erik menendez // if you love me..don't let go

chapter ten

The hotel wasn't at all what I thought it would be. I thought it would be your plain old hotel, but no. There were people outside the big door who would quickly scramble over to hold the door for you before you even turned the block. The lobby was so modernized looking. Black and white chairs filled the big space, and there was even a TV. Obviously, it wasn't a big one, but it was playing the news for everyone to see. There was also a fireplace, but I wasn't too sure that it actually worked. It looked pretty fake to me.

"How many rooms did we get?" I overheard Kitty ask before we reached the reception.

"Three, my darling." Jose responded. It seemed as though the two of them resolved whatever was going on, because he was all over her. His hand was on her lower back, guiding her over to the desk while he leaned down and whispered words into her ear. I really would not like to know what he said.

I finally thought that Jose was doing something normal. We only got three rooms instead of ten which is something I wouldn't be surprised if he did. Jose and Kitty shared a room, me and Dad shared a room, and Erik had his own room all to himself. I sort of wished I could have my own room, but that would be pretty bratty of me to request.

We handed our luggage off to the nice bellhop, and made our way towards our room. Everyone was on the same floor, right next to each other and thank God for that because I definitely would've gotten lost in that maze of a hotel.

***

It was 5:00 PM and all I wanted to do was sleep. I've been up for almost a full day, and that was something I was not used to. But of course, we just had to go out for dinner tonight. I'm not complaining, I was really excited to see what the food would be like here, but could we have had just one day to rest after the flight? Also, I didn't want to have to witness another heated fight happen at dinner, leaving more tension then there already was. I feel like if Erik and I weren't there, all of the adults would just start going rabid and claw at each other like crazy animals.

"TAXI, TAXI!" Jose yelled as he stood almost in the middle of the street, waving his hands around trying to get a cars attention. He then tsked to himself. "Ay ay ay, I should've went through with the assistant driver." He mumbled and shook his head in disappointment.

We were all waiting on the sidewalk for a car to come to take us to dinner. Clearly, we weren't really good at that. The sky was pitch black and the air was freezing. I had no idea NYC would be this cold, and I definitely did not prepare for it. I was only wearing a casual slip dress with a tiny cardigan covering my arms, but it wasn't doing me any justice.

"It's freezing." Erik shivered and he walked over to me. It's like he read my mind.

"I know, right." I smiled up at him with big eyes. He returned that smile, and it was like we were getting taken back to the time when we were cuddling for half of the plane ride. We never spoke about it after, but I didn't mind. It's just that he was there and I wasn't able to sleep, so he did the thing many humans would do. He comforted me. Maybe there were other ways, but personally I don't think I've ever slept that good in my life since I was a baby.

***

I was definitely underdressed for the restaurant. I expected it be some casual place considering it was only the first night and Jose and Dad weren't even doing any business stuff yet, but apparently we had to make the most of every night.  

I'm quite a picky eater, so when I saw that the only variant of pasta they had was some weird lobster-oyster-pickled thing, I actually wanted to barf and cry at the same time. This was a Michelin Star restaurant, and you couldn't even make simple pasta? I was so close to ordering off of the kids menu, but Jose would've made a fit about it, if he even noticed, so I didn't. Instead, I got some fancy lasagna. 

I noticed Erik was eyeing the kids menu intently. "Your what, seventeen, and ordering off of the kids menu?" I playfully teased him. He perked up. "That's crazy." I shook my head in fake disappointment, mocking Jose earlier on.

His cheeks reddened, and I was scared I took it too far, he wasn't the teasing kind. But to my luck, he broke into a big grin. An ear to ear grin. "Don't act like you weren't eyeing that menu just a few minutes ago." He arched an eyebrow and nodded his head to my menu.

"Wow. Brave." We quietly laughed together, not wanting to disrupt whatever important discussion the adults were in. I lightly kicked him under the table, squinting my eyes at him in what I hoped looked scary. But from the way he laughed even harder proved that it was in fact not scary.

Without warning, Erik leaned over towards me, cupped a hand over my ear and whispered, "Do you want to leave? I'm sure we can find our way back to the hotel by ourselves." A shiver was sent through my body. "Or we could just have an adventure." I could feel his lips pull into a smirk against my ears.

"An adventure?" I pulled back at the same time he did, but only a little bit. Our faces were inches apart.

"What's going on?" Jose's loud voice, even in the loud restaurant, caused both of us to turn our heads in synchronized motion. 

"Uh, we were just wondering if we could leave now?" Erik pulled at his neck, now seeming uncomfortable. "It's getting kind of late and we're tired."

Jose and Kitty shared a look, as if they weren't too happy with this fact. "Yes, of course! We are going to be out for a bit!" Dad chirped in, warming up the air.

"Thank you, Dad!" I jumped up out of my seat way to quickly. Erik soon followed, being a bit more hesitant as Jose and Kitty were staring daggers into him. His eyes were looking between them frantically, but I quickly dragged him by the arm before he could sit back down. "Love you! I called out to my dad.

"I love you too, Scarlett." He called back.

Erik and his parents didn't share any interactions, he just had one final look back at them before coming along with me.