AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sadly, this is the final chapter of this story. Many thanks to everyone who has tuned in to follow, favourite, read and review! The support has been greatly appreciated! :)
The Spin-off series is still in progress, and we are working hard on getting it done, so please be on the lookout for when that gets posted. It is based off this story and will be a collection of missing scenes, one-shots and small chapters, surrounding the boys being of varying ages. Ideas are most welcome, with some suggested ideas already written, so please don't hesitate to share and we'll see if/how it can be worked into the spin-off series.
They arrive at the Zone and Bowling and head inside where they opt for a game of bowling first.
After the four boys put on their bowling shoes, they get situated near their lanes ready to play.
"Let's make this interesting and have teams," Brax suggests, knowing that Kyle would likely lose to all of them.
"I'm on Brax's team!" Casey announces.
"Guess that leaves us then?" Heath says and gives Kyle's shoulder a squeeze.
As much as he didn't like the idea of coming last, he didn't want to let someone else down either with his lack of bowling coordination skills.
Brax bowls first and manages to get a perfect strike, next up is Heath who also gets a perfect strike.
"Guess that makes it one all," he challenges as he gives Brax a shifty eye, upon returning to the table.
"It's only early on," Brax replies.
Next up is Casey; he grabs his ball from the ball rack and manages to get a straight lane roll and knocks over eight pins.
"Well done, Case," Brax praises, smiling and patting Casey on the back as he returns to sit down.
After Casey it is Kyle's turn and Kyle hesitantly walks up to the lane.
He tries rolling the ball in the lane but instantly the ball rolls into the gutter and he turns to face Heath with sad eyes.
"That's alright, Bubs; give it another go," Heath cheers and claps his hands in encouragement.
Kyle sighs but grabs another ball and gives it another go, only to completely miss again.
Kyle slumps his shoulders in defeat and wanders back to the table.
"Sorry Heath, you know I'm no good at this kind of stuff," Kyle apologises.
"You'll get some next time, Ky; don't sweat it," Heath comforts and slaps Kyle on the back as the teen takes his seat.
Brax stands to have his turn again and manages another strike.
On Heath's second turn he only manages to knock eight pins.
"Damn!" he exclaims and returns to the table.
Brax chuckles and writes down Heath's score.
Casey moves up for his turn and rolls his first strike of the game.
"Yes! Was that awesome or what?" he boasts.
"Your turn again, Ky," Brax encourages.
"Do I have to? I sucked last time," he moans.
"Don't be so worried about getting anything, it's all just for fun," Brax reassures.
"Ha: easy for you to say; you're winning," Heath fires back and turns to Kyle.
"I'll help you," he offers and follows Kyle towards the lane.
While Heath is helping Kyle perfect his aim, Casey rubs his stomach.
"Brax, can we get something to eat; I'm starving," Casey asks.
"Casey, we are going for a big buffet dinner tonight."
"Please, Brax. It doesn't have to be anything big," Casey pleads.
"Alright, but just make sure Heath doesn't cheat and change the scores, or that you don't either," Brax says and quickly walks off before his next turn.
A short moment later, Brax brings back some curly fries to the table and sees Heath playfully patting Kyle on the back and messing up his hair as he cheers for the older teen.
"Where did you go? You missed this one making his first knock down!" Heath announces.
"I got five pins," Kyle says happily.
"That's great, Kyle; see you can do it," Brax praises.
"He only managed because Heath helped," Casey adds.
"And there is nothing wrong with that," Heath implies, patting Kyle on the shoulder that he'd had his arm wrapped around.
"Never said there was. It was an awesome shot, Ky, even with Heath helping," Casey praises, causing Kyle to smile as he takes his seat.
Brax places down the curly fries and Casey immediately grabs a few to scoff down.
Heath also grabs a couple as Brax goes for his turn again.
They continue to play rounds, with Heath and Casey mostly munching away on the chips in between turns.
Kyle only has a few as well as Brax who is saving himself for the Buffet dinner, unlike Kyle who just isn't that hungry.
Finally, the game ends and Brax begins tallying up the scores.
"Don't cheat now," Heath snickers, to which Brax gives him a look.
