The only bowling Sunset has done is through Wii sports, let's be real.
It’s quite funny that Sunset was the one set to do this job, considering she hasn’t bowled before. But she made it this far, so that has to say something about her. The navy blue shirt she was wearing really didn’t go well with the hotly bright red vest, but fashion must take a back seat when it comes to making an individual brand of uniform.
“You must be the girl they had filling today’s shift,” a beanie wearing girl shook her hand, “I’m Starlight Glimmer. Man, I still can’t believe they had to transfer someone from the downtown store to cover this shift.”
“Sunset Shimmer.”
“Right, so uh everything is the same as your home base, right? Uh, todays a Wednesday night so there won’t be that many customers – but you probably already know that by now. I’ve already prepared the store and opened it so you don’t have to worry about that.” Her voice trailed as she tilted her neck to do a quick check on the main floor. “I’m sorry, it just feels like you’re a new recruit, so I kinda have my ‘trainer mode’ on.”
“Oh that’s fine, I kinda feel like a new recruit as well,” Sunset placed her arm on the counter shifting her weight to one side as she asked if Starlight often trained people.
Starlight waved her hand, too many to count she said, and only a few actually learn how to do things properly. “But I mean we’re all earning minimum wage so who am I to judge if they’re doing minimum work.”
“Right? Back in my store we usually have these surprise check-ups to make sure everything is running smoothly, and I think four people got fired already.”
Starlight mimicked Sunset’s casual stance, “How long have you’ve been working?”
“Around five years-ish,” Sunset’s eyes rolled up as if she was seeing her mental calculator, “I know I started half-way through my second year of Uni.”
“Oh, so you graduated already?”
“Yeah, liberal arts major with a communication minor.”
“Liberal arts you say?” Starlight passed a pair of size five shoes female and pair of size ten to the male upfront, “Make sense why you’re still working here.”
Sunset scrunched her eyebrows, placing one arm on her hip, “And how about you then?”
“Three years, started first year.”
“Oh really?”
“Really, political science majoring in world domination if you will.”
Sunset let out a sarcastic laugh, “Cheeky, aren’t we?”
“Try not to fall for me though, you’re not my type.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, trust me.”
The next half hour went pass in silence more or less, no idle chit chat just work-related discussion if needed. It was alright, Sunset didn’t need to spend the next five and a half hours talking to someone who has a superiority complex. It wasn’t good for her; she already had to deal with her superiority complex, she didn’t have the time to entertain someone else’s.
Scanning the floor for any misconduct, the two of six lanes that were occupied were doing just fine. In fact the customer’s on lane two were pretty good at the game, their game neck-to-neck, a good 79 to 83, though she had a feeling the purple haired girl deliberately rolled a gutter ball to receive sympathy from her date – which worked for her.
Wait. Something was off about this. Peering closer to get a better glimpse of the girl. Turning her focus to her boy toy, Sunset whispered a small ‘no way’ before casually rushing towards the counter.
“Starlight, does that girl happen to be a regular here?”
Her back facing Sunset, she turned her head around, “You mean Rarity? Yeah, I guess.” She returned to ordering the shoes correctly on the shelf.
“And do you know the guy she’s bowling with is?”
“Considering the fact that I saw them sucking each other’s face in the car as I was parking, I’m assuming they’re in some intimate relationship.”
“No way,” Sunset repeated. She lifted the fliptop, she got behind the counter once again as she pulled out her phone. Showing her a picture she had on her phone, her screen showed a picture of Rarity up and personal with a boy who clearly wasn’t the one she was with.
“Why do you have that picture, that’s my first question.”
“We were at this event together once and she shared me this photo of her boyfriend because she wanted to show off how great he was, but then he came to the event anyways so I had the oh-so-fortunate experience to see their relationship up close.”
“You sound single.” Sunset gave her a deadpan look, Starlight ignoring it to say how she’s seen her with the guy she was with right now before.
“So, who’s the boyfriend and who’s the side bro?”” Starlight asked.
“Clearly guy number one, trust me the way she was gushing about him there was no way he was some sidepiece. Plus, by the way this looks like, this whole second relationship is clearly just something physical.”
