Dots and Zeros [Completed]

21. Sam

The bright lights reflect on the shiny tables and windows, hiding the darkness outside. Cartons and wrappers are on the table between me and Eugene. He takes a big bite out of his burger. He closes his eyes while chewing.

'Is it good?' I ask.

He hums. I take a bite, too. It's not different from any other McDonald's burger, but it's good. He swallows.

'It's great,' he says.

'I agree.'

'So that's number four down.'

'But not all chains by far.'

He nods and continues eating. He takes a sip from his soda as he takes his phone out of the pocket of his jeans. He taps his screen while I continue eating.

'There's a Starbucks down the road,' he says. 'We could fit that one in tonight.'

'How about the rest? Taco Bell? Domino's? Other chains I can't think of right now?'

'We won't be able to do that all tonight, for sure. I will throw up and undo all our progress.'

I put the final piece of my burger in my mouth and chew. I lean back into my chair and put my hands on my stomach.

'I don't know if I can fit Starbucks in my stomach in the next hour.'

'Me neither,' Eugene says as he starts eating chicken nuggets.

'Hey, that's a shared portion.'

I put my elbows on the table and eat them too.

'It's a shame we couldn't check off everything on our list,' he says. 'Who knew you had to travel so much between things.'

'I know, right? Why aren't all the tourist spots in one neighborhood? That way, the people living and working here would be less annoyed as well.'

'Exactly. My legs despise me right now.'

He gives me the last nugget and gets back to his phone. I look around in the meantime. About half of the tables are filled with people. They're all alone or with groups of friends. No families. Which makes sense at near midnight.

'There's a hotel pretty close to here,' Eugene says. 'I guess I can call my parents to ask if it's okay to stay here for the night. It's the weekend anyway. Plus, I don't feel like driving for two hours in the dark after having been awake for almost twenty hours straight.'

'You'd want to do that? Stay overnight?'

'Yeah, why not? Unless you don't want to of course.'