Bowling Shoes || Jackson Wang

Chapter 2

It was almost closing time, so I slowly started to put things away. There were only two lanes open and the cafe only had one customer left. The place was almost empty.

A few moments later a couple came by the counter to return their bowling shoes and their locker keys. "Thank you for coming and annyeonghaseyo." I bowed smiling. The couple returned the action and left. Not long after the customer at the cafe also got up to leave. He nodded and smiled towards me whilst softly muttering a goodbye. As he left, the cashier from the cafe also closed up.

"Hey Yu-Na." She smiled and handed the cafe key to me.

"Hi Chanyeol." I greeted her as she took off her apron. "How's school?" I asked as she quickly changed out of her work clothes.

"Good. Just a few more months and I'll be out of high school. Freedom will welcome me with sparkles, dove birds and cloud hearts." She sighed looking up dreamily. I muffled a laugh knowing all too well that that was most definitely not what it felt like after high school graduation.

"We all have our dreams don't we." I chuckled. "Anyway, thanks for filling in for Jimin today." I gave her a hug after she pulled on a sweater.

"No problem." She responded before waving goodbye and leaving. I quickly looked around and made sure everything was ready for closing. I looked at the clock and saw that it was 10:01. We are so past closing time. I thought to myself. Everything was ready for closing except for the fact that one lane was still open. I locked the front door so no one could enter and I made my way to the bowling alley.

"Um excuse me," I approached the three guys from earlier. They were laughing and teasing each other. "It's closing time, so I would appreciate it if you could conclude your game soon." I requested as nicely as I could.

The boy that introduced himself as Mark earlier got up and began talking. "Oh, I am so sorry. We must've lost track of time. We'll clean up and leave right now."

"Thank you very much." I thanked them. The other two immediately got up and started to clean up the mess of chip bags and caffeine drinks they had. "Would you like some help?"

"Oh no. It's okay. We can't let a beautiful girl like you do any dirty work now can we?" Jackson, I believe, joked.

I was about to say it was okay before I was cut off by BamBam. "Hyung, stop flirting." He laughed, throwing an empty cup at Jackson.

"I'm sorry." Jackson laughed, apologizing to me. "I was just joking around."

"It's okay. I should go back now." I stuttered slightly and left. The experience was quite new to me. Boys generally avoided me and customers usually interacted with me less comfortably. When I left the bowling area, I realized my face had heated up. I quickly walked to the back room and started to pat my cheek excessively. "Aish Yu-Na, what is wrong with you today." I muttered to myself.

When I felt my face finally cool down, I walked back into the main area. I took my position behind the counter and waited for the three boys. Eventually they left the bowling area and made their way to the lockers. They grabbed their stuff before coming to the front counter to return their bowling shoes and the locker keys.

"Thank you for coming and have a good day." I smiled and waved.

"Bye." The three boys chimes before leaving.

Now that they had left, I could finally finish cleaning up. I put the keys back on their respective hooks. I left the bowling shoes behind the counter before going to sweep the final bowling lane.

When I finished that, I went to put the bowling shoes away. I grabbed the three pairs and went into the back. I put the first two away with out a problem. When went to put the last one away, I realized that wasn't holding a pair of bowling shoes. It was a pair of regular sneakers.

"Oh shit." I muttered to myself when I realized my mistake.