Sky sighed wistfully as they entered the warmth of the bowling alley. "I haven't been here in the longest time..." she said quietly, more to herself than anyone else. "I think the last time I was here was..."

Sky trailed off, looking distant as sadness appeared in her eyes. Not sure if he was more worried or curious, he was about to ask her about it when Lily spoke up.

"I'm just going to the toilet," Lily said as she put her phone back in her pocket before turning and leaving without waiting for a response. Mason just shook his head slightly in disbelief at the strange thing that was a woman's brain. What was with these two all of a sudden?

"She's probably going to make a phone call," Sky said as she came back to her senses, referencing Lily's constant hold on her phone during the walk here. "I guess we can already go and sign in."

Mason nodded as he followed Sky to the main desk where they booked a lane and switched out their own shoes for the uncomfortable bowling ones. By the time the shoes were as securely fastened to their feet as they could be, Lily returned – with Rhys and a sad looking little boy in tow. Mason didn't miss the substantial distance that their two friends had between them, with the little boy occupying the space between.

"Met each other at the toilets, did you?" Sky asked as she stood up. Lily shrugged her shoulders as the trio reached them and stopped in front of them.

The little boy looked up upon hearing Sky's voice and immediately seemed to perk up; Sky on the other hand seemed none too keen at having the boy's full attention.

"Who's that?" Sky asked, indicating the little boy while trying to hide her dislike for his obvious admiration of her.

"Ah, right, this is Charlie," Rhys said, pulling the boy out in front of him, but seemingly talking more to Mason than Sky even though she asked the question. "He's my little brother; my mum more or less insisted I bring him along. I hope you don't mind."

Clearly intrigued as to her name, Charlie ran forward and took one of her hands in his and looked up at her with a beaming face. "Hi, I'm Charlie. What's your name?"

Sky's body stiffening didn't go unnoticed by Mason. "I'm Sky," she said, obviously not happy with the current situation; Rhys didn't seem any happier than her but didn't move towards them.

The boy's smile widened. "Sky? That's a pretty name."

Sky evidently didn't know how to respond and just stood looking down at the beaming boy. "Thank you?"

As Charlie continued beaming up at Sky, Mason went to separate their hands. "I don't think that's a good idea," he said.

Charlie glared at Mason. "And who are you to you say that? Are you her boyfriend?"

Mason's jaw dropped slightly at the boy's words. "I don't have to be her boyfriend to know what she likes and doesn't like. You can ask Lily and she'll tell you that holding her hands like that is a bad idea!"

Charlie turned to look at Lily with the unspoken question, and she shrugged her shoulders but nodded. "It's true." Charlie pouted in response.

"Come on, let's go and get our shoes," Rhys said, pushing his little brother along and away from Sky as Lily followed along behind them.

"We'll be at lane 7," Sky said to them as she already made her way over, leaving Mason to stand there alone by himself for a moment. He just quickly caught Lily's suggestive wink before he turned to follow Sky and he let out a snort of disbelief but quickly tried to make it sound more like a cough.

Sky turned around in alarm at the odd combination. "Are you alright?"

Mason couldn't help but blush a little when he realised she'd caught that. "I'm fine." He walked past her to hide his face and reached the lane just before she did so he began putting in the details for the five of them.

By the time he'd figured out how to work the machine with Sky's help, their friends and Charlie arrived, with Charlie immediately bounding over and grabbing Sky by the hand. Sky immediately stiffened again.

As the other two slowly approached, Sky tried to gently pry her hands out of Charlie's but to no avail. Although she'd never really had anything to do with Rhys before, she was more than grateful when Rhys rushed over and pried Charlie's hands off her with force and pulled his brother away.

Charlie looked up his older brother angrily. "What was that for?"

Rhys chuckled nervously as he kept his eyes focused on his brother, avoiding Sky altogether. "You heard what they said before – that's not a good idea." Rhys attempted to comfort his brother by awkwardly patting his head but the younger boy just pushed his hand away.

"I'll start the game then, shall I?" Mason said as he attempted to break the odd atmosphere. As the others sat down he took it as his cue and grabbed the first ball, only managing to score a measly 6.

"Is that all?" Sky chuckled as they switched places.

"I haven't played in years," Mason muttered, plopping down on the sofa beside Lily.

"Neither have I. Let's see how I'll match up to your score." When Sky scored a spare, she turned around and looked around at those sitting on the sofa triumphantly; Mason was speechless while Rhys got up from the far side of the sofa to have his go, not so discreetly keeping his distance from Sky who luckily didn't seem to notice. Mason and Lily on the other hand sent him glares which he conveniently ignored.

It was Sky's turn about halfway through the game when Lily noticed that Rhys had his phone in his lap and was trying to discreetly take pictures of Sky. Lily nudged him harshly in the arm and shot him a harsh glare when he turned to look at her.

Lily didn't sit down after her next turn. "Rhys and I are going to get some drinks," she said as Charlie made his way up to grab a ball.

Rhys had just finished placing the bowling aid for Charlie and turned around to look at her in surprise. "We are?"

She smiled tersely at him. "We are. Come on."

