Who You Say I Am (A Jai Courtney Fanfic)

Chapter 69-Jai

Jai

I drive Megan to the restaurant she mentioned on Sunday for lunch. I hadn't realized we're so close to that area. I'm still getting a grasp on driving around here. I look in my rearview mirror and see that those sheilas are in fact following us. I'm debating on saying something to her. When I park and see them also parking I turn to her. "Those two ladies from the gym are following us," I say.
She laughs uncomfortably. "Are you serious?" she questions.
"What do you want to do?" I ask.
"Where'd they park?" she inquires.
"Across the road," I motion to the other side of the main road.
"The restaurant we're going to is over here," she tells me pointing to the side of the road we're on. "You want to get out and try to lose them?"
"We could..." I start. "Or we could go into another restaurant, since there's several and wait for them to order food. When it arrives, we bail."
She chuckles at that. "You think it'll work?" she questions.
"It always has in the past," I shrug.
"No way," she shakes her head disbelievingly.
"My mates and I do that to stalking sheilas all the time," I tell her.
A laugh bubbles out of her chest. "Alright," she agrees nodding. "Where do you want to go?"
"Does that pub over there serve tucker?" I ask.
"Food?" she questions. I nod. "I think so," she says. "It looks like they have a menu on the window. We could look first and definitely find out if they're following you. If not, then we could go to that place down the street," she tells me pointing to another restaurant.
"Deal," I nod stepping out. I quickly open the door for her and take her hand. Perhaps if I make us look like a couple, they'll back off. I'm not expecting it though. I put my arm around her as we cross the bitumen onto the footpath.
We approach the pub entrance and I can see them in the reflection on the window. They're in their car watching us and whispering to each other. "If this gets worse, maybe you should report them at the gym," I tell her.
"Let's hope I don't have to do that," she says.
We look at the menu and there is some tucker served here. We step inside and order some drinks. I explain to the bartender that two ladies are following us and I ask him if he'd have someone here distract them when we leave. He looks surprised but nods his assent. I see the two sheilas step inside the entrance and sit at a table with a view of me.
"Do you want to order the food to go at the other place and we can have a picnic somewhere?" she offers quietly.
"That sounds good," I grin.
"Or we could drive off and park in a nearby parking lot and watch them from the alley to see if they're gone," she offers. She draws a map on a napkin for me and I grin at how sneaky she is.
"I like this plan," I nod. I see the women order some tucker and the staff starts to make it. Meanwhile, Megan and I chat. I whisper to her that if she's ever uncomfortable in public with the fans to call me by my nickname. My mates do it and it confuses them.
"What's your nickname?" she asks softly smiling.
"My mates call me Steve-o," I tell her quietly in a whisper. I definitely don't want those sheilas to know.
"Why's that?" she asks with a smile.
"My middle name is Stephen," I tell her in a soft breath.
"Oh," she says in surprise. "That makes sense."
I see their food arrive and they start to eat. I pull a wad of cash out of my wallet and set it on the counter. It should be more than double their bill if they bail on it chasing us. I nod to the man and he understands. The waitress comes over to them and a busboy even goes to clean off a table between us. Megan and I bolt for the door. We run for the 4WD before the light turns green and traffic starts coming. We jump in and buckle up. I back out and drive off the way Megan showed me. We're completely out of sight now. We turn down an alley and park in the lot between the old buildings. We're smiling at each other. Megan climbs out and sneaks to a part of the alley. She peeks around and watches the traffic. I can't see what's going on from here, though. She comes back laughing and climbing in.
"They're gone. They totally bailed. I can't believe they'd order food and leave. I was expecting them to give up," she says disbelievingly.
"That's fine. I took care of it," I tell her.
"That's really nice of you to do that," she says furrowing her eyebrows.
"No worries," I tell her softly.
"So... do you want to order out in case they double back or go in?" she asks.
"Why don't we just go in?" I suggest. "They're gone and if they do come back, they'll be in trouble for stiffing that place on the bill."
"You're right," she nods. "They won't be able to show their faces over here again without trouble."
We climb out and walk to her favorite restaurant. It turns out to serve Mediterranean. We step in and get a booth in the back. We sit on one side with the crowd to our backs just in case but I'm not complaining about the closeness.
We look over the menu and I'm struggling to decide. Everything sounds good. She orders some grape leaves and one of the houses' special gyros with a crispy lavish wrap. I decide I want the same.
We talk about my mates while we wait and why they do what they do. One actually likes the sheilas to approach us, the other can't stand it.
"What are their names?" she asks taking a sip of her drink.
"Johnno and Damo are my closest mates," I tell her. "There are a few more but usually the others just tag along."
"Short for Johnny or Johnathan?" she asks. I nod. "How about the other one?"
"Damien," I say.
"So, you shorten names and throw an o at the end?" she inquires.
"Pretty much," I nod. "Bottle-o, arvo, avo, ambo, defo, flanno..."
She smiles at me. I push her hair aside. "So if I abbreviate words and throw an o on it, I'd sound like a native?" she questions.
"It couldn't hurt," I tell her.
"What do you think about American English?" she asks.
"I think we're all the same. We all have slang and different ways of speaking. You just have to get used to it for a while and you're one of the club," I tell her. She nods in understanding.
Our meal arrives and I'm surprised at how good it is. I defo see why this place is one of her favorites. She tells me she wants one of their chocolate cupcakes. She says they're vegan but still good. I look at her skeptically but order one, too. We're given them in a takeaway package and I'm pleasantly surprised by it.
"I didn't think this could be that good," I tell her. "I seriously wasn't expecting much."
"Yeah, I'm not much for the vegan stuff but these are pretty good," she agrees. "I don't mind tofu, just the meat replacement stuff isn't my favorite."
"Yeah, I'm defo a carnivore," I tease. She chuckles at me.