Prompt beatriceport (Tumblr): lol we need an ep of the team going bowling
"Hailey," Jay calls as they make their way into the bowling alley to meet with the rest of the team sans Voight.
"Yeah," Hailey turns to look at Jay.
"Promise me, this isn't going to turn out like last time."
"You know I'm competitive," Hailey defends.
"Competitive? Hailey, being competitive does not mean to the point where we were almost kicked out last time."
"It wasn't my fault that a group of moms complained."
Jay raises an eyebrow.
"Adam started it," Hailey mutters while pulling Jay into the bowling alley.
"About time," Kevin greets them when the pair comes into view of the rest of the team. "Someone was getting impatient," he adds tilting his head in Adam's direction slightly.
"Hey!" He yells indignantly.
"You have been bouncing off the walls," Kim points out from her spot in the chair by the wall.
"Now that everyone's here, can we get started?" Vanessa asks excitedly, this being only the second time she's been bowling.
"Yes," Hailey laughs as the rest of the group goes towards the counter to get their shoes and assigned a lane.
"Okay, it looks like the order is: Kim, Kevin, Vanessa, Adam, me, then Jay," Hailey tells the rest of the group as she looks at the monitor above their assigned lane.
"Alright, everyone, make sure you pick out the right size balls," Kim reminds the team causing Adam to laugh.
"Balls," he chuckles.
"Really?" Kim asks, "Grow up," she tells him while rolling his eyes.
At the rack of balls that the girls went to, Vanessa picks out a ten-pound, light blue ball; Kim settles on a neon pink, twelve-pound ball, and Hailey a twelve-pound neon green ball. The guys at a different rack also pick theirs; Adam picks a fourteen-pound neon orange ball, Jay a fourteen-pound dark blue ball, and Kevin a sixteen-pound dark green ball.
"Everyone happy with their choice?" Kim asks when the two groups meet back at their lane. Getting confirmation, she continues, "If it doesn't feel right you can exchange your ball for another one."
Kim goes first, knocking down all but the two back left pins. On her second attempt, she hits the inner pin, knocking it into the pin next to it, receiving a spare.
"You're up Kev," Kim tells her friend while walking off of the floor.
Kevin picks up his ball and manages to throw it. The ball goes to the side, tethering the gutter, but manages to stay in the lane for long enough to catch some of the pins, knocking them down, before landing in the gutter. On his second attempt, Kevin is able to center the ball more, taking down four more pins, leaving two standing for the machine to take care of before it resets.
Vanessa stands in front of the lane and pulls her arm back to throw the ball. The light blue ball makes it halfway down the lane before going into the gutter. On her second try, her ball makes it to the pins and knocks down six of them. The rest of the team, knowing she never went bowling as a child, make sure to cheer really loud for her.
Adam goes after her and his ball curves into the gutter. "Seriously?!" Adam yells. "This is not made for lefty's," he adds while waiting for his ball to return to him. On his second try, his ball makes it to the pins knocking down all but three in the back.
Hailey grabs her neon green ball and rolls it down the lane. She knocks down seven of the pins, leaving three for her to hit in her second attempt. Her second attempt is successful and she gets a spare when the last three pins are knocked down.
Jay is the last one up, and on his first try he knocks down all but three- two on one side and the third on the other. On his second attempt, Jay aims at the side where there are two pins. He hits the two pins and narrowly misses the third when one of the pins flies across the lane almost taking the third pin with it.
The rotation starts again with Kim and she once again grabs her neon pink ball and throws.
The team finishes the ten frames of their first game. Kim finished first with a score of 115, followed by Hailey at 94, Jay at 90, Kevin at 89, Vanessa 74, and Adam at 55.
They then start their second game in the same order. With each frame, Vanessa seemed to be getting better and better and the others holding steady to their skills.
When the second game is over, Kim finishes with 123, having gotten two strikes, followed again by Hailey at 106, and this time Kevin at 97 followed by Jay at 96, then Vanessa at 79, and Adam again coming in last at 62. And this time they make it through their evening without the threat of being thrown out of the alley.
They put their balls back and decide to go and get a pizza and beers before heading back to Hailey and Vanessa's to hang out for a while.
"I'm telling you, bowling is not made for left-handers," Adam once again complains while getting his slice of pizza from the box.
"Then why did Hailey come in second both times?" Kim asks.
Adam doesn't have an answer for that.
"Brother, you just suck at bowling. Even Vanessa did better than you- and this was her second time ever," Kevin tells him.
"Kev, you're supposed to be on my side," Adam feigns annoyance.
"I am, but I'm also telling you the truth."
"Kim, how did you get so good?" Vanessa asks.
"I would go a couple times a month with Nicole growing up. It kept us busy and it was a cheap hobby compared to other things we could have done."
While the offices are talking in one area, Hailey and Jay are in another, lost in their own conversation.
"How did you do so good?" Jay asks Hailey.
"My brothers would go with their friends growing up. They'd let me tag along to keep me out of the house," Hailey answers. "What about you? I thought you said you've never really bowled much."
"Not like that in an alley. Overseas, when we had downtime, we would use bottles for pins and a baseball to knock them down," Jay answers quietly like he was afraid the rest of the team could hear him talking about his past in the Army.
Before either of them could reply, Kim calls over, "Hailey. Would you tell Adam that bowling is not hard for lefties in general and that he's just bad? He's in denial."
Hailey and Jay look at each other, before she answers, "Adam you need more practice." While Jay laughs at the look on the officer's face.
A/N: This is a late one from November 8. And there will be another one tomorrow.
Bowling info:
Strike- all ten pins are knocked down in the first attempt.
Spare- all ten pins are knocked down after both attempts
There are ten frames per person per game.
Weight: most cases males use balls between 12-16lbs/5,4kg to 7,3kg; and females 10-14lbs/4,5kkg to 6,4kg.
10lb- 4,5kg
12lb- 5,4kg
14lb- 6,4kg
16lb- 7,3kg
Jay's experience: I don't know if that's something that would actually happen, but I know a couple in the army who have been overseas and all they have to do in their downtime is lift weights, so who's to say Jay and his army friend didn't find scraps to mess around with and us to "bowl"