“Good job Sherlock, now what?”
Sunset shrugged and placed her phone back in her pocket, “Just thought it was interesting.”
“I mean yeah, I guess,” Starlight said.
It was quiet again, which once again Sunset didn’t mind, which is why she clicked her tongue in her cheek. Few minutes later, Rarity and Number Two came to return their shoes, Number Two winning the game 220:189. But Rarity has two guys wrapped around her finger, so who’s really the winner?
Placing the shoes away, Starlight turned to ask Sunset about her worse date she had. She had to think for a while, Sunset didn’t go out with anyone unless she knew they had some sort of chance of lasting in the long haul. It was draining opening up to someone and then having to do it all over again a few months later because the last relationship failed.
“There was this one time, my friend tried to make me go on this blind date with some guy and I reluctantly went after hours of her begging. The first date was alright, he was super quiet but whatever, and I was thinking of ending it right after that date, but he asked if I wanted to go to this party – a costume party at that – and I was going to decline because that’s kinda weird but something inside me pitied him so I agreed.”
“This can’t end well.”
“It didn’t. So, I wore like this very basic vampire costume and he’s wearing this full on Victorian era getup, the frilly collar and everything. And then when he was driving me there he’d only talk to me in Shakespearian and it all came together.”
“So you broke it off?”
“That’s the worse part, he dumped me! Me! Apparently, he felt offended that my favourite play was Hamlet because ‘that’s such a mainstream answer’ and didn’t know the plot of King Lear properly.” She huffed in frustration as she crossed her arms, “To get back at him, I would refer to Hamlet as Hamilton and Macbeth as Mcdeath from thereon.”
“My condolences.”
Cleaning her fingernail with her thumb, she moved on, “Tit-for-tat, you have to tell me your worse date now.” Starlight blinked three times accompanied by a blank expression. Quickly changing it, she shrugged and said that she just never had a bad one. That caused Sunset to call BS because everyone has had a worse date, unless…
Unless…
Flashing a smirk, Sunset leaned towards the girl, “You never went on a date before, have you?”
“I plead the fifth.”
“Rock, paper, and scissors; winner gets to chose what you plead.”
The trick to RPS was simple, it was all about reading your opponent. Let them win the first round and crush them in the next two. And to do so all you had to do was play whatever your opponent played in the previous round. Sounds unreliable but Sunset has won around 85% of RPS matches like this, so there isn’t really need for more discussion.
And just as the third daughter of King Lear raised from the bottom and beat everyone on their own little game – or something she still didn’t know the story properly – she destroyed Starlight in their own. Starlight groaned, rubbing her forehead as she had no choice but to come clean.
“Okay so I never been on a date sue me,” she raised her hands in surrender. “But to clarify, it’s not because I wasn’t asked out – because I have plenty of times – it’s just I’m too busy focusing on myself to do so.”
“Clearly.”
“It’s true.”
“Not so cheeky now, are we?” Sunset teased. Laughing at the other girl’s worked up composure, Sunset offered a truce. She had started to develop a liking to this new girl (technically she was the new girl) and she much rather a friend than a foe; she has far too many of the latter for a lifetime. Starlight regained her composure, cleared her throat, and pretended to think about it. Three beats later, she agreed to a new kinship.
“Besides, I already have this sworn enemy and it would be a shame for a character like you to play second to anyone.”
“So, does that make me the best friend?”
“Nah, I already have one of those – Sunburst, who also plays the role as the childhood friend. He lives in another city but we met pretty often, in fact he’s coming to visit me this weekend. You’re more like the, uh let’s see, the Byronic to me – the anti-hero.”
“Right…” Sunset trailed. And maybe this will be their thing, having a conversation that lasts a few minutes that turns to moments of silence before someone finally speaks again. Or maybe that’s how casual friendships work, Sunset never really had that many friends before, so what did she know. I mean, she did have that one friend Fluttershy who never really talked in general so if that was anything to go off of –
“I have this one friend,” Sunset started, as she usually does, “and she was this really sweet girl, super shy, super into that whole ‘good and kind’ thing. I used to bully her time-to-time, nothing too big, because she made it super easy and also because she was kinda cute. We became friends because we were partners for labs, and I missed this final assessment but she wrote down my name even though like it was strictly against the rules and I thought that was pretty badass of her. Anyways that’s not the point, the point is that half a year after grad she distanced herself with everyone – and I mean everyone, for the longest of time. Next time I hear from her, she’s dating one of her old teachers from high school.”
