Taiven Parmiga

Chapter 18: Sober Sight Seeing

I wake up the next morning in my hotel room gently lit by early morning light. I smell coffee brewing and turn on my side to read the clock on the table.
It reads 8:16. I groan slightly and kick off half of the covers. I sprawl myself outward and stretch to the outer edges of the Queen sized bed.
I doze off multiple times, slipping in and out of reality constantly.
I hear the door slowly slide open and glance over to see Evan bringing me a tray of food.
There's a great selection of from French toast to a fruit parfait to orange juice and coffee.

"A little hangover-helping breakfast for ya." He smirks down at me. I sit up and take a sip of the coffee and breathe in the wonderful breakfast aromas before me. I smile at him as he sits in the edge of the bed beside me.

"Thanks. I hope I wasn't too much trouble for you last night. Things got a little out of hand, didn't they." I shake my head embarrassed.

"Don't blame yourself. I was the one questioning your bravery." He reassures me. "And you definitely proved me wrong. You know how to have fun when you want to." He laughs

"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" I joke and nudge his arm.
I laugh, but quickly stop due to my pounding head. My stomach begins to churn and I try to distract myself from the aching. "So what've you got planned for us today?" I ask through a big yawn.

"It's our last day here. We'll have to drive back early tomorrow morning. But before we go, I've gotta a few small sight seeing I wanted to show you." He hides a smile and tries to downplay his excitement.

"Like what?" I ask slowly. I'm curious to see what he has in store for us. But not sure if he's wanting it to be a surprise or not.

"Firstly, you gotta eat and get dressed. Then, we'll be heading off to the Taft Museum of Art. They just opened a new section of their exhibit and it looked like something you would like." He nods slowly to himself.

"Then we can stop by somewhere to have some lunch." I recommend.

"Yeah. Actually I was thinking about going to the outdoor McAlister's Deli down the road from the museum."
He tells me.

"I've heard their outdoor patio seating has an amazing view. That should be fun. But I'm paying!" I exclaim quickly before he can offer.

"Tai. You're not paying." He shakes his head at me.

"Why can't I? You've paid for me this entire time. I've put you through too much trouble to not be able to pay for a simple lunch at McAlister's." I sit up straighter and start doing that thing where I wave my hands around in expressive motions that I think will help prove my point.
But he only laughs at me and puts his hand on my knee before replying.

"Fine. Fine. You can pay. But that's it. Everything else is on me. Okay?" I hesitate. But figure it's the best I'm going to get and nod my surrender.

"Okay, so then after we have a late lunch, we're gonna head to the Twentieth Century Theatre for their late night showing of Dracula." He looks at me with a small smirk.

"How did you know?" I ask him laughing. "Dracula is one my favorite theatre production of all time. I've seen countless versions. How did you know?" I stutter everything out quickly and excitedly.

"I may or may not have called up your sister for a quick chat about what you would and wouldn't like. No big deal." He shrugs and I gawk in shock and happiness.

"You called Vera?" I ask quieter, slightly nervous now.

"Yeah...why? What's wrong?" He asks slowly, furrowing his brow in confusion.

"Did she say anything? About us being here together?" I ask him. "I didn't think to tell her. I didn't want her to get any ideas and start telling people." I start to quietly freak out.

"No. No. It's fine. She won't. I promise. She was cool with it. She wanted me to tell you to have fun." He gently smiles and I can breathe a sigh of relief.
We sit in silence for a while and I begin to think over our plans once again.

"When are we supposed to be at the museum?" I ask rubbing my temples, trying to remember if I brought Aspirin.

"Around 11:30. He says standing up. Might wanna hurry up that breakfast if you want to be out of here fully dressed and without smelling like alcohol." He turns around quickly glancing to the clock with a slight smile on his lips before leaving.
I turn to the clock.
It reads 10:56.

"Shit!" I shout and jump out of the bed almost knocking the breakfast tray over.

I can't be late for our last day together.

Hey guys.
Chapters 19 and 20 over the museum and the theatre will be coming to you sometime in the next week.
There's gonna be a surprise midnight adventure in chapter 21.
So stay tuned for it.
Thanks again for reading.
-Alyssa D.