The Road Trip

Chapter 34

We were all laughing hysterically at the hotel as we reminisced over the day’s events. Especially the Donald Duck incident. After getting puked on, the poor guy got fired publicly by an apologetic costume manager. Unsurprisingly, Mr. “Ducklings” had done this before on numerous occasions and had multiple warnings so this time was the final straw. We talked about how he looked as he ducked his beak in embarrassment and humiliation and had to walk out of the theme park dressed in the costume he had to dry clean before returning.

Once we finished calming Eric down about the whole situation, we all found it quite entertaining. Throughout the rest of our Disney experience we made references to it. It was astonishing how easily a snide Donald Duck comment could slide into a conversation. However, the rest of the day wasn’t nearly as eventful and after we finished all the rides and attractions we picked up Leo and went back to our hotel.

“Today was awesome!” I exclaimed as I happily fell back onto my bed. Eric plopped down next to me.

“Agreed,” he replied with a grin. Levi and Corbin nodded eagerly in agreement.

“I mean the Duck, the tea cups, the rides, the movies… just spectacular!” I looked around at the faces that were all reflecting my own content, bright face. Levi’s mirrored my expression almost exactly.

“Disney World is definitely all that and a bag of chips.” She winked and I smiled back happily.

We all chatted about the day keenly until it was getting late and the sun had set. That was when we all started splitting up. Levi and Corbin decided to go scout out a restaurant on his laptop in the guy’s room, leaving Eric and I behind. We continued to talk and started to expand on other topics besides just today.

I watched Eric as he spoke and thought about how he’d been so mad when I told him about what the creepy Duck had said to me. I small smile appeared on my face as I remembered.

“I just loved that pepperoni pizza, it was great, you know? And… what?” Eric asked in wonder towards my expression. “Did I say something? Is something on my face?”

I shook my head. “No, no, it’s not that.”

“Oh, then what’s up with the weird smile there, Den?” He asked me curiously. I shrugged.

“Come on, you know you want to tell me,” he said with a diabolical smile beginning to appear on his face. I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Nuh uh! I know no such thing!” I replied adamantly while teasingly crossing my arms and turning away. His face turned pouting and he gave me large doe eyes.

“Pretty please, Denny?” I refused to look at him, partially to tease him and partially because I knew I’d give in if I looked.

“I said no and I’m sticking to it!” Eric kept up the eyes for a bit and when he realized I wasn’t going to look at him he switched tactics.

“Fine, if that’s how you want to play it, whatever, it’s your choice.” He made himself seem completely uninterested. “Hmm… what do you think is on television right now?” I twitched. “Want to watch a movie, you can pick.” I twitched again. “Maybe we should even have some popcorn, would you like that?” I twitched once more. “Well, I think I’d like some popcorn, I’ll go make some.” As he moved to get off the bed, I turned and tackled him, making him stay in place.

“You don’t play fair! Fine, I’ll tell you!” I cried as I gave in. He looked triumphant as he gazed up at my sitting on him. I moved into a more comfortable position atop him and then began.

“I just thought it was really sweet of you to try to avenge my honor I guess against the Duck guy today,” I told him as casually as I could manage to try to decrease the sappiness of my words. Eric’s eyes were bright as he listened to my words.

“It was no biggie,” he replied nonchalantly and then easily flipped our positions so I was on the bottom and was sitting on top of me. “No animal, or person for that matter, should get away with treating you like that.”

I smiled gratefully at him to show my appreciation of his words. His eyes told me he understood and that he meant his words and actions one hundred percent. We stayed in that position, just smiling at each other for a bit.

We were interrupted, however, when Levi and Corbin opened the door abruptly and rushed in quickly.

“We found a place just down the…” Levi started, then took in Eric’s and mine’s position and drifted off. “Oh sorry, were we, uh, interrupting something?” Corbin looked like he was about to laugh hysterically and even Levi appeared to be holding back a smirk. I blushed furiously and rolled from under Eric.

“Nope, nothing, nada,” I said hurriedly and then whistled awkwardly. Eric chuckled at me and got up.

“Nope, we were just goofing off, so what’s the restaurant?” Eric asked coolly without any trace of embarrassment or flush.

“It’s this Italian restaurant down the street that has really good ratings,” Levi continued while Corbin winked at me behind her back. “Oh and it apparently has chicken parmesan to die for, Den,” she noted since chicken parm was my favorite Italian food. I smiled easily and felt my face begin to return to normal.

