Supporting life

Chapter 12: Bowling Buddies

Saturday

"That will be £30, please" Nelly smiles.

I zoned out after that, not able to keep my thoughts at bay. All I could think about was Lucy and pregnancies and..... "Brooke?" I turn to see Nelly giving me a curious look "Your not sleeping on the job, are you?" She half jokes.

"Sorry" I apologise "I'll get back to work"

I begin to rearrange the shoes on the shelves in the back when a soft hand was placed on my shoulder "Is everything alright?" Nelly asks.

"Yea I'm fine" I say "Just got a lot on in my life"

"I understand" She nods.

Nelly was a good friend to have. We weren't close and we never really hang outside of school but her advice was always useful. She doesn't know much about my personal life, she knows that I have sisters just not that I'm raising them.

Her phone starts to ping and she walks away so she wasn't in ear shot "I'm sorry I have to go, family issues" She says when she comes back.

"Sure I'll hold the fort down here" I reassure but she still looks worried. If she left whilst on the job and our boss finds out she would be fired on the spot "Don't worry I'll cover for you" I tell her.

She gives me a thankful smile "Thanks your the best"

She gives me a brief hug before grabbing her thing and running towards the door "I hope everything's ok with your family" I say, she looked really worried about what ever it was.

"Yea me too" She agrees.

I worked at the most popular place in town, the bowling alley. It's where you'll find all the teenagers on the weekend if their not at the local coffee shop, Cafe Cof, or at a party.

However, during the day it was almost deserted and I almost felt isolated with nothing but the speaker to hear.

I whip out my phone to check my messages. The girls always spend Saturday with Helen and sometimes they stay the night at her place but she had a date tonight so they were only spending the day. Helen had sent me a couple of pictures of the girls. They had gone rowing and in most of the pictures the girls look to be struggling to row the boat.

Wow it looks fun~Me

Yea the girls are loving it, taking them for ice cream~Helen

Thanks~Me

The sound of someone clearing their throat startles me and I shoot up to see Chase standing there with a smug look.

"Did I scare you?" Amusement laced his voice.

"No" I lie, only a little, his stare lingers over me for a moment before he looks around the bowling alley.

"Nice place" He says.

"It gets even better in the evening, it's the most popular place in this area" I inform him as he soaks in the interior.

"Do you ever come here with your friends?" He surprises me by asking.

"Sometimes" I used to come here all the time before the plane crash and before I had priorities "Why?"

"Just asking" He waves his hand dismissively "So is your boss around?"

"Ok, one, what's with twenty one questions and, two, why do you want to know where my boss is?"

He nods his head like one of those small dogs you get to put on the front of your car "Just wondering if you could come and play bowling with me?" He looked hopeful.