Bowling Balls and Siren Calls [~kenz]

[Siren Lucas Torres]

"I wanna roll with the gangsters, but so far they all think I'm too white 'n' nerdy!" "Keiren!"

Bowling practice all weekend at Daeland was almost as effective as giving a bunch of irritated animals heavy cinder blocks and letting them go at it. Three hours of the same guys, the same lanes, the same pins, and the same game was giving Siren a migrane. Not to mention Keiren had been singing the same song every time Siren managed to get a gutterball right as a mildly attractive female walked by. What had happened in all their childhoods that had left them with bowling as a life dedication? Siren was detirmined to become the first man to travel back in time so he could strangle the source before it could ruin his life for good. But that meant more time in the robotics club, and he needed that extra time he didn't spend there for bowling championships. Yeah, white and nerdy was an understatement.

"Hey Siren, did your mom actually ask you if you were gay when she dropped you off? Because I can totally lend you Sierra for the day to convince her. That is so not cool man." Siren turned, almost slipping on the sleek wood of the bowling alley, to find Keiren within breath-mingling range looking down at him with a raised eyebrow and a sympathetic face. Siren sighed. He needed new friends. "I'm not gay and I don't need to borrow your trampy girlfriend to prove that to my mother, Key." He new he had been too snappy when Keiren looked down at the floor dejectedly and wrinkled his nose up in confliction."But thanks, Key. I'll be alright," he added quickly and swallowed down his own conflict. There wasn't an ounce of gay in his body, he was over a hundred percent sure of that. But his mother had already had to deal with Vace running off into the sunset with his out-of-the-blue boyfriend, so Siren couldn't really blame her for being paranoid.

It wasn't like he came home with a great collection of girlfriends every week though, so playing sleepover with a bunch of guys from his bowling team probably wasn't the best way to reassure his mom of his decisions. Even if it was a required lock-in. Siren glanced over his shoulder where the leaders were watching him with narrowed eyes. Even though his turn had long been passed up, he was still standing by the lane, not looking at anything, and wobbling in the awkward position he had caught himself from falling in. Keiren was watching with concern and amusement. Better friends, right. That's what Siren needed.

[kaleb anthony turner]

Kaleb Turner

You want to know what horrible? Friends that say they're coming to a bowling ally with you then decide they're going to get sick and stay home, leaving you with their insanely hot bisexual exboyfriend. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call a set up. And Allie had a knack for it. She'd been trying to set me up for literally years. In sixth grade, it was some sort of tranee freak. In freshman year there had been this in the closet guy she set me up with that decided to tell the whole school that I had decided to take off his shirt. Which, is not true.

See, in case you're too thick to comprehend this lovely little bit of information: I'M GAY. Not just confused, 'Oh, maybe a little bit' gay. Oh no. I'm tea parties and hair straightenor gay. I'm the gay that when you see me walk, you know I'm gay. So gay. Painfully. But I'm no flamer. You know the type. They try desperatley to slur their words, making their voices higher pitched, swaying their hips when they walk. Hell, I'd seen guys where lip sick before. That, is not just gay. That's obnoxious gay. But me? I'm just kind of well... here. Can't remember the day when I was straight - honestly. My mom and dad are both straighter than straight. I grew up with Aladin and Buzz lightyear like every other kid... but when it came down to it: I liked boys.

And Allie knew that only too well. See, Josh was really hot. Dirty blonde hair, gorgeous bone structore, and damn! Did he have a body. But as we sat across from eachother awkwardly, I kept thinking of how this was never going to work. Josh was adorable. He had the greatest laugh and he was super funny. Around Allie. But he clearly knew her just as well as I did and knew her intentions of getting us alone in a bowling ally. (Very much nineties too, thanks Als!) "So..."I trailed off, not knowing what I was supposed to say. But thank God for Josh.

