The Day After Prom

Chapter-15

I reached the mall and went to the arcade area to find Ryder already there waiting for me.

"Hey!" He beamed and hugged me.

"Hi!" I hugged him back

"You look great!" He smiled.

He was wearing straight leg jeans, which was black in color. He paired it with a black v neck t-shirt and with an olive green denim jacket. His blonde hair looked perfect and so did his sharp facial features.

"So do you!" I gave him a vibrant smile.

"So, let's get started!"

"What should we do first?" I asked. I was confident that I wouldn't suck, me and Asher used to play these types of games so it'd be easy. I mean, I think so. Like , I might not be the best at it but I'll enjoy it for sure.

"Okay so, let's go bowling first!" he suggested.

"Sure!"

We went to the bowling area and he grabbed a bowling ball as stood at an angle, aiming at the pins.

"So, have you played this game before?" he started off with a light topic.

"Yeah, me and Asher used to play all these types of games." I replied. Shit, then it clicked that Aubrey was dating Asher. Also, this is Aubrey's ex that I'm dating and not to mention that I've not told him about me being friends with Asher.

"Oh, so you're friends with Asher?" he asked.

"I was friends with Asher." I corrected him and while I spoke I put more emphasis on the word "was". Wow, could I make this anymore awkward?

"Oh, well." He shot the ball at the pins making each one of them fall.

"I can explain to you why we were friends-" I started.

"Really, you don't have to. I mean I don't want you to be obliged to owe me an explanation." He assured me.

"Now let's see what you got." He grinned. Ah, this is great! He's literally so understanding. Like, I'd love to tell him about it but not right now, when we're playing games and having fun.

"Okay! Prepare to be defeated." I smirked.

"We'll see." He chuckled.

I took the bowling ball and bent my body at an angle. I bent a little down and put one step forward as my arm positioned the ball in such a way so that I could make every pin fall.

"If you release the ball, it'll not go in the pins' direction." He chuckled

How dare he underestimate me? Of course it will! Even if it won't, I won't change the position because maybe he's just distracting me. Yeah, I might be a little competitive okay but everyone likes some competition!

While I aimed at the direction of the pins for one last time, I looked at him from the corner of my eyes. He was clearly gazing at me or I guess he was checking me out. This made me extremely nervous.

"We'll see!" I released the ball from my arm in the direction of the pins.

"Yeah, we'll see."

Guess what? He was right, the ball went in the wrong direction and I barely made a pin fall.

This made me furrow my brows and pout.

"Okay, one more time!!" I pleaded. This time I wanted to do my best. I know that I'm good at it.

"We'll see." He imitated me and I rolled my eyes but him copying me was kind of funny so I couldn't help but smile later.

"Well, I could've made each one of it fall if you weren't distracting me." I gave him a playful smile.

"Oh and how was I distracting you?" He raised his eyebrows and chuckled.

"Well you were checking me out so it sort of distracted me." I gave him a playful smirk.

"Really?" He smirked back. That's a new one.

Ryder came closer to me.

He came closer and now faced my back. He whispered, "Let me show you how it's done." In no time I felt one of his arms grab my waist to position it. This made my spine shiver.

His face was close to mine and now his chin was on my shoulder. He had to kneel a little bit to come to my height. He positioned my arm with his other arm.

While he was positioning my arm I could feel electricity between us and his scent engulfed my nose due to the close proximity we had. God! Focus. I mentally scolded myself.

"Okay, give it a try now." He removed his arm from mine but not from my waist.

I gulped and released the ball.

"Yes!" My eyes lit up as I exclaimed and threw my hands up in the air. I was so proud! I turned back and hugged Ryder. He chuckled and hugged me back.

We played a lot of games and when we were finally tired, we decided to go for a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

It was so fun, I mean the whole arcade experience was great! I really had a nice time.

We reached there and he insisted on paying for the coffee but I didn't want him to. After minutes of debating on whether I should pay or not, we decided to split the bill in half.

We took our cups and sat on the table with two chairs which were near the window.

"So, tell me something about your family."

Of course it had to come to this, we already discussed friends, games and what not. Our conversation was easy going till now. Well, it's drama time then.

"What do you wanna know?" I smiled and put my palm on my chin.

"Well, do you have any siblings?" He asked.

"No, I have a small family. It's just my grandparents and me. Oh wait, my dad too!" I chuckled nervously.

"What about you?" I asked so that he could ask no further questions. I should delay this as much as I can. I don't want him to know about my "family issues" yet.

"Well, I live with my mom and I have an elder brother, he is off to university." He replied.

"Oh this brings me to, which colleges have you applied to?" I asked.

"Well, I really want to get into the University of New York but I have applied to other colleges in Washington as well. So let's see." he shrugged.

"What about you?" He asked.

"I have applied to almost every college here but I hope that I'll get into the University of Washington." I replied.

We talked about our careers, our favorite books and movies. Everything was going well but then we came back from where we started, family.