S1 Week 14 Bonus Story: Strike Out

Losing at Love and Bowling

Welcome to Trainwrecks, a free-to-read fiction serial that follows a group of six Seattle-adjacent friends from the year 2004 to the year 2015. Join Luna Cruz, Sebastian Velasquez, Dimitri and Victoria Hale, Duke Kingston, and Jasmine Nolan as they stumble their way from adolescence to adulthood, falling in love, making mistakes, overcoming their pasts, and staying together through it all.

Friday posts are for paid subscribers. For $5 a month or a discounted rate of $50 a year, readers will get four bonus stories that delve deeper into each individual character’s history or the narrative’s current events. You do not need this content to understand the main story.

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Victoria had not done much bowling in her childhood. For starters, she wasn’t good at it, which had led to temper tantrums more often than not. And then there was the risk of injury to her precious hands, which took enough of a beating from her constant piano practices. She’d forgotten how overwhelming bowling alleys could be to the senses. The thuds, rumblings, and crashes of the bowling itself. The bright lights and screens. The aroma of greasy food emanating from the crowded snack bar.

Beside her, Dimitri ate his way through a plate of nachos drowning in bright yellow cheese and minced beef. He’d complained about his team choices but ultimately decided he would rather be on Jasmine’s side than Duke’s, and Victoria had quickly joined their ranks. In the next lane, Luna and Sebastian cheered while Duke swung his crimson red bowling ball forward. It sailed, as predicted, straight down the middle of the lane and took out all ten pins in one go.

“He’s good,” she murmured.

Jasmine, who had picked up her own cosmic purple bowling ball, smirked at her. “Don’t worry, he’s not as good as me.”

Turned out no one was as good as her or Duke. Luna and Sebastian were flat-out terrible, and though Dimitri could hold his own, Victoria was bad enough to keep both teams’ scores about even. Their parents, gathered at a large table behind the lanes, occasionally broke from their conversations to shout encouragements.

Luna leaned over the booth. “Isn’t this fun?” she shouted.

Duke walked up behind her and ruffled her hair. “Oi! No fraternizing with the enemy!”

Victoria scowled at him. She looked back in time to see Jasmine bowl yet another strike, which meant it was now her turn to show everyone what she was made of. It shouldn’t be that difficult. All she had to do was throw the ball as hard as she could, right? She stood and scurried over to pick up her ball, nearly slipping on the polished wood floor along the way. Why did they have to wear such ghastly shoes? The thought of all the other feet that had been in them before hers made her skin crawl.