It's us against the world

48 - bowling

As we get into Leah's room I let out a big breath that I didn't realise I was holding.
I slump myself onto her bed and close my eyes, taking a moment to compose myself again.

"Did I do okay?" I ask Leah, hoping that I didn't already screw it up.

"I think so. My mum loved that hug with you." Leah chuckles back, also slumping herself onto her bed right next to me, "I love you." She tells me, looking straight into my eyes and smiling.

"I love you too. Your mum knows that we are... um... dating. Right?" I ask, gulping back a lump in my throat.

"Yes. Of course she does. She is so so happy. She loves you." Leah smiles, giving me a kiss before standing up and taking my hand, "come on, let's go bowling. I'm gonna kick your ass."

I reluctantly follow her down the stairs, "no! You're gonna lose. Im the best at bowling."

As we make our way into the living room, hand in hand, we see Leah's mum and dad sitting down on the sofa.

"Hey bubs, you ready?" Amanda asks Leah with a smile on her face.

"Yeah mum. Are we getting food there?" Leah asks, taking us to sit down on the sofa opposite them.

"Yes. Is that okay? For you too Jessica?" Amanda asks back, making sure to keep me involved.

"Yeah mum, thanks." Leah smiles, taking her eyes away from her mum to look at me.

"Me? Yeah. That's good thanks but you really don't have to. I can buy it." I confirm, not wanting them to spend a lot of money on me.

"No, no. I will buy it sweetie. My treat." Amanda smiles back at me. God, this eye contact is intense. I'll just slyly break it by looking down at my feet.

"Okay. Thank you Mi- Amanda." I say quietly.

Leah squeezes my hand, keeping me grounded and letting me know I'm doing fine and I have nothing to worry about.

"Okay, let's go shall we?" Amanda suggests, standing up and grabbing her shoes from the door.

"Yeah mum." Leah smiles, also standing up, "come on babe, let's go." Leah tells me, tugging on my hand slightly to get me to stand up and stand by the front door.

"Okay." I reply quietly, still not feeling too comfortable with them just yet.

—
As we get into the bowling place, one of the staff members takes us to our lane. A private one so that we don't get recognised by fans.

"Right, so usually we put in funny names." Leah tells me, smiling and almost giggling.

"Mhm, so that makes you daddy long legs?" I smirk back, trying to make fun of her height.

"Oi! No fair. Jacob's taller than me!" She protests, bringing a giggle to everyone's faces.

"Okay but last time I checked, he wasn't here. Was he?" I cock my head, pretending to be deep in thought. Just trying to wind her up.

"Dick." Leah mutters, intending for only me to hear.

"Leah! That is no way to speak to a guest!" Amanda intrudes, telling her daughter off for her language.

"Yeah Leah." I smirk, crossing my arms and taking her mum's side, "no way to speak to a guest."

"Fine," she rolls her eyes, making her way over to the screen and smirking, "I'll just have to make you guest 1, then."

"That's quite boring. I would rather be something more exciting. Like..." I begin, trying to think of a decent name.

"Little gremlin!" Leah shouts, finally using her brain to think of something useful.

"That makes you giant toad." I giggle, looking at Amanda and making sure it was okay and receiving a nod from her and a small smile threatening to break through.

"Mum! Im being bullied!" Leah whines to her mum but receiving no sympathy from her as she just inputs everyone's nicknames and grabs a ball for me to bowl first.

"Here you are darling," Amanda sweetly says as I stand up to take my first go.

"Thanks Amanda." I smile, looking back at Leah and sticking my tongue out at her.

I roll my ball along the ground and as it rolls down the alley, I manage to hit 1 pin down.

I cheer for myself, being pretty shit at bowling, making everyone else laugh.

"Ha! I can do better than that!" Leah shouts as she gets up and bowls her ball, resulting in it going down the gutters, making everyone laugh even harder.

"That wasn't too great was it bubs?" Amanda laughs at her daughter, now stropping as she sits on the sofa next to me.

"Not funny." Leah strops, looking at the floor whilst everyone else laughs at her.

"Don't worry, I still love you. Even though you're a big loser." I laugh, making fun of Leah's face.

—
A/n: putting this chapter up because I wanted to tell u guys how happy I am that Keira has not done her ACL. If anything it looks more like a PCL injury but fingers crossed it's nothing more than a twitch or smn yk.
My friend literslly told me that she had done her ACL and I'm not even lying my heart stopped for a minute and then she showed me the picture and it said she has not done it so my heart started again.
This news has literally been my lifesaver because if she did I actually think I would die. Keira is our best player at the moment and she doesn't get enough respect or recognition. 🫶
Thank you Keira.
Anyway, love you guys and thank god for this news 🙏🏻
ALSO, the fact they put a statement out like that to say that she HASNT done her ACL means that they know ACL injuries are a problem so they need to sort it out, so why are they doing fucking nothing about it 😭
We've more or less made it through the group now ig and I'm hoping we play Nigeria and Australia don't get through the group stages 🤭

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