Chapter 39 – Grace’s friends

"This is Jolene and this is Kamryn. Girls, this is Benjamin, the little brother I told you about on the phone."

"Nice to meet you, Jolene, Kamryn. Feel free to call me Ben, since this is what I am the most used to."

Grace made the introductions and Benjamin greeted them with his usual smile. Jolene was a girl with very short blonde hair and blue eyes, sporting a wide smile, giving out a lively impression. She was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, giving her a tomboyish feeling. Kamryn had semi-long red hair and green eyes. She had a happy expression on her face and her clothing consisted of a skirt and a short-sleeved top. Jolene answered Benjamin's greeting first.

"Nice to meet you too, Ben. Grace is lucky to have such a handsome little brother!"

He didn't know if she really meant it or was just paying him lip service. Kamryn went next, a grin on her lips.

"Nice to meet you too, Ben. I was looking forward to seeing you since Grace told us you would be joining us."

Jolene continued.

"Now that is done, let's go and have fun!"

They went to the reception, which also served as a bar, and got their assigned lane. They then went to change from their current shoes to the bowling shoes freely available in one corner of the area. Finally ready, they ordered some drinks at the bar and headed toward their lane.

"Since we are four people, what about a 2vs2 match?"

"Sounds good. We can have the siblings form a team and us two form the other one."

"Great. Oh, I have a good idea. Let's have the winners ask for a reward from the losers."

"That would make the game more interesting, I am in."

Benjamin thought Jolene and Kamryn were a bit too much in sync. They probably agreed on that beforehand. He was not the only one thinking like this as Grace stopped them.

"Stop it, girls. You think I don't know what you are planning?"

Benjamin, however, was curious about what sort of reward they would ask for. And if they went too far, he could simply refuse them.

"It's ok, right, Grace? It looks like fun. Let's work hard to win the game!"

"Are you sure, Ben? You never know what they could ask for."

"No problem, it's all for fun, let's enjoy ourselves."

"Well, if you say so. You two, don't go too far if you win, alright?"

"Of course."

The two girls, surprised that their poor plan had succeeded somehow, cheered internally. The four of them then started playing. Benjamin wasn't good by any means since he had little experience. The three females were a bit better than him but not by much. Overall, the whole group was pretty much on the same level, making the match more interesting. Benjamin was looking at the people around, trying to learn from observation. Whatever he saw, he tried to reproduce, with more or less success. Seeing him so focused, the college girls also tried to teach him whatever they knew, Jolene and Kamryn taking the opportunity to be in close contact with him.

There was a round table in the center of their lane area, where they would sit while waiting for their turn to throw. Grace had quickly claimed the seat next to Benjamin, leaving the two saddened girls no choice but to sit together in front of them. They started to talk out loud about the reward they could ask for if they were to win and then sometimes whispered their ideas in each other's ears, giggling like elementary school students and throwing looks at Benjamin. Grace watched them acting like this and commented.

"Sheesh, look at them behaving like children. I am sure all their ideas are perverted, anyway."

"What about you, Grace. What would you ask from them if we were to win?"

"Hm, let's see."

And then she smiled and imitated the two in front of them, whispering her ideas in his ear.

"Since they're going to ask for perverted stuff, we can ask them for humiliating stuff instead."

Benjamin whispered back.

"Like what? I don't know them much so I will let you choose, ok?"

"Good, leave it to me. Now let's win this game and be the ones having fun on their behalf."

Grace was suddenly much more motivated and even managed to get a strike, making the two siblings cheer. Benjamin only got spares on lucky throws, while Jolene and Kamryn got spares more regularly, making for an overall very close score between the two teams. Eventually, however, the college girls won the first match, high-fiving their achievement. Then, with a bit of a predator look, they asked for their reward, Jolene voicing their wish.

"Don't worry, we won't ask for anything unreasonable. Our reward will be to sit next to Benjamin!"

"Hey!"

"Losers should shut up and give the winners their reward, Grace! Muahaha!"

"Ugh... fine but I will be keeping an eye on you two. Don't bother Ben too much."

Annoyed, Grace stood up and swiftly went to start the second game. Meanwhile, the two girls happily sat on each side of Benjamin, Jolene on his right and Kamryn on his left, and started to chat with him. The game restarted and Grace was even more motivated than before. On the other hand, the two college girls were much more focused on Benjamin than on the game now, throwing the ball speedily to come back chatting with him faster. This created a sort of unbalance, where Grace spent a long time in front of the lane to focus and earn the most points while Jolene and Kamryn spent most of their time with Benjamin. The two girls, seeing an opportunity, started to talk about more interesting topics whenever Grace wasn't watching.

"So, Ben, since you're so nice and cute, you must be very popular at school, right? Did you find yourself a girlfriend?"

"Not at all, I am just a normal boy like any other. I don't have a girlfriend either."

"Really? That's unexpected. Or is it perhaps because you think the girls your age are too childish? In that case, what about someone a bit older? For example, a girl like us?"