Chapter 57: Doubles Troubles
One rainy night at the Bombbrew Bar...
Solaris sits at the counter having finished off his second drink for the night, with Samantha eyeing him on the other side.
"So? What did you think of that one?" She said, licking her lips with anticipation.
Solaris tapped the glass on the counter and rubbed the dribbles onto his sleeve, "Eh, its fine I guess."
"Just...fine?" She curled her brows upward.
"Yeah, like..." Solaris hard trouble putting the flavors he tasted into words, "It felt like my tongue wanted to curl up and die."
"That sour eh?" She stood up and socked the edge of the counter gently, before leaning on it with her elbow "Damn it! Guess I should swap out the lime for lemon."
As she tapped her fingers against her cheek Solaris leaned his crossed arms onto the counter and looked her in the eyes, "Is this gonna go on the menu or what?"
She wagged her fingers out and shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not. Kinda ain't feeling it with this brew."
She put up an uncharacteristic pout for a moment. Then a patron shouted "Yo Sam!" and she slapped her hand down on the table, immediately springing back up to her spry self.
"Eh screw it, I'll come up with an answer later!" She ran towards the opposite end of the counter while hollering, "Comin'!"
Solaris stared at his reflection in the glass and swirled the remaining droplets around with a smile on his face, "Can't believe I've been a regular here for two months already."
His smile turned prideful with a smirk as he bumped his chest twice, "And I haven't gotten drunk since!"
Samantha zipped back over and remarked, "Guy just needed a refill on mustard."
With her eyes alight with inspiration she gave a classy snap of the fingers beside her face, "Mustard! I wonder how that'd go in a beer..."
"Quit getting your panties in a bunch over this," Solaris said with a hard chuckle, sliding the empty glass into her hand, "Business has been great and the beers you got now are part of that."
She smirked and slapped the backs of her fingers towards his face, "Oh look at you, Mr. Bar Sage, tryin' to impart their wisdom on the bartender."
"While you've been sitting behind the bar letting your tongue get dull mine's been sharpened by countless beers."
"Oh ho ho is that a challenge?" Samantha crossed her arms and turned to the side, "Cause I distinctly remember your record against me when it comes to challenges."
"Oh please you bring that up every time I come here," Solaris barked back, "Get some new material."
"Heh!" She cracked a smile and straightened herself towards him. She then bobbed her head towards her watch, followed by waving said hand up by her face, "Hey, boss, time for me to clock out!"
"That time already?" Zeke said coolly with a smile, "Enjoy your time off, Fire Fist, I got this place under control."
Solaris perked up, ears and all, in interest, "Time off?"
"A-yep!" Samantha vaulted over the counter and landed on her feet away from the stools, "Every year on Veteran's Day I'm required not to work here. Boss' orders."
Solaris leaned back and remarked, "So I'm not going to get to see you tomorrow?"
Samantha turned and leaned out with an upper lip pout and kiddy tone, "Awwww, are you gunna miss wittle ol' me?"
Solaris wagged his hand towards her and stuttered, "A-As if!"
She stood upright with a cheshire's grin and narrowed eyes then remarked, "What about you? Got any plans tomorrow?"
"Not really," He replied, "You?"
She grabbed her chin and bobbed around in place, "I don't know..."
She then snappily snapped her fingers and remarked, "Hey I got an idea! How about a date?"
"A...date?" Solaris said, looking like a confused little kitten.
"Yeah, you and I on a night on the town. I think that'd be fun, wouldn't ya say?"
"What would we even do on the town?"
"Hmmm..." She brushed her hand away from her face, "I'll surprise you."
"You're nothing if not full of surprises." Solaris said, his sigh aging him ten years in the moment.
"And hey! You should bring your sister along too, make it a double date!"
Solaris' eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets, "M-My sister?!"
"Yeah I've really been itching to meet her!" Samantha then ignited a spark in Solaris' dull brain with one sentence, "So does she already have a boyfriend or...?"
After a few clicks in his brain Solaris' eyes widened immensely, "Boyfriend?! W-Wait are dates supposed to be...romantic?!"
"Is that buggy look in your eyes meant to be a yes...or a no...?"
He drowned all that out and stared straight into her fiery eyes, "Hold up. If she's asking ME out on a date, then isn't that the same as her declaring that I'm...HER boyfriend?!"
It seemed even he, of such dull mind, had gotten a couple things about romance hammered into his cranium.
But the longer he looked at her piercing eyes the more his thoughts sounded dumber than usual, "Wait no she ain't the type. That mushy flowery shit's the kinda stuff Lunis eats up!"
Samantha started knocking on his forehead like a door and said, "Yo, Sol, your brain gone outta orbit or something?"
He roughly brushed her hand away as he flinched then remarked, "D-Don't give me that. You want to see my sister fine! Her and her boyfriend'll be happy to join us!"