"Allie's a real piece of work, isn't she?" he laughed suddenly, shaking his head and letting his blonde girls fall infront of his hazel eyes. The beauty... dang if he'd only let me kiss him... "I mean, she promises us a night of booty shorts and cleavage! I was expecting her to be jumping up and down everytime she made a strike," he chuckled, "Scratch that. IF she made a strike. But what did we get, man? Just two sexy men not knowing what to do with ourselves." he gestured to the both of us and I laughed. Then, he leaned toward me before lowering his voice, "Want to have some fun?" I raised an eyebrow, "There's two guys over there. I know one but the other? You may just get lucky. Now, don't get me wrong. You're great and all, but I'm in the mood for some girl." he clapped a hand on my back before we got to our feet and headed over to two guys.

One was wearing a pair of pink sunglasses, the one I was supposed to get 'lucky' with and the other... there's no words to describe the frightening hilariousness of his excitment. Josh called out to the frightening one, who turned and called back, waving. "This is my man, Kaleb." Josh said, gesturing to me, "He's gay." I rolled my eyes. Way to introduce a man, J.

[Siren Lucas Torres]

I found my way back to my seat beside Keiren, and neither of us had to talk to know what was going on in my head. I had to convince my mom in some fashion that I really was straight, but no girl would be willing to help me. Not even Sierra. I played with the lid of my diet coke and popped all the little bubbles in and out until the plastic started to resist. This was somehow a lot harder than it should be, and it was driving me nuts. This wasn't even the first time the two of us had been faced with other's doubts. Keiren's cousin had tried to hit on me once, and I think I nearly turned the kid straight with all my freaking out. It was just a matter of finding a female who could back me up here, because my mom would just assume my nervous reaction was caused by some form of confusion. And that's how the whole thing with Vase had started.

Suddenly, Keiren broke our tense silence by shooting about eight feet in the air and spinning around on his heel, which he managed to make look ten times less graceful than I had. I was ready to catch him if he fell forward onto his smug face, but he straightened out-if not a little awkwardly-and pointed to a pair of teenager boys at a table across from us. "Hey...it's Josh! Dude, small freakin world!" He was whispering in his 'I'm not going to pee my pants or anything, but I'm freakin ecstatic!' voice. "I haven't seen him in forever," he told me, and as if on cue, the two strangers rose and began to make a beeline for us. I cringed inwardly, but pasted a charming smile on. So much was on my mind already without having to meet more of Keiren's friends...

The taller boy, who I assumed was Josh, waltzed straight up to us and skipped his own introduction, gesturing instead to his partner. I vaguely heard him introduce the boy as Kaleb and picked up the word 'gay' in the mix. He must be one of those gay pride representatives if he dresses like a Ken doll and allows himself to be introduced as gay,I thought bitterly. It was a shame too, because if this kid was all rainbows and unicorns but in an aggressive in-your-face kind of way, I might just snap at him worse than I had at Keiren. That little cringing part inside of me curled up into a ball and screamed its head off. But I still kept the unwavering, friendly smile on my face as I held out my hand."Nice to meet you Kaleb," I made a funny face just for his benefit as I said the next part,"Who just so happens to be gay...I'm Siren." I felt Keiren nudge me, but I brushed it off and kept my hand outstretched towards Kaleb.

[kaleb anthony turner]

I glared at Josh, who was looking like a complete ass hole with his smug smile. I rolled my eyes before giving the guy errr Siren? A smile and taking his hand, "Yeah," I shurgged good naturedly, "I'm gay!" For a second, the two of us stared at eachother with these gooft smiles, holding hands. To be honest he looked kind of weird. Curly brown hair that hung over his eyes, a smile that... wow. He really did have a great smile. It was warm but something about how it didn't quite wrinkle his eyes... ANYWAY. He had a nice body too... it wasn't smoken like Josh's, but it was decent. (don't worry i wasn't feasting my eyes upon him, or raping him with my eyes. these were gradual recognitions.

