*Strike*
"Yeah, I told you I could do that."
"Yeaah. So now the party is on you."
The man's smile was suddenly gone as he looked at his friend. He suddenly grabbed his jacket and cried,
"Why? When you won, I threw the party, and now that I won, I still have to throw the party?"
"Yeah, we are treating him wrongly," one of the friends said.
"Hey, what's up guys?"
Suddenly another one of their friends arrived. They all looked at him with a smile and started shouting, "Party, Party, Party, Party!"
Me and Samayra walked up to the bowling lane.
"You wanted to bowl."
"Yeah, since you wasted my afternoon, I want compensation for it."
"…"
"Okay, now wait here while I go and make the payment."
As I was about to sit down, I got a call from Miraj. For a moment, it gave me a chill. First, with all of that chaos in my house, I still had to go back and clean everything up. And now his call—he was probably calling me back to work again. I picked up the call, and he spoke first.
"Dylan, are you feeling alright now?"
"Yeah, I am fine. But I can't come to the site. I am outside right now."
"Do you think I am that bad, that I would only call you for work?"
My mind immediately jumped to the words, 'yes, you are'. But I didn't say anything. One or two harsh words from me and he wouldn't be able to handle it, and I didn't want any chaos right now.
"Well, your car is repaired."
"Really? Thanks, Miraj."
"No need to thank me, but the mechanic said it might not be able to run in its old condition. Right now, it might be useful for another one or two years max. And even that isn't guaranteed."
"Thank you, Miraj. For me, that car's existence is more important than its utility."
"Okay then, enjoy your night. We will talk later."
I sat down and looked around for a moment. It was a really great scene. People were all laughing, and friends had gathered together. One person had come here with an old man. I wondered if it was his father. He was trying to teach him the game, telling him what the rules were and how to throw the ball.
I wished his present could have been my past, but it couldn't be helped. I remembered the last time I had met him. That was like an accident for me, though not for him. I was trying to go somewhere when he came up to me.
"Dylan, my kid."
"Yes….., Dad….."
I didn't even look him in the eye. I stared at the ground, so nervous that my palms were sweaty. He looked at my state and smiled with a sense of disgrace in his mind.
"Still scared of me?"
I didn't say a word. I watched the ground as he spoke his words.
"I know what I did isn't something a father should have done. That was a mistake on my part."
"…"
"I will not tell you to forgive me. Just take these."
He offered a pair of keys in front of me, trying to place them in my hands. As I resisted, he cried a bit.
"I know you are scared of me, but please take this. It will make me feel like I am with you."
I cried intensely and ran away from there. I didn't look back for him. After going back home in the evening, I found out that those were car keys. Dad had bought a car for me and parked it at my house. Nathan told me that after I was gone, he had come by. He asked about me, and after learning that I had just left the house, he ran out to give me the keys.
I was thinking deeply about all of it, so much so that I wasn't able to hear anything. My palms were pressed together as I stared at the bowling lane with fierce eyes. I didn't even notice when Samayra came back. I wasn't able to see her at all. She looked at me in confusion. Trying to wake me up, she nudged me. I didn't respond at first.
She sat beside me, and suddenly I snapped back.
Looking at her with confused eyes, I asked, "What?"
"What, 'What?' What were you thinking about?"
"No, it's just.... nothing." I rubbed my face and smiled at her.
"Let's play."
"Alright."
She smiled back at me, and our game began.
Samayra took the ball in her hand and wavered. The ball was heavier than her own weight, making it very difficult for her to throw. She aimed at the pins and launched it with all her might. Instead of rolling, the heavy sphere took flight, sailing through the air in a high arc before coming down directly onto the hardwood lane.
*Crash*
The entire section rattled. The manager from the front desk came sprinting over, his face pale...
"Ma'am, ma'am, you shouldn't be throwing it like a basketball."
"I am so sorry. It will not happen again."
"Just roll it on the ground."
Well, her unique skills got her an apology and knocked four pins down. She came up to me, making a funny face and sticking her tongue out, looking a little guilty for what she had done.
"I guess I made a huge mistake."
"You tried your best."
"Don't worry, the next one will be fine."
She took another ball, and this time she slid it gently down the lane. The ball moved up to the pins, knocking the rest of them down.