"Sweet!" Hollered Samantha as she backed away towards the door, "A meet up on Market St. at 4:00 PM sound good to you?"
"Yeah. We'll be there!" He said, giving the final word in a blunt and confident tone.
She flashed a smirk and then was out the door in a flash. Solaris sat there, arms crossed stiffly against his chest. Then, like a speeding bullet, his brain caught up with his mouth and realized what he just said.
"Aw shit." He uttered fearfully under his breath.
One trip back to the moon later...
"So you see what the problem here is?" He said under the surveillance of his sister and Riku, currently both laying beside each other on the bed to read a single book.
But right now Lunis found his plight to be a far more intriguing story, "She asked you out on a date! I'm so proud of you, Solaris!"
Riku's attention was more dully aimed and his tone humored in contrast to her excitement, "I honestly think you're pulling our leg here..."
"Shut up! Both of you!" He set his body aflame for a moment, "Are you ignoring the part where I said she wants you to come along with, Lunis?!"
Lunis froze briefly and then rapidly shook her head, her current ponytail trailing behind her, "N-Not at all! I'm actually really excited to meet her too!"
She laid a hand upon her cheek and melted into a sickeningly sweet state of bliss, "Oooh, any girl who can tame your wild heart must be a joy to be around!"
"You wanna run that by me again, sis?" Solaris narrowly glared at her from across the room until she sprung upright, clasping her hands atop her pressed together knees.
She then swung her fists up and declared, "You can't tell me you're not excited at all about this, brother!"
"Pffft, maybe if this was just her and I," Solaris started scratching irritatingly at the side of his face with a scowl, "But as usual you women gotta go and complicate things!"
"Are you worried I'm going to embarrass you?" Lunis said with another sickeningly sweet smile.
"You WEREN'T paying attention after all! I told you..." Solaris thrust his pointer finger straight at her, "She thinks you'll be coming with a boyfriend, which you totally don't have!"
Lunis' eyes widened as she mustered up a stuttering, "O-Oh...right."
Riku sat upright and gestured towards him, "You could always get someone to pretend to be her boyfriend. I'm sure one of our friends would be willing to help."
"That's not a bad idea actually," Solaris crossed his arms and then with a firm nod proclaimed, "Ok, Riku, you can be Lunis' boyfriend!"
"W-What?!" Riku jerked upright in a flash and shouted, "Why me?!"
"Y-Y-Yeah...!" With her face bright red Lunis' eyes bounced back and forth like two ping pong balls over a table, "W-W-Why h-him?!"
"What? You think I'm going to have her tag around with that horndog brother of yours?!" With a blunt gesture Solaris then remarked, "I know you won't try anything funny."
Riku started to blush ,"I-Its just..."
"SO SUDDEN!" Lunis squeaked, slapping her hands down on the bed before her with her pupils completely shrunk.
He gave them a brow-raising glance and said, "Who cares, you'll just have to pretend for one night."
The two paused and looked at each other in silence while, with a mighty groan, Solaris rolled his eyes and then swung his hands out at the ground, "Come on please?! I'm already in a tough enough bind as is!"
Riku looked at him and said softly, "You really want this to work out with her, don't you?"
"Don't get the wrong idea!" Solaris exclaimed in a huff.
"Awww..." Lunis rested her hands on her cheeks and said in a bubbly voice, "My brother's just wanting to impress the woman he loves, that's so romantic!"
"SHUT. UP."
Lunis turned towards Riku and grabbed him by the hands, "Come on, Riku! We got a lotta stuff to read on dates before tomorrow evening!"
A smile smeared across his face after he sighed, "A-Alright, I guess this could be fun..."
"Yay!"
Solaris turned away from them and let out a big breath of relief, "Well hopefully that's one problem solved...4 PM tomorrow right? Guess I'll get some sleep..."
So he headed off to bed while Riku and Lunis planned what to do practically all night long. When Veteran's Day arrived Solaris spent most of the day just pacing around the palace worrying about every little thing that could happen that he almost lost track of time.
He went on ahead of Riku and Lunis, who had to finish getting dressed, and arrived in the city a few minutes earlier than anticipated. Fortunately by now he had learned to navigate the streets and found where Samantha had wanted to meet up.
There were light clouds but a good amount of sun. He may have fiddled with the weather a bit there.
He caught Samantha leaning up against the signal post staring at her phone. She was wearing a slightly tattered, faded tye-dye shirt with a mix of bloody reds and deep browns and blacks along with dark gray sweat pants. She had black dusted onto her eyelids and a spiked collar around her neck.
It was his first time seeing her outside the bar and she was dressed about how he expected her to.
Him personally? He just slapped on the first t-shirt and pants he could find in the closet and oiled his hair back a bit.
She popped her eyes away from the phone for a moment and peeled away from the pole with a pleasant greeting of "You came! Awesome!"