“So is it like a case of ‘good girl gone bad’?”
“No, she’s the same person as before, just dating this teacher so it’s super weird. I think I have a picture one sec.” Sunset pulled out her phone and opened her Ponygram, scrolling through someone’s account until she landed on a certain post.
Starlight leaned forward to get a better look, scanning the couple from head-to-toe, “Not going to lie, he’s kinda hot though. Was he married?”
“He used to be but he got a divorce before he taught us. I think they have one kid but he was no older than two.”
“I could tell, big DILF energy.”
“Such a DILF.”
“Oh,” Starlight said, as she grabbed her phone, “do you know that one Ponygram model, uh this one?”
“Yeah I’ve seen a few of her posts but I don’t really follow her. Didn’t she quit because get married and had a kid or something? What about her?”
“I went to school with this kid – my sworn enemy if you will – she was the top of the class and super nerdy, I’m pretty sure you’d bully her.”
“I’m pretty sure I would too.”
“Anyways, this model – her name is Cadence – turned out to be the former Dean of our school but she stepped down from her position. At first people thought it was because she was caught being a model and that had some implications but turns out, and get this, she was marrying my enemy’s brother. And that’s not all, she was her babysitter apparently, and that’s how she knew the brother.”
“Okay what YA novel is this?”
“Exactly!”
“Anyways, she’s a MILF despite only being 28 and no one can change my mind.”
And no one could – at least not Sunset because a group of young teenagers came right then and there. And for a group of what seemed to be students who were all relatively the same age, boy did they have varying feet sizes. And to be fair, Sunset was never really good at people yelling orders at her, she much rather be the yeller, but for her lack of experience she thought she was doing quite good.
At the end of the group three girls approached the counter to get their shoes. The one with the smallest size, spoke words of reassurance to her friends, her voice as sweet as her cotton candy hair. “Don’t worry girls, I followed my sister’s steps to the T, and by the end of the night we’ll get our first kisses for sure.”
“Are you sure Sweetie Belle, this plan kinda seems a little silly,” her friend asked with her tiny country accent.
“I’m one hundred percent sure, Rarity knows everything and anything that has to do with getting the boyfriend; trust me, she has three!”
And while the three walked away with the raspy one saying something along the lines of one being enough for her, Sunset and Starlight were left baffled at the fact that the there was another boy in the picture. This topic was quickly passed, because really who were they to judge?
Pursing her lips, Starlight simply asked, “So, when was your first kiss?”
“We’re really doing this?”
“I mean do you have any other conversation starters?”
“My first kiss, let’s see,” Sunset bit her finger, the scrunch to her face a physical testament as to how far she had to think, “I think it was when I was in the second? Third grade? Anyways he was the quote unquote ‘the most popular’ guy in our grade and all the girls were having their puppy crushes. To assert my dominance, I made sure I was his first kiss – and in relation mine.”
“Power move, I expected nothing less.” Sunset accepted the complement with finger guns, reverting the question to Starlight.
“I had it with Sunburst when we were kids.”
“You mean the guy that’s visiting you this weekend?”
“Yeah we shared one before he moved when we were eleven thinking we won’t see each other ever again. Skip five years we meet at a family friend’s party and so we kinda both acted like it never happened and it’s never been brought up, thank God.”
And the rest of the shift seemed to go by quicker than Sunset could recall. Which was nice, because the work of a bowling alley attendant was actually quite a drag when nothing was happening and probably worse than her nightmares when it wasn’t. Or maybe not, she did have pretty bad nightmares. Though it was nice talking to Starlight, she did quite worry for her. Just a tiny bit. It isn’t too healthy to assume your life is a New York’s Time Best Seller novel that as encompassed a lukewarm live action film and a rebooted questionable Netflix adaption. But technically it didn’t harm anyone so she should be fine.
