Shark Strike Survivor

Chapter 14

Over the past month, Mason and I have gone out as friends, along with Chandler and Jace joining us most of the time. The four of us have a great time together, just like when I am with each of the other two friends. Today, Mason, Jace and I are hanging out together, and unfortunately Chandler cannot join us because he has to work. The three of us are going bowling, and have dinner out somewhere after a game or two of bowling.

"Larken, Jace and Mason are here!" dad hollers from the front door, sounding confused.

"Be there in a minute!" I call back, quickly climbing the stairs from the basement, and find everyone, my brothers included, in the living room with dad, Jace, and Mason.

"Hey," I greet the new comers, and my family with a confused smile at how comfortable they seem to be with Mason which is good, but just unusual because they do not know Mason very well.

"Hey Lark," Jace greets, giving me a side hug when I reach his side.

Tightly hugging him back as I snuggle into his side with my arms loosely draped around his waist, mumbling; "You smell really good."

"Thanks, you too," Jace softly mumbles with a chuckle as he gently tightens his hold on me briefly.

"Are you ready to leave?" Mason asks Jace and I, and we nod that we are ready to leave.

The three of us leave the house once we say our goodbyes to my family. Jace opts to sit on that back seat, letting me sit up front with Mason who is driving his black, 2015 Ford Mustang. Fidgeting in my seat because my right leg is bothering me today because I have been leaving my prosthetic on longer every day for the last two weeks. I have been packing my belongings to move into my new apartment this weekend. Shifting my weight onto my left butt cheek, trying to ease some of the discomfort and slight pain.

"Is your leg bothering you, Larken?" Mason asks, keeping his eyes trained on the road ahead of him with a soft voice, like he is trying not to draw Jace's attention to this question.

"Yeah, but it is fine, please do not worry about this," I murmur with what I hope is a reassuring smile.

"Okay, but only if you are sure?" he questions, looking at me briefly, and I nod. "Okay then."

Softly humming my thanks, and focusing on the view again from the front windshield. When we arrive at the bowling alley ten minutes later, Mason parks, and we head inside.

"One game and shoes for each of us, please," Mason tells the employee behind the counter who nods, and tells us the total, along with asking for our shoe sizes which we tell him, and pay our share of the price.

The employee grabs our correct shoes, and places these on the counter in front of us, and we each take a set, and grab bowling balls that we want to use before heading to lane three, which is where we are to play. We each place the bowling balls on the docking station, and I type our names into the computer, having Jace go first, then Mason, and myself last. Finishing this, I walk over to the chairs, sitting in between Jace and Mason to take off my shoes, and slip on the bowling shoes.

"How good are you guys at this game?" Mason asks as Jace moves to bowl first.

"I am decent," Jace answers as he swings his right arm back to release the sparkly blue ball down the lane on the forward motion, knocking down seven of the ten pins. "My average is one hundred and fifty in a game."

Shrugging my shoulders at Mason when he looks at me with a raised right eyebrow; "Decent, too. My average is one hundred and eighty a game."

Mason's quirked eyebrow rises higher; "You do realize that you are only twenty away from approaching professional level?"

Tilting my head to the left as Jace joins us again, and Mason stands to take his turn; "What is your average in a game?"

As he grabs his plain dark green ball, he looks over at me; "Mine is one hundred and fifty."

"That is not bad at all," I compliment with a warm smile. "To be fair, Jace and I used to come here once a week for years when we were younger. We also played on our high school's bowling team, all four years, so we have had a lot of practice."

Mason finishes his turn with knocking down nine of the pins in total, and joins us as I stand for my turn; "Damn. Both of you must really enjoy this activity."

"We do indeed," Jace chuckles with a wide grin as I throw my sparkly blue ball down the lane, knocking down nine of the pins.

"Excuse me?" a female sounding voice comes from my right as I wait for the ball to return.

Lifting my head to look in that direction, finding a middle aged woman there who I am assuming spoke to us with a raised left eyebrow; "Yes?"

"Um, are you allowed to be in here, and bowl?" she asks with a frown as she gestures toward my prosthetic that is in clear view because I am wearing shorts.

"Yes," I reply with a monotone voice, and no expression on my face before grabbing my ball, and walk away to take my turn again.

"Ma'am, speaking as his lawyer, this place cannot discriminate against him because of his prosthetic leg," Mason calmly states with a frown at her, and his arms crossed over his massive chest. "You can also be charged with verbal harassment if you make any discriminating comment about his leg, or argue further with him about his rights."

"I just do not want a cripple here, bringing down everyone else's enjoyment," she grumbles while crossing her arms over her chest in defiance. "I will discuss him being here with the manager."

Before anyone can respond to her, she turns around to find the manager. Swallowing down the lump in my throat of mixed emotions at this woman's ignorance. She is one of the mildest encounters I have had in public, but the negative emotions still rise in me at these ignorant people.