After a long debate, I finally convince Carter that we go out for Dinner instead of ordering room service.
"Your job is to follow me around, remember?" Is what really shut him up.
As Carter drives around the city, I look out the window to search for food places. It's dark out, but the signs were all well lit. There are also streets where a string of lights hung around trees. This is what makes nightlife in the city so pretty.
We pass by so many fancy restaurants as well as cheap fast food.
Whenever Dad and I went out to dinner, we would have to always go to restaurants and never the fast food places. Fast food places turned out to be "filled with junk and just not classy". It's like my dad had to eat rich to fit being rich. McDonald's never bothered him before the money.
The lack of the so called junk food is what made fast food joints really tempting to stop and eat at. I haven't had a good burger in awhile.
It took about half an hour of driving around until we finally found a good place to try. I was a tad bit disappointed we weren't eating fast food, but no one can pass up some good Chinese.
"This place has four stars out of five on Yelp," I tell Carter as we get out of the SUV.
I check out all the reviews and photos of the place while Carter does his job checking around.
"You can head inside, I'll stay behind a little and observe the building."
"Alright, but don't take too long, or else I'm ordering everything to my taste," I warn.
"Really?"
"I don't know about you Carter, but I think I'm in a mood for something spicy," I say adding a whistle for effect.
"Okay, I get it! I'll hurry," he responds quickly.
From one of the things I do remember, Carter hated spicy food. Since he's a lot older now, he could've grown out of it; however, by his response I'm guessing he still despises the spice.
I make my way into the building by entering through the front doors.
The place is packed and is filled with noise. This must really be a popular place for people.
A lady greets me at the main archway, along with a strong scent of delicious food.
"Table for two, please."
Not only is this place full, but it is huge. A lot of Chinese restaurants I've been to before were no more than half the size of this place.
I sit down at a table against the wall. There was a beautiful painting hung that stretched from one end to the other. Displayed on it was a waterfall.
I look over the menu and I recognize most of the dishes I usually see and nothing special. That's probably accounted for the missing fifth star.
Which also means, the food must taste like heaven.
I stall on time despite my growling stomach. That granola bar from earlier was such a tease.
I order two sodas for now, and sit back and wait. I already have two dishes in mind besides fried rice. One of which is spicy.
There's a clash at the table, and I look up to see a breathless Carter.
"You didn't order yet, did you?" Carter asks in worry.
"If I did, would there still be menus on the table?"
He came quicker than I thought. Carter must have cut his check up really short.
"Okay good," he heaves a breath of relief.
"You are so silly," I laugh shaking my head.
"As long as I can eat dinner without downing five cups of water, I'll be fine."
The lady brings us our two sodas, and takes our order before disappearing again to another table.
"So, how long do you think this is gonna last?" I bring up.
Carter leans back in his chair and tilts his head up as if he was thinking.
"It's tough to tell," he answers.
"Well, how long has cases been before?"
"They have lasted from a single day to several months. It all depends on how serious the situation is. In your case, this may take a long time."
I had a feeling this would take some time before everything blew over, but a part of me was still disappointed once Carter said it aloud. All i want, is to go back to the way things were. I'd be glad even if it went back to us not being as wealthy as we are now. Days are simpler when your biggest problem is how much money you should spend on food.
Although it has only been a couple of days since the incident happened, it seems like I've been trapped for a whole year. It may seem exaggerated, but it's pretty darn close to how I feel.
On top of all that, I am also being hunted down by crazy people. If they happen to kidnap me, who knows what they'll do? Sure, that's what bodyguards are for, but really mine is the same age as me! Also, in movies the villains always seem to be a whole foot smarter than the protagonists, and always get close to what they want. This is all nonsense.
"Hey, don't worry about it," Carter speaks.
I pick my head up and hold eye contact with him.
"I'm not worrying."
"Lena, you're clutching onto the tablecloth."
Looking down, I was indeed holding on to the table tightly. I let go and relax my hand on my lap.
"I never thought this would happen to me," I say.
"Come on, let's not talk about this. There are plenty of other things we can converse about," Carter urges.
"Like... oh! Did you know Zayn left One Direction?"
I giggle quietly at the sudden topic change.
"He left a while ago, Carter," I say with a duh tone.
Carter shoots up both his arms in the air, "Well sorry for not constantly keeping up with them."
"I'm pretty sure everyone in the whole world was talking about it."
"I bet you're the biggest One Direction fan there is," Carter assumes, "you're being very defensive."
"What? No, I'm not," I say taken aback.
"Yeah, you are! Who's your favorite? Was it Zayn?" He asks, "No wonder you're being defensive."
"No, I like Niall."
"See, I knew you like them," He teases.
"Yeah, I do."
"I bet you have a billion magazines and posters of them, and you know all the lyrics to every song. You know the times they were born, don't you?" he laughs.
"I'm not a crazy fan, I just like them!"
"Don't be embarrassed to admit it, Lena."
I groan in disbelief.
Luckily, before the conversation could continue on, our food came.
