Chapter 15

Ava's pov

We've been driving for a while now and Damien has repeatedly refused to tell me where he was taking me.

After persistently asking I decided to give up and just wait until we get there to find out.

"We're here" I looked at my surroundings to familiar myself with the place.

I read the sign on top of the building 'Bowling Alley'

Utterly surprised I said" this is the surprise; you're taking me to a bowling alley"

"Yes, is there a problem, I wanted to do something different instead of dinner only" he replied looking a bit nervous.

"I love it, I haven't been in ages. As a teen I always went to the bowling alleys. It's really the only type of sport I can tolerate" I sincerely replied but also wanting to reassure him.

"Are you ready to go in"

He got out of the car and so did I not wanting to waste any more time.

"Of course," I was like a kid on Christmas day.

We both walked towards the direction of the main door.

Damien opened the door for me, and I responded with a smile and "thank you"

There weren't that many people there. The place wasn't overly massive. It was of reasonable size with six bowling alleys.

We walked over to the counter where the shoes were sold.

Damien immediately asked what shoe size I was, and I responded with "size seven"

He told the scrawny looking teenager our shoe size with his being a size twelve.

The teen who goes by the name Samuel, according to his name tag turned around to where the shoes were and looked for our sizes.

I took this as an opportunity to look around more.

I noticed a group of teenagers in the far corner. They were competing against each other by the looks of it.

They seemed to be in two groups, some looked happy to be winning while others looked agitated.

A man teaching his daughter how to bowl caught my attention.

It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen. The child looked about three.

She had her hair out and every time she rolled the ball, she'd happily jump up causing her wild curls to move with her.

She'd motion for her father to pick her up and him having no choice would surrender.

"Here's your shoes and that will be twenty Euro"

Damien payed him and grabbed the shoes.

"Where would you like to go" he asked motioning to the few available lanes" Damien asked.

Not really caring which one I said "the third one"

It was the one that happened to be beside the little girl and her father.

We sat on the small bench designated for each lane.

Damien handed me my shoes. As soon as I had mine on, I was ready to play.

"You know it might have been a bad idea to bring me here, unless you're okay with losing"

With the most confidence I could muster up I walked over to where the balls were and picked one up.

While I was doing that Damien was writing our names on the screen.

"You actually think you can beat me. I hope you have skill because you're playing against a bowling champion" Damien exclaimed in a playful manner.

"You haven't seen anything yet. I've had my fair share of bowling and I'd hate to tout my own horn but I'm pretty good" I shot back with as much confidence.

"We shall see" he mischievously responded.

I walked over to the bowling lane. Carefully aiming my bowling ball at the pins at the end of the lane.

I threw the ball anticipating the outcome. The ball finally reached the end hitting seven pins.

Content with myself I walked over to where the rest of the balls were.

While I was picking up one of the black balls, I glanced at Damien only to see him staring back at me with a smirk on his face.

I walked back over to the bowling lane with determination coursing through my views.

I threw the hard bowling ball and watched as it missed the last standing three pins.

To make matters worse Damien was laughing hysterically behind me as if this was the funniest thing he'd ever seen.

I immediately turned around and shot him a death glare only for him to laugh even harder.

I went to sit by the bench and watch as we walked over to the bowling lane still in a fit of laughter.

He calmed himself down a bit and focused on the pins on the other side.

I observed as he swung his arm back and forth then finally releasing the ball.

I watched as the ball hit all ten pins knocking them to the floor immediately.

To my dismay Damien turned around to me. Looked into my eyes as if taunting me.

Me being stubborn I said" First time luck"

He only laughed at my response.

After many tries and us taking turns, I can only say that I'm losing and bad.

He's way ahead of me. It has gotten so bad that he's even going as far as to give me tips on how to hit a strike on first throw.

Giving up and feeling about thirsty I walked over to the fending machine to buy two bottles of water while it was Damien's turn to play.

When I got back to where we were, I handed Damien his bottle of water.

"You didn't have to get it; I should have asked if you needed anything" He exclaimed before twisting the cap and drinking from the bottle.

"It's fine you were too into the game"

"Would you like to leave" he asked.

"Yes" I replied almost too eagerly.

"Okay let's leave then, we can get something to eat" he responded looking somewhat pleased that I said yes.

We both walked over to the bench. I took off my bowling shoes and slipped my own shoes on.

Damien also did the same. We both walked over to the place where the teen we bought the shoes from was.

We handed him our shoes.

"Thank you. We had fun" I said as he took the shoes from us.

"Come again next time" the teen said as we walked out the door, waving.

"So where would you like to eat, I know a small family run restaurant down the street that make amazing food" Damien exclaimed excited to show me the place.

"Sounds nice, let's go there then if it's as good as you say" I replied smiling back at him.

We both got into his car which was parked at the parking lot of the bowling alley.

He immediately drove off and in no time, we were at the place he was talking about.

The restaurant was lovely. It was small but held extreme value.

By the look of the restaurant you could tell that the owners took great pride in their business.

He parked the car and we both got out. He walked over to where I was standing and escorted me to the door.

As always, he held the door for me.

The inside of the restaurant was so inviting.

The lights were dimly lit. The tables were nicely decorated with a white cloth over it and a candle in the middle.

There was a nice fireplace with armchairs around it.

"What do you think" Damien asked as he saw the look on my face.

"It's beautiful"

"I knew you'd like it, I come here often. In winter when I have spare time, I'd order a nice cup of coffee and sit over there beside the fireplace" he said with a nostalgic look on his handsome face.

"It's lovely, I'll definitely be coming here from now on. It's absolutely gorgeous"

I was still mesmerized by the place. It was wonderfully thought out.

We walked over to where a man stood taking reservations for a table.

The middle-aged man wore a suit with his tie done up nicely.

He asked us what our names were.

He started looking at his book which was filled with names of previous reservations.

"Follow me" he instructed. Without further delay we both obediently followed the man.

We were directed to the table closest to the window which I could not have been more pleased with.

He left but not after saying "if there's anything you need don't hesitate to inform the staff or myself"

Not going to lie he reminded me so much of the butler in fresh Prince of bel air.

"Can you excuse me for a minute I need to use the restroom" I directed at Damien excusing myself.

"No problem" he responded giving me a smile.

I walked over to the doors that wrote lavatory above it.

Pushing open the doors I quickly walked over to the mirrors.

I was glad to see that my makeup was still there and hadn't melted off my face.

I checked my phone to see it was eleven past ten.

Putting my phone back into my bag and checking my makeup one more time before walking out of the restroom.

Upon opening the door, I looked over at were our table was only to see two men standing at our table talking to Damien.

One of the guys looked familiar but I couldn't confirm If I knew them or not since both men had their backs facing me.

Walking closer to the table it was clear that one of the men was indeed my boss.

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