After getting Sky's and Mason's drink preferences, the two left, leaving the first two with the little brother who was halfway through his turn already.

When he managed to score a spare he turned around to boast to his brother who was still absent. When he noticed that, he decided to go and boast to Sky instead so he bounded over. "Sky! Did you see that?"

Sky, still not wanting the attention, responded. "I did. It's not hard to score well if you use an aide."

The boy's mood immediately plummeted. Mason, who had been standing and was about to put the aide away bent down after sending Sky a slightly disapproving glare. "What she meant to say was everyone has to start somewhere. Even if you use an aide now, you can surely get a spare even once you've outgrown it."

Charlie was pouting slightly as he first looked from Mason to Sky. "Really?" he asked Sky.

After a pointed glare from Mason, she sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Sure." The boy's mood immediately perked up.

"Where's Rhys?" he suddenly asked as he looked around. "I'm going to go and find him."

Mason put a hand on his shoulder to stop him leaving. "They haven't been gone long. Tell you what, if they're not back after my turn I'll go and look for them, okay?"

Charlie frowned but went to sit next to the displeased Sky on the sofa, leaving Mason to have his turn. When Rhys and Lily still hadn't returned by the end of his turn, Mason made good on his word and went to leave to go and look for them.

Sky grabbed his arm as he was leaving and pulled herself up to stand beside him. "You're not seriously leaving me here with him?" she asked quietly.

"I would never have guessed that a child was your kryptonite," Mason whispered in return, clearly amused.

She glared at him. "Children don't deserve to be hit. At least not the good ones."

"And you haven't been tempted to?" he asked as Sky took a sharp breath when she once again felt Charlie's hand around hers. She looked down at him, clearly tempted after the third time.

"It's your turn, Sky," Charlie said as he pulled her along behind him; Sky glared at Mason over her shoulder and he shrugged apologetically before he went off to look for their friends.

Mason searched for a good few minutes – from the bar to the vending machines – but to no avail. He was just about to head back to their lane when he realised he may as well go to the toilet.

He was just about to round the final corner when he heard a familiar feminine voice that made him stop in his tracks.

"... and you're sure you haven't told Mason?"

Mason was confused. Lily was talking someone, but to who? Rhys? What had Rhys not told him?

Her voice continued after a short pause. "Alright, good. Now go and buy the drinks; I'm going to the toilet."

His stomach dropped as he walked backwards a few steps. The drinks? It definitely was Rhys.

His suspicions were confirmed when Rhys rounded the corner, running a hand through his hair; he seemed just as surprised to see Mason as Mason was to see him.

"Mason. What are you doing here? Have you been here long?" His voice was calm, but there was an undertone of fear and worry. Was he afraid that Mason had just overheard the conversation?

"I—Yeah. I just wanted to go to the toilet. Have you just been?" Mason's heart was pounding a bit but he managed to stop his voice from wavering as he watched his friend relax.

"Yeah, just been. I'll go and get the drinks so just head back to the lane after."

Rhys shot him a small smile as he made his way past Mason and headed back in the direction from whence he came; Mason frowned as he made his way to the male toilets.

He met Lily as he came back out, who voiced surprise at his presence just like Rhys had done. Rhys had just beaten them back to the lane when they returned and their refreshments were already waiting for them on the table; they thanked him before they started drinking.

The game was over quickly after that and they were outside in the cold before they knew it. Lily wrapped her arms around herself as she spoke. "That was fun. Are we doing anything else?"

It was in that moment that Mason spotted a familiar poster nearby. "How about that carnival?" he asked. When they all looked at him in confusion, he continued. "There's a carnival in town right now... You guys might have been, but I haven't. I'd like to try it out – and it's always more fun with friends."

Charlie immediately jumped around in joy as the other three shot each other looks, but Sky shrugged and turned to him. "Sure, I'm up for it." The other two agreed.

"I haven't been there for years," Lily said. "It would be nice to go again."

"Then let's go!" Charlie said happily as he once again grabbed onto Sky's hand; Mason could almost see the vein bulging out of her forehead this time.

"Stop holding onto Sky's hand, Charlie. There's only one person who's allowed to do that," Lily reprimanded him. This time she was the one to separate their hands as she walked between Sky and Mason and took Charlie's hand in her own.

Charlie pouted as Lily pulled him along with her and looked back at Sky. "Who?"

"Her future boyfriend of course," Lily said, sending Sky a wink over her shoulder when she and Mason both shot her looks of surprise; Rhys just looked uncomfortable. Lily laughed as she faced forwards again. "No need to look so surprised. I was joking. I was talking about myself."

Sky chuckled nervously as Mason looked off to the side without saying anything, embarrassed that Lily's words had affected him so much. "You got me," Sky said at last as she started following after the two; Mason and Rhys quickly did the same.

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Oof... There's some secrets going around it seems. What do you think Lily was talking about? O: 

Anyway, I really hope you liked this chapter! If you did, let me know by leaving a vote and/or comment! It makes my day every time :') See you with a new chapter next week! :D And thank you for reading!

The chapter is dedicated to DindinTorres9 for being my first loyal reader and coming back every week to read the newest chapter! Thank you sooooo much <3