"Okay: Casey and I got a total of two hundred and sixty points and Heath, you and Kyle got a total of one hundred and sixty points," Brax informs.
"What? Let me look at that!" Heath exclaims and takes the score card away from Brax.
Casey cheers happily.
"We won!" he boasts and points mockingly towards Heath who gives him a glare after realising the scoring indeed is correct.
"Sorry, I made us lose," Kyle apologises to Heath.
"Pfft, don't worry about it; I don't even care. Just glad to be having some fun and glad you managed to finally knock down a few pins and get two pins off a strike."
"Only because you helped," Kyle adds.
"Are we playing laser tag now?" Casey asks eagerly.
"Sure, and we can do teams again, only this time, Kyle: you're on my team," Brax announces.
"I wanted to be on your team," Casey moans.
"You were on my team for this, now it's only fair we change it up. Let's go put our bowling shoes back and go up to the laser tag area," Brax says.
Brax and Kyle are dressed in their laser tag gear, hiding around one of the corners, waiting to start the game.
"I don't want to let you down by losing this game for you, like I lost bowling for Heath."
"Kyle, you'd never let me down and besides it's not about winning; it's about having fun, and I don't care if I win or lose, I'm just glad to be spending some quality time with my three amazing brothers," Brax says with a wide smile.
Kyle smiles in return.
"Thanks. I'm so glad to be part of the best family."
Brax slaps Kyle's arm in a gesture of brotherly thanks.
"Now let's say we plan our attack, so Heath and Casey won't know what hit them?" Brax suggests, winking at Kyle before running out into the laser tag maze, with Kyle following behind.
With Brax's fierce coordination and skill, he manages to fire a few shots at the targets, two shots at Heath and knocks Casey out of the competition.
Relaxing into the game and managing to hit a few targets, Kyle ends up firing a shot at Heath who is distracted looking around for Brax's attack, eliminating Heath from the game, having been his final life.
Heath spins around expecting to see Brax but instead sees Kyle.
"Oi: you shot me, Bubs! I guess that must have been Brax's plan all along, get you to sneak up from behind!"
Brax comes out from nearby and playfully back-slaps Kyle.
"Good shot, Ky!" Brax laughs.
"Well, I guess you won this one, Kyle; good game," Heath states.
"Just takes a bit of logic thinking and for that I had the upper hand with Kyle on my team," Brax laughs.
Casey pouts.
"Why did you have to shoot me when I was barely getting started?" he says to Brax, hating that he and Heath had lost.
"Stop being such a sore loser, Case," Heath snickers and ruffles Casey's hair.
"I'm not. At least I didn't lose at both bowling and laser tag," Casey teases.
"Let's not argue about who won or lost," Brax says.
"What difference is it to you? You won at everything," Heath states.
"And? Taking a leaf from your book Heath all I can say is: that I'm awesome," Brax laughs.
"Don't get as big head now," Heath teases.
"Can we go and play some arcade games now?" Casey asks.
"Let's all go and see what they have up there," Brax replies and wraps his arm around Casey's shoulder, while Heath does the same with Kyle.
Once they get into the arcade area the four go their separate ways to find some games to play.
Brax immediately goes for a simulated car racing game, while Heath starts off with a target shooting game.
Casey wanders around and decides to play Temple Run, while Kyle decides to give the game 'Piano Keys' a go.
After Heath finishes his shooting game he moves onto a 'Footy Blitz' game where he plays simulated footy warm up exercises, something within his element.
Brax on the other hand after finishing two turns of the car Grand Prix racing game, moves onto playing Space Invaders frenzy.
Casey manages to continue his game of Temple Run until he reaches level nine where he is finally defeated, but not before advancing to the arcade scoring leader board of third.
Casey bangs the sides of the game in frustration as he loses but decides to go try something else.
He comes across a simulated River Rafting game and gets situated in the game-built canoe and grabs the oars ready to play.
A short while later, Heath wanders around looking for his brothers.
He catches sight of Brax first who is still immersed in his Space Invaders game.
"How's it going, big fella?"
"Fine, just fine, but I'm in the middle of a high level so don't distract me, Heath," Brax dismisses.
