Sworn 'Brothers'

5-shooting range

Driving to the shooting range I realized that I have no idea how to hold a gun much less shoot one. When I arrived I told the man working the counter I was looking for Dante. He told me to follow the path to the right of the building and I'd find him. Not feeling like looking like a tourist in a foreign country; I called Dante to see where he was.

"Hello." He answered.

"Hey, I'm here." I said as I continued following the path. "Which range are you on?"

"Oh, I see you turn to your left." He chuckled when I looked towards the woods. "Your other left."

"I knew that." I replied as I waved at him before heading his way.

My ribs still hurt which I found out when I waved because I raised my hand to fast.

"I'll see you in a minute." He said and hung up.

I hope he didn't hear my gasp from the pain.

I tried to walk over to him without making my discomfort to obvious. When I got close enough he introduced me to his friend, Mitch. We exchanged greetings and a handshake before I was handed a shotgun. I just stared at it.

"Do you know how to shoot?" Dante asked me.

"No." I answered. "I dont like guns, so I usually stay away from them."

"Can I show you how?" He asked. "We can get lunch afterwords."

"Sure."

I tried to mimic his friends stance, but it wasn't as on point as I'd hoped. Dante stood behind me and repositioned the gun so it was more under my shoulder. He put his hand on my waist making me glance down at it before turning my head towards the field in front of us again. He also positioned my hands on the gun so it wouldn't fly out of my hands when I fired it

He told me to test fire by pulling the trigger and stepped back. I squeezed the trigger and felt the kick.

Note to self dont shoot guns with bruised ribs.

"Woah!" I exclaimed looking down at the gun in my hands.

"Want to try to hit a target?" He asked laughing at me. "Dont worry they're clay."

"Um, okay?" I said unsure of wether I would actually hit it or not.

He helped me get back into position and holding the gun correctly again. This time he didn't back away when he told me to pull the trigger.

Again, I squeezed the trigger when I saw the target and felt the timing was right. I watched as the target shattered and gasped lowering the gun.

"I hit it!" I cheered and turned around. Both him and Mitch grabbed for the gun in my hands. "Sorry." I stated handing the gun over to Mitch.

"It's okay, but you have to be careful where you point that." Dante said patting me on the shoulder.

I looked down, my shoes suddenly becoming much more interesting. I felt him let go of my shoulder and went to lean against the wall behind them while they finished up. I stood there for about an hour. It's safe to say that I was bored by the time they finished.

"You hungry?" Dante asked making me jump.

"I think I should get going actually." I said quickly. "I have some errands to run for my mom."

I just dont want to make a bigger idiot of myself than I already have.

"You sure you can't stay for a bit longer?" He asked like he knew I was lying.

"Yeah." I answered. "I'll text you when I'm done." He sighed like he was disappointed.

"Okay, be careful." He patted my shoulder again.

"Will do." I gave him my best fake smile I could muster right now.

I started to walk away. I sighed when I turned the corner and nearly ran back to my truck.

"Well that definitely could have went better." I mumbled to myself as I climbed in.

I texted my mom and asked her if she needed anything while I was out. Partly because I didn't want to go home yet and partly so I didn't completely lie to Dante. She sent me an entire shopping list and a few errands to do for her. I hate shopping for her, she always has obscenely long lists.

"You saw his face, right?" I heard making me look up from trying to start the truck.

"Yeah, but dont push it." Dante and Mitch were walking towards Dante's car.

"But-"

"He's inexperienced and already feels bad, just leave it." Dante cut him off.

"Okay, but you need to make sure that he's okay at some point." Mitch stated.

"I will." Dante stated. "I want to give him some space first."

"It was obvious he was uncomfortable." Mitch stated. "He kept flinching."

"I noticed." They got in the car so I didn't hear anymore of their conversation.

I just laid my head on the steering wheel at that point.

Yeah, that definitely could have gone better.

I popped my hood and climbed out of my truck to see if I could find the problem. I'm pretty sure to anyone who saw me, it was quite funny watching me literally climb on my truck to fully open the hood. If that wasn't funny, watching me literally sitting under said hood so I could see everything was.

The joys of being five foot four with a truck.

"You okay?" I heard making me jump and hit my head on the underside of my hood.

"Ow, yeah, truck won't start." I stated climbing back down. "I think, well I hope, it's just the battery."

"We have jumper cables." I finally turned and realized it was Mitch I was talking to.

"Mitch?" I asked surprised. I thought they'd left already. "Thanks." I said staring at my feet again. "C-could you maybe h-help me?" I asked mentally kicking myself for stuttering.

It wasn't long before we had my truck running again. Mitch told me to get a new battery so I wouldn't have this problem again and we parted ways.

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