"Dude, so man I haven't seen you in forever," Josh clapped a hand on the back of the dudes neck, bringing their foreheads together in some kind of awkward ritual. I grinned as the two of them went on and on about how they've missed eachother. So, seriously... it was a bromance gone wrong. I turned my attention back to Siren, deciding to use my uhm... I don't know. I wasn't really trying to flirt but to anyone I suppose it could've come off that way. So, I stepped closer to him, gently taking off his glasses and giving him a skeptical look. For a second we just stood there, me uncomfortably close...our breath mingling, eyes locked.. and then I stumbled back, holding up his glasses, a gentle flush lighting up my cheeks.

"Sunglasses inside?" I raised an eyebrow, "Are you a Jonas Brother?"

[Siren Lucas Torres]

No, no, no, no, no! I was about to shift my attention to Josh so I could properly greet him, but he was fully engrossed in a conversation with Keiren that was just reeking of bromance. I could interrupt now, but didn't that only leave me with two other options? I could either continue talking to Kaleb, who seemed nice but was exactly the company I didn't need right now, or I could go and watch one of the other guys work with the coaches until it was my turn again. Neither sounded too appealing, but I would be the biggest douche in the world if I just left poor Kaleb in Keiren's company. So I glanced back over at the kid-who really wasn't much of a kid at all to my dismay-and thought of something more to say. Fortunately, he beat me to action. Unfortunately, it was possibly the most uncomfortable situation I had been through aside from my own mother questioning my sexuality, which was the epiphany of awkward.

I realized, with a slight possessive pang, that he was reaching for my sunglasses, and I was tempted to swat his hand away. But all of a sudden, Kaleb was way to close for comfort and I was super aware of everything about him. His smell. His warmth. His touch. I would have married Sierra right then and there if it would have made whatever this was stop, and I don't think there was a demon in hell I hated more than Sierra. I closed my eyes as I guility breathed him in and waited for something bad to happen. Nothing did. He just pulled my glasses from my face and teasingly asked me if I was a Jonas brother. I had to admire the kid's (young man's!) sense of humor.

"We get closer and closer again, but we're falling apart. I'm losing, you're losing a friend, it's always over before we start," I sung s few lines from Things Will Never Be the Same in a hushed voice, which I was extremely ashamed to admit I knew the lyrics to. But hello, gay guy? He probably knew the song better than I did. "Thank you Daeland, we'll be here all night!" I mock bowed to Kaleb and then snatched my glasses back, shuddering at how I nearly held his hand in the process, and placed them back on my face with a smirk. "Sorry, no autographs," I whispered and then straightened up when I saw Keiren watching me from the corner of his eye. He looked torn between wanting to laugh and wanting to puke. I was torn between wanting to hit something, and wanting to run.

[KenzieRain♥]

I tried to hide my smile when he began to sing; it was hilarious! I assumed it was a Jonas Brothers song, but I couldn't quite be positive about that. Siren bowed and I jumped up in down, clapping like a fan girl. "Oh, oncore!" I begged dramatically before he told me he wasn't giving autographs. I pretended to look heartbroken, "Well, my life is just over!" I said sarcastically before giving him a grin and looking back over at Josh and Kieren, - yes, I remembered his name this time! - who seemed both seemed on the edge of laughing and running away.

Josh and I locked eyes; his hazel ones were staring at me expectantly, as if I was supposed to drag Siren off and shag him right there! What an idiot. I gave him an exasperated look, widening my eyes so that they said, 'Can you just stop?' But he didn't. Instead, he decided to drag Kieren away, saying something about how he was hungry and was in the mood for some nachos. "Josh!" Okay. So let's get this straight, this is a set-up date from a set-up date? He looked over his shoulder and winked, earning a sneer and a shake of the head from me. "What an ass." I muttered, crossing my arms and turning my attention back to Siren, "Sorry, he's just a little eager." Like all my friends. Eager to have some guy and I shagging. "So," I said awkwardly, picking up a bowling ball that was - wait for it - a violet shade, as if I need any more proof that I'm utterly gay. "How about I kick your butt at bowling and then we grab our pigs," I nodded to Josh and Kieren, who were enjoying being behind two young ladies, "and make a run for it." I winked at him playfully, not flirt-like, just playfully before rolling the ball and making a strike, wait no... one pin survived. So much for looking cool.