Heath chuckles and walks away, spotting Kyle next who has moved on from the Piano Key's game and is now jamming away at the Guitar Hero game.
Not wanting to disturb Kyle, Heath wanders around to find Casey.
Casey gets out of the canoe and rubs his sore arms, not realising the impact such a game would have, moving an oar around simulated water rapids.
"Hey, Case!" Heath calls out, spotting Casey moving away from the River Rafting game.
"What do you say about us playing a game of Air Hockey, baby bro?" Heath suggests, approaching Casey.
"I guess," Casey agrees.
Heath and Casey begin a game and it's not long before the two let their stubborn competitive streaks shine.
Determined to win against Heath, Casey begins belting the puck across the table, ignoring the discomfort in his arms still from the rafting game.
"Ease up, baby bro. You have to hit the puck to me on the other side of the table not over on the floor," Heath laughs and picks the puck up from the floor.
In the end, despite his best efforts, Heath manages to beat Casey by two points.
Casey yells out in frustration at the end of the game.
"He scores! Too bad baby bro, you missed out by just a few points," Heath cheers.
"You only won because my arms were getting sore because I was playing a rafting game moments before we started," Casey complains.
Heath chuckles and wraps his arm around Casey's shoulder, giving the youngest a squeeze.
"There's that sore loser again," he teases.
"I'm not a sore loser. I just had sore arms," Casey protests.
Brax approaches, having finished his game.
"You finally pulled yourself away from shooting those aliens? I don't think I've ever seen you so fixated on something. Don't distract me," Heath teases, mimicking what Brax had said to him.
Brax rolls his eyes.
"Yes, I'm not some addict like you just made me out to be."
"You said it, not me," Heath chuckles.
"What's with the arguing?' Brax asks.
"Casey is just having a tanty because he lost our game of Air Hockey and is just trying to convince me he's not a sore loser," Heath explains and playfully pinches Casey's cheek.
"He cheats!" Casey accuses.
Brax shakes his head.
"I have to say it but he's right."
Heath smirks, "See Brax agrees with me that you tend to be a sore loser…"
"I meant you," Brax interrupts and implies towards Heath, causing Casey to burst out laughing.
"You do like to cheat, Heath."
"Fine; but only, sometimes. It doesn't make me a cheater," Heath defends.
"Have either of you seen Kyle?" Brax asks.
"Last I saw he was playing some music thing," Heath replies.
"Let's go find him and get going."
The three brothers begin to wander off.
Casey couldn't stop laughing over Brax's joke on Heath.
"Oh, shoosh up, would you?" Heath says and ruffles Casey's hair.
They find Kyle, who is still happily jamming away at the Guitar Hero game, and they watch for a second.
"Ky! We are about to go," Brax yells out.
"Um, okay. Can I just finish this one part?" Kyle yells back.
They wait for Kyle to finish.
"Sounds like you were having a good time there, little man," Brax states, smiling at Kyle.
"Yeah, it was awesome. A couple of times I actually beat the machine battles," Kyle says proudly.
"Nice going. Glad you found a game you loved playing," Heath says.
"Did everyone else have fun?" Kyle asks.
"I had a blast, and it was just topped off with beating Case at Air Hockey," Heath chuckles.
"Only because he had an advantage; my arms were sore from playing a raft game," Casey defends.
"You chose to play that game," Heath teases.
"But I didn't expect to be playing in competition with you afterwards," Casey retaliates.
"How about we all go for that walk in the park, like Kyle suggested, then head over to dinner?" Brax suggests.
The brothers wander around the park for thirty minutes, then hop into Brax's Ute and head towards Bankstown.
Forty-five minutes later, they arrive at the Bankstown Star Buffet restaurant and after Brax pays the bill, they each grab some plates and make their way over to the buffet.
Casey piles up his plate with ribs, steak, chicken kebabs, a little bit of seafood, pasta, and a bare minimum of salad and Heath does the same, except adds more meat and seafood to his plate.
Brax fills his plate up with a reasonable amount of meat, seafood, and salads and Kyle takes the least but fills up on pastas, salads and chicken kebabs, avoiding the seafood altogether, never being much of a fan.
