12:22

twelve

Inez

The restaurant's medium sized with a neutral color pallet, there's small chandeliers above each table.

The floors are tiled, most of the seating areas being booths. It had a clean look to it, the scent was as well.

Earthy.

I was sitting at one side of the both next to Alisha, she browsed through the menu a few times until finding some options she liked.

"I've looked through it, what do you guys want?" Her voice startles me out of my thoughts and I blink once.

At our table, the booth in across from us, August and Ronan were seated.

Loud pop music was playing from the speaker right beside us, so I could barely l hear what anyone said to me at the moment.

The music lowers down and Alisha nudges my shoulder repeatedly until I turned my head to her.

"Hello? What do you want from the menu?" She slides it in front of me and I point to the image of the spicy tuna roll.

The waiter comes up to us with a tray in her hands. She sets it down on the marble
tabletop, handing each of us a glass of water.

I thank her and gives me a small smile, stepping away with the tray as she fixes her braids.

She has a nice smile.

Alisha turns to me, querying with confusion in her dark brown irises, "So, why'd you take so long to arrive?"

"Well, um-" I glance over at Ronan in uncertainty and she does too.

"Are you responsible for her being late?" She scolds him.

He glares over at me, "Huh?", he questioned in a clueless tone.

She begins to smile at his reaction, hitting me with her elbow.

"I like him." She whispered to me, not being able to contain her joy at the moment.

The same waiter comes back, "What can I get for you guys today?"

August speaks before everyone else could. He flips to a certain page in the menu, reading off it, "We'll all have the-" He thinks for a moment, "regular pizza."

She writes it down on her small notepad at a quick pace, walking off.

"We're at a Japanese restaurant and you ordered pizza?", Alisha asks with concern in her voice.

"I'm hungry. And I don't like anything else on here." He signals to the menu.

"Then why the hell did you order for us?"

"None of you guys said anything, so I figured you wanted what I wanted." He crosses his arms over his chest.

"Ridiculous." Alisha murmurs under her breath. "Do you know if they serve beer here?" She turns over to me.

I shake my head in disagreement, "I don't want to deal with that, Alisha."

-

I hold onto her hand as she keeps her arm around me as we head to the car. She tugs the hem of my shirt slightly, "Are you wearing his clothes?" A lopsided smile appears on her lips.

I stay silent.

"I know exactly what you guys did." She says in a seductive tone.

"It's not what you think"

She puts a hand over her mouth, "You knew who I was talking about that means you definitely-"

"Shut up."

She gasps, "You came here in his car too."

"Oh look, we're here." I change the subject with fake amusement in my voice, pointing out that our car is right in front of us.

I take the car keys out that Alisha gave to me, unlocking the car door and opening it. I sit in the driver's seat while Alisha sits in the seat next to me.

I start the car, driving out of the parking lot and making my way to the main road.

"What are you majoring in again?" I asked, turning the steering wheel.

"Photography." She replied, "And why are you suddenly so interested in my major?" She gasps once again, "You're trying to get me to change my major."

"No, I'm not. You're drunk."

"A little." The edges of her mouth curve up.

The car smells like beer, I swear I'm so close to losing it.

Suddenly, I notice her press one of the buttons on the screen. A song comes on, preferably a Tyler song is what I'm hearing.

New Magic Wand by Tyler the Creator starts to play.

Sometimes you gotta close a door to open a window

She presses the button by the sunroof as it slides open, unbuckling her seatbelt and standing up.

The music plays in full volume as she takes another sip of the tall bottle of beer that she had a tight grip around.

How did I not see that before?

I saw a photo, you looked joyous

"Come out here it's fun!" She yells really fucking loud.

My eyes are green, I eat my veggies

This isn't safe at all.

"I can't I'm driving!" I screamed back at her so she would hear, looking back at her with concern.

As I'm driving we get to a tunnel, the wind starts to blow through her hair at a quicker pace.

She now starts to scream the song lyrics.

"New magic, new magic, new magic wand."

She pulls her hand out to me, signaling me to get up there with her.

"The car- she hesitates while speaking, "it'll be okay, relax."

I guess I'm doing this.

I grab on to her hand, undoing my seatbelt and standing up in my seat.

I feel the wind flutter through my hair, it's strong wind.

"My brother said I'm on the spectrum." I sang at the top of my lungs.

"Don't call me selfish, I hate sharin'" Alisha sang back at me.

"This 60-40 isn't workin'" I grinned as I sang,

"I want a hundred of your time, you're mine." She makes eye contact with me, putting her head back in the car as the song continues to play.

Shit, the car.

I sit back down, putting the seat belt on and wrapping my fingers around the wheel once again.

You roll the dice, hit a seven, sure you right

I tap the icon to close the sun roof and it slides back close.

Beginner's luck, you not my first, who gives a fuck?

I realize that we've been driving in the middle of nowhere.

You under oath, now pick a side and if you don't

"See that was fun wasn't it?" Alisha queries, she takes the last sip of her beer bottle.

"No, it wasn't." I lie.

It actually was but I won't admit it, maybe that's childish but I don't care.

She rolls down the window, sticking her head out while laughing.

She yelled as she kept her head out the window.

-

:)