A Favor for a Friend

I was shoved into the restaurant by Sid. I knew this was going to be the most awkward hour of my life. I knew Olli would feel the same way.

“There he is.” Sid pointed over to Olli who was sitting down with his face in his hands as James talked to him. James was having fun either annoying or embarrassing the hell out of him. Possibly both.

I knew once he lifted his head he was embarrassed. His cheeks were red and he was glancing around nervously.

Sidney pulled me over and made me sit down. “Now you kids have fun. We will be over there if you need us.” He said.

I sighed and propped my elbow up on the table, shaking my head. They smiled at us and then walked away towards their table

“I swear I had nothing to do with this.” were the first words to come out of Olli’s mouth. He still was a bright shade of red.

“I believe you don’t worry.” I replied moving my chair in a little bit.

“I told them it isn’t like this with us but you know them…” He sighed.

I nodded. “I know, don’t worry about it. This is just as weird for me as it is for you.”

He nodded stiffly, he opened his menu and looked at it. “I guess we should look at what there is to eat.” He said probably trying to avoid conversation, I was too though.

I nodded and looked down at the menu, it was mostly fancy dishes with foods that I couldn’t pronounce. It was one of those restaurants.

The waitress came and got us our drinks. She asked what we wanted to eat. Olli got his food, one of the many dishes I couldn’t pronounce.

“And what can I get for you?” she asked me with a polite smile.

“Ummm…… Can I get the kids chicken and fries?” I said shrinking back a little bit with a shy smile.

Olli tried not to laugh at me. “Sure thing, hun.” The waitress nodded.

“I didn’t know that you were a kid.” He smirked a bit and leaned back in his chair.

“I am right now.” I sassed.

He rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“So…. If you could find a school around here you would stay?” he said avoiding eye contact with me.

I took a moment to think, not expecting the question. “I don’t know… It depends on a lot.” I said looking down at my lap.

“There has to be at least one here.” He said, a bit of desperation in his voice.

I frowned a bit, “Even if there is one that has a good program for me, there isn’t a good chance I could get in right now.”

“I bet you could.” He looked up at me.

I shrugged, “I don’t know….”

He pulled out his phone and was silent for a minute, “Look at all the schools here! There has to be one.” He slid the phone over to me with a list of schools in the area.

I scrolled through the list and stopped at one. Carnegie Mellon. I could kill to go there. It was amazing. I put his phone back on the table and pushed it back over quickly. Even if I could make it in, I would never be able to afford it.

He looked at the screen I was looking at. “Is this one good?” he said glancing up at me for a moment.

“Y-Yeah….” I said softly, “I couldn’t afford it though.”

“I could help you out.” He said.

“I couldn’t ask you to do that.” I said shaking my head.

“If it would make you stay I would do it, no problem.” He insisted.

I couldn’t take his money. I couldn’t use him like that. I would love to stay and go there if I got in but I couldn’t take someone else’s money to do it. He had already done a lot for me in the past few days. He was too nice to me!

“So? Will you stay?” He asked one more time in what seemed like a final attempt.

“I can’t, Olli.” I said refusing to look up.

Before he could answer, our food came out. We both ate quietly. Not a word was spoken through the whole meal.

We got the check, which once again I wasn’t allowed to pay for. I insisted on leaving the tip though, which I did.

Sidney and James came back over once we were done with the same ‘We are up to no good.’ smiles as before.

“How was dinner?” James asked first.

“Fine….” I said.

“Did you two kids have fun?” Sid asked.

“Yeah.” We both said in a monotone voice together. We had fun, but it was a little awkward. He was probably mad at me that I wouldn’t stay.

I stood up. “I’m really tired, would you mind taking me back to my hotel?” I said to Sid.

His expression changed, he wasn’t as happy as before. “Oh…. Yeah…. Sure.” He said and let James and Olli know he would see them later. They said their goodbyes as we walked out.

Notes