"Where exactly are we going?" Natalie asked me.
I sighed.
"Bowling, kids." I say as they nod.
It's been two weeks since I picked the teens up off of the street. They're still anxious and jumpy around me, but it's improving. If only slightly. A commercial for the local bowling alley had came on last night. The twins had asked me what bowling was. It shocked me at how book smart the kids were, yet had little knowledge of the world around them. They looked kinda nervous.
"It'll be fun." I say as they looked in the mirror.
"Right." they say doubtfully.
Once they get inside, they'll warm up to the idea.
I pulled into the parking lot and we got out. They looked at the building skittishly. I patted them on the shoulder. I noticed how they jumped and tensed up. I walked forward and looked back at them. They looked at each other before slowly following me. We entered the place as the music played loudly. It was almost empty which seemed to relieve the duo a little.
"This way." I say as they looked around.
"It's loud, Sully." Nate says as they covered their ears.
I chuckle.
"You'll get used to it." I say as they nod slightly.
They're defiantly not like other kids they're age.
We walked over to the counter and I paid for a lane and some shoes. The twins told me what size shoe they were wearing and the cashier nodded. She handed me the shoes and I held out two pairs to the twins. They took them, sat down, and put them on without a word. I did the same and chuckled lightly.
"Always thought these shoes were ugly as homemade sin." I joke, trying to loosen the duo up.
They laughed a little.
"Yeah. They're slippery too." Nat says as I chuckled a little.
"That's normal. It helps you when your bowling." I say as I sat down at the little machine.
"What does that do?" They ask.
"It's to set up the pins, put your names in, and keep score." I explain.
"Score? How do you keep score?" Nate asks.
Man, these kids will ask every question under the sun if they find the subject interesting.
"I don't know how they score bowling. The machine just does it." I say as I put all of our names in.
"Okay, now it's time to go get the bowling balls." I say.
"Is this like soccer? Nate and I played a lot soccer back in Cartegena." Nat says as I chuckle. '
"No, it's not like soccer." I say as we approach the racks full of bowling balls.
"Why are there so many?" Nate asked.
"They are different weights. You don't want one that's to light nor to heavy. Kinda like Goldilocks trying to find the right porridge or bed." I say.
"Who?" they ask. I shake my head.
"Nevermind." I say as I pick up an eight pound ball.
I held it out to Nat. She backs away slightly and put her hands up to her chest.
"It ain't gonna bite ya, kid." I reassure.
She stepped up some.
"Just put your middle finger and your ring finger in the side-by-side holes and your thumb in the other one." I instruct as she cautiously reaches her hand out.
She does what I told her and I looked at her.
"Nice job, Nat." I say as she gave a faint smile.
"Now, I'm gonna let it go and see if you can hold it. Okay?" I ask as she gives a more confident nod.
I let go of the ball as Nat put her other hand under it.
"Well?" I ask.
"Not to light. Not to heavy, Just right." she says as I nod.
"Good." I say as I look to Nate.
"You want the same pound ball as your sister to start off with?" I ask as he nods.
"Sure." he says as I hand him a ball and instruct him like I did Nat.
He did good as well and we made it back to our lane.
"Okay, put the balls in the circle thing." I say.
"What does that do?" Nate asked.
"When you bowl and it passes the pins, it comes back through that." I explain as they nod.
"So, what now?" Nate asks as I picked up my ball.
"Now, you gotta roll it and try to keep it from going into the gutters, as they're called." I say.
"So, if the ball goes into the 'gutters', we get no points?" Nat asks.
"And the more pins we knock over, the more we get?" Nate added.
"Exactly." I say.
I looked at the full set of pins.
"Okay, now you just roll the ball." I say as I move one foot back and rolled the object down the lane.
I knocked down all but two pins in my two tries. I looked up at the screen.
"Alright, Nate. Your turn." I say as Nat looked at me.
"Why does he go first?" she asks.
"That's because I'm the older twin." he said proudly.
Nat looked slightly annoyed as she opened her mouth.
"By a minute and a half." she snapped as I rolled my eyes.
