Even though Julie didn't knock down all the pins, there was a bright smile on her face as it was the very first time she had ever hit so many pins with one ball. There was amusement in Roman's eyes, and she saw him stare at her for two seconds before he shook his head.

  Roman went to sit on one of the benches, and Julie walked back to where Melanie stood, looking like she was trying to fix her jaw to her face that had fallen from shock.

  "We are going to get something to drink," said Melanie to Conner.

  "Didn't you drink enough cold drinks already?" Conner asked with a suspicious look at Melanie.

  "We want to drink fruit juice this time," Melanie said, waving her hand and telling him to concentrate on throwing the ball in the lane. She pulled Julie away from there. Once they had walked far away from the group of familiar people, who were busy scoring points in the bowling lane, she turned to look at Julie. "Oh my God! That was something."

  "The score?" asked Julie, and she then grinned. "I too didn't know I would be able to hit seven pins-"

  Melanie shook her head, turning back to make sure no one had followed them. While walking towards the counter, she said, "Roman was flirting with you, Julie."

  Julie frowned, "He was helping me give some pointers on how to bowl."

  "I don't think anyone has ever taught one on how to bowl like that, unless that person is your boyfriend," pointed Melanie, a little taken aback by the scene that had taken place in front of everyone.

  "He usually likes to bully me," explained Julie, so that Melanie didn't get the wrong idea. "He is always teasing me and trying to find enjoyment in my misery. You shouldn't read too much into it."

  "Is that so?" asked Melanie with a thoughtful look. "Well, you did get most of the gutter balls."

  Julie nodded her head.

  But then she remembered the way Roman's chest had pressed on her back and the way his breath had fallen on her neck, raising goosebumps on her skin, but the boy always liked to do strange things. She shook her head.

  Once they had bought orange juice from the counter, Melanie said, "I don't know why, but I was sure he was making his moves on you."

  Julie didn't say anything because she didn't want to misinterpret his actions. It was because all this time, Roman had done nothing but ate and drank from things that she bought for herself. Remembering it, she quickly slurped the orange juice so that he wouldn't steal it from her. To be careful, she had bought another glass of orange juice.

  For a moment, Julie pondered on Melanie's words, but then she shook her head. As both she and Roman were in the same team, she doubted that there was any other intention other than him wanting to get a higher score as they were at the bottom. Roman Moltenore was allergic to being at the bottom and preferred to be at the top, she thought in her mind.

  When they made their way back to where the others were playing, Melanie's turn, and she left Julie's side. Julie made her way to where Roman was sitting, sitting next to him.

  "This is for you," Julie offered him the orange juice.

  Roman, who was watching the game, turned his eyes to look at her hand. It trailed up to her face. "What is it for?" his eyes were curious.

  "For teaching me how to bowl and also so that you don't steal my own juice," Julie said the last words in a murmur.

  "What a smart girl you are turning into, in my company," praised Roman, taking the glass of orange juice from her hand. Julie saw him raise the glass to his lips, taking in a sip, relishing in the citrus taste before giving out a hum of approval.

  Compared to how Roman had treated her a while ago, when he was teaching her, he seemed to have a relaxed demeanour. She sat facing the bench with Roman in front of her, and she saw him take another sip before he licked his lips and laughed over something Maximus said.

  "You will see us catch up to the third spot," stated Roman in confidence, and he turned to look at Julie. "You will get a strike, won't you, Winters?"

  Compelled in his presence, she nodded at him and smiled, "I will try my best."

  When Julie's turn, she didn't get a strike, but she got another seven pins down. This resulted in Roman clapping his hands as if he was proud of her, and it, in turn made her happy that she was not dragging his scores down.

  At the end of the game, Olivia's team came first. Simon and Conner's team came second, Roman and Julie came third, and the last team was Victoria and Dennis.

  "That was a fun game, wasn't it?" asked Maximus, even though he and Melanie came fourth. "Shall we go for another round?" he asked others.

  Roman turned to look at Dennis, who had been silently fuming since he had taught Julie how to bowl by being close to her. "It was a pity that you scored the least, Mccoy."

  "I was just out of practise, Moltenore," Dennis replied to Roman's taunt.

  "If I am not wrong, you will need more practice than what you showed us to score a strike," Roman said smugly. Dennis didn't have anything to retort. It was because this time, Roman had proved that he was much better when it came to him with the vast difference.

  Conner, who stood next to Dennis, patted his back. "Maybe most of us should take lessons from Roman. Julie learned quickly." Hearing this, Dennis's face turned utterly sour as if he had swallowed the most bitter thing that his tongue had ever tasted.

  Everyone's eyes fell on Julie, and she turned uncomfortable with the amount of attention on her. She cleared her throat and agreed, "He is a good coach."

  "It was good to see some of you improve. There's always a next time to play," said Olivia.