"HEY LOOK IT'S THE FAG!" My muscles tensed, my cheeks grew red, and I'm pretty sure my eyes were already watering. I felt the group come up behind me, I knew their faces well. Three guys. One who liked to yell, with red hair and acne scars; another who pushed me around, with brown hair and a large nose; then the one who grunted and never said anything... just stood there. Jim, Jorge, and Jake. The J's of death. "This your boyfriend?" I heard Jim laugh while Jorge slapped the back of my head. I flinched before turning,

"No, just leave him alone okay?" My voice was shaky and when I was suddenly bent over the bowling ball rack, I was trembling all over. My ball was ready to come back at any moment and my head? It was in it's way. "Stop, stop," I begged, thrashing around, "Please..." I heard Jim laugh about me being a helpless little queer and felt tears fall just as my ball came rolling up... fast.

[Siren Lucas Torres]

My body was literally trembling with the effort not to laugh as Kaleb gave everything as good as he got it. I had to mildly appretiate how good he was at acting like an obsessed fangirl. It was both frightening and endearing. I was about to reply with some witty comment, when I turned to our partners-or to the place where they should have been-and found that we were alone. Freakin hell. "Josh!" Kaleb called for his counterpart to come back, but the boy just winked and continued on his merry way, dragging Keiren with him. At least Kaleb's friend had acknowledged him; I was pretty sure mine had forgotten I even existed, he was so wrapped up in ogling a bunch of strangers with his newly found companion. Now I was absolutely sure I needed new friends.

My eyebrows rose up to my hairline when Kaleb suggested that we finish the bowling game, and I had the sinking feeling that it was going to take a while because no way was this little thing any good at throwing around heavy bowling balls. But I coloured myself impressed when he marched right up to the line and managed to knock almost every pin down. He wasn't much competition but he wasn't terrible, and this made for a far better activity then talking (or flirting-I still wasn't sure what Kaleb had been trying to accomplish with the Jonas Brothers reference.) I smiled and picked up my favorite black ball with hot pink flames (hot pink just so happened to be my trademark color, and that was before people began to question my sexuality) before moving to stand by Kaleb and watch him make his next shot. But he didn't quite get the chance.

"HEY LOOK IT'S THE FAG!" I scowled at the word and opened my mouth automatically as I shifted to face our approachers. I had figured they were some kids from my school just joking with me, and I already had several biting comebacks in mind. But I didn't recognize the boys at all. They were all particularly unattractive but looked bigger and more intimidating then myself and Kaleb. Kaleb. He was the one they were addressing. My mind registered being called his boyfriend, and the screaming part inside of me began to rip its hair out, but Kaleb defended me before I had the chance. I felt like I was more of a cardboard cut out than an actual person. They were all treating me like I was a figment of their imagination; this was between Kaleb and these jerks.

I just stared like a fish out of water as Kaleb's head was shoved into the tracks of his fast-moving purple bowling ball, and I watched in a quiet fascination as he squirmed and begged. If there was ever a time when I was grateful people couldn't read my sick, perverted mind..."Please..." My legs moved of their own accord just in time, and I grabbed the bully who was holding Kaleb in front of the dangerous rolling ball. My free hand gently carded itself in Kaleb's hair, and I swiftly switched their positions so that in the nick of time, I heard the urethane and plastic collide with someone's skull. And with a great swell of satisfaction, I noted that it wasn't Kaleb's, because I was still holding his perfect hair and his face was still intact by my shoulder. It was the possum-resembling kid with red hair and acne that was going to be taking his bowling ball battle scar home with him.

