24 Hours

Hour 13 - 14

7:00 p.m.

Jason and I leave Pier 33 after the boat ride and he holds my hand. "Do you want to get some food," he asks," We could walk down to Pier 39 and go to the aquarium afterwards." "Okay," I answer.

We walk for a few minutes to Pier 39 and stop for a second to figure out where we're going to eat. "Is there anywhere you wanted to go," he asks. "No. How about you," I ask. "Nope," he says.

We both think for a while and he suddenly gets an idea. He pulls me over to the map of the pier and we stand in front of it. "Close your eyes and point to a spot on the map. The restaurant closest to that spot is where we'll go," he tells me. "Okay," I say.

I close my eyes and point to a random  spot. I open my eyes and look at Jason. "So, where are we going," I ask. "Bubba Gump Shrimp Co," he answers. "They have the longest name," I comment and Jason laughs. "Yes they do. Now come on, cutie," he says.

He holds his hand out for me and I take it. We walk down the pier to the restaurant and go inside. "Hi, table for two," the waitress at the front asks. "Yes please," Jason says. "Okay, right this way," she says.

We follow her to our table and she places two menus on the table before turning to us. "Someone will be here soon to take your orders," she says. "Okay, thank you," Jason and I say at the same time. We look at each other and laugh.

The waitress leaves, smiling at us, and we sit down. After figuring out what we're going to order, we put the menus down and have a kind of staring contest. If that's what it was, then he won because I looked away about a minute after we started.

I hear him laugh, so I look up at him again. I was going to say something, but a waiter comes over to take our orders. We tell him and he says that our food will be right out. He leaves and I look around the Forest Gump themed restaurant, spacing out just a bit.

I feel a hand on mine a minute or two later, so I look Jason. "I know that look. What are you thinking about," he asks. "Stuff," I answer just to mess with him. He rolls his eyes playfully and holds both my hands. "Tell me later," he asks. "Okay," I agree. He smiles and starts tracing circles on the back of my hand with his thumb.

"Are you having fun so far," he asks suddenly. "Yes. It's been amazing," I say. "Good. I like making you happy," he says. "Well, you're pretty good at it," I say and he smiles. The waiter comes back soon after and gives us our food and drinks. "Thank you," we say. I look at Jason again. "We keep doing that," I say and he nods.

The waiter leaves and we start eating. "Jaelyn," Jason calls a few minutes later. "Yeah," I ask. "Say ah," he says. I raise an eyebrow, but do what he said and he feeds me a fry. I eat it of course, but I shake my head at his silliness.

"It's good, right," he asks. "Yep," I answer. He smiles for the millionth time today and I wonder how he could possibly smile this much. We finish eating and ask for the bill. I get my wallet so I can pay, but I guess Jason had the same idea because we both reach for it.

"I got it," I say. "No, let me do it," he says. "But you planned the whole day and paid for everything else," I protest. "And I want to pay for this too. It's only twenty dollars," he tells me. "How about we split it fifty-fifty," I suggest. "Nope," he says and quickly puts what we owe and the tip into the tab.

The waiter collects the tab and tells us to have a nice evening. We leave the restaurant and I frown a little at my bestfriend. "Cheap move, dude," I say. "Wow, did I just get dude-zoned," he asks. "For now," I say. He pouts and I gasp. He knows that's my weakness. "No fair," I complain. "I know," he says and holds my hand while we walk to the aquarium.