"Kids." I say as they quit the minor bickering.
Nate stood up and picked up the ball like I showed him. He walked up to the lane and rolled the ball down. It landed in the gutter. His shoulders fell as I cautiously patted him on the shoulder.
"You still got another try, kid." I say as the ball came back. He picked it up and sighed.
"Don't be so tense. Relax, take a breath. Don't just randomly roll it and hope you hit one." I say as he nodded.
He walked back up to the edge of the lane and took a breath.
"C'mon, Nate!" Nat encouraged from her seat, clapping her hands.
I looked at her and chuckled lightly. She was watching intently, waiting to see what would happen.
Nate smiled slightly as he rolled the ball down the lane. One by one, the pins fell. Nat cheered as she got up and hugged him. He hugged her back, smiling brightly.
"Nice job. You got a spare." I say as they looked at me.
"What's a spare?" they ask as I chuckled.
"If you knock all the pins down, it's called a strike. If you miss some but knock them all down on the second try, it's called a spare." I explain.
"So, in this, a strike is a good thing?" Nate asks.
"That's confusing." they say as I laughed.
"Yeah, you kids have a point there." I say as I look at Nat.
"You're up, kid." I say to her. She looked unsure as Nate patted her back.
"You got this, Natty!" he reassured as she hesitantly nodded.
She tossed the ball and we watched as it approached the pins. My eyes went wide as all the pins fell, knocking against each other.
"Strike!" Nat said happily, smiling bigger than the sun. Nate rushed to her and they hugged.
"Nice one, Nat!" he says as they laughed.
I let the kids have they're moment before ruffling their hair. They chuckled as they playfully swatted my hands away.
"Knock it off, Sully!" they said as they grinned up at me.
I smiled as they looked up at the screen above the lane.
"You're go, Sully!" Nat says as they sat down.
I laughed as I picked up the bowling ball. I rolled only for it to go into the gutter. I could hear two pairs of snickering coming from behind me.
"Something funny, kids?" I ask as they tried to silence they're laughter.
"N-No!" they say, still chuckling.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head as the ball came back.
"Let's go, Sully!" I heard Nate encourage as well as Nat.
I nodded.
"Thanks." I say as I rolled it only to get the same result.
They laughed.
"Are you sure we shouldn't be teaching you?" Nat mocked as Nate continued to laugh.
"Don't get to cocky, kids. You're that enough as it is." I say as I took a seat.
Nate jumped up more eagerly this time. That's a good sign. I watched him as he bowled. It was then Nat's turn again. I saw that they both were more eager and confident now. At least they weren't afraid that the ball would eat them anymore. We finished playing the game as I hit the button on the machine that you hit when you are finished bowling.
"Are you kids up for another game?" I ask as I heard two tired yawns.
I chuckled as I turned around to see two worn out Drakes.
"Guess not, huh?" I ask as they nodded lightly.
I stood up as the kids grabbed the snacks and drinks I had bought them. We gave the woman the shoes back and headed out to the car. I then noticed it was dark out.
"Must have been a long game.." I heard Nat mumble sleepily.
"Guess so." Nate said as they crawled into the back seat.
I got into the driver's side and cranked up the car. I pulled out of the parking lot and started driving back to the motel, the radio softly playing.
"You two have fun?" I ask.
"Uh huh." they said softly, their heads against the windows.
I chuckled as I put my attention back on the road.
"Wasn't as bad as you thought, huh?" I ask. No response.
"Nate? Nat?" I ask as I peer up at the rear-view mirror.
I faintly smiled as I saw the two sleeping twins. They're heads were rested up against the windows as they're hands were on top of each other. I guess to make sure the other one was still there. I wanted to know more about them and they're past, but you can't rush those things. If they ever want to talk about it, they can approach me. I won't force anything out of them. I looked back out onto the road as I smiled to myself. Sure, I may have purposely gotten two gutter balls, but I wasn't gonna ruin the twins good time. They seemed to enjoy themselves and those were the biggest smiles I have seen out of them since I met them. Plus, they haven't left yet. Must be doing something right.