ride or die // a. trujillo

8 // Champagne Bottles and Sneakers

We're only young and naive still, we require certain skills.
The mood it changes like the wind, hard to control when it begins.

***

Wearing jeans and a pair of sneakers isn't such a bright idea to wear to a restaurant that accepts reservations and serve quite the group of classy people. But, who care anyways? Anthony and I waltzed in as the receptionist lead us to our reserved table right after she looked at us with disgust. Who could blame her though? Anthony and I weren't wearing our best clothes. No tuxedo, no dress. Heels and loafers? Pfft. As the lady around her mid-twenties walked back to her small area by the entrance of the restaurant, a guy dressed in some sort of uniform approached us with the menu. Giving me a small smile as Anthony clenched his jaw reading his menu and glancing at the young man. "I'll be back to order your drinks." The nice guy said as he walked to a couple asking for their bill. I scanned the menu, it had big numbers. I looked at the entree, looking for the cheapest one I could order. Go with the salmon, you never go wrong with fish. There were many choices of fish. Baked salmon, fish and chips, lemon rosemary salmon, maple salmon, grilled salmon. There were many more choices, each one making my mouth water. The cute guy from earlier returned, "May I take your order?"

Anthony cleared his throat, some territorial thing among guys. "I'll have the baby back ribs with mashed potato." The waiter turned to face me with a small smile, "And for the lady?"

I returned the smile, "I'll have the baked salmon. Thank you." He scribbled on his small notepad, his brows furrowing a bit as he wrote down our orders.

"And drinks?" He asked me and Anthony, mainly me.

I scanned through the menu once more. "Two iced teas will do." I handed him the list of food he handed earlier after he kept his notepad and pen in his pocket.

I looked at Anthony to notice he was already looking at me. His eyes lit up as I gave him a small smile, "I love you." I didn't know the words escaped my lips as soon as he replied. He put his hands on my hands as he mindlessly plays with it while we wait for our food just staring into one another's eyes. The same waiter approached our table and cleared his throat as he held up two glasses of iced tea on his tray. I moved my hands away from the table to have space for the glasses. He gently placed it on the table making sure it didn't spill on our clothes. He walked away attending to other tables with a smile on his face. That's nice, he's nice. He returned just minutes later with our food. Anthony and I talked the whole time, ignoring everybody giving us looks. One couple stared at us and whispered from a distant. Yes, we didn't wear what they were wearing. No, Louise Vuitton or Fendi or some other high end brand. But we had our table manners, executed the proper etiquette. Just proves that looks aren't always important. I scoffed as I caught the elder couple glance at us once again. I called the waiter for the bill. "This place is boring me, let's leave." I told Anthony with a wide grin. He caught up to my idea. We handed the waiter the exact amount of many we needed to pay with a 50 dollar tip. We stood up from our table and started to holler as we exit the place, that's how they thought we acted so why not fulfill their expectations. Anthony and I left the premises and started to laugh as we walked back to the car. "That was fun."

"This is why I love you. You don't really care what people think of you." He smiled as we walked hand in hand approaching the car. He unlocked the car and we hopped in. "Where to now?"

"Wherever our heart desires." I said as cliche as I could be. I laughed as Anthony sped off away from the restaurant. I'm pretty sure we're banned from that place. I looked at the window just looking at the city lights disappear as trees entered the scene and they swayed along to the beautiful song the wind was singing. The car stopped and Anthony went outside opening the door to the passengers seat. He held out his hand for me to take. I put my hand on his, exiting the car. We were atop a hill, overlooking the city and the busy streets.