Introvert

seven

Dylan stared at the packed car. Edwin was the one who drove everyone to the Arreaga house, so they had to take his car to the bowling alley. Unfortunately for Dylan, it was a five seater. Since she was the lightest out of all of them, she was forced to sit on someone's lap.

Zion had called shot gun, Nick was in the middle, so her options were Austin or Brandon. She didn't necessarily have a problem with sitting on either of their laps because they were really the only two she would be comfortable with, but it was still weird. Knowing that it would be a worse car ride if she sat on top of Austin, the girl walked over to her brother's side of the car.

"Come on," he said as he tugged her arm.

"This sucks ass," she mumbled to herself. Without having to look at him, she knew Brandon was rolling his eyes as he wrapped his arms around her waist like a seatbelt.

Edwin looked into the rear view mirror at the girl, "Sorry, Dylan."

She shrugged her shoulders while he started to drive off down the street. She knew there wasn't anything he could do.

The entire car ride the boys talked about things Dylan didn't quite understand. They laughed at each other's inside jokes which Brandon tried to explain to her in a whispered tone, but still, she didn't get it. The boys seemed nice enough and Dylan was just glad Austin was having a good time.

The bowling alley had a pretty much empty parking lot. Inside, was just as vacant. It had this retro, run down aesthetic and it smelled of a strong pine air freshener. Austin noticed Dylan shiver as soon as they stepped inside because of the blasting air conditioner. He wrapped and arm over her shoulders pulling her closer to his body. She looked up at him with a soft smile.

The group walked over to the lane reserve. Putting all of their money together, they paid for two rounds of the game. The guy behind the counter got them their shoes then they made their way to the lane they were reserved.

Dylan sat in between her brother and Austin while she laced up her shoes.

"Nick, this place is fucking jank," Zion tried to type in everyone's names, but the keyboard barely worked.

He walked over to the dread-headed boy and shoved him out of the seat. "Just put in everyone's initials, dude. And trust me the French fries here are shmack."

The girl watched the two boys bicker back and forth before looking at the score board. The way Nick had typed out their initials, the first five letters spelled BEANZ. Laughing to herself, Austin looked at her with a smile. He could listen to her laugh all day. Glad that she was having a good time, his brown eyes trailed to what she was laughing at. Catching the pixelated letters spelling, he laughed a little too.

"I'm going to find my ball, you want to come with?" he murmured.

The girl's nose scrunched up at his question. The wording was weird and Austin caught on. Rolling his eyes, he stood up from his seat and Dylan followed. Finding a teal bowling ball that was the perfect size for her, Dylan carried it back to their lane.

Brandon had already started the game when she sat back down at her previous seat. Her eyes followed her brother as he rolled the ball down the lane. Getting a strike, everyone cheered for him, but she stayed quiet. It was nice watching all of them have a good time, but she just didn't know how to be as loud and extroverted as them. Dylan felt like she was a ghost watching the group play their game. She didn't really feel like she was actually there.

Not until it was Austin's turn.

While her brother and Edwin bowled, Austin had found his way back to Dylan. He sat next to her with his hand in her's, anchoring her to reality. When it was his turn to play and he left her to sit by herself, the girl realized that she didn't know what to do without him. She hadn't realized how attached she had become to him and how much she needed him. Dylan had always stayed within her comfort zone. Hanging out with her brother and his friends was supposed to be out of her comfort zone, but in reality, as long as Austin was around, she was in her comfort zone. He made her feel safe; like she could do anything. Austin was her comfort blanket in a sea of new things.

The game continued and then it was her turn to bowl. Austin squeezed her hand before letting it go. Walking up to the ball keeper, she could hear her brother whistle which made her face turn a bright shade of pink. Her fingers grasped the bowling ball as she lifted it to her chest. Taking in a breath, Dylan walked up to the lane and rolled the ball. It knocked down seven pins.

"Good job, Dyl," Austin called out clapping his hands together. She looked back at him and shook her head in embarrassment. Something about all of them watching her made her nervous.

The ball came back around and she went for her second shot. Luckily for her, she earned a spare. Smiling to herself, she turned to sit back down. Brandon was already standing for his next turn. As she passed her brother, they high-fived. "Nice one, Dyl."

She sat back down next to Austin. Before they could say anything to each other, Nick was already speaking across the way. "So Dylan, what do you like to do for fun?"

Edwin and Zion's eyes fell to her which made her a bit nervous. The golden-haired boy nudge her side for encouragement. "Um, I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Zion joked.

The girl's shoulders slumped and Austin immediately noticed. "She draws. And she's insanely talented." He smiled down at her and their eyes met briefly. Dylan could feel another blush rushing to her cheeks and she looked away. Her eyes focused on a point past the boys hoping the conversation would just end. She was tired of how flustered she was getting and hated how quickly her cheeks turned pink.

Edwin's turn came, but he was curious about the girl who was supposedly an artist. Standing up from his seat, he went to take his turn.

"What do you draw?" Nick asked, pushing for a conversation.

"Anything, I guess."

Brandon had joined the conversation when his turn ended and he picked up that they were talking about his little sister. "She's really good at like realistic portraits. You should see the shit that she has in her room. Fucking cool."

Austin nodded.

"I wish I could draw realism," Edwin added as he came to sit back down, "But I usually use paint. Do you have a sketch book that we could see?"

Dylan raised her eye brow at the boy. She hardly knew him and he was already asking to look at her work, which was deeply personal to her. Her eyes narrowed as she spoke, "Only if you show me your's first."

The curly-haired boy leaned back in his seat with a wide grin. "Deal."

"Deal." She then held out her pinky. Austin's eyes widened as he turned away from the lane.

Edwin had leaned in to make the pinky promise. "Don't do it!" The golden-haired boy called out to his friend.

Dylan bursted out in laughter recalling their own pinky promise and how that had gone.

Looking between the two of them, Edwin became confused. "Why not?"

"We made a pinky promise the other day and we sealed it. If you seal it and someone breaks whatever the promise was, the other person gets to cut off their pinky." Dylan explained still smiling at the memory.

"Bro, what the fuck is that?" Edwin laughed letting go of her pinky.

Brandon looked over at the two. "What do you mean? That's how it goes. I thought everyone knew that."

"Apparently not, cause Austin didn't know either," Dylan said. She pointed a finger at the other boy. "We still have the deal though."

Edwin nodded.

Austin caught Brandon's gaze as they smiled at each other. They both knew how important this was. Dylan was finally making more friends and coming out of her shell.