In a Flash

Emiliana had woken up bright and early, like she did every morning. Ever since the night of the accident, Emiliana had not had a blissful night of sleep. Whether she would have nightmares or difficulty falling asleep in general, rest was something that was very hard for her to come by. However, she had been living like this for fifteen years now, so it was just the norm for her.

As Emiliana entered the kitchen, she saw that Erin was already brewing up some coffee. She smiled to herself. She really enjoyed waking up with Erin, as Gia and Tori both loved to sleep in. She was going to try and scare her friend, who had her back turned to her, when she bumped her hip into the side of the wall and fell down, grasping her hipbone and moaning in agony.

Erin turned and looked down at Emiliana and laughed. "Good morning, sunshine!"

Emiliana groaned as she forced herself to stand up, still rubbing her stinging hipbone. "Don't make fun of me."

"You were totally asking for it," Erin said as she poured her cup of coffee, hissing a little bit from the steam. "Is Gia still asleep?"

Emiliana nodded. Tori and Erin both had rooms in the basement, while Gia and herself had taken the rooms on the second floor. "I heard a little bit of movement, though," she said as she took a seat at the kitchen table. "It probably won't be long before she's down here with us."

"Tori will be the last to wake up," Erin said with a small chuckle, joining Emiliana at the kitchen table.

Emiliana nodded. "Of course she will be!" She jumped a little as Erin's phone, which had been conveniently placed on the kitchen table, began to vibrate. Suddenly, the dinner they had had a couple of nights ago flushed into her memory. "Hey, have you heard from that Wade guy?"

Erin shook her head, grabbing her phone and checking who the text was from. She smirked. "Actually, scratch that. This is from him."

Emiliana leaned forward in her seat. "Well! What does it say?"

Erin looked down at her phone and began to read out loud. "'Hey! You and your friends busy today?'" She looked up at Emiliana. "I don't know. Are we busy today, Em?"

"Not that I know of!" Emiliana said. "He probably wants to hangout with you."

"He wants to hangout with all of us," Erin corrected as she texted him back. "His friends probably wanted to tag along."

"They're gross old men if they think they're getting it in," Emiliana said as she made a disgusted face.

"They were kind of cute, I might let them."

Erin looked over Emiliana's shoulder as Gia walked into the room. She gave her a small wave. "Hey!"

"I was more into the waiter," Emiliana stated as Gia went straight for the coffee machine. "I wasn't paying much attention to those guys."

Erin looked down at her phone, it vibrating in her hands. "He wants to know if we want to meet them at Starlanes. It's a bowling alley."

"Is it within walking distance?" Gia asked, taking a seat beside Emiliana, coffee cup in hand.

Erin had already been one step ahead of her and nodded. "Yep! Twenty minute walk, give or take. You guys down?"

Emiliana and Gia exchanged glances and nodded. Emiliana stood up and stretched. "I'll go wake up sleeping beauty."

~

An hour and a half later, the girls were standing outside of Starlanes bowling alley. Emiliana lowered her sunglasses and peered inside. "It looks expensive in there," she said sheepishly.

Gia waved her hand. "It's all on me, guys. Well, my parents. They want us to have the time of our lives."

Wade walked out of the front doors and greeted the girls with a huge smile. "Hi ladies!" he said cheerfully. "Come inside! The guys are waiting in the pool room."

"How did he know we were out here?" Tori whispered.

"I texted him. Duh," Erin replied, giving her friend a strange look.

As Emiliana had described, the inside of Starlanes looked, for lack of a better word, expensive. Everything appeared to be brand new. The shoes looked like they had just been bought, the lanes had no skid marks on them, and even the bowling balls looked like they had never been used. The girls followed Wade into a small room right next to where the lanes were, which revealed a pool table and some stools where you could sit and eat. The room wasn't well lit and the person running the food area wasn't in site. The girls breathed a sigh of relief - this felt more like home.

