To Go Or Not To Go

When we arrived at the cash counter in the hotel’s restaurant, Scott told me that he had to run to the kitchen to grab his food. “Wait for me, ok?” He didn’t wait to see if I would do as he asked, he proceeded further into the dining room, across to the entrance to the kitchen.

“What can I do for you?” The girl behind the counter asked, her friendly tone was as fake as the smile on her face. When I told her what Scott told me, and requested four water and four Pepsi, she half rolled her eyes before punching it into her till. After handing over the money and getting back my change, she wandered off without so much as a word to me.

It seemed like forever had passed but there was no sign of her anywhere. I started to wonder if I missed something, if she thought I already had the pop or if she was just that dumb.

“What’s with the frown?” Scott placed his plate on the counter, snagged a fry with little cheese or gravy on it and popped it into his mouth. I told him what happened and he gave me a puzzled look. “That’s not right,” he glanced around the restaurant. “I’ll go check and see what’s going on.”

Normally, when a cute guy walks away from me, I tend to watch him but this time I was more interested in staring at his dinner than looking to see how much swagger was in his step. Every second I spent eyeballing the mound of fries smothered in a layer of mozza cheese and a good helping of gravy, the more I wished I was about to sit down to a plate of that heart clogging good time rather than the pizza that I ordered. Even the Cajun chicken burger, while it didn’t look like much, made my mouth water and my tummy growl.

I was contemplating if I had the nerve to sneak a fry from his plate when he appeared beside me with my order in his arms. “Thirsty?” He joked as he placed the bottles onto the counter.

“Planning for later,” I smiled as I gathered the bottles and turned to leave the restaurant. “Woman can’t survive on one bottle of Pepsi alone,” I threw over my shoulder and instantly regretted it.

But Scott chuckled. “What else do women need to survive?” He picked up his plate and followed me into the lobby. “Food? Clothing? Shelter? The interest of a good man?” I glanced at him, he raised a brow in my direction. “None of the above?”

“Oh,” I chuckled. “All of the above and then some.”

“And then some?” He questioned as we reached the front desk. “Tell me,” laying his plate on the counter, he turned towards me. “Would a couple drinks and a few games of pool in the lounge tonight sound like something that a woman would need?”

“Maybe…”

“Maybe?” He screwed up his face. “What could I do to change that ‘maybe’ to a ‘yes Scott, I would love to meet you after 11 in the lounge for a few games of pool and some good company’?”

I blushed, seriously, like I never had a guy flirt with me before. I was trying to think of something to say when he asked me what pizza joint we ordered from. I told him and he pointed behind me, towards the elevators. “I think that might be your dinner.”

“Oh, well I guess that’s my cue to leave. Thanks for the tip,” I nodded to the bottles in my arms.

“No problem,” he said as I started to walk away. When I was about four feet from him he called out, “I’ll see you after 11.”

“Maybe.”

“11!”

I laughed and gave him a little wave over my shoulder.

Just before I got out of ear shot, I heard Chelsea scold him for making plans to see me later, “You know we aren’t allowed to get personally involved with the guests, your father is going to have a cow when he finds out.”

If I had more time, I would’ve stopped to listen to their conversation but the elevator came down pretty quickly and I had three hungry girls and a pizza delivery guy waiting up at my room for me.

Long after the girls and I had our fill of pizza, we laid motionless on our beds, zoned out while watching an old movie on one of the movies channels. While my body may have been motionless, my mind was running its normal mile a minute marathon. The topic wasn’t the failed six month relationship with the hottest teacher I ever knew, nor was it the possibility of what could be with the equally good looking best friend. No, my mind was on the cute, boy next door type down stairs. Did I need another guy thrown in the mix, I wondered. Should I bother to meet with him? He could be the ‘rebound’ that I am looking for…

I didn’t know what to do. It sounded like it would be fun to forget my troubles for a while but yet, I was there to spend more time with my nieces, not hook up with some random guy who I would never see again.

But isn’t that the point?