"He's not a fag, he's not my boyfriend, and he's not a bowling pin," I hissed as I bent down to the homophobe's level. "But he is a wonderful person named Kaleb who is currently watching that cartoonish lump on your head form with far more class than you'll ever have. So beat it." I stood up again and didn't bother casting another glance on the injured boy. If he had a bone to pick with me, than he would surely take care of it once the shock died down. Right now, I wanted to make sure my new...friend?...was feeling ok. "Hey, you alright?" That was when I realized I still had my fingers wrapped in his soft brunette hair. The content of feeling like a hero died off as quickly as it had come, and I let go trying not to look like I had just been burned or something that would offend him. Instead, I threw him another polite and charming smile, hoping that he wouldn't be mad at me for fighting his battle. I didn't think I could deal with that after the speech I just made to acne-face.

[KenzieRain♥]

No one had ever helped me with bullying. No one had ever stood up for me... well. Allie had tried once or twice but she was just too small for them. Was I alright? God. I was more than alright. My face heated up, but this time? It wasn't embaressment, it was how thankful I was that someone cared - okay, maybe that's not the right word. But there was a word for it... I'll figure it out later.

"I'm fine..." I mumbled after Siren basically shoved me away before shooting me a kind smile. He was a nice guy. Scary when it came to defending people but overall he was a really nice person... I liked that.

The two guys looked like they were going to continue being idiots, but the tall one that never said anything grabbed pimpleface's shoulder, stopping him. "What the f-" The tall one shook his head, jaw set. "Fine." They turned back to me, "But you and your shitty boyfriend are going to pay." They walked away just as Josh and Keiren came back, pushing them aside.

"What the-?" Josh glared after them, "Damn. It's those guys." Of course Josh knew them, he did go to College with me after all. "They giving you trouble again, mate?" He wrapped an arm around my shoulder, giving me a brotherly side hug, "Want me to beat the crap outta them?" I gave him a shy smile before shaking my head. I hated looking weak.

[Siren Lucas Torres]

I let out a breath of relief that I didn't know I had been holding when Josh and Keiren spotted us and some form of recognition flashed in Josh's eyes. I watched the whole exchange between Kaleb and Josh and the bullies amongst themselves, in silence. Everything had happened so fast that I had acted on a whim, and now I realized that I had in fact almost crushed a stranger's head in. I felt like slapping myself. "Hey," I interrupted their fussing over Kaleb and gestured vaguely over my shoulder. "Keiren and I have to train for our region bowling competition this weekend, so would you gentlemen care to join us or are we going to sit around and play twenty question?" I hated to sound rude, but I was beginning to feel awkward and I was sure Kaleb was too. The sooner we got out of this building, away from those bullies, and away from each other, the better. Plus, I could always spend the rest of my energy knocking down defenseless pins and Keiren didn't seem to want to lose Josh's company too soon.

[KenzieRain♥]

KALEB.

I grinned at him, "Bowling Competition?" I laughed, pulling away from Josh. "I would love to see that kind of training." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Josh smirk. What was going through that boys mind? I looked over my shoulder at him, raising my eyebrows curiously but only received a wink from him. I rolled my eyes before plopping down on the seats next to the bowling rack. According to the board it was Kieren's turn to bowl, but if Josh and I were going to play, we needed to restart the game.

JOSH.

Just looking at Kaleb's face, I knew that there was something going on. whatever had just happened with the bullies and the two of them, it had certainly caught Kaleb's attention. And that was good; Kaleb needed to get some. Kaleb looked over at me and I couldn't help it, he looked utterly adorable. Hell, maybe I did want some girl-meat, but this boy sure had things going for him. His lips, smile, body... the kid was flawless. I winked, causing the skin on his cheeks to flame up, turning a light pink. Damn.

ooc;; totally changed Josh's description xD