Only The Beginning

Chapter 5 (Photograph)

I know I suck guy, I'm the worst schedule keeper in the history of the world. Here is the new chapter tho! Enjoy!

Bri finally gets closer to us and she looks at me with a "wtf is going on" kind of look.
'Hey Lira, who're your friends?'
She's staring at me with wide eyes and eyebrows lifted so high they might as well go ahead and touch her hair line. Excuse my bad joke reference from "Just Go With It", but I love that movie. No, seriously tho, her eyebrows were raised as high as they could possibly go.
Bri, is practically gawking at Mario and Lylah, so I decide it's time to answer her before this gets anymore awkward.
"This is Mario, and his daughter Lylah. Mario is my-"
Mario cuts me off, "I'm Elira's friend from school. We recently met on campus, nice to meet you, Bri right?" He extends his hand to shake hers.
Bri takes his hand and shakes it as she introduces herself formally.
"I'm Bri, Lira's best friend," she turns her attention to Lylah, "and you are beautiful, little one."
"Thank you" , Lylah says brightly as she hides slightly behind her dad again.
"Well I'm sure you guys have things to do, we'll leave you to it." I say politely.
"We were actually just about to go bowling. You guys can come with us if you aren't too busy." Mario says the last part a little quietly. Before I can even open my mouth to speak Bri answers him;
"No we have nothing to do, we were just going to hang out around here for a while."
"We are going to the bowling alley across the street from hmere, Tropiclanes. How about we meet you guys there in five?" He's talking to me and when he finishes he gives me a hopeful smile. It's like he really wants me to come, and how could I deny those brown eyes when he is smiling at me like this.
"Yeah cool, we will see you in a minute." I say, returning his smile.

As soon as Mario and Lylah walk away Bri turns and looks at me with a look that says; who the hell is that guy? And she looks like she is mentally squealing. The walk to my car in the garage is filled with Bri, asking me why I didn't tell her about him and me ignoring her, and saying that there is nothing to tell. She really doesn't believe that I can meet a new friend, it be a guy, and nothing is going on. It's quite annoying and thoroughly irritating.
We pull up to the bowling alley and I see Mario and Lylah getting out of the car. When we get in the building I look around and for the first time notice that Mario has the attention of every girl here and even a few guys. We get to the desk to rent shoes and pay for the game. Bri pays for her stuff, but when I get ready to pay for mine, Mario reaches into his wallet and pays the girl behind the desk.
"I could have paid for myself, besides we barely know each other." Defiance ringing in my voice.
"I have no doubt that you could pay, but I wanted to be nice and I don't mind either way. And I thought the whole point of joining us here was to get to know each other better?" He says with irritation and another emotion flashes through his brown eyes, but I can't see what it is before its replaced and he's smiling again.
Mario insists on carrying mine and Lylah's bowling shoes until we got to the lane. Bri was already sitting down and putting on her ugly shoes when we reached her.
"Okay, so two teams?" Bri says standing up.
"Yeah that's cool. I can bowl with Lylah and you ladies can be a team."
"Noooo, I'll take Lylah and you can have Lira. She legit sucks monkey eggs at this game. She's so bad it's ridiculous." Bri says dramatically. I can't stand when she ,ales fun of me like this. If my skin were lighter I'd probably be blushing, but I just look down and shuffle my feet. Bri and I are best friends, but she's definitely more comfortable talking to people she doesn't know than I am. I have a slight sense of social anxiety.
"No worries then, I can teach you to bowl, Elira. Lylah is already savage because I've been beating her since she was 2." His laugh is deep and low, but not scary. I like the sound of it.
Lylah shakes her head at her dad as she finishes tying the bowling shoes.
"Sure you have, daddy." Her little five year old voice ringing out clearly.
Lylah gets up and gets an eight pound ball, for a kid she's pretty strong, she steps to the lane, lines the ball up, back swings, and lets go of the ball down the lane. The ball goes so fast and perfectly down, that she gets a strike. My mouth falls slightly open at the magnificence I was just shown by a five year old little girl. I look over at Bri and a huge smile is on her face, and she says,
"This is going to be an easy game." She runs over to Lylah and bends down to her level and they high five.
Mario goes next bowling a perfect strike, just like Lylah. I see where the girl gets it. Her dad's amazing. I can't help but think about where Lylah's mom is tho. I'm tempted to ask, but I just really met them and decide it would be rude to just rudely ask something like that.
It's Bri's turn and she bowls a split, she's not bad at bowling. Not as great as the other two here but she was no where near like me. When it was my turn I bowled a gutter ball. I was ready to plop back down in the seat and just give up but as soon as I sit down, Mario comes and pulls me up by my hands.
"You're not off the hook that easy, Mamí." I immediately recognize the nick name he'd been calling me since we met. I like it.
He goes and grabs an eight pound orange ball, places it in my hands and stands behind me. I look over to Bri and Lylah and they are whispering to each other while looking at us. I give her a look that says "Really?" , and she just laughs.
I look straight ahead and bring the ball up as Mario guides them. His face is right next to mine and I can feel his breath on my neck. He smells like strawberries and peaches, it's quite delightful. He guides my hand back with one hand, while his other is on my back, he pushes our hands forward and tells me to release the ball. The ball goes down the lane perfectly, and I got a 7-10 split. Well hell, at least I hit some pins this time. I turn around abruptly and jump up and down excited. Every one high fives me and we continue to play. My heart is beating pretty fast when I go and take my seat. Why do I feel so out of breath? I know the answer I just don't want to believe it.

Authors note: I know this was absolutely horrible and I suck for not updating but HAPPY NEW YEAR! I'm excited for the new year and what it has in store. Bye loverlies!