Eternal Sunshine ✓

32. Martin's Place

"It's been a while, y'all! I really missed not having the whole gang together."

"Yeah." Tasha nodded and added, "I missed y'all, too! The cabin was three weeks ago but it feels like it happened years ago."

"I know, right! I'm excited we get to go to Martin's Place together, 'cause we always have different schedules with the basketball games basically every weekend," Janelle chimed in, earning a hand squeeze from Nelson.

Tasha, Janelle, Kennedy, Steven, Malik, and Nelson were all waiting in line to buy tickets to Martin's Place, a local restaurant serving surprisingly good food as well as having arcade games, bumper cars, bowling, and laser tag areas attracting children and bored Crest Bay teenagers with nothing better to do on a Saturday.

"So none of you girls have been here, like ever?" Malik questioned for the umpteenth time, not believing that anyone in Crest Bay had never been at Martin's Place.

"Bruh, Malik. We've told you before. Unlike y'all," Kennedy pointed at the boys, "we'd heard horror stories of this place and the things that happened here."

"So we stayed away. Ain't nobody tryna get kidnapped." Tasha made a face.

Steven laughed, tightening his arm around her shoulders, "I would have protected you, though. You didn't have to worry."

"I didn't like you back then, so I would have definitely kicked you to the curb."

"And I would have insisted," he retorted.

"Well, I would have pushed against it even if you insisted."

He shook his head. "Doesn't matter, I wouldn't have dropped the matter."

The rest of the group sighed and rolled their eyes at Steven and Tasha's antics. They were absolutely cute and made a beautiful couple, yet they were truly annoying.

"I would have slapped you, Steven," Tasha smirked when she saw the accusing look on his face.

"Damn... for trying to protect you from the creepy kidnapping men at Martin's Place? You would have slapped a poor middle school Steven who was in love with you?"

They moved up the line as Tasha simply nodded, becoming a little distracted as she eyed the menu.

"You can be cruel, bab--"

She cut him off and looking up at him she asked, "So, there's unlimited food for two hours, right?"

He shook his head at how purposely she cut him off but smiled. "Yes, all-you-can-eat for like two hours."

She leaned up to kiss his cheek, then cheesed. "Great!"

After finally buying their admission ticket, they headed towards their table in the middle of a crowded room filled with families and teenagers, some of whom they knew from school.

Steven nodded in greeting at some boys from the basketball team, never leaving Tasha's side though, while Malik and Nelson walked closer to greet the guys with a handshake.

After sitting down and laughing at a kid who came up to Malik to simply stared at him for five seconds, the friends were finally served the food they'd been starving for. The girls had never tasted Martin's Place's food, but by the looks of it, the garlic bread, pizza, pasta, and the rest of the delicacies that sat on the table looked very inviting.

"Before we dive in, Malik please pray for our meal," Kennedy joked in reference to their Christmas dinner, earning snickers from around the table.

Malik smiled and grabbed the garlic bread, biting it roughly. "Hahaha. Very funny, Ken."

As everyone else dived into their meals, Tasha noticed that Steven was barely eating and instead was preoccupied with his phone. She'd been with him when he bought a new one the day prior, as he tried to convince her to let him buy her a new one too.

She moved closer to him and asked, "What's up? You aren't eating?" She noticed how rigid he was, which meant something was wrong.

"Hey, what happened?" she asked, concern laced in her voice.

"I forgot about my mother's stupid dinner. Shit, I told her I would be there if she promised that would be the last one."

Tasha smiled, trying to encourage him. "Hey, it's no big deal. We're gonna be fine, go to the dinner." That was a total lie, she didn't want him to leave her.

He seemed torn. "I don't wanna leave you."

She thought about it for a second. "I could come with you?"

"Really?" He was excited, but then he asked, "Are you sure? You know how my mother can be."

She nodded. "About that, I think it would be a great time for me to talk to her woman to woman in private. Just to let her know what's up and that I'm not going anywhere."

He stared at her for a second. "Damn, you're sexy when you're so serious."

She laughed and shook her head at him. "Let's just go to that dinner."

~

A/N: Almost done with this story! About 8 more chapters to go 🥲