  "Please no."

  "I will be busy."

  "I am skipping," came the three responses of refusals from Victoria, Dennis and Roman in a chorus.

  When it was time to leave, Roman took out his phone from his jeans pocket while everyone was busy speaking. Unlocking the screen, he turned it around and offered the dial pad to Julie. She stared at the white screen before looking up at him, her expression sweet and tender. He said,

  "Insert your number."

  Slightly taken aback, Julie took his phone and put her number before giving it back to him. Her gaze shifted to meet his eyes that looked at her. When Roman rang the number so that she would get his number, she said, "My phone is at Melanie's house."

  "Why didn't you bring it with you?" Roman noticed the way that the more he stared at her, the more her eyes wanted to look away, but he had locked her under his gaze.

  Somewhere in between, he noticed how she had tried not to look at him directly and had tried her best to get most of the pins while playing.

  Her lips pursed before she said, "There's no one who would call me."

  All this time, her phone had been turned off because of Veteris' rule, and the only thing she had tried to look for when it was on was to hear music or read messages which were mostly spam. Her uncle had left a message a week ago, telling her to visit them if she was free. Letting her know that he welcomed her, even though her aunt wasn't keen about it. With her mother not alive and her father in prison, no one else would text her.

  Roman cut the call after three rings. He said to her, "We aren't in Veteris, and it's harder to travel to pass just messages." He raised his hand to show his phone.

  Julie asked him, "Does that mean we are friends now?" trying to confirm it.

  Noticing the faint smile on her lips, his eyes subtly narrowed at her, and he gave her a nod, "Friends." Julie nodded her head, knowing she had earned another friend in Veteris apart from Melanie and Conner.

  Dennis, who stood at the side, watched Roman and Julie talking to each other in a low voice. He noticed Julie smiling at that useless boy, who stood in front of her. Suddenly a hand came to hit his back, almost scaring him.

  "Dennis, my man. I hope you didn't take the defeat to your heart. We all sometimes turn out to be a loser," stated Simon, putting his arm around the human. Dennis quickly pulled away from Simon, who was Roman's friend.

  "The next time when I play with all of you, I will be better," Dennis huffed, his eyes falling back at Julie.

  "They make a nice team, don't they?" Simon rubbed salt over Dennis' wound. Dennis only stared at Simon, trying to not show that he had been bothered by losing to Roman. He was the one, who was supposed to be teaching Julie how to bowl, but instead, Roman had come in the middle.

  Back to where Roman and Julie stood, she asked him, "Are you going back to Veteris?"

  "Probably ride around, find something nice to drink, and maybe go to the forest," answered Roman.

  "Like a bonfire?" asked Julie, her brown eyes looking at him, without understanding the meaning behind his words because of the ignorance about the vampire's existence.

  "Without one," said Roman, looking at her radiant face that looked more than happy. "Sometimes you don't need a bonfire to enjoy the drink, just the dark would do." He then raised his hand near Julie's head.

  Julie closed her eyes when she felt the slight snap of his finger, "What was that for?" She brought her hand up to touch her head.

  "Don't smile too much," he said, and Julie's eyebrows knit together. "Smiling like a crazy person would," he said in a serious tone that didn't affect her, or maybe it just dissipated by the time it reached her.

  Julie turned to look at where Melanie and Conner, who were talking to Roman's friends. She said, "We should get going now."

  "Go on," responded Roman, his eyes taking in the human, who walked back to where her friends were. He unlocked his phone once again and saw the number, where he had named her as 'Troublemaker'.

  Julie and her two friends left the arcade and walked towards the bus stop to get back home. The time took longer than they had expected, as they had to wait for the bus. Roman and his friends stayed back as they had decided to play another round of the game.

  Once they got down and started to walk back, Conner brought up, "I never thought Simon was such a good guy."

  "He's annoying," muttered Melanie.

  "You're harsh on him," laughed Conner. "I will see you girls later," and he walked to the front of the porch of his house and unlocked the door with the key.

  On entering Melanie's house, Julie reached the guest room, and she dropped her small bag that she had carried along on the bed. Picking up her phone, she noticed the missed call on her phone. She saved Roman's number with his name and then texted him with— 'I saved your number.'

  After a minute, Julie received a reply from Roman that read— 'Looks like you reached home without any trouble, Troublemaker.'

  This was the first time they had replied this quickly, and it was all thanks to the phone and the internet, thought Julie in her mind. She was about to keep her phone away when she heard another beep, believing it to be Roman's message.

  But when she checked, it was from an unsaved number. Opening the text message, she read—


  'Where are you?'

  Julie wondered if it was some sort of prank by Roman, and she replied— 'Home?'

  The next message was quick to appear on her phone screen— 'I am at home. You aren't here, Julianne.'