Drawing the Line

Chapter 8

They say there's a one in a million chance for you to meet someone you are destined to meet, someone you just click with right away. An acquaintance can become a lifelong business partner, a friend of a friend can become your ride or die, or a chance encounter can become your destiny.

Emilia and James had only known each other for less than a week, but ended up spending the next week together. They were both attending the same university and were in different departments but had classes around the same times. Today, they were bowling.

"Alright, let's do this!" Emilia shouted while jumping up from her seat with her bowling shoes on.

"Uhhhh, sure..." James said while looking at the various balls and not knowing what the different numbers meant. Also, why were the holes grouped like that?

"Don't tell me you've never been bowling?!" Her mouth dropped exaggeratedly, and James scratched his head while shaking it.

"You've missed out on so much in life. Here, take this." She shoved an '11' blue ball into his hands, "This is a good beginner ball."

"Now watch me," She brought the ball up to her face in concentration then slowly swung it back while shuffling forward and rolled the ball. It went straight down the middle at first but as it reached the end, it shifted to the left and knocked down only the two at the side.

"Uhhh, don't do that. I'm showing you what NOT to do so you have something to compare. Now I'll show you what you should do," she swung the ball and it rolled down the middle again but shifted this time to the right, leaving the ones in the middle untouched. She put her hands on her hips and turned around to find her new friend bent over laughing while holding his stomach.

"You! Stop laughing! Let's see you do better!" She stood back, bracing herself for James' failure. He copied her stance but since it was his first time, he swung with less force before letting go of the ball. It rolled down the middle slower but did not stray. All the ones in the middle were knocked down, leaving a pin on each side.

Emilia's jaw dropped and James turned around flashing a V for victory. He surprised himself and quickly put his hand behind his back.

"Beginner's luck..." she mumbled and they continued their game. In the end, she won by a small margin, but a win was a win. The loser had to treat the other person to ice cream.

Emilia kept rubbing it in his face and James just nodded and smiled in content.

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Yuki turned off his car as he parked it in the driveway and saw in the rearview mirror that another car had stopped in front of the house. He got out to see who it was and saw Emilia getting out of the passenger side and the same guy he met briefly the night she came home drunk.

"Thanks for today, James, it was fun! I'm glad I got to know you, turns out you're a pretty okay guy," she smirked.

"Just okay? I think I'm pretty amazing," he teased. She slapped his arm playfully.

"But really, thanks for teaching me how to bowl. Turns out I'm pretty good at it."

"I had to! You had such a deprived childhood, I need to show you all the fun things in life, that's what friends are for!"

"I'm glad I have you as a friend then. But don't tell Mickey that."

"Bleh, don't even mention that guy."

James laughed. Ever since their first encounter, she still hasn't forgiven him.

"Hey, what's going on?" Yuki walked up behind Emilia and looked at them both.