After he was done crossing the street he decided to tease her, "What, were you dying to see me?"
She nudged him in the hip with her elbow, "Yeah right."
She then tucked her phone away and leaned around both his sides, "Soooo, where's your sister?"
He crossed his arms and scoffed, "Those two are lagging behind, give 'em a few minutes."
"I'm in no rush," She shrugged and went back to leaning against the pole, patting the empty space beside her, "C'mon, we can count cars until they show up!"
Solaris shrugged too and leaned back against the pole, posing their gazes towards the streets. Traffic was busy and gave them plenty of cars to count up. She called dibs on red so he had to settle for white.
All the while he looked around the streets wondering, "What's taking them so long?"
After ten minutes of this Samantha suddenly remarked, "Heeeeey, check out the fancy schmancy couple over there!"
She waved her hand due north and the moment he decided to care well, there was suddenly a whole heckin' lotta reason to care.
That "couple" was Riku and Lunis, and they were walking down the street wearing a tuxedo and tie and form fitting sheath dress respectively. Lunis had bound her ponytail in pearl strings and put on a gold chain necklace. Riku's short hair was gelled over and worst of all, he had his arm under Lunis', the son of a bitch!
"What the FUCK?!" Solaris pulled down on his hair and let out an anguished hiss, "Why?! Where?! How?!"
He quickly got a hold of himself and pulled back into the pole, pretending to whistle, "No its fine. Just distance yourself from them and it'll all go..."
"Heeeeeey, brother!" Lunis cheerfully declared, waving her hand up in the air.
"GOD...damn it!" He squirmed and turned to the face the inevitable approaching disaster, immediately catching Samantha's attention.
"Oh SHIT!" She said with a hearty laugh, "THAT'S your sister?!"
Solaris crossed his arms and grumbled, "Unfortunately..."
Samantha grabbed her chin and began to hum, "Heh, I was expecting a rough and tumble gal like you, not this tall glass of water."
Samantha licked her lips and murmured, "Maybe I oughta switch teams..."
"Wha...?"
She nudged him in the hip and shouted, "Well come on! Aren't you going to introduce me?!"
"Ha, better to just get this over with..." Solaris walked forward in a slump with Samantha by his side, meeting the "couple" in the middle.
He stared deep into his sister's face and saw she had put some kind of glittery make-up on too. But she was simply bubbly with her smile, acting innocent the whole way through.
So he instead eyed Riku, who caught a glance back and subtly shrugged his shoulders.
"Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the horny tree!" Solaris grit his teeth in a scowl momentarily but then shifted right into a shocked expression as Samantha extended her hand out between the two.
"Name's Samantha!"
Riku shook first and introduced himself, then Lunis followed up, but as she began to open her mouth Solaris realized something.
"Shit...! I forgot to tell her not to use her real-"
"Hi, Samantha! I'm Luna!"
"-name..." Solaris let out a sigh of relief.
Samantha continued to grip Lunis' hand and shake it a few seconds longer, "Wow, your skin's so smooth, Luna."
"Well thank you!" Lunis' gracefully replied.
As Samantha withdrew her hand she turned aside and propped her hands on her hips with a chuckle, "What's with the fancy suits tho?"
"Yeah," Solaris firmly crossed his arms, "You trying to audition for the ball or something?"
The "couple" stared at them with a few doe-eyed blinks as Samantha reached out, grabbed Riku's tie, and undid it in a single tug. Then she dug her fingers into the hip of Lunis' dress and tore the fabric off down to the foot.
"C'mon! Don't be so stiff and formal! We're here to have fun!" After she casually tossed the materials over her the "couple" stared at each other for a short while. After which, Lunis got a big grin and then grabbed and yanked the tie off her ponytail, letting her hair hang down below her shoulders.
"Woo! You go girl!" Shouted Samantha, pumping her fist in the air.
Riku then gestured his hands up by his shoulders and undid the buttons on the top part of his tuxedo.
"Nice! You get it!" Samantha gave her approving thumbs-up.
Lunis then stared at her and wondered aloud, "So ummm, what ARE we gonna be doing on this date, Samantha?"
"I dunno," She murmured back, "We'll take my car, see what we can find."
She turned and started walking down the sidewalk, so the three of them followed. Around the corner she walked up to a red Sedan with some wear on the bottom side and traces of dirt on the windows, and gave it a nice slap on the hood.
"Ain't she a beauty? My dad got it for me after I got back from the war."
Lunis leaned over the hood and was in awe of its appearance. Samantha meanwhile pulled out her keys and unlocked the door with a "Chirp" coming from the car itself.
"So who wants to sit up front with me?"
Lunis shot right up and threw her hand in the air like a child wanting attention in class, "I do! I do!"
Samantha clicked her tongue and said, "Alright, Legs, you got it!"
