outside

chapter 15

"Oh my god, I'm so full." I leaned back in my chair, patting my swollen stomach.

After an eventful day at Legoland and the aquarium, we had all decided to go out for one last dinner together. We were at some fancy Italian restaurant on Main St. that had a name too posh for me to pronounce and waiters too stuck up for my liking.

Don't get me wrong, I loved Italian food, but not this way. This was too polished. I liked the kind that my grandpa used to make, the kind that he didn't have to try so hard on yet it came out perfect every time. Memories of the steaming, homemade mountain of spaghetti and meatballs flooded my mind. He always served it on his best plates that somehow were still chipped, and I always ate it at his tiny kitchen table in my Little Mermaid pajamas because I practically lived in those when I was younger. After I ate, he used to make me judge the meal every time on taste. It always scored a ten.

Now, I just sat in my much-too-comfy chair wearing my much-too-small heels and readjusted my flowing, extremely uncomfortable black blouse. Maddie had insisted that I wore something nice considering the conditions of the restaurant and I refused to wear a dress two nights in a row, so black blouse it was. Of course, not without my skinny jeans. I couldn't live without those things.

"Oi, me as well. That had to be the best lasagna I've ever eaten in my life, though." Van groaned next to me. I laughed at him as he hung his head down and rubbed his belly as if he were pregnant.

"You have a food baby." I giggled, poking his overly-stuffed torso. He cackled, throwing his head back in laughter. The sound was music to my ears.

"What shall I name it?" He asked, rubbing the imaginary child in his stomach lovingly.

"Well, what do you want to name your kids?" I asked, actually quite curious as to what his answer would be, or if he had even thought about it at all. He brought his hand up to his chin and rubbed it, seeming to be deep in thought.

"I've always loved the name Violet for a girl." He finally said.

"That's beautiful." I stated. He was so thoughtful and it honestly made my heart swell with so much adoration for him. I had tried to stay away from him as best as I could today but it didn't end up working out, I craved his company. It was my last day with him, can you blame me?

Although, I'm slightly glad I did distance myself because Bob and I have were able to talk more and I learned a lot more about him, I do think we've become great friends.

"Violet it is, then!" He cheered, patting his stomach lightly. I laughed and he stared at me as I did so.

"What?" I asked, my laughing coming to an end as I looked down at my lap.

"N-Nothing." He said awkwardly. The conversation died off and I turned to Bob who began to tell me a story about how he snapped eight drumsticks in one set.

"Ready to go, lads?" Benji asked from the top of the massive table that seated all seven of us. A chorus of "yeah"'s broke out and we all stood up, grabbing our jackets before heading out of the restaurant. I instantly breathed a sigh of relief as we exited.

"What?" Van asked me.

"That place was much too fancy for me, I felt like I had to be too pristine and perfect in there. It's nice to have finally left." I laughed, to which Van nodded and agreed.

"I've never been into that sort of thing, I'm all about being as real and hardworking as possible and I feel as if everyone in there was too fake. Not my thing." Van crinkled his nose, which was quite cute if you asked me.

•••

I nearly fell into a hole as we walked down the jagged city streets, my high heels slipping into all of the cracks in the sidewalk. I absolutely hated them.