Forget Me Not - Chris Motionless

Part 1: Bowling

"Octavia's a pretty rad name, I must say." Chris said.

"Eh, it's alright. Better than having a boring name like Chris I suppose." I chuckle.

He faked gasped. "Hey! Chris is a rad name too!" He said, pretending to be hurt.

I laugh. My laughter subsides when I catch Chris staring at me. "What?" I ask.

"I like your laugh." He smiled and shook his head. I looked away when I felt heat rise up to my cheeks.

"So," he turns to me, "since I've decided that you're a cool person, why is your so-called friend getting drunk in there and not hanging with you on your birthday?" He asked.

"She likes to party." I shrug.

"But it's your birthday! She should be doing what you want." He said.

"I've never really been picky on what I like to do for my birthday. I'll basically do anything if it gets me out of the house, I guess."

"I don't know about you, but I think everyone deserves to have fun on their birthday." He says, getting up and offering me a hand. I take his surprisingly soft hand and he lifts me to my feet.

"So, I say we leave this shit party and do something that you will have fun doing. What do you do for fun?" He asks.

I laugh. "I don't really do much. I'm a web designer and work from home so I really don't leave my house that much, only if my refrigerator is empty then I'll leave my house."

"Hmm. How bout bowling?" He said.

"I've never been bowling."

He gasped. "Now that needs to change. I'm taking you bowling." He said and pulled me back to the house.

"Wait!" I stopped. "I have to take my friend home first." I said.

"I understand. We'll do that, then go bowling! I have to tell my friend that I'm leaving too." I nod and head in the direction of where I last saw my wasted friend.

I finally found her dancing with some dude. "Essence, I'm taking you home now." I say, pulling her away.

"Hey! She doesn't need a babysitter." The dude she was dancing with, with a serious case of surfer dude voice, said.

I rolled my eyes and continued leading her away and to her car. Chris met up with me a few minutes later. "Can we take your car after I drop her off? She doesn't like me borrowing her car." I said.

"Yeah, sure. I'll follow you." He said and got into his car.

The drive to Essence's house was annoying. She kept talking about how she hates me and wishes I were dead because I'm ruining her fun. The usual talk I get from her when she's drunk. I guess I'm used to it now. I just ignore her and continued driving, occasionally looking in the rear view mirror to make sure Chris was still behind us.

Driving to Essence's, I can't believe I'm about to hang out with the guy. I just met him! But, he already seems like he'd be a better friend that the brat that's sitting next to me.

We arrived at her house some time later and I got out of the car and walked over to the passenger side to get Essence. "I was having fun O! Why are you such a bitch?" She slurred as I opened the car door.

"Now now, once you're sober you'll thank me." I sighed. I took her arm and wrapped it around my shoulder to help her get to her house. "I can do it myself!" She yelled and pushed me off of her. She got out of the car and immediately fell onto the hard pavement.

I hear Chris pulling up in the driveway and hear his car door open and close. "Hey, Chris? Could you help me out?" I called out to him. He nodded and jogged over. I took one arm and he took the other and we both led Essence into her house.

"She really parties hard." He chuckled.

"Yeah, she sure does." I say, closing the front door of her house.

"So, we're taking my car right?" Chris asked. I nodded. We walked to his car and he opened the door for me. I laughed.

"So, that was an experience." He laughed.

"Yeah, sorry about her ha ha." I chuckled nervously.

"It's no problem. So, are you ready for your first bowling experience?" He said dramatically.

"As ready as I'll ever be." I laugh.

It didn't take us long to get to the bowling alley. When we walked in, I instantly smelled greasy pizza and heard the noises my stomach was making, telling me I'm hungry. I didn't really eat today, that needs to change ASAP.

"Chris," I whined, "I'm hungry."

He chuckled. "We'll eat after we play a game, okay?" He said.

"Ugh, fine." I got my bowling shoes, which was difficult because they couldn't find my shoe size, which were 6's.

I ended up getting a size 7, which were really loose. And I found it disgusting using used shoes. Like, I had to wear a pair of shoes that multiple people have already worn. Ugh. It's whatever I guess.

Chris was the first one to bowl and got a strike on his first try. He had a smug look on his face which I intended to wipe off. It doesn't look so hard. You just have to roll the ball and hit the pins. Easy enough. I grabbed a purple ball and it was really freaking heavy.

I walked up to the lane and lined up the ball with the pins and rolled. It almost immediately went into the gutter. Okay, so it's not as easy as it looks. I hear Chris laughing and I groaned, not wanting to do this anymore.

I sat back down in my seat and pouted. "I quit." I say.

"Aw, come on! You're a beginner. You'll get better." He chuckled.

"But you made it look so easy!" I whined.

"Come on, I'll show you how." He smiled.

After a few times of guiding me on how to roll the ball, I kinda got the hang of it. I managed to knock down 4 pins without his help! I know that's pitiful, but it was a big deal for me.

Of course, after the game was over, Chris won. By like, a lot. I didn't really mind though, it was fun nonetheless. Finally we could get pizza. I got 2 slices of cheese pizza and sat at a vacant table and dug in.

"Jeez, slow down. You're gonna give yourself a heart attack." He laughed.

"You don't understand. I haven't eaten all day and I'm starved." I say, taking another bite of the delicious greasy pizza.

Chris and I started talking about random things, like our favorite colors and birthdays and normal stuff like that. Turns out we have a lot in common. Which kinda surprised me because of how different we look. Never judge a book by it's cover.

After we finished eating Chris offered to take me home, which was great since he had the car. Which he quickly remembered and his face looked like he regretted all his life decisions. I laughed. He was really adorable.

When we arrived at my house, he turned to me and said, "I had a lot of fun tonight." He smiled.

"I had a lot of fun too. This has probably been the best birthday I've had in a long time." I said.

"Well, maybe we could hang out again tomorrow?" Chris asked nervously.

"Absolutely."