All thoughts on the boy band disappeared as nothing but food filled our brains.
"This stuff is delicious," Carter babbles with a mouth full of food.
"SO good."
"We must come here again," he mumbles.
They say when someone doesn't talk during a meal it's because the food must be delicious, which is why Carter and I don't talk for a good ten or fifteen minutes.
"Would you like a refill?" The waitress comes by and asks.
"Yes, please."
"No wonder this place is crowded," Carter starts, "the food here is- is amazeballs."
"Did you just say amazeballs?"
"Don't make fun, I just couldn't think of any adjective on the top of my head."
"So you pick amazeballs?"
"FINE the food was fantastic! Is that better?" He rages.
Carter seems genuinely upset, so I try not to laugh. He crosses his arms and slumps down in his chair.
"I can say amazeballs whenever I want to," he says quietly and more to himself.
While eating our last bites of food, the waitress comes to give us the bill and two fortune cookies.
"I'm feeling fortunate," Carter beams.
He rubs his hands together and decides which cookie to take. To end his difficult position, I decide to grab the one closest to me.
"Hey! What if I wanted that one?" He complains.
"Well too bad. Besides, ladies first, right?"
"Right," he sighs.
"Do you want to switch cookies, then?"
"We can't, you already chose your fortune," he disagrees.
He doesn't bother anymore and opens his cookie.
Someone's being a little salty.
I break my fortune in half and pull out the message.
As I was about to read it, Carter snatches it away.
I laugh, "Carter, what are you doing?"
I immediately stop laughing as soon as I notice his facial expression. I could tell he went from Carter to Bodyguard.
"We have to go," he warns.
"What? Why? What does the fortune say?"
He doesn't answer, instead he looks around the building and our surroundings.
"Carter, don't take fortunes cookies too seriously, it's just a random selection," I try to ease him.
"Lena, we're going to pay the bill, and then we're gonna have to escape out."
"Can you tell me why?"
"Just act normal, and try to find the waitress who served us."
"Okay..."
"She's right there at another table."
"Come on."
Carter grabs my hand and leads me towards her.
"Here's our bill."
He quickly hands her cash for our meal, and pulls me along towards the kitchen.
"Uh, Carter?"
"Stay quiet and calm."
We rush into the kitchen where everyone stops and turns to us.
"Excuse me-"
We manage to rustle through the kitchen and out the back door before anyone stepped up to stop us.
Once we got outside, Carter had one arm blocking me from going anywhere.
He motions for me to be quiet, so I do.
Shoulders down and bent legs was how we walked. It was dark, but just enough light from the building gave us enough to find our way.
We cautiously make it around the building until the SUV comes into view.
"Run."
Carter yanks me with him as we sprint towards our vehicle.
From behind I can hear heavy footsteps. It was just like how it was the night we went to the park. I was tempted to look back, but I knew that wouldn't be a good idea.
I try to run faster, with adrenaline pumping, but the Chinese food wasn't helping.
As we get to the SUV, Carter opens the door and basically pushes me inside before shutting it.
It was quiet in the car. The only noise that filled was my heartbeat and heavy breathing. My eyes follow Carter as he safely makes it around and to the driver's seat.
I look back but strangely, the guys stopped running and just stood there.
Carter instantly drives out and away from the restaurant.
I make sure to look and observe the men for a second before they were out of sight.
"Why aren't they following us?" I frantically ask Carter.
He keeps silent and just drives.
"Carter?"
"Carter, please tell me."
He takes a quick moment at a red light to look at me. He had a worried look that wasn't good.
"They were just trying to scare us."
Really? That's it?
"What do you mean?"
Isn't it a bit childish to just scare us?
"Their plan tonight didn't involve capturing," he informs.
"Why? Aren't they after us?"
"Yes, but they must have something bigger planned."
"Bigger"
"We need to find out what it is, before it's too late."
At the corner of my eye, I see something white. Laying inside the cup holders was the two fortunes. Carter must've thrown it in there when he got inside.
I grab both of them and unravel it open.
"Lena, no."
Carter places his hand over mine so that it blocked the papers. He snatches them away from me.
"Carter, c'mon. I'm not a little girl, I can handle whatever it says." I argue.
He holds eye contact with me, but his face softens.
He slowly hands them back and keeps driving.
I take a look at both fortunes.
"Watch out, there will be chaos in your future."
"That's not bad," I tell Carter, "it's just a normal fortune cookie."
I look at the other fortune, but this one didn't have any words. Instead, there was a symbol. I know I've seen it somewhere, but I can't put my finger on it.
It was a lion roaring.
I try to remember where I've seen it. Out the corner of my eye, I can see Carter looking at me for any reactions.
"My garage! The investigators had a picture of this symbol."
I put two and two together and get chills.
I look back but the restaurant and men was already long gone.
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A/N:
Thank you so much for 1k reads! I haven't updated in a loooong time, so I thought I should hurry up and do so. I will probably go back and tweak a few things, but for now, hope you liked the chapter!
-Mel