Lunis suddenly jumped and slid across the hood to get to the other side, causing Samantha to recoil in laughter, "Ha ha ha! Look at this girl go!"
Solaris couldn't believe that the two seemed to be getting along so far. It worried him. From what he heard girls tend to gossip with one another and Lunis would just love to spill all of his embarrassing secrets.
After the four somehow all managed to fit inside the car, Samantha got on the road and started driving them towards the less busier outskirts of town.
Along the way Samantha and Lunis happily conversed with one another about pretty basic stuff, so far anyways. Solaris was kept cramped in the back with Riku, rubbing shoulders with the antsy way he had his arms folded.
"Mrrr..." Solaris had to get his mind off this dumb girl talk and thus turned to Riku for help.
"Hey!" He whispered, "What's the deal with these fancy clothes anyways?"
Riku seemed to have been meditating cause he reacted with illicit shock. He then looked at Solaris and said, "I-It wasn't my idea."
After his heart calmed down he better explained himself, "Lunis got really deep into dating guides last night and decided she wanted to wear fancy dresses on our date. So we went to Auris for help and she gladly bought us these clothes."
"That conniving granny...!" Solaris grit his teeth, imagining Auris looking down on him with a mischievous grin.
He then turned his ire onto Riku once more and said, "And was wrapping your arm around hers was Lunis' idea too?"
"A-Actually..." Riku started averting his eyes when Solaris' anger forced him still.
"Who said you could touch her?!"
Riku bit his teeth down and hissed, "You told me to pretend, so I'm doing my best here!"
"So if you need to kiss my sister too are you going to just do it without hesitation?!"
"Eeep!" Squeaked Lunis, exposing that she'd been listening in, much to Solaris' dumbfoundedness.
Samantha leaned her head slightly and asked, "Something the matter?"
Lunis' beet red face shook rapidly as she declared, "N-N-Not at all!"
"Ah." Samantha gave a genuine not-genuine response and continued looking at the road.
Solaris crossed his arms back together tightly and threw the occasional glare aside at Riku, who had a lingering blush in his cheeks.
A few minutes of driving around later Samantha perked up and activated the turn signal, "Hey there we go, the bowling alley's open today!"
She turned the car into the parking lot of a building with two big white bowling pins crossed above the front doors and a bowling bowl wedged between the top of them, using interchanging colored lights in the holes to draw people in.
After rolling up close to the front the four of them got out and Lunis craned her neck back to stare at the towering pins on their way to the entrance.
As Samantha guided them through the doors Solaris leaned towards Riku and whispered, "Hey, has Lunis ever read up on bowling?"
"I don't think so," Riku remarked but remained confident throughout, "But I recall my brother showing an interest in it a couple times. I know the basics of the game if you need them."
"Yeah, hurry it up. I want to do this right."
In the few seconds transitioning between the outdoors and indoors, Solaris learned the goal of the game and how its played, feeling confident he could take on Samantha afterwards.
As they entered the bowling alley the three newcomers were surprised by how quiet the place was, save for the occasional loud "Crack" from the balls hitting the pins. There was this...cold feeling in the air contrasting how warm the lighting was. There were twenty lanes and most of them were filled with groups of friends of all ages having fun, or trying to beat their best scores.
There was a counter to their right with a man in his thirties standing between them and a bunch of shoes, along with the price ranges for entry here. Further down from there was an arcade mainly for children, and then a small food place beyond that.
Samantha strolled right on up to the counter and the man perked up with a smile, "Hey, Sam. That time of the year already?"
"Yep," She replied, leaning forward and slapping her arm down on the counter, gesturing over her shoulder, "I brought some friends along for the ride today though."
"Shoes for four then?" The man started to turn back and pick shoes off the racks, while Samantha turned around and leaned back against the counter.
"What's your shoe sizes?"
"I'm a 12." Solaris said.
"I think I'm 10 ½?" Followed Riku.
"12 too please!" Lunis said in a chipper tone.
"Damn, making me feel like a dwarf here!" Samantha said in a humored tone as she turned back around, "You know my usual chief."
The guy got all four pairs of shoes lined up on the counter and then went to the cash register to tally it all up, "Is Lane 12 ok with you, Sam?"
"Sure, why not." She began to reach into her pocket to pull out some change when suddenly, she glanced at the cash register and remarked, "Eh? I think you got the price off a bit there."
"Consider it a discount." The man replied warmly.
"No no no, you don't need to do that," She reached out and pushed a few 20s right along the counter, "I'm willing to pay in full."
The man gently pushed her hand back and smiled, "Keep it. I insist."
Samantha paused and then coolly withdrew one 20 off the top with a sigh, "Alright, you wore me down."
The man took the money and then, after calculating change, handed her some coin back and allowed her to give the shoes to everyone else.
After some struggles on Solaris' end and curiosity on Lunis' they somehow got their shoes on and made their way to their lane. There were plenty of different colored balls on the racks for them to use, each a different weight.
