Anchor Grind (H.S. / A.U.)

Chapter 27

TRIPLE UPDATE: CHAPTER 27, 28, & 29!

Alanis POV

The black lights, the colorful lanes, the pop music, the smell of greasy food, all of it appealed to me so much. I loved bowling alleys plus the entire vibe and aesthetic they had. I liked the small competitions between friends when you all know you all suck, because honestly, who is actually good at bowling. I loved the ugly rental shoes that never fit right and made you walk like a duck and the way boys would always complain about them. Back home in Maryland I would go bowling all the time with Christina and she always managed to find another lane of boys to join us.

Today was a little different though, because it was a weekday and there was a league playing in a few of the lanes, but beyond lane one through four taken up by the teams, everything else was empty. Zayn was sliding on his shoes while I reserved lane seven for us and multitasking. "Large. Oooh, and can it have pepperoni on it, and half of it needs black olives and pineapple. Plus a cup of cheese to dip and uhhhhh, can we get one of those pitcher things of mountain dew? Two cups please." The worker grabs two of the red plastic cheap cups from under the bar and tells me that it'll all come out to lane seven in fifteen minutes.

The worker had the look of James Dean circa East of Eden, but with some added acne and a little on the short side.

I start to head over to the lane to put on my own red and cream colored rentals while stealing glances of Zayn. He was in basketball shorts and a t-shirt, very simplistic, but he looked good like that. He seemed to give off a very 'I don't care' attitude while an air of mystery continued to surround him. I know Poppy had been pushing it, but honestly, despite his natural good looks, he didn't seem my type.

"Can I help you?" He quietly asks as he notices me staring. I bobble my head in a quick no and shoot my eyes downcast. He shrugs and starts to test out a few balls while picking them up and seeing which one gave the right feel. I trot along to do the same.

My fingers run along the shelves of bowling balls, they range from orange, green, white, black, splattered, tie-dye, to anything else you can imagine. One had a painting of a dragon on it, while another looked like puke. I had this thing where I often gravitate towards picking one that matches my hair color, because I guess it made me feel like I had some sort of good luck then.

It hasn't always been blue. I've done practically anything you can imagine, and even lately I have been debating a change. A new place, a new do, or something like that. Green maybe? There isn't enough greenery in California so why not. Or perhaps a pink tone because it would look great in pictures at the boardwalk, and Poppy is always taking pictures.

Zayn added a ball to the ball return cannon thingy and it made me realize I needed to hurry and do the same. I finally plucked out one that was a deep blue tone with tons of glitter all over it. I placed it next to Zayn's, a black one with pink and blue swirls to look like a galaxy in my opinion.

"So, begin. What are the barrage of questions you apparently have for me?" Zayn slides himself into the seat behind the small computer screen that you enter names into before plastering it onto the tv monitors hanging above each lane. He typed both our names, mine first and his second.

I was trying to piece together everything I have learned and where I want to start, because somehow I felt like with Zayn the answers would be short, mysterious, or both.

I shift in the hard plastic chairs, partially because my back still has the after effects of slamming down at the park in Long Beach. I try to stifle the grimace my face produces on its own, but luckily Zayn hadn't looked over to notice anyway.