Welcome to the Darkness

Chapter 6

The night air was nice, after a while it didn't seem so chilly. The stars shot past us on the highway and the wind whipped through the car. Brandon played his radio loud, he bopped his head along to the music but he paid close attention to the road.

It was a nice car ride, quiet and it felt like we were racing against time. I guess because only time would tell if he would be able to handle me. I took my eyes off from the highway in front of us, to the side on either part of the highway were cliffs and forests that sped past us in green and grey.

"It's a beautiful night, right?" Brandon said, bringing my attention to him. His eyes were still fixed on the road but every now and then he'd steal a sideway glance at me and his brows were furrowed together in thought. "Do you know why I chose tonight for our date?" He questioned, wringing the steering wheel lightly.

I shrugged and looked back to the side, cars whizzed past us even though we were doing 80 mph. "Because it's Friday?" I asked.

He laughed a bit before shaking his head. "No that was just a fun coincidence. Tonight is a meteor shower and this really cool bowling alley just opened up in Vermont, it's sort of like a sky dome but on really clear nights they open up the ceiling dome and you can bowl under the stars. I bet you they're doing it tonight for the meteor shower."

I was shocked, he'd put so much effort into planning this date. It was my first date and he was acting as if it were going to be my last and he wanted it to be super duper special. It was sort of cute, honestly. I didn't dare say that out loud, he might hate being called that or something...

He was still talking about the stars when we arrived, the big nerd. The entire area was clear and he was right, the roof was open and you could see lasers shooting from the inside. This cute ass son of a bun brought me to a cosmic bowling party for a cosmic event.

It was like a giant rave on the inside, sure people were bowling but a lot of the people whose games either ended or were waiting for a lane were grinding it up on what seemed like a dance floor. The music pounded in my ears the second I opened the car door, being inside was even more unreal.

Traversing the sea of bodies would be impossible if it weren't possible for lil' ol' me to sneak in behind the hunk of man in front of me before the mass of bodies closed again behind him. On the other side of the dance mass I found myself holding onto the back of his shirt tightly. I don't know what the fuck is happening.

"I uh- Sorry." I removed my hand from his shirt, digging both of my hands into my pockets awkwardly. I looked up to see if he'd heard me but he'd kept moving, unaware that I'd even had my hand on his back to begin with. I breathed out a sigh and chased after him.

When I caught up to him he was chatting with a boy behind the counter who took his shoe size, he looked around for a moment before he spotted me and frowned. "Did I leave you behind? I'm so sorry, Marcus." He apologized and tapped his fingers on the counter nervously.

I looked up at him and shrugged and turned to the boy at the counter; "Size 6 please."

"How are you so good at this, man?!" Brandon shouted over the music, he was slightly sweaty and the green lasers bounced off his skin, making it glisten.

I replied with another shrug; "I didn't realize I was doing good, I haven't been bowling since I was a little kid." I looked up at my score, I was one strike off from three in a row. A few other people had wandered over to watch, they paid little attention but the idea that someone had come over to see me play a stupid game gave me a little determination boost.

Once Brandon had rolled his last two balls I stood up and found my bowling ball again, a light one with purple clouds on it. I walked over to the lane and swing my arm back, taking a slight run and sliding to a stop, the ball freeing from my fingers and flying down the lane for another strike.