Wade approached two men who were leaning against the pool table. The one looked familiar to Erin, as he had told her that Wade thought she was attractive. His name was Anthony, and he was 21. He was also the youngest of the four boys, which made the girls wonder who the oldest was.

The other man reached his hand out for them to shake. "Hi! I'm Ari," he said, flashing them a very devilish smile.

"It's nice to meet you," Gia said, speaking for all of them. "How old are you?"

"I'm 26," he said, the smirk never leaving his face. "I'm the oldest of the four of us. Eric's the same age as Wade."

"Speaking of him, where is Eric?" Wade asked.

"Bathroom," Anthony replied, gesturing to the door at the end of the room.

Ari clapped his hands together. "Why don't we go get our shoes. He can join in next round."

As the group headed for the door, Emiliana cleared her throat. "Uhm, I'm going to get something to eat!" She shrugged and smiled. "I'm not much of a bowler anyway."

Tori shrugged back. "Suit yourself!"

Emiliana was thankful when she heard the door close. She expected one of her friends to fight back, reminding her that the server was nowhere to be found and that this was their big opportunity to make new friends. She always felt awkward in social situations, and it was incredibly difficult for her to make acquaintances with anyone. She pulled herself up on to the stool and pulled her camera out of her tote bag, going through the pictures they had taken on their trip thus far.

"Havin' fun?"

She jumped, a little taken back by the sudden sound. She looked to the right as she remembered that they had mentioned one of their friends was in the bathroom, but she couldn't remember his name. She gave him a small smile. "As much fun as you can have when you're alone."

He seated himself on the stool beside her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm Eric!"

Emiliana nodded. "I'm Emiliana. Nice to meet you."

Eric raised an eyebrow at the sound of her name. "Emiliana? That's different."

She shrugged. "Most people just call me Em."

Eric smirked slightly. "I don't want to be most people. Can I call you something different?"

Emiliana was surprised by his incredibly charismatic nature. She wasn't used to people being this open to her. She tilted her head to the side at his request. "If I like it."

Eric spun around in his stool and rested his elbows on the table. He pouted his lips as he searched around for the perfect nickname. "How about Lana?"

Emiliana pursed her lips. "I've never been called that before."

"But do you like it?" Eric asked, swinging around in his stool again.

She smiled. "Actually, I think I do."

"Sweet!" Eric said happily. "Anyway, Lana, what are you doing in here by yourself? You're one of Erin's friends, right? Why aren't you out there bowling with them?"

Emiliana shrugged. "I wasn't really feeling it. Besides, I'm hungry."

Eric rested his chin on his hand. "Well you won't be getting any service in here anytime soon."

Emiliana gave out a small laugh. "Yeah, I can see that."

Eric was quiet for a minute before he cleared his throat. "Uhm, there's a small place just down the street. They have amazing burgers there. You want to go?"

"What about the bowling game?" Emiliana asked, gesturing to the door that led to the bowling alley. "Don't you want to play?"

He shook his head. "I heard what Ari said. Besides, I wouldn't want to leave you out."

Emiliana grinned as she flipped some of her long brown hair behind her shoulder. "Okay. Let's go then."

Eric grinned back at her as he hopped off of the stool and began to lead the way. Emiliana examined the bowling alley before they left and saw that her friends were in a lane at the very end of the room. They seemed to be having a good time, so she decided that she would text one of them when they arrived at the food place.

"So you just graduated high school..." Eric said softly, shoving his hands into his jean pockets as he tried to make small talk. Emiliana liked that there were no awkward silences with him, as being awkward was one of her least favourite self-traits. "What are you planning on studying in college?"

"Photography," she said, smiling as she mentioned the name of her passion.

"Don't get offended when I say this but, do you know how many girls your age think they're photographers just because they can click a shutter button?"

She laughed, surprised when she actually didn't take offense. Emiliana was very sensitive and would usually take things personally that had nothing to even do with her. It must've been the tone in his voice. "I'm not one of those girls, I can promise you."

