"C'mon, C'mon, C'mon!" Jasmine shouted, her fingers crossed tightly.

As if hearing her prayers and blatantly denying them, the bowling ball slowly curved its trajectory, landing directly in the gutter. Jasmine stomped her feet, huffing angrily as she walked back to Felix.

"It almost went in," Felix offered. Jasmine glared at him as she plopped down into her seat.

"I don't want to hear it, Mr. Three-Strikes-In-A-Row."

Felix grinned. "It's Mr. Turkey, actually."

Jasmine flipped him off. He laughed, shaking his head as he stood up. He lifted his bowling ball from the ball return, striding towards the start of the lane. He carefully lined himself up, swung his arm back, and shot it forwards.

The bowling ball slid onto the lane and sped down the lane, traveling in a completely straight line. It struck the front and center pin, sending it careening into the others. With loud clatter, the pins fell like dominos, all ten hitting the ground. The pinsetter scooped the pins off the lane as the computer added his score.

Felix turned around, smugly smiling at Jasmine, who resembled a grumpy toddler. She flipped him off again, scoffing as the score revealed itself on the screen above him. He glanced up.

Fel: 265

Jas: 129

"We should report a bug in the computer system," Felix said, sitting beside Jasmine. "They messed up all your numbers. Didn't you get a 291?"

Jasmine growled. "Shut the hell up."

"Alright," Felix said, putting his hands up in surrender. "Since I won, I'll pay for lunch."

Jasmine kept her scowl up for a moment longer before dropping it with a nod. "That sounds fair. An apology lunch."

"An apology for beating you in bowling?"

"Yes. You basically insulted my honor."

"How did I insult your honor?"

"Cause I thought bowling was the one thing I had on you," Jasmine said, playfully nudging his shoulder.

"What does that even mean?" Felix asked, laughing.

"I thought I could beat you bowling! You've beat me in literally everything else we've done."

"That's not true!"

"Oh really? List one thing I've beaten you in."

Felix searched his mind for an answer. "That time we went mini-golfing, and I took so many strokes I had doubled the total par."

"You were sick with a 102 fever and didn't want to cancel."

"How about when we did the 'team-bonding obstacle course'?"

"Someone got so mad at you that they punched you and you were out the rest of the day."

"Just take the wins."

Jasmine huffed, standing up. "I'd rather have a real win, not a pity win."

"You'll find something that you're at me than," Felix said, smiling.

"Uh-huh, sure. Let's just get lunch, asshat."

"You truly do flatter me."

Jasmine rolled her eyes. "I try my best."

Jasmine held out her hand to Felix. He took it, using her support to stand up easier. She then led the way to the desk, where they quickly took off their shoes and handed them to the unimpressed looking teen. They quickly put away the shoes and then produced Felix and Jasmine's shoes from a hidden drawer. Felix and Jasmine thanked the teen, wandering off with their shoes.

They stopped for a moment by the bathrooms to put on their shoes. Felix glanced around, looking for a restaurant. There was a restaurant within the bowling alley, likely filled with enough fried food to give everyone in the building a heart attack four times over.

"Before you say anything," Jasmine said, finishing tying her shoes. "I am NOT up for going to that grease trap."

Felix let out a sigh of relief. "Neither am I, actually."

"There should be an Olive Garden not too far from here," Jasmine said, standing up.

"Sounds good to me."

"Alright then, let's go."

Jasmine led the way out of the building, pushing through or leading Felix around a few masses of people that were milling about. Once they got outside, Felix was hit by the cool spring air. It was just beginning to warm up outside, and flowers were starting to bloom. A few were scattered along the edge of the dull gray building, bright against the dull background.

"Want to take my car or your car?" Jasmine asked.

"My car has better fuel economy."

"Yours it is then."

Felix quickly unlocked his car, letting Jasmine hop in. He followed suit, plopping into the driver's seat. For a moment, his car didn't want to start, making an unhappy rumbling noise. But Felix turned the key again, and the car came to life.

"Better fuel economy, better chance of breaking down," Jasmine muttered.

"Oh hush, Catelyn is perfectly fine," Felix said, pulling out of his parking spot. "Just put in the GPS."

"Just put it in the GPS," Jasmine mocked, typing at her phone.

"In one hundred feet, turn right," The GPS instructed.

Jasmine placed her phone on the small stand on Felix's dash, giving him a clear view of the map. He glanced down at it occasionally as he pulled out of the parking lot, his head craning as he cautiously looked for oncoming cars. He didn't need to be in another accident.

The ride started out silent. The only noises that could be heard were that of Felix's engine, which hummed angrily as he hit four thousand RPMs. He shifted, quieting the car. But the quiet atmosphere of the car only lasted for a moment longer before Jasmine struck up conversation.

"How's it been at the mall?" Jasmine asked.

"Good, I guess?" Felix sighed. "I'm not entirely sure."

Jasmine glanced over, her eyebrows furrowing. "What do you mean?"

Felix shrugged. "It's just been a lot."

"I would imagine."