"Oof!" Lunis was briefly dragged to the ground by hers, "These are...heavy!"
Samantha manned the console in front of the lane with her expertise while the others stood idly. After tapping some buttons she slid away from the console and remarked, "Alright I split us off into teams of two."
She gestured towards Lunis and shouted, "Legs, you're with me!"
Lunis perked up and said "O-Ok!" while Samantha moved towards their little group.
"We'll alternate who plays from each team. I'll go first, then you Sol, then Luna, then finally Riku."
She then propped her hands on her hips and asked, "Any questions?"
Lunis raised her hand and asked, "Yes, how do you play bowling?"
"I'll show you the ropes on your turn. For now, just sit back and watch a pro go to work."
Samantha picked up the fiery looking ball while the rest sat down on the chairs and watched. The pins were set up at the end of the lane and she walked up to the line, raising the ball to her face with her other hand bracing her wrist.
She lined up her shot, swung the ball down, then flung it straight down the lane at a breakneck pace.
The pins were all knocked down with a resounding clap, and she didn't even stick around to see them fall. Walking back with such brisk confidence, she cracked a smirk and thrust a thumb over her shoulder, "Alright Sol, lets see you top that!"
A Strike...The perfect knockdown of the pins. It couldn't BE beat, only matched. Solaris grit his teeth and rose to the occasion, picking up his own ball and walking past Samantha with a competitive smirk.
They roughly bumped shoulders and then he made his way to the lane thinking, "A strike?"
He swung his ball up hard and mimicked her posture perfectly, "Not even a challenge."
He swung the ball back with all his might then lined up his shot down the center of the lane. His ball went slightly faster than hers, nearly breaching the wall behind the pins after knocking them all down.
He clenched his fist til the knuckles cracked and whispered "Yes!" on his way back to the others.
Samantha leaned back comfortably in her seat and yawned, smacking her lips as her outstretched left arm wrapped around Lunis' back and pushed her to stand.
"C'mon Legs, lets show 'em how its done!"
"Oh...ok!" Lunis wore a smile but looked a little wore down doing so. She picked up a foggy silver ball and walked up to the lane with Samantha by her side.
"Need some help?" She offered.
"I think I understand what to do..." Lunis started to raise the ball up like the other two did but ended up grabbing the bottom of her elbow that held the ball.
Samantha shook her head lightly and reached out to gently grab her arm and raise it towards the wrist, "See, you got to do it like this."
Samantha took his opportunity to pull herself in closer, her stomach pressing against Lunis' firm butt. As Samantha gently stroked her hand down Lunis' back, the silver-haired girl rose up and seemed to get a little looser.
"Yeah, there you go. Stand tall and look straight down the lane. See those pins?" Samantha gestured towards the lane and Lunis nodded, "Destroy them. Crush them. Grind them under your heel."
"Grind them under my heel..." Said Lunis hypnotically.
Samantha patted her on the butt and it made her flinch upright, "They're all yours, sweet cheeks!"
"Hey!" Shouted Solaris.
Samantha flinched upright and casually walked back throwing her hands in the air, "Sorry, just being friendly."
Solaris' eyes narrowed and tossed a side glance at Riku, "I wonder if its not you I should be worried about."
Lunis took aim and rolled down the lane at a slower pace than the two prior, only managing to knock down five pins.
"Awww," She turned around with a minor pout, "Sorry, I didn't do as good."
"What're you moaning about?" Samantha brushed her hand out a couple times, "You still got a chance to knock down the rest!"
"Really?!" Lunis' eyes lit up and she turned to find the others pins still up, prompting her to pick up her ball from the rack and go make a second attempt.
But she only got three more pins, and she turned with an awkward grin, "Sorry..."
"That's alright," Samantha huffed out a sigh, "I'll just have to carry your tall ass on my back."
Now it was Riku's turn, but as he went to pick up his ball Solaris followed him up and whispered in his ear, "Alright, Riku, we got a chance to take an early lead. You think you got this?"
"Seems this game requires expertise in control...I think I can manage." Riku wandered up to the lane and raised the ball to his face...
"No no NO!" Solaris walked up to him, "That pose is godawful! Here..."
He forced himself onto Riku, smothering his backside with his pecs while attempting to fix his posture. Riku squirmed and pulled the ball away from him shouting, "W-What are you doing, get off!"
"Oh quit being a baby and let me help you grasp your ball!"
Samantha and Lunis sat back and laughed, Samantha practically recoiling behind her seat in doing so.
She then leaned out and cupped her hands around her mouth to shout, "Hey boys, should we leave you alone?!"
"Shut up!" Solaris replied, making her laugh even more.
Lunis gave a tiny giggle and remarked, "This has been a little of fun!"