As they take their seats at the table, Brax looks over at Casey's mountain of food.
"If you eat all that you are going to end up with a stomach-ache, especially after already having those curly fries earlier," Brax comments.
Casey shrugs Brax's comment off.
"No, I won't. Heath's got a bigger plate than me and besides I thought it was all you can eat and I can eat all this," Casey claims.
"Hey: I'm allowed a bigger plate. I'm going to be a happy man soon with a female roommate," Heath announces.
"You haven't asked Bianca yet," Kyle pipes up to which Heath gives him a look.
"Anyways, I can take more because I'm not a light-weight teenager like you two. Though Kylie, you haven't got much on your plate," Heath comments.
Casey scowls.
"I can handle my food as good as you," he challenges.
Heath chuckles, "Wanna bet?"
"And I've got enough," Kyle adds quietly.
Brax rolls his eyes.
"There will be no challenges on who can eat more. We are here to have a lovely family meal to celebrate."
"Wise words, big fella," Heath says proudly and takes a large bite out of one of his smoked pork ribs.
Casey huffs.
"You just don't want to lose to me," he mumbles barely audible, as he starts shoveling down his food.
Kyle scrunches his nose at Casey and Heath's eating.
"That's disgusting," Kyle states.
Brax sighs.
"Casey, I'm just going to warn you: I don't want to hear about you feeling sick later tonight because you insist on eating that amount of food," Brax states.
"You won't," Casey moans.
"But I will; you'll complain to me instead," Kyle says as he eats a bit of his pasta.
"Hey: whose side are you on?" Casey accuses, momentarily stopping his eating.
"No-one's; I'm just saying it's kind of what you do; you have to admit that," Kyle answers.
Casey huffs and goes back to his eating.
"One thing missing is some drinks, big fella," Heath says.
"And let me guess: it's my shout for that too?" Brax jokes.
"How'd you guess?" Heath chuckles but then reaches into his wallet to pull out some money.
"I'll pay for these two," Heath says and gestures towards Kyle and Casey.
"We better order up big then," Casey says and nudges Kyle who smiles in response.
Brax raises his brow and smiles.
"Beer?" he asks Heath, who nods.
"Can I please have a lemon squash?" Kyle asks.
"Sure Ky, and for you Case?" Brax asks.
Casey gives a cheeky smile.
"Since this is for a special occasion can I try one of those fancy cocktails?"
Brax's eyes widen while Heath scoffs, both in surprise.
"A short answer: no. They are stronger in alcohol than beer," Brax states.
"Does that mean I can have a beer then?"
Brax shakes his head.
"I still haven't forgotten last time, Casey. Order a soft drink," Brax responds.
"Fine; I'll have a coke," Casey grumbles.
Brax walks off to get the drinks and Heath playfully slaps Casey on the back.
"Cheer up baby bro, you'll have plenty of time to drink when you're grown up," Heath laughs.
"Why do you even want to drink so much; it's disgusting," Kyle comments.
"To you. Besides it's cool, I guess," Casey says.
Brax then returns with the drinks and the four continue to eat and talk.
After the four boys finish eating their plates of food and drinks; Heath and Brax going up second helpings, they all have a bit of dessert before making the way back to Brax's Ute for the drive home.
"Boy am I full," Heath announces, rubbing his stomach as they get into Brax's car.
"I bet you are, given you ate the most out of all of us," Brax chuckles.
"I'm surprised you still had room for dessert," Kyle pipes up from the back seat.
Heath spins around to smirk at Kyle who is sitting behind Brax.
"It's more than I can say for you, Bubs. I had to eat that much to make up for your miniature amount of food all night so we could get the most out of our money," Heath informs with a laugh.
"I did have a big plate, and I had heaps of pasta, salads and some meats," Kyle defends.
"It doesn't matter who had what, just the main thing is, that we all had a good night," Brax announces, to which all the remaining three agree.
Brax drives back home and upon return, Heath farewells his brothers and goes into his flat to call Bianca, while Brax informs Kyle and Casey to get organised for bed and school the next day before heading into the house himself.