Graffiti Hearts

3.

The lady at the counter placed the two pairs of shoes on the counter with a loud thunk. The two boys grabbed their shoes. "Have a great day!" the lady expressed with a small smile.

"You too!" Dream called back. He again grabbed Nick's arm sleeve again, dragging him back to Luke and Karl. They arrived back at their alley. Nick sat on the cushioned bench, slipping off his vans and slipping on the bowling shoes. The shoes were uncomfortable, but he would get used to it.

Nick heard loud cheers from Luke. The blonde got a strike. Luke was taunting Dream, giving the blonde a quick flip off. Dream ended up picking up Luke and throwing him next to Nick. Luke landed on his stomach. He lifted his head at Nick, giving him a goofy grin.

Nick gave him a thumbs up, feeling a bit awkward. For Dream, it was easy to be sociable around these friends since he knew them. But for Nick, it was a teensy bit harder due to him not knowing anyone.

"It's your turn," Luke pointed out. Nick stretched his arms up, feeling the edge of his sweater reveal his stomach. He picked up a bowling ball that suited him. Nick hasn't been bowling for a long time, so he wasn't sure if he was still good at it. Nick took his sweet time, focusing on his aim and his strength.

He rolled the ball down the lane. He watched with curiosity, wondering if he was still talented at it. The ball rolled down the middle, straight toward the front pin. Like dominos, all the pins fell. Nick turned around, seeing an awestruck Dream.

"I didn't know you're good at bowling," Dream commented.

"There's a lot you don't know about me." Nick winked at Dream, making the blonde narrow his eyes at him.

"Shut up, idiot," Dream hissed. Dream went silent for a moment, staring at the floor. The blonde looked back to Nick, his face lit up."How about we make the person in last place do something?"

Karl popped behind Dream, peering over his shoulder at him. "Like what?" Karl asked. Dream shrugged, looking at the scoreboard. So far, Karl was in last.

"You're going to make Karl suffer, Dream," Luke said, standing up from this spot on the bench.

Karl rolled his eyes, placing his hands on his hips. "So you're saying that you think I'm going to lose?" Karl scoffed. Dream gave him an evil grin while Luke was smiling at Karl, a teasing expression on his face. To those three boys, it was a competition.

Nick was off to the side, thrown out of the conversation accidentally. He stood there, watching the boys say ideas to each other on the loser's punishment. He turned around to look at the scoreboard again. He was in first place with his strike.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. Nick jumped, facing the person who interrupted his thoughts. Luke pulled his hand away, looking to the side. "Sorry for scaring you."

"Don't worry about it," Nick mumbled.

"Do you have any ideas?" Luke asked.

"About?" Nick replied, his mind drawing a blank.

"Seriously? We just talked about it. It was the loser's punishment." Luke was looking at him with amusement, a small grin on his face.

Nick felt blood rush to his cheeks at his stupidity. "Yeah, sorry." Nick looked back to the bowling pins that were reset to their original position. "Uh.."

"You don't have to give any ideas," Luke jumped in quickly.

"Uh, what about eating something super spicy?" Nick mentally slapped himself. Who would want to do a stupid idea like that one?

"That seems interesting. I think everyone here doesn't have spice resistance or whatever you call it." The blonde gave Nick a brief pat on the back. He called to the two other boys, and explained Nick's idea to them. They all agreed on it. It wasn't too crazy and too easy. It seemed just right.