Samanth settled down and folded her hands behind her head, "Enjoying yourself, Luna?"
"Oh absolutely! I've been meaning to get out more but gosh, there's so many books to read!"
"Book lover eh?" Samantha eyed Lunis up and down and mentioned, "Yeah, you seem the type. Fit as a smooth fiddle too."
"Oh I'm not THAT fit." Lunis shyly remarked.
"Girl," Samantha stated plainly, "I know Olympic gymnasts who'd KILL to have your body."
Lunis pressed her hands on her blushing cheeks and looked towards the ground, "P-People are always complimenting my body and I just don't know how to respond...!"
"Own it, Luna!" Samantha waved her hand out, "You could have any guy or girl you want with what you got going on! I mean shit...An athletic book nerd who used to be a soldier is pretty niche around these parts!"
Lunis sat up and said dryly, "Soldier?"
"Yeah your brother said you used to perform stealth operations."
"He...did, did he?" Lunis closed her eyes and sighed internally, "Darn it Solaris..."
She then sighed externally and chuckled, "Y-Yeah, I guess you could say that. I was tasked with assassinating key figures in our enemy's strongholds."
She turned the volume down and muttered, "I'm...not very proud of my work though."
"Yeah, shit sucks." Samantha murmured back.
"I was told all the people I killed were bad but...They had families."
"..." Samantha's eyes began to sag and her hands plopped onto her knees. She then brushed her hand up and remarked, "Can we talk about this later?"
Lunis stared at her and she popped up with a smile, "Sorry if that's rude I just...You..."
The sound of the pins being knocked over was so sharp that it broke their concentration. Riku and Solaris walked away patting each other on the back.
"Look at you, first time and you got a strike!" Solaris said like a proud father.
"I'll admit, your weird way of helping made it possible." Riku replied with a smile.
The two stared at their opponents with a brief smirk and then sat down, crossing their legs. Solaris gestured his hand out to the lane and remarked, "Sure you gonna win now, Ms. Fire Fist?"
Samantha stared long and hard at his face and then slapped her knees and stood upright, "Oh its ON now!"
She turned to Lunis and swung her arm towards the lane, "C'mon, Luna! Lets kick these boys' ass!"
Lunis stood up and pumped her fists to her chest, "Yeah! I'm fired up now!"
The battle got really heated up but while Solaris and Samantha stayed even with consistent Strikes, Lunis and Riku's scores fluctuated all over the place and their "coaches" weren't cutting them any slack.
Soon their match was becoming a spectator sport for other players gathered around in the back. It started getting neck and neck close to the final frame. Samantha and Solaris ended on perfect 300s, while Lunis' last roll landed her score at 137. Riku was currently at 135 and needed to bowl all three of the pins remaining to win. They were all arranged in a diagonal line going left. It was going to be an easy win and Samantha knew it.
"Grrr...!" She growled subtly.
Solaris leaned back in the comfort of his chair and smirked, "Oh yeah, victory's ours."
Lunis leaned in towards Samantha and remarked in a pleasant voice, "I tried my best, sorry..."
Samantha suddenly faced her and an impish smile crossed her face, much to Lunis' confusion.
"You know..." Samantha gestured towards her stationary legs, "You've been sitting like that for a while now. You should cross your legs just to give 'em a little exercise."
"Oh, you're right!" Lunis obediently did just that, exposing the entirety of her right leg out in the open.
Samantha grinned and leaned back into her seat with a chuckle. Lunis fell in line to the rest of her scheme just by being herself, "Good luck, Riku!"
Solaris caught wind of that and remarked, "See even your ally's-"
His eyes darted straight towards his sister's exposed leg and then locked onto Samantha's leering eyes, catching her with a devilish smirk.
He immediately turned towards Riku and saw him slowly pivoting his head back.
"Dooooooon't doooooooo iiiiiiiiiiiit...!" Solaris felt the world going in slo-mo as he desperately tried to avert fate.
But the future had been written in stone, and Riku's eyes immediately locked onto the sight prepared for him by the tempting devil clad in red. His eyes looked pale white and his body was shaking.
He tried to turn back to the lane to focus but it was too late.
The game was going to be lost thanks to his horny genetics.
Solaris blacked out, completely exhausted during the entire period where Riku threw the ball down the lane and only hit one pin.
Samantha and Lunis rose to celebrate and clapped each others hands while Riku dragged his feet back over to Solaris, squirming his eyes shut.
"I...I'm sorry?" He half-heartedly apologized.
Solaris daftly raised his head and all emotion had vacated his eyes, "I am going to kill you...and then kill you again."
He received a pat on the back from the CHEATER formerly known as Samantha. CHEATER looked him square in the eyes and said in their CHEATING tongue, "Aww don't feel so bad. Better luck next time!"
Solaris was about to raise a confrontation right then and there when suddenly CHEATER rubbed her belly and chuckled, "Boy, that worked up an appetite!"
