Chapter Text
a couple days later when Sketch is mindlessly scrolling on his phone, Jake invites Sketch to hang out.
With his friendgroup.
That was the best he was going to get right now, considering they weren’t particularly close. And not that he minded, he wanted to meet his other friends.
So here he was getting dressed in his signature orange hoodie and beige shorts, ready to go hangout. He had invited him to go bowling, to which he had mentally cringed. He sucked at bowling. The last time he went bowling he had managed to accidentally hit someone in the head with the bowling ball. Don’t ask him, he truly doesn’t know how.
He sighed at the memory and hoped something like that wouldn’t happen again. As he was in thought his phone buzzed, it was a message from Jandel who was going to be bringing him. He made a mental note to make sure to thank him.
Sketch hopped in the passenger side of the car and groaned, “ My heart feels like it’s gonna stop beating. “ he said jokingly, clutching his chest and slumping over for dramatic effect. Jandel just rolled his eyes at his friend’s theatrics, “ I’m sure you’ll be right. “ he ensured and looked at him smugly, “ Let’s hope you don’t hit someone again. “
“ Ugh, don’t remind me. “ Sketch covered his face and mumbled while Jandel just laughed and patted his shoulder. “ Nah, but seriously i’m sure it’ll be all good. “ he smiled at the other who reciprocated. “ Thanks Janny. “
They stopped infront of the bowling alley and Sketch thanked Jandel, “ Thanks dude. “. He just smiled and waved his hand “ No worries mate. “. Sketch turned and walked to the entrance, finding Jake and his friends grouped together at the front desk.
“ Hey! “ he exclaimed as he walked up to them. “ Heyyy! “ Jake stretched out the y at the end and grabbed Sketch by the shoulders, turning towards his friends. “ Guys this is Sketch, who I was telling you all about! “ Jake boasted and Sketch turned his head toward the other.
“ You were talking about me? “ His eyes shined, and Jake turned red, obviously getting flustered. “ Quite a bit. “ Dani stands with her hands on her hips and snorts, Jake just sputters “ Wh- Dani- Yea, whatever! “ he crosses his arms and everyone giggles a little, including Sketch who covers his mouth in attempts to suppress his chuckling.
Jake’s face turns scarlet and he speedwalks to the front of the group as they walk to their lane. Sketch stares at the back of his head for a couple seconds until Denis walks up to him.
“ Long time, no see! “ the brunette states, wrapping his arm around the others neck and giving him a noogie, “ Hey, stop! “ he jokes around, struggling in the others grip. Sketch finally breaks out and they both stumble and when they regain their balance they stare at each other and laugh, just about in tears.
“ Damn, I miss middle school. “ Sketch says with a melancholic expression, Denis mutters in agreement and they begin to reminisce on their middle school days.
Jake on the other hand, walks with his head up and arms crossed, clearly still flustered from earlier. Dani walks up to him and pats him on the shoulder, “ There there, not all of us can be smooth. “ Jake just scoffs, “ The only smooth you are is smooth brained. “.
Dani chortled at his response and smacked him upside the head, “ Wow! Rude much? It’s cause I’m a woman, isn’t it? “ She says playfully, to which he responds with, “ You know what, yea. “, and giggles.
Dani just faux gasps and yells out “ We got a misogynist over here! He said he hates women! “. They start to play fight and Temprist and Albert seem to enjoy the two’s banter, giggling at the scene unfolding in front of them. Hell, even Sketch begins to become amused at the two’s banter.
Eventually they grab bowling balls and head towards their lane, trying to decide who should be the first to go. Albert steps up and argues it should be him to which no one objects, knowing it would be fruitless. The rest decide Jake would be second, Dani would go third, Temp fourth, Sketch fifth, and Denis last.
On Alberts first turn he completely misses the pins and his ball rolls into the gutters. Dani full on belly laughs and points at him, to which he spewed insults at her in response. Next was Jake, who got a strike and boasted about it every single second after. Dani and Temp went after and had both gotten spares.