Eric's eyes fell upon her bag. "Would you let me see your photos?"

"Maybe," she said, clutching her bag closer to her body. "When we get to that food place."

Eric removed one of his hands from his pockets and pointed up. "Well we're here!"

Emiliana followed his hand and saw that the name of the place was Iggy's Diner. "Is this place just specialized in burgers?" she asked as they entered the place.

Eric shook his head. "Not at all. They have a lot of stuff, but their burgers are the yummiest."

Emiliana smirked. "I'll test that out for myself."

Eric held up his hands in surrender. "Fine! Don't believe me!"

She found herself giggling as they sat side by side on stools in the bar area. "Am I even allowed to be sitting here?" she whispered as she looked around at the waiters, who she felt were judging her.

"They can't tell you're 18 just by looking at you, Lana," Eric whispered back. "Besides, I'm a regular. They'll just assume you're my age."

Emiliana shifted uncomfortably in her seat but smiled as a waiter approached them. After Eric ordered, she awkwardly gestured toward him after a couple of moments of silence. "I'll just have what he's having."

The waiter gave Eric a seductive look before turning on her heel and marching off. Eric laughed as he looked over at Emiliana. "You're really awkward."

"Wow, thanks." She jokingly hung her bag against her arm and slowly sat up. "I'll just leave you alone to flirt with the waitress."

Eric grabbed her gently, which sent shivers up her spine. "No!" He rolled his eyes as Emiliana returned to her spot and he retreated his arm. "And she was flirting with me. I wasn't flirting back. There's a difference."

Emiliana leaned her arms against the table as she gave him a small smirk. "Whatever."

"I don't want you to go. I invited you here to spend time with you," Eric stated, making Emiliana blush. "If I wanted to flirt with the waitress, I would've come here alone."

"You're just saying that because you don't want me to feel bad. I can leave. I know I'm awkward," Emiliana mumbled jokingly.

"Please don't leave. Stay and eat with me!" Eric said with a pout.

Emiliana began giggling at the sight of a man in his mid-twenties giving her the puppy dog eyes. She nodded and said, "Alright, alright! Fine."

"Thank you!" Eric exclaimed as he turned to Emiliana, smiling ear to ear. "I want to ask you something."

Emiliana's eyebrows raised as she stared at him. "Uhm, yeah?"

"Do you want to hangout again sometime? Just the two of us?" he asked, a look of confidence on his face but she could see him twiddling his fingers nervously.

Emiliana smiled at the waiter as she dropped off their drinks, but she didn't notice as she was too busy eyeing Eric. She pulled her drink over and began to stir some of the bubbles out of her soda using the straw. "Depends what you have planned," she said. This was the first time a boy had ever ask her to hangout with him and she had heard playing hard-to-get was the smart thing to do in these situations. Apparently men liked a challenge.

"We can do whatever you want. We could go out for ice cream." He leaned to the side and nudged her in the arm, making her smile slightly. "I hear bitches love ice cream."

"Bitches do love ice cream," she murmured, finally taking a sip of her drink. "But I'm not a bitch."

His facial expression turned incredibly serious as he uttered, "Do you not like ice cream?"

Emiliana burst into a fit of laughter. "Yes, of course I love ice cream!" She attempted to compose herself as the waiter returned with their food. This time, she gave Eric a sweet look and then glared at Emiliana, who smiled in return. She tucked her hair behind her ears as the waiter left. "Okay. Let's hangout sometime."

Eric smiled at her and it was in that moment that she really took in how attractive he was. His jawline and cheekbones were incredibly defined and his face was highlighted by a small amount of scruff. His eyes were big and an incredible shade of blue. His smile turned into a smirk as he realized she was staring at him, and she quickly began to pick at her burger, which, as he had told her, was delicious. He reached into the front pocket of his pants and handed her his phone. "Put your number in there and I'll text you sometime this week. Cool?"

Emiliana accepted the phone and let a small smile etch itself across her face. "Cool."