UNMASKING THE DANCER

38. Game center.

Diane's pov

"So did Diane have any admirers back in Greenville?" Jade asked Catlyn with a mischievous glint in her eyes and I rolled my eyes.

We were all sited in the sitting room of my apartment and by we, I meant me, Jade, Ryan and Catlyn. They had arrived here a few hours ago and had made it a point to talk about my life.

I adjusted myself on the couch as Catlyn answered, "yup, she did",

"Tell us about it" Ryan said and she dived into the story of Michael, my admirer in Greenville. I rolled my eyes at intervals and by the time she was done, I thought my eyes would fall off with all the rolling it had done.

Turning to me, Jade teased, "I didn't know you were hot stuff back in Greenville"

"Oh shut up" I replied and rolled my eyes yet again.

She rolled her eyes right back while Ryan just chuckled and I couldn't help smiling. She turned back to Catlyn and asked, "so how did you guys meet?"

"We met in middle school and she just kinda interested me. The way she kept to herself and made no friends but when we became friends, I found her to be fun"

"That's interesting" Ryan chipped in and I nodded in agreement,

We all fell into comfortable silence for a few moments and just watched the moving animations playing on my TV.

Breaking the silence, Jade announced, "how about we do something fun?",

"Yeah like what?" I asked and she shrugged,

"I don't know......maybe games or... shopping...."

"I think I prefer games" Ryan interrupted making us chuckle,

"Okay, games it is then"

We stood up to head out and I didn't bother changing as I was comfortable in my black shorts, white hoodie and sneakers. They were also dressed simply and after taking important things like my phone, we went out.

I locked the door and minutes later, we were entering Jade's car outside my apartment building. Ryan got into his own car though and I saw few ladies whisper excitedly between themselves. I forget sometimes that he's a celebrity.

Jade starts car and a popular starlit song immediately starts blaring from the radio making me bop my head.

"that's my favorite song" Catlyn commented and I nodded,

"It's mine too"

We sang along to the song as Jade drove and we laughed at our bad voices. Minutes later, we arrived at the game center and Jade parked in the parking lot with Ryan right behind her.

He came to meet us just as we came down from the car and we all walked inside to find it quite scanty. Maybe it was because today was a Sunday but there were still a few people milling around, playing different types of game.

We headed for the bowling area after deciding to play that first and we found the area empty. Taking turns to roll the ball towards the bottles, we went into a series of rounds that Ryan beat us all in,

   "I didn't know you were this good at bowling" Jade accused making us all chuckle and Ryan puffed out his chest playfully,

   "Yup, I'm good"

   "Whatever" she said and rolled her eyes before walking off.

    "Where are you going to?" Ryan asked and she turned around without stopping,

   "To look for a game I can beat you at"

   "As if"

   "We'll see" she said just as she walked out and he went after her making me chuckle, "they still haven't changed".

    I turned to Catlyn to find her staring in the direction Ryan just went, "what are you thinking about?" I asked her and she sighed looking at me,

   "I still can't believe that the leader of the starlit band is your childhood friend"

    "Yeah, I have a hard time believing it too"

     "I just can't wait to meet the rest of the band personally too" she commented and gave a little squeal before bouncing out of the bowling area, making me smile.

    I hope she meets them soon too and can't wait to see her reaction when she sees Ace, her celebrity crush.

    Walking out of the bowling area, I search for them and found them in the virtual reality section debating on which video game to choose, "I thought you guys were looking for a competitive game?" I asked and they all turned to face me,

   "Well this is better, I'll compete with him another time"

   "You're talking as if I'm not here" Ryan chipped in and she faced him,

   "I'm pretending you're not".

   I laughed at their bickering and moved forward to choose a video game for myself.

    We played more games after leaving the virtual reality area and decided to eat, "I'm starving" Catlyn muttered,

   "Me too" I, Jade and Ryan replied at once making us chuckle, today had definitely been fun.

    We drive away from the game center and headed for Donnakins, our favourite fast food restaurant, "you're going to love it" Jade said to Catlyn and she nodded,

   "I believe so"

   We got there and found the place quite full with customers, "why is the place almost full on a Sunday?" Jade muttered the question on all our minds and we soon got our answer when we walked in to see the other band members sitting in a booth, eating burger.

   Catlyn gasped beside me with eyes wide open and stuttered, "i-s t-that.....", She didn't complete her sentence though as a little squeal escaped her mouth, making me roll my eyes.

   As if sensing us, Mason who was facing the entrance looked up and waved us over. We went to their booth and thankfully, the booth was big enough to contain us all, so we sat.

    Jade moved in near Jason while giving him a hug and somehow Catlyn ended up beside Ace, I could totally see the sweat gathering on her forehead. Chuckling softly at her nervousness, I felt her glare at me but ignored it.

    "So where are you guys coming from and who is the beautiful lady?" Ace asks staring at Catlyn,

    "We went to a game center and the beautiful lady is right beside you, ask her yourself" Jade replied sassily making us all laugh and he cleared his throat dramatically,

    "Fine...... what's your name beautiful lady?"

    "Uhm, it-s C-catlyn"

    "That's a beautiful name"

     "Thank you".

    He opened his mouth to say another thing but we never got to hear it as she interrupted suddenly, "excuse me, I need to use the restroom", and she literarily ran off.

    The waitress who was coming to our table stared after her for a moment before getting to us, "what would you like to order?" She asked and we gave our order which she wrote down,

   "Be right back"

  Catlyn came back with red rosy cheeks and a dazed smile in her eyes which made her look like a newly wedded bride but others didn't notice it except Ace, some chemistry be going on here.

That thought however flew from my head when Mason who was looking through his phone said, "what the hell!!",

"What is it?" Jason asked, shifting his attention from Jade to his twin brother but instead of answering, he faced his expensive phone to us in a way that we could see what had made him curse,

And what i saw had my jaw dropping but I wasn't the only one with a slacking jaw.

Ryan's bandmates directed their gaze to him with an obvious question in their eyes while certain pair of eyes landed on me.

                          ***

Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter?