I put the last pair of shorts into the bottom drawer, finally finished unpacking and I was now exhausted, hading already texted my family that I got here safe and sound.
Parker flopped on the bed next to me, letting out a loud sigh, also done putting his things away. He got interpreted by his stomach's low growl.
"I'm starving, wanna go find a restaurant with me? I heard there's a great sea food place across the street."
I nodded, feeling hungry as well. "Yeah, I need a real meal." I put on my beaten Converse and grabbed the hotel key to put into my crossbody bag.
I motioned towards the door. "Ready?"
He followed my lead, putting on his black Vans and opening the heavy hotel door. "Ready."
•••
I guess he heard right when he said the restaurant was across the street because I followed Parker into the Gulf Coast Grill after only crossing the busy road.
He held the door open for me which I found pleasantly surprising. As soon as I walked in, I could hear the clatter of plates and the smell of fish. My stomach growled in anticipation.
"It's seat yourself so let's find a booth over here," Parker said, putting a hand on my wrist to pull me towards the corner of the small and casual restaurant. I sat across from him, immediately grabbing the menu that sat in the middle and flipping through it to see what would catch my eye.
The restaurant had pale blue walls, the edges chipping where it met the wooden panels of the booth. On the walls hung several paintings of the ocean and the creatures within it, each an uneven distance apart from each other. There were wide windows placed towards the front however the frosted glass only allowed onlookers to have a small glance at the compact restaurant.
Placed in the center, several two person tables, all set with cutlery, ready to be used. There weren't many people in the restaurant. Around 10 if you don't include us. There were what looked like two couples, a group of four sitting a booth away from us and two individual diners. Soft jazz played in the background, complimenting the scheme of the restaurant.
"Hey guys, I'm Emma! Can I start you off with some drinks?"
I looked up to find a pretty girl, around our age, maybe older. She was already paying more attention to my acquaintance than looking at me. I cleared my throat, trying to get her attention.
"I'll take a diet coke."
"And you, handsome?"
But he didn't look up, making no eye contact with her. Parker continued to skim through his menu while replying, "I'll have a root beer."
She gave him one last smile before heading back into the kitchen.
He seemed to relax more now that she left the table. "So! What looks good to you?"
I mean, you look pretty good right now.
"Uh, I'll probably go with the grilled shrimp salad."
Parker looked up at me like I was crazy.
"What?"
"Look at all the interesting sea food you can get here and you're going to get a salad?"
I felt uncomfortable under his harsh gaze. "Well yeah, I'm not very wild when it comes to food."
He gave me a smirk, "Oh, you shouldn't've said that Paige." I sat there confused, narrowing my eyes at him, skeptical of what he was up to.
"Park-" I was interrupted by a certain flirtatious waitress that came strolling over, now with a pep in her step and swing in her hips.
"Here you are. Ready to order?" Emma asked, setting our straws down, leaning a little too much over the table.
"We are! We'll take a plate of lobster, crab, oysters... Oh! and why don't you throw in the fried calamari? That's it."
What the fuck was he doing? That's a lot of food, a lot of expensive food.
Our waitress scribbled down his requests before turning around to leave to which I called out to her, "Wait! Add on a grilled shrimp salad too!" She put her arm up in response as she headed into the kitchen yet again.
"What was that, Parker?" I scowled at him as he leaned back into his side of the booth, looking relaxed.
"What do you mean?" His lips curled up again.
"Um, you just ordered a huge amount of seafood which I saw the prices of. It's way too much!"
He shook his head in disagreement and a scowl graced his face. "I don't care. It's my step dad's money anyways which I can spend all I want." This seemed like a heavy topic for him and I didn't want to push it any further so I tried to lighten the conversation.
"What is calamari anyways?" I asked, playing with my straw.
"You'll find out soon."
•••
"This is... This is insane." I said with wide eyes, looking at the wide variety of seafood sitting in front of me. I've never been a fan of slimy fish or food that smells salty like the sea so this wasn't very pleasant.
I grimaced at Parker who was already squeezing a lemon onto the lobster, ready to dig in with a fork.
He looked up at me with a lobster tail partially in his mouth. "What? Come on, Paige, dig in!"
I looked at him hesitantly, back down to the food, then back up to his gorgeous eyes. I pulled the salad closer to me and unwrapped my napkin clad fork.
"I think I'm gonna stick with the salad. You know I could get salmonella from the raw fish and that would ruin my whole trip! Another thing is-" I got cut off by the annoying boy sitting across from me.
"Just try it! You're not going to get sick, I promise. Besides," he popped a oyster down his throat, "I'd be sick with you."
I groaned, knowing I wouldn't win with him until I ate something. The cooked lobster looked like my best option so I cut a very small inch piece off. Bringing it up to my nose to give it a smell before grimacing and gently putting it into my mouth.
It was a bit chewy but pretty bland which I was happy about. After swallowing it, I stuck out my tongue to show him that it was gone and gave a proud smile.
He clapped sarcastically at me. "That was only one bite but congrats."
I shrugged, laughing and dug into the food that I knew I would like.
"So, I still don't know much about you and we are sleeping in the same room tonight. I want to make sure I'm not sleeping next to a serial killer."
"I would like to call myself an assassin because it doesn't sound as brutal."
He chucked but stayed quiet, motioning for me to continue.
"Where do I start? Well... what do you want to know about me? I'm a plain Jane."
"Let's play 21 questions. That way you can learn about me too."
I inwardly groaned, thinking about the times Carly told me about of getting wasted and confessing too much during this game at parties.
"Alright fine but with rules! One, no inappropriate questions, strictly professional 'getting to know' you questions only. Two, no drinking allowed. I know we're under age but I have a feeling you can get alcohol pretty quickly. And three, if a question is too personal then you can pass. Deal?"
•••
I laughed at Parker, hitting his shoulder as we entered the hotel's elevator. Trying to catch my breath, I giggled out, "I can't believe you did that! I would never in a million years sneak into a water park and party after they closed for the day!"
He was in a laughing fit as well and clicked our floor number. "It was a blast! You really missed out but the cops came a few hours in and crashed it."
This whole conversation came from question number eighteen when I asked him 'what's the most illegal thing you've done?' and his answer included vandalism, trespassing, under age drinking and illegal substances. All in one night.
We'd been asking each other questions for the past hour and I had gotten to know that family is a touchy subject for him so he kept it short with saying that he's an only child. He told me the simple facts like his favorite color is black, which I mentioned is actually a shade, his favorite movie is the Hangover and his birthday is in March, the 6th specifically. Now, we had been getting more into stories and he was telling me about his last summer's endeavors.
We finally reached our room for the week and I stumbled in, ready to get to bed soon.
"Wanna watch a movie? Then I'm off to bed, because today was a long day."
Parker agreed as I grabbed the remote and scrolled through Netflix movies, snuggling further into the comfy bed.
I can get used to this.