Now it was Sketch. He sweat nervously as he remembers his unlucky streak, especially when bowling. He inhaled and rolled the ball down the lane, thankfully it didn’t swerve off into any direction, although it did only hit one pin. He walked back with his head down, “ Better luck next time. “ Jake pats his back and Sketch flushes, “ Y-yup..! “.
He begins to feel butterflies in his stomach that get stronger as Jake doesn’t retract his arm away that rests behind his back on the booth-like chairs. They stayed like that until it was Jake’s turn once again, who had somehow gotten a double that made his ego grow even more. Sketch heard Denis whisper to Albert to calm the other down, which made him stare at them a while.
..Did they have something going on?
His thoughts were interrupted by Jake, “ Hey, your turn Sketch. “ he yelped and became even more embarrassed, “ Oh! “. He rigidly stood up and grabbed his ball, hoping once more. The ball went into the gutters instead this time. He REALLY sucked at this.
“ Third times the charm? “ Jake assured, but it came out more like a question than reassurance. Sketch just laughed in response which caused the other to copy the action as they watched Denis roll again. He got a strike and exclaimed in excitement and surprise while everyone cheered.
Albert hit six pins and Jake somehow got ANOTHER strike, and now it was his turn once more. Sketch went to get up but his was stopped by something. He turned around and saw Jake grabbing his wrist and looked at him, “ Maybe I could, uh, help you? Like aim or something. “ he asked, looking off to the side. Sketch’s face filled with surprise and Jake followed up with “ If that’s okay, obviously. “.
“ Are you saying I suck? “ he pretended to be upset while Jake just stumbled on his words “ What- No! That’s not- “ Sketch just smiled, “ Yea, that’d be fine. “.
Jake felt relief wash over him, smiling he got up and walked behind Sketch, allowing him to grab the orange ball and start with a stance. Jake came up behind him and began giving instructions, “ Have a slight bend in your knee, “ he reached towards the other knees with one hand and put his other hovering over his hip.
“ make sure your toes are pointed where you want the ball to go, “ Jake seemed oblivious to the effect he had on the other, who felt like there was lava beneath him due to how warm he was. “ Relax your body. “ he said in a low voice.
This man was going to be the death of him if he didn’t back away in a couple seconds.
Eventually he threw the ball to get it over with and actually got a strike. He had a surprised look on his face while the other just looked at him smugly, “ See? I know what I’m doing here. “ Sketch just stood there in shock, “ How the hell do you even know all this? “. The other just laughed at the question and walked to sit back down. Dani just looked at Jake with distaste, he just stuck his tongue out at her and waved his hands.
After all the frames were finished Sketch messaged Jandel and said goodbye to everyone, and as he went into the car he kicked his feet in excitement. “ Oh. My. Goodness Jandel. You literally won’t believe what I’m going to tell you. “ The kiwi raises a brow, “ Really aye? Enlighten me. “
Sketch begins to recite the events that happened, and gets to the 3rd frame of the game. “ He offers to help me? And when he does he’s practically on top of me! “ he yells, continuing “ Then he puts his hand on my hip!- well.. hovering but it’s the same thing. Then he’s like ‘ Relax your body. ‘ in a deep voice and stuff and- Jeez I thought I was gonna die right there. “ he runs his hands through his hair.
Jandel laughs at his friend and his confusion, seeing the toll it is taking on him, “ It’s not funny!“ he cries out and Jandel just laughs more. They eventually get to Sketch’s house after quite a bit of bickering and before Sketch gets out the car he turns to Jandel.
“ Thanks Jandel, seriously. For dealing with me and driving me around everywhere. “ he jokes, Jandel grins and pats him on the head “ No sweat, mate. “. Sketch rolls his eyes and flips the man off as he walks to the front door.
He had a lot of fun tonight, and even made a couple more friends.