hometown glory - wroetoshaw [✓]

FIFTEEN

[eighteenth of november 2019]

THE LOW WINTER SUN BLARED THROUGH APOLLO'S window as she sat on her sofa, finishing up work as she was huddled in blankets. a cup of half drunk tea had gone cold on her coffee table as she was determined to get all of her papers sent in before christmas festivities went in full force. the time was only two in the afternoon and apollo had decided she wasn't going to let her day go to waste like she had been doing too much recently. 
she texted her girls group chat but as it was nearing the festive season they were all either with family or at a work party and would end up as a hungover mess. so she was left with her next best option which was harry. the pair had been speaking over text but hadn't actually seen each other in person since halloween. he had been busy with the opening of kicktown and beginning to make and edit a few videos so he could be prepared for the december cpm. 

apollo-
hiya haz, was wondering if you were about for us to finally go bowling?
14:12pm

haz-
give us half an hour and i'll be ready, we better make it to the actual alley this time
14:15pm

apollo-
sounds good
14:16pm
no promises though, you might have another secret youtube channel for me to laugh at
14:16pm

haz-
oh nelly i hope not
14:17pm

apollo was glad she finally had something to do and decided to attempt the quickest shower of her life, getting shampoo in her eye and face wash in her mouth, but it was all in 5 minutes so she was very glad. she wanted to make a bit of an effort as she was finally leaving the house for once and it was nearly christmas, so she found some sparkly flared trousers and matched it with a white cropped jumper before moving onto some light makeup.

but of course she had failed to check the time and received a text from harry saying he was outside. she had basically finished getting ready but decided she would've been able to apply her lipgloss on the go which was a mistake, making her smear the red gloss all over the side of her face as she was rushing out the door.

as she looked up harry made a gesture to the side of her face and she threw her middle finger up at him, "you've got a little something there." he joked and gestured to his own face. he watched her wipe it off the side of her cheek with a deadpan expression and laughed as she put her seatbelt on.

"you said it would take half an hour and i'm sure thats been about 20 minutes so i had to literally run out the door!" she exclaimed with a slight huff, as she was rushing about to make sure she didn't keep harry waiting.

"it took me less time to get ready than i thought sorry about that, you could've just kept me waiting though i don't mind." harry told her as she finally relaxed in the seat and checked her bag for her keys, phone and wallet; and was then satisfied finding the had remembered all three.

she shook her head and looked at him, "i couldn't do that though could i after i cancelled bowling last time." he let out a small huff and a chuckle before pulling out of her driveway.
"i don't think theres anything else you could find out about me that would stop us from going two times in a row." he paused and thought very intently.

"yeah theres basically nothing else, i'm from gurnsey, i'm twenty three and i make youtube videos" he pouted his lip out as he was thinking again, and apollo waited intently for what he was going to say next. "oh and actually there is something interesting about me, basically i'm making this thing called kicktown and its at the o2 arena and its going to be a football challenge arena." he went on his whole speil about kicktown as if he was trying to sell it to her, which in a way he was, but apollo appreciated it and by the way his whole expression changed she could see he was passionate about it.

she nodded as she finished, surprised by how much she was genuinely interested in it considering she wasn't a massive football fan and she supported crystal palace because her mum told her to from a young age, something her dad wasn't happy about as a newcastle supporter. "that actually sounds sick, how long has that been in the making for then because it sounds quite complicated really." the inner business geek inside of her came out and the conversation continued about kicktown for a while, until harry asked about some facts from apollo.

her lips went into a pout as she thought, "well i'm from a small place near dover, probably not that different from gurnsey to be honest, i'm twenty two and i just work in a little office job in the city but i actually did a calvins campaign ages ago." she informed him and rolled her eyes a little bit at what sounded like a humble brag. "its on my instagram with some other little professional shoots i've done but i don't know if you stalked back that far." she joked.

he pulled a face which caused apollo to laugh at him, "i hadn't seen but thats very interesting... very interesting indeed." he smirked and made apollos face go a bit red before pulling into a car parking space. in front of them was the building with 'hollywood bowl' written in big letters across the front. "anyway, i'm ready to thrash your arse at bowling so lets go." he hopped out of the car before she could let out her scoff and quickly followed him out.

"i think you'll find i'll be the one who will thrash your arse." she added emphasis to the 'your' and walked alongside him to the foyer where they booked a lane for three rounds as there were only two of them. they took their photo for the scoreboard where they pulled the ugliest faces imaginable, apollo with her face scrunched up and her tongue out - almost licking harry - and himself letting all the chins unleash.

after admiring the photo all the children could see, harry chose the names for them. calling himself 'boggo' and apollo, 'pollo'. she was mortified when she realised how it sounds out loud, "harry it sounds like a disease, you've ruined my name." she laughed and cringed. he just defended himself by saying he 'couldn't think of anything else'.

apollo was up first and got a strike straight away which shocked harry, who had severely underestimated how good she was. so of course he kept pulling the beginners luck card. but he was oh so wrong. he almost scored a gutter ball the first time and apollo called it 'the beginners shitter' which didn't have the same ring to it.
after a varied play from both of them, the scoreboard at the end of the first round had apollo on 92 and harry only two behind on 90 which he was not happy about. "best of three, i bet i'll win overall and if i don't i will do something for you, i don't know what yet but it will be an i-owe-you thing you know." he dared her which she gladly accepted as apollo wasn't one to back down from a dare. they shook on it and the deal was made.

"and the same goes for you, if i don't win i'll owe you something too." she informed him and went on to play the next two rounds.

the second round was an 'absolute stinker' for apollo, as harry put it, and she lost by 10 whole points. and the pair were neck and neck in the 3rd round. until harry purposefully sneezed when she threw her final ball, distracting her, and ending up with her ball landing in the gutter at the last minute. "you cheater!" she exclaimed, throwing a mock punch at his arm and sat with a pout on the chairs, not even watching as he won the game.

she went straight to the bar and bought herself a cider, "not even one for the winner." harry questioned as he caught up. and she scoffed.
"you want a pint to be your i-owe-you? go ahead what are you drinking?" she joked and he shook his head. she had no clue what he'd want to use it on but neither would she if she would've won like she thought she would.

"definitely not wasting it on a pint, i'll save it for something i really need." he taunted with another one of his strange expressions on his face. causing apollo to mildly cringe and also blush as she realised how suggestive it probably sounded to the bartender in front of them.