Turn The Other Way

“Gosh, Eli,” I said on a sarcastic note. “You are so classy.”

Eli laughed, sitting across from me after he put the tray on the table. “What? Don’t you like McDonalds?”

I smiled while I grabbed a french fry. “Absolutely not. It’s a place for poor farmers to get their cheeseburgers and not their ice cream because their ice cream machines always break down.”

“But… they have Play Places.”

“After we eat we should go into the ball pit!”

Eli looked at me wide eyed, like a child and then stuffed a handful of fries in his mouth.

“C’mon! Let’s do this!” he said, his mouth full. I just giggled and shook my head.

“No, after we eat.”

He swallowed a sighed. “Fine…”

“Now?” Eli asked about ten minutes later when we had finished.

“Sure. Dump that in the trash,” I said, pointing to the tray.

“Yay!” he exclaimed, and jumped up to dump the trash. I laughed lightly at this childish action; it reminded me of Emma.

I made my way to the Play Place and opened the door leading to it. Eli ran up beside me and sat down on the too small bench provided. Parents looked at him like a drunken man as he took off his shoes.

“What are you doing?” I asked. He looked up me innocently and stopped.

“Taking off my shoes. Duh!”

I laughed and he continued. “Why?” I asked.

Eli pointed to a sign that said “No Shoes, Please.” I smiled and sat down beside him, unlacing mine. After our shoes were off, we stuffed them the best we could into the small cubby holes suited for ten year old and younger’s show sizes.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Totally!” I responded, sending him a child like grin.

“Let’s do this.”

We ran towards the ball pit, cramming into the netting around the pin, and stood ankle deep in plastic balls of various colors. I laughed, laying down in them. I haven’t had this much fun in forever. It’s like reliving my childhood.

“Bury me!” I yelled.

“Okay,” he responded with a laugh. Eli started to push the plastic over my body, and he succeeded after a while. But then she just got to a point where they fell off.

“Ma’am, sir,” I sat up out of the ball coffin and looked at the manager. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

“Leave?” Eli asked.

“Yes. This area is suited for… children.”

“Who says I’m not a child?” Eli asked. “What if I’m 9 years old, but just look 25? I had a very weird growth spurt.”

I tried to keep my laughter in my I couldn’t help it.

“I’m sorry, but parents are complaining. Please leave.”

“Okay, okay, I know when I’m not wanted. Let’s go, Suzy Mae.” I looked at him strangely as he helped me up. We exited the pit and grabbed our shoes and put them on before leaving.

“Suzy Mae?” I asked as I waited for Eli to unlock his car.

He chuckled. “Yeah. I just had to, sorry.”

I laughed. “It’s cool. It was entertaining.”

“It definitely was.”

Eli pulled out of the driveway and we made our way to Springfield. The drive lasted quite a bit, but we managed to get there right as they were letting people in.

Eli opened my door for me and we went up to the door, paid and waited in the crowd. Eli even managed to push us to the front, where the first band to play was still setting up.

Five bands, several attempts and fails of the mosh pit, and a huge bruise on my ass later, it was time to go.

“So what did you think?” Eli asked as he drove back to London.

“Well… my ass hurts,” I replied with a laugh.

“Sorry about that. If I’d known you were going to get hurt, I wouldn’t have dragged you in with me.”

I laughed and shook my head. “It’s fine. I had a great time. Some of the bands were really good. Wish Brian was here with me.”

“Brian?”

“My brother- twin actually.”

“Oh, twin? That’s pretty cool.”

“Yeah, I thought so too until he started stealing my eyeliner.”

Eli and I laughed, and several minutes later I was back home.

“Let me walk you in,” he suggested.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Okay, I guess.”

Once again, he opened my door for me. It wasn’t my favorite thing, but it was a nice move. I was used to opening my own door. We walked silently up to my front door as I got my keys out.

“So I had a lot of fun tonight, too.” And here comes the cheesy after date moment.

“Yeah, me too. I think I already told you that,” I replied with a laugh.

“Yeah, you did. So… we should totally do this again sometime.”

“Of course. Try to get kicked out of another McDonalds… or better yet, Wal-Mart.”

“Oh dude! That would be sweet. Ride the bikes around!”

I laughed. His immaturity was funny. “Yeah. Sure, okay.”

“Well, I guess I’ll see you later?” he asked hopefully.

“Yeah,” was all I said.

Eli kissed me on the cheek and smiled at me before leaving. I unlocked and opened my door.

To be honest, I couldn’t see myself dating this guy. Maybe just friends, sure but… with dating, I’d want a guy that’s more mature. With friends, the immaturity is fun, though.

Next mission: Get kicked out of Wal-Mart.