The car fell back into silence. Felix gently pressed on the gas to slow down as they hit a red light, a line of cars stopped ahead of them. He watched them absentmindedly, taking a deep breath.

"Shane asked me to do another video."

"Oh?"

Felix frowned, but quickly hid the expression. Jasmine sounded disinterested, almost. Like she wasn't listening, or if she was, she didn't care. He glanced over at her. She was staring out the window, her hands folded neatly in her lap.

"I actually just filmed a video with him today."

"Nice."

"Pretty much the same thing as last time, just me playing for the public."

"That's cool."

"I'm not sure what he wants to do for future videos, though. If we do more than one more, that is. He said we could do any type of video, but he probably was just being nice. Probably just wants to do another public music video."

"Sounds fun."

Felix glanced over at Jasmine again as the line of cars started moving forwards. She was still looking out the window, but the corner of her face was just visible. She had a blank expression on, as if she was lost in thought.

"How are you doing?" Felix asked carefully. Suddenly, the blank expression disappeared. She turned to him with a smile.

"Really good, actually."

"Oh? Expound, if you will."

"There's no need, it's just boring stuff really. Just a bunch of tiny things adding up to one big thing."

Felix didn't like the smile Jasmine had on. It wasn't one where she looked truly happy. It wasn't her smug one, or her 'I-know-something-you-don't' grin. It almost seemed forced, like it was a struggle to smile. He'd only seen that smile a couple of times before, and he knew it likely meant bad news.

But Felix didn't push. He figured that she would tell him if she wanted, or when she was ready. Hopefully it would be sooner, rather than later, but as long as it happened at some point, he would be happy.

The rest of the ride was silent. Even the motor had quieted, as if hearing Felix's thoughts and quieting for him to hear them better. When they pulled into Olive Garden, Jasmine was out of the car before it even parked.

"Jesus Christ, slow the hell down!" Felix shouted, stopping the car and hopping out.

"No! I need my food!"

"We'll get it! Just wait!"

"No!"

Felix rolled his eyes, jogging to chase after Jasmine, who was already through the restaurant's doors. A wall of warm, garlicky air hit Felix as he slid past the closing door. By the time he had stepped into the small waiting area beside the doors, Jasmine was already talking to the hostess.

"Yes, for two, the other one is just a bit slow on his feet," Jasmine glanced behind, throwing her arms in mock celebration. "Oh yay, he's here!"

Felix forced a smile. "Yep. I'm here."

The hostess glanced at them unsurely, letting out a nervous, confused chuckle. She grabbed two menus, motioning for Felix and Jasmine to follow her. They stuck close behind her as she weaved through the semi-busy restaurant, striding past customers, all in different phases of eating.

"Thank you," Felix said to the hostess as she set the menus down on a table. As soon as she left, he turned to Jasmine. "Seriously?"

"What?" Jasmine asked innocently as she sat down, grabbing her menu. Felix followed suit, glaring daggers at her.

"You don't have to make a scene with the hostess."

"I'm not, I'm simply stating facts."

"She did not need to know you were waiting five seconds for me."

"She gave me a weird look when I said 'A table for two,' so I told her the truth."

Before he could argue further, their waiter appeared, smiling warmly at both of them.

"Hi! I'm Wyatt, I'll be your server today," he said, pulling out a pad of paper from a pocket in his apron. "Anything I can get you guys to drink?"

"I'll just have water," Jasmine said.

""Same here," Felix added. The waiter nodded, looking at both of them quickly as if to see if they had anything else to say. When they didn't, he pocketed his paper pad.

"Sounds good, I'll be right back with those."

Jasmine watched him carefully, staring him down as he walked away. Felix raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for an explanation. Once he disappeared out of view, she looked back at Felix, smirking.

"Pretty cute, isn't he," Jasmine said, winking. Felix rolled his eyes.

"Sure."

In truth, he was fairly attractive. He had curly, rust red hair that was short on the sides and back but long on the top. His eyes were a pale shade of blue, and Felix had noticed a small dimple when he smiled. But despite all of that, Felix felt nothing when he looked at him. Other than the small expectation that he would come bearing food.

"What do you mean, 'Sure'? He's, like, exactly your type."

Felix shrugged. "I don't know. Just not feeling it."

She scoffed. "Since when do you not blab about an attractive guy?"

"Jasmine, I haven't 'blabbed' about an attractive guy in several months."

"You've thought about them, though."

"A little," he admitted. "But not nearly as much as you seem to think."

"Well, I'm glad you're not interested in him, because I think he's cute and I'm going to see if I can get his number."

"You could've still done that even if I was."

Jasmine recoiled like she had just been touched by a fire. "That would be horrible of me to do."

Felix opened his mouth to object, before realizing she had a point, and he would have thought it if the scenario had happened. He shrugged. "Fair point."

"I mean, you're not interested in him, right?" she whispered. "Cause if you aren't, I'm going to go for it."

"Not the slightest bit of attraction," Felix assured her.

He wondered why that was.