She wasn’t to sure if the three girls were able to have their first kiss in the end but if their giggling was any indicator, she could assume there was some sort of progress. Dust mopping the lanes, Sunset was counting the minutes until she was out of here for good. That is until she’s placed in another location of an alley, hopefully she finds what she needs there because she’s starting to remember why she hated doing minimum-waged part-time jobs.
“Maybe you should transfer here for good,” Starlight said as she was rubbing the counter, “I mean the new girl who was supposed to work here up and went for some odd reason.”
“Why did she quit?”
“I’m not too sure, the boss just said it was for personal reasons. I was told something, but it has no evidence backing it and I’m not one to gossip.” Starlight says this as if what they talked about the past few hours didn’t happen.
A raise of Sunset’s eyebrow was enough to prompt Starlight to talk, “So basically, I heard that the district manager would host these parties after closing hours to ‘entertain’ a few important people for his brother’s business. He would get the female employees who legally couldn’t work here to serve, like underage employees or immigrants, so that they couldn’t complain or they’d face legal consequences for working. Anyways, she was one of those and once she heard the rumors she quit right away.”
“Intense. Isn’t our district manager Hiddle Saddles?”
“The one and only.”
Perhaps Sunset may not need to go to another location, “Probably rumours. Besides you should be careful of what you say, the walls have ears after all.”
“The walls have heard far worse, trust me.”
And though Sunset could persuade her for more inside info, what she had was enough to make up for her shift. More importantly, twenty minutes were what stood between her and freedom, perhaps a raise or commission of some sort.
“Are you saying that because of you know…?” Starlight turned to her, “About the whole new policy that they’re thinking of implanting?”
“No, I haven’t heard anything.”
“Apparently there’s this business that's trying to convince the government to cut the funding for bowling alleys because they want to make a deal in the oil business with them.”
Eighteen more minutes left, “Really? I never heard anything like that, who told you?”
“I had a co-worker who has a friend that has something to do with the industry. He said that there’s nothing to persuade them otherwise than the slight decline in profit, so apparently they’re sending someone to find something from the inside to help use against them.”
“Okay, Miss Sloane.”
“Technically Sloane was working for something good, while having an insider to cut innocent funds on the other hand.”
“I wouldn’t look too much into it,” Sunset really meant that part, if Starlight knew what was good for her she’d stay away. “I mean think about it, how would some random person manage to pretend to be a new employee or something? Like that may pass in fiction but reality is much harder to do so. Besides this is a bowling alley not some sketchy bar.”
“I don’t know, there are rumours floating around, plus you never know, the line between fiction and reality can be a thin one. Who knows the mole could be me,” Starlight slung her rag towards Sunset, “or it could be you?”
“Or it could be that co-worker who just quitted all of a suddenly?” Starlight’s mouth made an ‘oh’ shape, taking that possibility in account.
And with the fifteen minutes passing by slower than Sunset would want, Starlight gave her number and Ponygram account before they left. They bonded quite a bit, would be a shame for them to waste the time they invested in it. And it was a shame, because knowing the nature of Sunset’s job, it would be much better if she delated them when she entered the car.
Debating before doing so, she decided to first make a call instead. Precisely after four rings her boss picked up, as she can feel the smile spread on her face as she gave an update.
“You might want to check on a Hiddle Saddles, district manager of the place and is rumoured to be entertaining some interesting sort of people with even more interesting staff. Who knows, we might even get that deal by the end of next week.”
Hanging up she stared at the new entry in her contacts. They always said being a lobbyist is all that is bad in any business, and they’re not wrong; Sunset loses in small amounts and gains all at once. And in a similar fashion a small lose must be made in order to win the big picture. Deleting the number, Sunset has abandoned one to many people before, she won’t be losing sleep over this anytime soon.
Pulling out of the parking lot, this wasn’t as much as a gutter shift as she thought it would be. She would classify it more of a Brooklyn.
Author's Note
I think I've gone bowling once with my cousins but I wasn't too good at it if my memory serves right. But verse me in Wii bowling and you'll get creamed no questions asked, it's like my trademark. That and Wii tennis.
