A Prize: A Michael Afton X Reader

Chapter 33: Bowling Date

POV: 2nd
You don't know why you were shaking by the time you entered the bowling alley, but you were. "A date," you know he meant it as a joke, but he said it nonetheless. The last place you expected a crying teen to take you was a bowling alley, and yet, that's where he had brought you yesterday. "Tomorrow, meet me here at 2 pm. Bring cash," were all he had told you. Which were then followed by those sweet words, "Then it's a date."
Walking through the doors, you were hit with the smell of alcohol and feet. You winced for a moment before quickly recovering. Then you saw him, he was exactly where he said he would be, sitting on the countertop with a bowling bag next to him. He didn't originally notice you at first, but when he did, he smiled at you, "Well there you are, slow poke! Come on, we got to rent you out a set of shoes and a ball."
"Have you already gotten yours?" It seemed like an innocent enough question, but it only made him laugh, "Yeah, I rented out some shoes, but I have my own ball."
Now that caught you off guard, "Wait you have your own bowling ball?! Geez, don't tell me you're actually good at this shit!" He once again laughed at you, "Yeah, I'm probably like the best bowler in town. So for once, you're the novice and I'm the master." He seemed proud of himself.
You rolled your eyes as you gave the man who work here your measurements, "So why bowling?" He shrugged, "My dad and Henry used to take us here till they got banned. Then, Bon and I used to come here... If he tells you he's better then me, he's lying."
You nearly snorted as you grabbed your ball and shoes, "Ooooohhhhh I smell a rivalry~"
He huffed, "That's the smell of shit booze and f-" The man at the counter speaks up, "Are you paying this time or is my favor ball cleaner back in business?" Mike frowned, "Yeah yeah. But this one is paying for themselves. 50/50, got it." The man laughed, "Aww, not paying for your date?"
You blushed and Mike stammered, "Oh fuck off, old man." You were beginning to notice it now. Every time someone would imply you two were together, he would get pissed off from the teasing, but never deny anything. You hoped it was intentional.
Eventually, the two of you walk over to an alley and you take the first turn. You do... mediocre. You managed to leave like four pins up before it was Mike's turn. When Mike took his turn, it was an immediate strike. This repeated until the game was over, Mike won by a landslide. He only missed a strike two times, but then he would clear it immediately after.
You were completely in shock, this guy wasn't joking when he said he was good at bowling. He walked over to you with the biggest evil smirk you've ever seen, "So ready for round two, darling?" You groaned, "Maybe we can take a break and play at the arcade for a bit or get something to eat..."
He gave out a laugh as he saw right through you, "Well well well looks like someone's not happy that they're finally not good at something." You deeply roll your eyes, "I'm not good at everything, I just had a lot of free time to learn a bunch of things... The only thing, I've been told I'm naturally really good at is music." You rest your bowling ball in the recovery as he temporarily put his ball in his bag, "Yeah I've noticed. If I remember correctly, it has something to do with your dad?"
"Yeah he used to be in a band, but it's been a while since his glory days I'll tell you that. I-" He cut you off with a look of confusion, "Whoa whoa you never told me that!? Which one?"
"It's not important, I'll tell you later. Are we supposed to be bowling or something?" You saying not wanting to have this conversation again, "Or we can like grab something to eat, since I see no point in losing over and over again."
"Oh don't be like that, there's no point in being a sore loser. I'm only so good because I practice here. I'll show you what you're doing wrong. Come here," he gestured for you to come over and hesitantly you do.
"First thing first, grab your ball and walk over to the end of the lane," he says quietly guiding you to the lane's edge then suddenly you feel his hand on your leg. "OK I'm gonna show you how your body is supposed to be so don't freak out. Because honestly your stance is terrible when you bowl," he didn't give you a lot of time to get used to it as he quickly started shifting your legs, back, and arms in various positions.
He was never rough at all, his hands were gently placed on your limbs, guiding you like the nudge of a mother bird to her baby. Your brain went blank as you became deeply aware of every breath and movement of his body behind and around you. Eventually you find yourself in a very similar pose to how he would be bowling, "OK that looks good enough. Do you have a good grip on your ball?"
There was a long pause before you slowly nodded your head readjusting your grip on the ball. You could feel him smiling in the background as he walked over to you, "OK now for the hard part. There's two major parts of bowling, getting the swing right and getting the release right. If you can't get these two things right then aiming ain't gonna help you for shit."
He moved up directly behind you, "Ok, I'm gonna teach you how to swing that ball." One hand rested on your unused arm and the other one was carefully gripping the one holding the bowling ball. There was barely a centimeter of space between his front and your back as you stood there for a long moment, "I'm gonna need you to relax your body a little. It will make it much easier that way." You know that's not what he meant, but those words tingle down your spine.
"The main thing to take away is to keep your swing relaxed," he rubbed his hands against your arm gently waiting for your arm to stop tensing up. You could hear every breath now perfectly, feel it curl over your skin, and smell his cheap bubblegum scented breath.
"There we go, perfect. I got you just where I want you. Now I'm gonna teach you how you're gonna release that ball." He took his hand over your hand as he slowly moved your body back-and-forth showing you exactly the motion you needed, "When I tell you "release," you're gonna let go of that ball, and put some power behind it, understand?"
You nodded obediently as you both continue to do the rocking back-and-forth motion. Then, almost like a whisper in your ear, you hear him say, "Release." With the amount of tension right now, you put as much power behind the ball as possible and.... STRIKE!
Mike quickly releases you and start celebrating on your behalf as you take the time to breathe. Your mind too focused initially on the idea that Mike was touching that much of your body and was that close to the back of you for you to think. "All right that's what I'm talking about!"
By the time you realized you had had a strike, Mike had pulled you back into a hug. "See I told you with a little bit more technique you'd be less ass at it or maybe that's beginner's luck... Maybe we should try it one more time together and then have you try it on your own?"
You were about to respond to that when suddenly you felt someone wrap their arms around you and Mike, "Damn Mike, read the room. The poor fella looks like they need a break why don't me and you finish the rest of this game."