She winked and started to turn away, "You hungry too? I know a good pizza place around the block, my treat!"
"..." Solaris continued to glare until his motivation for anger turned glacial and he reluctantly said, "Yeah, pizza sounds good, I guess."
So the four of them left the bowling alley and took a car ride around the block to a one-story building titled "Rad-violi's Fiery Pizzas". There were a few cars lined up outside given it was dinner time but they had no trouble getting a table for four.
They ordered two large pizzas, one all-meat and one pepperoni with mushrooms. They came out looking nice and saucy with plenty of cheese OOZING off of every slice they picked up, with the toppings threatening to cascade off the sides if they weren't careful.
Lunis chowed down on the slices, covering her mouth in sauce. Samantha looked on in utter awe, barely managing a bite of one of her own.
"I'm learning a LOT about your sister, Sol." She said with a humored tone.
"Same here." Solaris replied, gobsmacked.
Lunis reared her head up high and moaned as she finished her third slice, "MMM! This is so delicious!"
Samantha shrugged and remarked, "Heh, ten guesses where all that fat's gonna go."
"Riku, you're one lucky S.O.B." She then said with a sly wink.
Riku tried to calmly eat his pizza without a word regarding that.
"So what's your story anyways?" Samantha locked her eyes onto his and leaned in for emphasis, "Sol talks about his sister but never her boyfriend."
Solaris eyes Riku in dire anticipation that he'll manage to not bone this entire night on a bad story.
Riku set his pizza down and looked Samantha straight in the eyes, "Well where do I begin?"
He sounded like a gentleman, so suave and confident in himself, "I met Lunis on the battlefield five months ago and we fell in love immediately from a shared love of nature and books. After we were finished being deployed we decided to pool our resources together and live under one roof. Sol's lives with us too, but...he tends to do things his way."
It was such a well-crafted lie that Solaris nearly fell for it.
"Another soldier fresh off the battlefield eh?" Samantha was caught, hook line and sinker, into their little web of lies, "You look so damn young though."
"He's just 16," Solaris didn't even let one second pass before correcting his error, "AT HEART!"
Avoiding Riku and Lunis' panicked glares in the process...
"Heh, I always feel that way too." Samantha began patting Riku on the shoulder.
"So what company were you?" She went on the offensive asking.
"Marines." Riku promptly answered.
"No shit? So how'd you manage to run into Luna when she was performing stealth missions?"
"Well..." Riku stared straight into Lunis' eyes and remarked with a dry chuckle, "I'll tell you another time, Samantha."
Perfectly evading the topic until he can come up with a feasible story. Guess those booksmarts are good for something after all...
"You know, you two are kinda similar actually," Solaris mentioned, "Riku's got a prosthetic too!"
"Whaaaa?" As Samantha's interest skyrocketed Riku turned and glared at Solaris. Samantha then started being Samantha and invaded Riku's personal space in search of the prosthetic, clanking her metallic leg against both of his and rubbing his biceps thoroughly.
"Where? I don't see or feel anything!"
Riku grunted and then held his right arm over the table towards her, "Its this one."
She went right for it and started to vigorously rub Riku's arm up and down, "Ooooh, I feel it now."
She pulled up his sleeve and then let out an eager gasp, "Whoa! I can feel metal underneath but the arm still looks like skin!"
"I thought my leg was badass but yours is in a whole other league! Who got you yours?"
Riku paused in a dumbstruck fashion and that gave Samantha time to add more to the conversation, "My dad pulled some favors to get me mine. I've felt a lot stronger ever since, like I could take on the whole world!"
"Oh yeah," Riku commented, "Sol mentioned you're pretty strong, I was wanting to ask you a few questions about-"
He suddenly flinched the exact moment the door opened and turned towards it with a glance of caution. Solaris turned around and saw a man in a ragged coat and scruffy facial features entering with shifty eyes.
"Something the matter, Riku?" He whispered.
"Nothing just...I thought I sensed something dangerous." Riku returned to face Samantha who was waiting around patiently for him.
"What did you want to ask?"
"Well..."
The conversation was interrupted with the arrival of that man in the coat bumping into their table. The four turned to face him. He had bags under his eyes and no show of emotion in his pupils. There was this dark, unsettling vibe he portrayed that put Solaris' body on edge.
"This guy is..."
"Hey bud, you drunk? You're looking a little shaky there." Samantha said with a mix of joking and concern.
Without warning the man reached into his coat and pulled out a gun, firing it up towards the ceiling. As the bullet shook debris from the ceiling the four sprang up from their seats while screams filled the room from the patrons. The gun was then immediately trained onto Samantha, who stood there frozen in place.
"NOBODY MOVE!" The aggressor shouted in a deep voice, instilling stillness to the screaming many, but doing little temper to their whimpers of fear.
