked as she picked up the ball to bowl.

“Can you go out to the car? I left my phone in your car.” I responded sheepishly.

I had left it their purposefully. The reason for this was that I hadn’t told Abby my plan, and if she was present, it would ruin everything.

“Um… yeah, sure. I’ll go get it.” She put the ball back and then walked past me.

“She could have at least gone first.” Mackenzie muttered to herself.

I smiled slightly to myself. This was fine too. I waited until Abby was out of sight and then turned to George. This was actually the most difficult part of the plan. Acting spoiled toward a girl was a skill I was only recently picking up on, but some things went against my very nature.

“I… need to use the restroom.” I declared.

“Huh? Then go.” Mackenzie replied irritably.

I shot George a look. Come on! This was a thing girls did. Girls went to the bathroom together. Don’t tell me out of all the things that flipped, this was the one thing that guys of this world didn’t share with girls from before. George finally gave a cough.

“Ah… I’ll go too.” He responded politely.

I let out a breath. If he had refused, then that would have made things difficult. Everything depended on both of us going to the bathroom at the same time. My plan was rather simple. The bathrooms here were actually in the back, behind the bowling alley’s bar. That was a separate area closed out of sight from this area. Furthermore, I knew that there was only one employee working, that woman who manned the front, and she normally wasn’t in the bar area unless someone asked.

Dawn had gotten a few actresses she knew to sneak back into the bar area. When we tried to go to the bathroom, they’d corner us typical maiden in distress style. We’d call out for Mackenzie to help us, and then the girls would grab us and split us up. The bar actually had two exits, one bringing people to one side of the building, and one to the other. They’d drag George one direction, and me the other direction. Then, Mackenzie would have to make a choice. Would she save her little brother, or this boy she’s dating. George would see the obvious choice and no longer be confident in Mackenzie, and Mackenzie would realize her feelings for me.

The pair of us began heading back, and as we did, I saw a group of girls get up and start to approach us. Everything was working great. It was just too bad that I didn’t realize at that moment my phone had a dozen frantic messages from my sister Dawn informing me that her friends had fallen through.

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