The Pop-Up Shop

Chapter Twenty Four

'Two pairs of shoes please'

The guy over the counter hands us a pair of bowling shoes each and gives us the tickets for the small arcade that was close to it.

'I think you've underestimated how good I am at bowling' Ruel had been bragging for the whole car ride here but I continued to just roll my eyes at his ego.

'Excuse me. At my 6th birthday party, I won 100 tickets so you're not prepared' I say back as we walk to our lane.

'You know what I realised, we have never been on an actual date' Ruel says but I nod my head

'Yeah we have'

'When?' Ruel says, giving me the eyes that he knows he's right.

I start to think about it and then it came to my realisation, we had always been on tour together. Never an actual date where we had done an activity with just us. 

'Wait, oh my god yeah.'

'Told you'

'I'm smart' I say with sarcasm as we sit down and start to do our shoes

'I'm dating an absolute genius' he kisses the top of your head and I grab a bowling bowl and take my first shot. 

I watch as it goes down the middle, then takes a turn and starts to go down the side rails, missing all the pins.

'Like I said, absolute genius.'  I hear Ruel say from behind me so I shoot him a look.

'Shut up. Let's see how you do'

He grabs a bowling ball and takes a shot as the ball goes dead straight into the middle, knocking all 10 pins down. He turns around and takes a bow as I roll my eyes. 'Yeah whatever. Pure luck'

I grab another bowling ball as Ruel takes a seat behind me and sips at his coke bottle. I take bowl after bowl, only knocking down 1 or 2 at a time whereas Ruel wins by over 100 points. 

I stick my tongue out at him after he takes his last shot and he takes your hand in his, 'Someone's a sore loser' 

'No. You're just a terrible winner' I pout as he chuckles and we both walk back to the car. 

Arriving home, we were greeted by my dog Mace and Ruel instantly starts to play with her.

'Sometimes I wonder that you like her more than me' I mumble but he lifts his head in reponse.

'True sometimes' Ruel says before I walk into the garage and grab my pre- packed suitcase.

'Come on! We have to go to the airport now!' I call out to Ruel who was too busy playing fetch was Mace outside. 

My mum drives Ruel and I to the airport and we both say goodbye to her before going into the plane's lounge.

'Do you want anything?' Ruel asks as we walk past the buffet.

'Um. Maybe just an apple' I never usually ate before a plane ride in case I psyched myself out and got sick. 

'Yeah ok' he kisses me on the cheek before I find some seats for us both and he goes over to the food table. 

As he gives me the apple, I smile and pull out my laptop to look at my school website to see the school work due.

'Hey Ruel. Hi April. Can we get a picture?' We both look up to see a teenage girl holding a phone in front of us with bright red cheeks. 

'Yeah of course' Ruel says as she hands her mum the phone and she takes the photo.

I must say that I was genuinely surprised when she gave me a hug but it was sweet that she acknowledged me.

'You're first fan experience. Wow' Ruel says next to me and I blush.

'You proud of me?' he smiles in response as our flight is called over the speaker. 

I grab my carry on luggage out of the lounge and head to the gate. 

The flight went quick as Ruel and I watched a movie together and we arrived in Sydney to an already stressed Nate.

'Alright, great. You're here. Where's Ruel?' Nate says in a rush as he approaches him from behind me

'Mate, I'm right here. Aren't we getting the flight tomorrow?' Ruel asks, putting his bag to the floor but Nate shakes his head in panic. 

'No, no, no. Didn't you get the email? We're flying out in an hour. Let's go!' 

I share a very confused look with Ruel but he takes my hand as we both follow Nate and the rest of the crew to the gate.

As we touch down in Brisbane I sit next between Coco and Ruel at a restaurant for dinner. 

He holds my hand under the table as they all pose for a photo and he gives a kiss on my cheek as Nate takes the picture. 

Everyone headed to the hotel early as we had to be at the venue at 10am tomorrow for Shawn fricking Mendes