He put his finger on the trigger and his aim was steady.
Riku was cautiously surveying his options while Lunis was eyeing the utensils on the table. Solaris meanwhile felt no fear in the eye of danger, and stared the gun man down with irritation.
"Just who the hell do you think-"
"Shut up!" The man shouted firmly, thrusting his gun further towards Samantha, who continued not to move.
Solaris grit his teeth and looked at her confidently, "This guy's nothing to her. She'll kick his ass and..."
He saw an entirely different side of her just now. Her eyes stared forward like deer faced with headlights, the pupils completely shrunken as her arms and legs trembled.
Solaris gasped and then turned his attention towards the man as they were milliseconds away from firing, "After all your father's done, you're going to burn in Hell, just like he is."
Solaris grit his teeth and tightened his fists, swinging out independently of any sense of rhyme of reason. With a bitter roar he caught the gunman completely unawares and clobbered him across the face. But the gun man took aim and fired.
In that very instance Solaris grabbed the gun by the barrel and crunched it shut, the bullet exploding and bombarding the assailant's chest with bits of shrapnel.
He then run forward and hoisted the man up by the collar of his coat so they could meet eye-to-eye, his glare now completely feral.
The metal in the assailant's chest left him too weak to do anything but breathe, and ragged those breaths were.
"Fuck off asshole, we're on a date!" Was the final word given on the matter before he tossed the man to the ground and the impact knocked him out.
Solaris then looked at his hand and saw tiny scraps of metal lodged into his palm. As he shook it off he looked around at everyone staring at him in awe and remarked, "Ok people, get back to your pizzas!"
"RAAAHH!" With a lion's roar Samantha suddenly ran around the table and punted the gun man in the side of the head in a mad sweat.
She then swung her hand down and screamed "FUCK YOU!" at the top of her lungs.
Some grunts, growls and pants later, she collapsed forward and grabbed her knees tight. She then got closer to Solaris and leaned her head against his chest, panting until she had completely calmed down.
Of course as much as they would've liked to go back to dinner the police had to come and clean up the mess the gun man made. Everyone involved were asked questions but fortunately all the patrons were too scared to clearly explain how the gun got broken.
The time between the attack and the police arriving gave Solaris and friends time to fake a story about what went down to cover Solaris' raw display of anger.
After that was done they finally got to finish off their now cold pizza and decided that was enough excitement for one night.
It was an abysmally quiet drive back to the city. Riku and Lunis were let off where they had met up and said they'd meet Solaris back at the house.
He stuck around at Samantha's insistence as she took a slow drive through the quiet streets, ultimately parking outside a two-story apartment complex with dim lights and rickety walls.
Solaris was getting sick of the silence at this point and as they got out of the car he said, "What's up with you? You've been quiet ever since we left the pizza place."
She walked around the hood and stepped up in front of him, standing underneath a flickering street light with her hands in her pockets.
"I really like this planet. If aliens are real, who cares? I'd live here over anywhere else without question."
"Whaaat?" Was really all he could reply with.
"Dad fought really hard to keep people like us safe and the planet healthy," Her smile was shaky, and her fists clenched tighter in their pockets, "He...was a good man, right? That shooter was just...a terrorist, trying to cause chaos...right?"
Solaris calmly heard her out.
She gripped the side of her head and shook it slowly, "He died in a fire...People die in those all the time but it just feels...wrong like, I don't know..."
Solaris felt an ache in his chest and looked down at his hand, subtly summoning flames that were crushed in his fist the moment he heard her speak up.
"Heh," She murmured, "Every year no matter what he was doing or where he was, would spend time with me on this day."
She craned her head back towards the sky and her smile was weak, "...I bet he's still here now, watching over me."
She dropped her shoulders with a sigh then walked on up to Solaris and bumped her right knuckles against his chest, "Hey, seriously, thanks for going out with me today."
Her arm rubbed up against his chest and she leaned her head up closer to his face with a sparkle in her eyes, "And what you did to that gun man? That was pretty cool."
She stood on her toes and began to pucker her lips. Solaris' heart was left racing faster and faster as she was centimeters from his cheek.
She then made a popping sound with her lips and withdrew in an instance wearing a big grin, leaving a fluttering mark on his heart.
"So, usual time tomorrow?"
Solaris gawked at her, "U-Uh, yeah. Sure."
"Heh. See you then!" She turned around and made her way into the apartment.
Solaris put his fist over his chest and remarked, "Yeah...see you then."
His heartbeat slowed down to normal and he stared down at his fist. Then he looked up towards the same stars she saw with a forlorn glance.
"...Are you watching me too, father?" He raised his fist towards the sky and tried to smile, "I'm going to be fine, I promise. I...don't want to lose this feeling."
And with his solemn remark left said, he wandered the streets until he felt ready to return home, for a long night's sleep...
Next Time: Round 2 at Grade School