/
Now her score was a spare. It all depended on the next ball. She looked at me with excitement. Showing me a victory stance, she glared at me.
"Now, wait and watch my next ball."
She took the ball in her hands, looking like a professional. This time, she gripped the ball through the holes, placing her thumb, middle, and index fingers in it. I looked at the grip and it actually triggered me, but I stayed quiet. As the pins reset, she rolled the ball, but this time it hit only two pins.
Her total score came down to 12. She came up to me, gave me a high five, and said,
"Now, it's your turn, Bud."
"'Bud?' Since when did you start calling me that?"
"I am also trying something new."
I smirked and got up from my seat. I guess it was my turn now. Should I show her how it's done or not?
I took the ball and walked up with a straight stance, which made her look, a bit nervous. I grabbed the ball with my thumb, middle, and ring finger, establishing the perfect finger grip. I threw the ball, it went down making a massive roll, and landed directly into the gutter.
I guess that was it for me. I turned back, and Samayra was laughing.
"You really startled me back there. For a moment, I thought you were a pro at this."
"I still have one ball left, just wait for it."
I took the other ball and threw it over. It rolled and hit only 3 pins. After that came another ball, and it was 3 pins again. My total score was 6. I turned around and shrugged my shoulders.
"I guess luck is not on my side."
I sat back down, giving a high five to Sam. After that, we both took turns and our game went on. Some balls hit 3 pins, 5 pins, 8 pins, a strike, or landed in the gutter. We were about to reach the final balls, and our score looked like this—she was in the lead.
"Sam-114, Dylan-87. I guess luck is really not on your side."
I took the ball and was about to throw it when she stopped me, saying,
"I am going to the bathroom. You play."
"Okay then."
As she went to the bathroom, I played my strike. When she returned, she asked me for the score.
"Okay, what did you score?"
She looked at the screen and her eyes widened. She wasn't expecting it to be this high.
"117. BUT HOW?"
I shrugged my shoulders again. "I guess luck is not on my side."
She gave me a bitter smile. "I will win it, no matter what."
She took a swing with her hand and threw the ball. After three balls, her score reached up to 126. She whispered while taking heavy breaths,
"Your turn. Take the shot."
I took the ball and looked at the pins. I threw the ball with all my energy, and after taking two shots, my score was 121. I just needed 6 more pins to defeat her.
Well, it wasn't hard for me, but when I looked at her, I smiled. She was constantly biting her nails, looking at the pins with wide eyes, and one of her hands was even pumping up and down, like the motion you make when you are trying to slap someone.
I smirked a little before throwing the ball. The ball rolled and rolled, and just before it was about to strike the pins, it fell into the gutter.
The final score: Samayra-126, Dylan-121. Samayra screamed with happiness; she jumped higher and higher, without even realizing where we were. Everyone looked at us, but she didn't care about her surroundings. I guess it's good when you can celebrate something without any fear of what's going on around you.
We both sat together. Being so happy, she was still laughing and giggling with all her might. In an instant, I said,
"You can stop now. What's even so funny about it?"
"I know….. it just feels so good."
I looked at her and gave a little smile. Maybe letting her be free on her own was something she hadn't enjoyed in a while. After that, she dragged her chair back and stood up, looking at me with confident eyes.
"Wait here, I will get something for us to eat."
"Wait a minute. Since I ruined your flower garden experience, let me pay."
She stopped me, showing her hand.
"Today's your lucky day. Since I won the match, I will get you something."
I stopped and sat back as I watched her walk up to the counter. I looked around the whole bowling alley again. As I heard the pins falling down and people enjoying their moments, that man came back into my thoughts. I drank a glass of water and wondered, What might he be doing?
"What might who be doing?"
I looked up, and Samayra was back. I didn't know these services were this fast now. Samayra sat back down with the food in her hands and asked me again,
"Who is the 'he' you are talking about?"
I startled a bit before speaking.
"Nothing… just an old friend."
She gave me an expression that showed she didn't buy my answer. I hesitated a bit before taking my drink. It would be best if I left Kei's topic out of her mind.
Before she could ask me another question, our minds were diverted by something else. A cup came flying across near us. We both got scared a bit as we turned our necks toward the source. We saw a couple fighting with each other. Being in a state of pure rage, the man was screaming and throwing everything off the table.
