The Perfect society

Chapter 4

We decide to eat at a italian restaurant, by we I mean my mother and Mrs. Choi. The restaurant has a rustic charm to it. Multiple pictures of what I can only assume to be famous people from Italy adorn the muted olive green wallpaper, the tables and chairs a deep rich brown that compliments the various plants littered around the restaurant and surrounding the hanging lights. There are a few other families and couples spread out throughout the restaurant, looks like this place isn't too popular which means there won't be too much noise. A tune i've never heard before plays in the background, something about it just really tied all the other elements of the restaurant together greeting the perfect ambiance .We get a booth in one of the farther corners of the restaurant and a waitress quickly hands us a menu and pours us each a glass of water. She goes through the usual spiel but I'm already too focused on looking through the menu.

"Isn't this a cute little spot? I absolutely love the decor." My mother says trying her hardest to make that sentence sound natural, I can see she's struggling to find something to talk about.

"You have excellent taste Mrs.Watts I couldn't have picked a better looking restaurant. Let's hope the food tastes just as good." Mrs. Choi responds with a look that makes me feel like im watching her talk to a business partner. I wonder if she ever relaxes? She's been the epitome of elegance since I met her that has to get tiring.

I turn my attention back to the menu and settle on getting the carbonara. I feel a tap on my shoulder and remember that I'm sitting next to Max. I look over at him and see he's tapping on different items on the menu.

"You know if you need help choosing what to guess you could just ask?"

"I did ask."

"With your words Max." I roll my eyes at him before leaning over to see what he can't make up his mind about. He's torn between a chicken rigatoni or the chicken parmesan, two very good dishes I give it a thought and come up with an idea.

I pull out my phone and summon bixby samsung's version of siri. " heads or tails?" I ask him, mentally noting that rigatoni is heads and the chicken parm is tails.

He thinks for a second before choosing tails.

"That is the chicken parm but to make sure it's what you should have, we're asking bixby." I type the question out and she flips a coin on my phone screen, it lands on tails.

"Looks like the universe has spoken." He closes the menu and gives me a toothy smile, one that shows off the dimples I didn't know he had. I don't think I really pay much attention to his appearance so I never really noticed how cute he could be, I rather not develop a crush on my neighbour it would feel too much like one of those vintage romcoms. I must have been staring too much because his hazel eyes turned to meet mine. I looked down as fast as I could but I knew he noticed the smile spreading on his lips that I could see from my peripheral vision.

"Sky hunny it's time to order." My dads voice brings me out of my thoughts.

"I'll have the carbonara and a coke please." I say handing my menu to the waitress, she repeats it back to herself before moving to Max's order.

"I'll take the chicken Parmesan and a coke as well thank you." He shoots me a wink while handing her his menu, I look around to make sure my parents didn't see that. The thought of my mom getting any ideas from his wink makes me groan, the last boy she caught winking at me she invited to my 5th birthday and made us slow dance.

The table breaks into separate mini conversations my mom talking to Mrs. Choi, my dad talking to Mr. Choi and Max and Emily having an argument over who has the better taste in food. I try to strain my ears to hear a little of each conversation but as interesting as the Choi siblings are I'm more interested in hearing how our parents are getting along.

The dads are talking about the last sports game they watched at home before coming on the ship, and it turns out it was the same hockey game. They also had similar lines of work, I tuned out when they started using technical gargan. I turn to listen to what the moms are talking about, my mom is asking Mrs. Choi what skin care she uses to stay looking so young. I would say this is a typical older women conversation but Mrs. Choi has turned the conversation away from skin care and anti-aging and towards having fulfilling hobbies to keep herself young. They're planning on starting a book club to pass the time until we get to the 'perfect society'.

"Sky, who do you think has the best taste in food?" Emily's question brings me back into their conversation about food.

"I'm going to have to say Emily." I can see the look of hurt on Max's face as Emily beams. "Only because you needed my help choosing what to eat today Max."

"There were only two options and both were equally good." he tried to protest.

"Yea but a master of food doesn't need a second opinion brother." Emily puffs out her chest clearly using her victory to further upset her brother.

Before Max can say anything the food is brought to our table, our table is covered in steaming bowls of pasta and drinks with two baskets of complementary bread. Without another word we all dug in, my carbonara was cooked to perfection. It was easily one of the best pasta dishes I've ever had. The al dente noodles and the creamy sauce and crunchy bacon paired well with the fresh bread we got in the little baskets. I take a second to just appreciate the food and look around to see how everyone else is enjoying their meal, the looks of bliss on everyone's faces answered that question immediately. I went back to my dish and enjoyed the moment of bliss it was giving me. After a few minutes of silent eating we were ready to go home and take a nap, our bellies filled and satisfied.

We got up and left the restaurant casually chatting about the meal and what restaurants to check out next. Our parents wanted to make this a weekly event and I was not opposed to that idea, both of our families seem to get along so it makes sense to keep getting to know each other. As our parents keep planning things to do together I notice it's quieter than normal, I look behind me and see Max isn't walking with us.

"Max?" I ask but get no reply, I excuse myself from the group promising to catch up later. I make my way over to where he's standing and look in the direction his eyes are locked on, It's the elevator up to the window floor. I put my hand on his shoulder and he jumps at my touch.

"Sky! Sorry I got distracted there." he replied glancing at me before looking back at the doors, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Are you going to keep doing this until you see what's behind those doors?" I already knew the answer to that question.

"Something is pulling me towards this Sky, I know this is probably a very bad idea but I need to see what's up there." He's looking at me with an expression I've never seen him make before, for the first time since i've met him on earth he's serious.

"Okay, but we have to be quick." I push him towards the elevator before he can get too excited, I push the button and in a few seconds the doors open. Max takes off first fast walking towards the door, he looks through the little window and darts down urging me to follow.

We huddle by the right door, I find myself holding my breath when the left door wings open. A worker walks out looking straight ahead oblivious to the fact that we are right beside him, I took this moment to slip through the slowly closing door Max following close behind me. We're greeted by a longer hallway with doors spaced out across the inner wall on the left. The door closest to us is slightly ajar, the worker we saw leaving most likely came out of that door.

Max almost instinctively walks towards it pushing it open and walking in, I follow close behind him. The room itself is dimly lit, screens on the back wall of the room show different views of the ship we're currently on. We walk up to the screens and notice its more of a control panel.

"This is probably where they manage the ship." I look at everyscreen before my eyes stop on one, my mind racing as it tries to process what it's seeing right in front of it. As if sensing a change in mood Max turns to me, I can see a look of concern spreading across his face from the corner of my eye but all I can do is point to the screen I'm glued to.

"Max, please tell me that this is just telling us how close we can get to the sun without damaging the ship."

"Okay, it's how close we can get to the sun without getting damaged by it." His tone is flat but I know he's just saying it because I asked him to.

"This ship Isn't going to some perfect society.....It's going to the sun."