Two and a half hours later Brynn pulled up in front of the bowling ally
across town from the club. She got out of her car, got her bowling bag
out of the trunk and walked inside.
After the show was over Jordan had the sudden urge to go bowling so he
called the owner of the bowling alley and had him keep the lanes open
for him. He invited her and Laura along. Laura, of course, wanted to
go. Her and Chad had really hit it off and were only seperated from
each other when NFG was performing. Brynn on the other hand wasn't so
quick to except the invitation. She knew that Jordan had invited the
GC boys too, and she was serious about not being around Benji. When
Sara told Jordan she couldn't go because she had dinner plans with her
brothers, Brynn decided she would go.
She walked in the building and saw Jordan, Steve, Cyrus, Billy and Paul
sitting behind two lanes in the middle of the alley. They were all
lauging and goofing off.
"Hey!" Jordan exclaimed when he saw Brynn step down to the lane. "What
took you so long?"
Brynn sat her bag down on the table behind the scoring podium and got
her bowling ball out. "I had to stop by my house to get my ball."
All the guys errupted with laughter.
"I don't like playing with someone elses balls," she continued with a
playful smile. This statement only made the men laugh harder.
She walked over and put her ball on the ball return along with everyone
eles. As she sat it down she noticed that all the other balls were
blue. She turned around and shook her head at the 5 men.
"Why doesn't it suprise me that all of you have blue balls."
"Only because of you," Billy told her in between laughs.
"Speaking of blue balls, where are Chad and Laura." Steve asked.
"Hey!" Chad said offensively as him and Laura stepped down to the lane.
"Its about time! What took you guys so long. We've been waiting here
for 5 hours." Brynn exagerated.
Paul raised an eyebrow at Chad and Laura. "Yeah, what did take you so
long?"
"You know how those straight-edge vegitarian guys are, they can never
figure out how to work it." Billy informed Paul.
"Very funny," Laura said dryly. "Are we gonna bowl or what?"
"Yeah," Jordan said shaking his head and looking around at the group.
"How about we play 4 against 4? Chad, Steve, Paul and I against Laura,
Brynn, Billy and Cyrus. That way its guys against girls."
The whole group, except for Billy and Cyrus, laughed at Jordan's
comment.
"In that case Jordan, shouldn't you be on the girls team. I mean you do
spend as much time on your hair as Laura and I do." Brynn rushed to
Billy and Cyrus' deffense.
**********************************************************************
After the end of the first game Paul grabbed his cigarettes out of the
pocket of his hoodie, which was lying on a table behind the lane. He
walked over to Brynn and offered her one.
"I'm goin outside for a smoke, you comin?"
"Sure," she said taking the cigarette out of his hand and followed him
outside. "Its a lovely night."
"Mmm Hmm." Paul lit his cigarette and gave Brynn his lighter. She did
the same. "So how does it feel to be hanging out with a bunch of
immature guys from popular bands?"
She laughed at this question. "The same as hanging out with a bunch of
immature guys at a frat party."
Paul smiled at the dumbness of his question. "Most girls feak out when
we invite them to hang out with us, or even talk to us."
"It really doesn't faze me. I figure you guys are normal people. You
have to make the same decisions everyone else does, and you screw up
just as much too. The only difference between you and I is that you
get to have the dream job of being a rockstar." She informed him.
Paul winced at the mention of the phrase rockstar. "I hate when people
call us that, we aren't rockstars. We're just a bunch of kids in a
band. We don't go around trashing hotel rooms and being disrespectful
to our fans." He took a long drag of his cigarette. "Benji especially
hates it, the last time someone called him that...he went off on them."
Brynn rolled her eyes. "Thats suprising," she said sarcastically.
"Whats the deal with you and Benj? Judging by the ice cold shoulder
you gave him earlier at the club, you two have met before."
Brynn sat down on the curb, leaned back and looked up at the sky. "Lets
just say I don't deal with liars or people that make me feel guilty for
something that isn't my fault, and Benji is both."
Paul saw an expedition drive buy and park around the corner of the
building.
"He likes you. I can tell," Paul informed her. "When you ignored him
at the club tonight...I've never seen him look so empty."
Brynn heard people talking and turned to look over her left shoulder.
She was less than happy to see Sara, Joel and Benji walk around the
corner. Brynn put out her cigarette and stood to go back in. When she
turned around to walk towards the door Paul was standing in her way.
"Stay," he instructed her. "You need to talk to him, even if its just
to tell him off."
Sara and Joel walked up to Paul and Brynn. Benji remained a few feet
behind them.
"So you decided to join us after all." Paul said as he pulled Sara into
a hug.
"Yeah, apparently eating didn't take up as much time as what I thought
it would." Sara said.
"I think they're getting ready to start a new game."
Before following Sara and Joel inside, Paul looked at Brynn. "Stay."
He mouthed to her.
Brynn rolled her eyes and sat back down on the curb. Benji slowly
walked over to Brynn and stood infront of her. He had his hands in his
pockets and his head was lowered, staring at the ground.
"I'm sorry," He said not looking up.
Brynn scoffed at his appology. "If you were sorry, it wouldn't have
taken you a week to appologize."
Benji looked her in the eyes and shook his head. He turned his glance
to the side of the building. "If I tried to talk to you a few days
ago would you have listened?"
Brynn didn't say anything. She knew he was right. After a few moments
of silence she stood and looked Benji in the eyes. "Why did you lie to
me?"
"I just...I didn't want," he paused, trying to search for the right
words. "For once I wanted to like a girl and have her like me, for me.
I thought you beleived me when I told you that I was Levi and not
Benji. When you told me you knew I was lying and that I really was
Benji, I freaked out. For a second I convinced myself that you were
like every other girl that was after me just because I'm in a band.
As soon as Joel and Sara picked me up, I realized how stupid I was."
Benji reached down and grabbed Brynn's hands. She got goose bumps at
his touch.
"Will you please forgive me," he pleaded with her.
"I don't know Benj. You hurt me, and I don't like being hurt." She
informed him.
Benji dropped her hands and put his back in his pockets.
"But," she continued. "It sounds like you know how big of a jackass
you were to me...so...I guess...I can forgive you."
Brynn took a step towards him so their bodies were only inches apart.
The corners of Benji's mouth curled up in a smile. Brynn ran her hands
up Benji's arms to his shoulders. He pulled her body against his and
leaned down, pressing his lips against hers. She pulled her lips away
slightly and ran her tounge over the metal ring in the middle of his
lip. Benji started to slide his tounge into her mouth when she moved
her hands down to his chest and pushed him away.
"But seriously though," she said seriously. "You really did hurt me."
Benji's head dropped agian staring at the ground.
Brynn lifted her arm up so Benji could see her elbow. "No really," she
said in a more upbeat tone. "When you stood up and I fell back onto
the patio, my elbow got hurt."
Benji looked up at her arm, and she pointed out the scab to him. He
smiled and let out a small laugh. He pulled her into a hug and then
kissed her forhead. "I promise I'll never hurt you agian."
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