"What do you mean, it was an accident?"
"I told you I didn't want to do that, it just happened."
"Cheating is never a mistake!"
"I am sorry, I am sorry. Babe, I am sorry."
"You did it, and you did it with my best friend!"
She was crying as she sat in her place, all her hope gone. She was trying to stop him at all costs, but he was in so much madness that he couldn't see where he was or what was around him.
"I am sorry."
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU EVEN SORRY ABOUT?"
In that moment, he was about to hit her. But at the last minute, the bowling manager walked up with bodyguards, and they tried to cool him down.
"Sir, you can't make a mess in here. If you want to talk about something, then please go outside."
The man took his coat from the seat and walked out in a fierce manner. After that, the bowling manager approached the girl and told her to leave as well. She took her bag, wiped her tears, and walked out of the arena.
It was quite a scene that had been created there. To be honest, it wasn't my first time watching something like this. I had experienced these things in my own past. But it was different for Samayra, I guess. She looked angrily at the girl. In an annoyed tone, she called out to me, saying,
"How could she even do that?"
I stood there silent while she started mocking the girl more and more.
"I don't understand these people. How can they cheat on their partners when they say they are in love? She must really be a bitch."
"Language, girl. You really are becoming something else. And what can we even say? There might have been something else that happened."
She looked at me with confusion, giving me an expression that asked why I was saying something like that.
"How are you taking her side?"
"It's not that I am taking her side, it's just that I am saying maybe something happened and we are judging her from only one side. We don't know the story from her end, so how can we judge her?"
Samayra startled. She stopped eating and rested for a bit. Meanwhile, I started eating my portion of the food. Operating out of a sense of ignorance, I ignored all the chaos around us. After I finished my food, Samayra asked me in a whispering voice,
"Dylan."
"Yeah."
"Is it okay to cheat in love?"
I didn't hesitate for a second before answering. I knew the answer, and I wouldn't waste a single second.
"Well, it depends on what happened between the two of them. So it might be a yes, and it might be a no."
She looked at me with shocked eyes. She didn't understand what I was saying or why I was saying it.
"But if you truly love someone, you wouldn't try to betray them. Doesn't cheating destroy love?"
"What you are saying is correct, but love isn't black or white. People are flawed. You can love someone deeply and still make a mistake you regret."
As our conversation went on, she became more fierce and angry. Looking at me with rageful eyes, her anxiety rose as well.
"A mistake like cheating can't be a slip-up—it's a choice. And if you really love someone, you wouldn't make them suffer through any of this."
She was saying so many flawed things but forgot what we had done. I guess it wasn't crossing her mind that cheating had also been done by her. Not only that, but it had happened with her.
"But love isn't about perfection. Maybe you love someone, but something is still missing, and that abstract thing takes over."
"What do you mean by a missing abstract? Isn't love the last piece of your puzzle that completes you?"
"Sometimes it's more than just love that someone wants. And it doesn't mean sex; it might mean comfort, or variety, or freedom, or honesty."
Her voice calmed a little as we talked. Looking at me in a nervous manner, she asked me again,
"So love can just become an excuse to hurt the other person? Wouldn't you fight against that missing thing to protect your relationship?"
"It's not about fighting the other person. Maybe you are fighting yourself."
"So would that mean, after a while, your love can change for someone?"
"The love you have for someone never changes, but it might be possible that the way you handle that love does."
Samayra looked at me, surprised. Her eyes widened, looking at me in a manner that suggested I had said something she wanted to hear but nobody had told her before—words she actually believed in. I didn't know if she was saying it out loud or not, but I could hear her saying,
Thank you, Dylan.
Maybe my ears were ringing. I asked her,
"Did you say something?"
"No, I didn't."
She just looked at me and smiled. Maybe it was my illusion.
All of this talk had reminded me of something. Or rather, someone.
Someone I used to know. Someone I once lo—— ...ha——
As I sat there looking at Samayra, a blurred silhouette I thought I had buried years ago began to bleed back into my mind.
[As Dylan was talking to Samayra, his mind was remembering something else, a vision still blurred within him. A figure of a person who had been forgotten a long time ago was again coming back to him.]