We reach the bowling alley, filing out of the cars. We get our shoes and balls before starting games. Nowell plays against Cameron while the rest of us laze around and spectate.
I am never really a fan of bowling so I don't really know what I am doing here.
"Hey Camilla, you look bored," Oliver points out.
"Yeah..."
"Hey guys! Want some food? I got some burgers and fries," he says as he puts them out on the table.
Leave it to Malcolm to get us sorted on food.
I take half of one of the burgers and eat it, one of the best burgers I ever had.
'This is so good," I say.
"Bet your ass it is," Malcolm says, giving me a high five.
Cameron and Nowell soon abandon their game and come over.
"What's this?" Cameron asks as he takes a fry and pops it into his mouth.
"Food, duh..." Trent replies.
"This is so good," Nowell says, rubbing his belly exaggeratingly as he takes another fry.
"That's what she said!" they yell and started laughing, leaving Nowell in confusion.
"Seeing Nowell's dumbfounded face led me to start giggling as well and soon, we were a bunch of laughing maniacs, doubling over with laughter. Trent even laughed so hard that he almost spit out his food.
Somehow, we manage to calm down and Cameron and Nowell continue with their game.
"Let's start our own game!" Norris tells Oliver.
"I can't bowl though..."
"Come on! It's not that hard, besides, I can teach you."
"Alright, alright, let's go," Oliver agrees reluctantly and they wander away to another lane to bowl.
"You want to start a game too?" Eugene asks.
"You'll have to teach me though and I don't know if you want to deal with that..."
"Come on, let's go. This will be fun." He urges and pulls me from the booth and to a lane.
"I'll show you first," he says as he takes his ball, he walks down the lane and lets go of the ball, hitting down 9 pins.
"Woah..." I said.
There is no way I am going to win.
I take my ball nervously and try to mimic what he had previously done, walking forward and then letting go of the ball, the ball went straight to the gutter, what a surprise.
"That's okay," Eugene encourages when I don't hit any of the pins.
"You need to walk like this," he says, demonstrating for me, "and when you let go of the ball, angle it and point it towards the middle pin," he said and let go of the ball which knocks out all the pins.
This is unbelievable.
"How are you so good? Were you in a competition or something?"
"Yeah I was, I had to practice a lot though, been bowling since I was young, just haven't really gotten to it recently." He trails off, "Anyway, I'm sure you can do it, just try it alright."
I take my ball and do as he had previously demonstrated and manage to knock out three pins, a new high score for me which I am overjoyed about.
"I hit something!" I cheer and hug Eugene, jumping up and down.
He accepts my hug and goes to get his ball.
He hits down 9 pins, he is just awesome.
I go to get my ball but he gets it before me.
He comes up close behind me and positions the ball in my hands.
"Your shoulders should be more squared," he says.
I shift my shoulders and now my shoulders are touching him.
It is just a small area of contact but for some reason, I felt a spark fire through me.
"We take four steps when we bowl," he begins and moves back, pulling my shoulders back with him gently as he shuffles backward slowly.
"Step one, ball moves out," he says as he moves my hand so that the ball is now in front of me and I feel a slight buzzing that won't stop.
"Step two," he says as we take another step and bend forward, "ball moves down," he says and gingerly cups his hand over mine, the contact making me flinch slightly, and move our hands down.
"Step three," he says as we take another step and lean forward, "ball moves back," he says and he moves our hands back.
I look back at the ball instinctively.
Almost immediately, he whispers, "Continue looking in front," so I do.
"Step four," he says and we take our last step, "ball down," and we swing the ball forward slowly.
"Aim,"
"Release,"
I watch the ball travel down the lane as I slowly rise to a standing position.
The ball hits the pin right in the middle and the other pins followed suit, falling behind it, we got a strike!
I dance around Eugene happily as he just smiles at me. I go on the tip of my toes and give him a cheeky little peck on his cheek, "Thanks," I say and he opens his arms for a hug.
We decide to give ourselves a break and go back to the booth to down more food before continuing. We go back to the booth and take our seats.
"You guys done already?" Alan asks.
"Or are you guys here for the food?" Malcolm asks.
"Food," Eugene confirms with a chuckle.
"How was your game?" I ask Cameron.
He answers with a shrug.
"It was a close game," Nowell comments, "I only won by a few points,"
"Grats," I say as I take another fry.
"I'm going to use the toilet," Eugene says.
"Yeah, I think I'm coming too." Cameron says, excusing himself to leave for the bathroom.
Tony and Wilfred are using the lane now, both doing pretty well but far from Eugene's standard.
When Eugene comes back, he asks me, "Want to continue with our game?" and I nod in agreement, who wouldn't want to spend more time bowling with Eugene.
YOU ARE READING
First Term Love Story
Fiksi Remaja"Let's play a game." He offers. "Okay, what game?" "It's called, 3 truths and 1 lie." "Oh... How do you play?" I ask. "I'll give you four statements, one...