“Cool, sounds yummy! Let’s go.” We all then made our way out of the hotel room and to the garage to head to yet another destination.

Not that I was complaining. I was starving—as per usual.

}..{

We were seated in relatively good time—not over fifteen minutes of wait—and looked over the menus thoughtfully as we waited for our server.

The chicken parmesan does look really good… but so does the penne and the shrimp and the calamari… Oh! The salad looks like it has the possibility of a deliciously unique dressing… So many choices… Each of us were debating on our entrees and whether to get appetizers or not when our waitress finally came to our table to ask for our drink preference.

She began with Levi.

“What would you like?” She asked politely.

“Hm… I guess I’d like a lemonade, please.” The waitress wrote it down then went to Corbin.

“Mm… ginger ale, thanks.” She nodded and then motioned to Eric without looking at him.

“I’ll take a sprite.” As she heard his voice, she looked up and blatantly checked him out
with a smirk.

“Sure, sweetie, take anything you want,” she said flirtily with a smile. Well, with a smile until she noticed Eric’s and mine’s intertwined fingers. She scowled and took in my appearance and scoffed. She put her hand on her hip and asked my for my drink with attitude.

“Uhm.. could I have a lemonade, too?” I asked.

“We’re out,” she stated bluntly.

“But—“ I started, but she interrupted me.

“We’re out, anything else?”

“Uh, a ginger ale then?”

“That’s gone, too.”

“Spr—“

“Out.”

I gave her a ‘what the heck’ look. “Guess I’ll have a water? Or is tap too fancy for this place?” I ordered irritably. She gave me a nasty look, didn’t bother to write down my order, clicked her pen obnoxiously, and then walked away.

“Dang, did it get chilly in here, or is that just me?” Levi said once the waitress was out of earshot.

“I know! What was her problem?” I exclaimed, upset. Eric put his arm around me.

“Maybe she’s in a bad mood, or something. Let’s not worry about it.” I dropped it and sunk into Eric. Levi, Corbin, and Eric conversed animatedly while I just listened. About five minutes later, the waitress returned with our drinks. We all said thank you. I was about to take a sip of mine when I noticed something floating in it.

“Uhm, excuse me, ma’am?” I spoke up before she walked away.

“Yes.”

“I think my water has something suspended in it, could I have a new glass?” I asked politely, despite the death glare I got in return.

“Whatever.” She took the glass and stalked off.

“Did that look like spit in the water to anyone else besides me?” I asked. They all shrugged. I frowned and looked down at the table.

The waitress brought back a new glass of water that looked fine.

“Thank you,” I told her while making eye contact.

“Yeah, yeah.” She stalked off again, though I thought I saw a sinister smile on her face.

I took a sip of my water, but had spit it out.

“Blech! What is this? Ocean water? It’s so salty!” I exclaimed in disgust. Eric tasted a bit on his finger and winced.

“Oh…well gosh…” Eric looked at me with a confused expression. “I wonder why that is.” I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, I wonder.” Eric’s eyes widened at my dry tone.

“What’s wrong?” He asked me.

“I just, don’t think I like this place, can we go?” I pleaded with my eyes. Eric looked torn between staying with our friends and accepting my request.

“Fine, if it’s okay with Levi and Corbin?” He said and I visibly relaxed as they nodded their assent. “Cool, shall we, Den?” I smiled.

“We shall.”

As we were leaving, we ran into the waitress who smirked at me.

“Leaving so soon?” She sneered with her voice dripping with fake compassion.

“Yeah, we decided this restaurant wasn’t for us, but our friends are still back there. Hope you enjoy serving them,” Eric told her nicely. She gaped from him to me.

“Wait, you’re leaving too? But why?” She whined, not even hiding it. Eric looked taken aback.

“Because my girlfriend doesn’t want to stay here?” He replied. Then he took my hand and we walked off without waiting for a response, just left her speechless. I was holding back giggles until we were outside. Eric looked down at me surprised.

“What’s so funny?” I managed to push my laughter back down and shake my head.

“Nothing, I just love you is all.” I smiled at him. He pulled me in for a hug.

“Aw, I love you, too, but aren’t I supposed to be the one to say it first?” He said questioningly. I winked.

“Not this time, buddy.” We then walked together, hands swinging in the direction of the open 24-hours Denny’s across the street.

Eating breakfast for dinner with my loving boyfriend provided the perfect end to a perfect day.