Once we sat down at our little table, the furthest we could get from the door, Speck started to ooh at the menu options. Of course, she would be at ease, and of course she chose the busiest restaurant on the planet. We were wedged into our little two-person table between a family celebrating a birthday and a group of old farts catching up with each other. It didn't help that the family had two little kids running around like maniacs. With the hustling and bustling of the waiters, the squeals from the kids wanting more soda, and the oldies laughing about that one-time Jan flashed her ex, I was definitely on edge. I was gripping the menu so tight in my hands I managed to bend it backwards and almost knock over Speck's glass of water.

"Amber, everything's fine!" she whispered, catching it and placing it on the other side of her.

"Is it?" I buried my nose into the page, not even reading anything, just focusing on the sounds around me. I was waiting for the crash of an Eraser running towards us, or the bang of a hand gun, or the growl of a dog, or the breath of hot saliva, or-

"What can I get for you ladies today?"

I jumped and proceeded to knock over my glass onto my plate, splashing it up and onto my clothes. Speck flared her eyes at me as the waiter quickly moved to wipe it down. I breathed heavily and unsuccessfully tried to dab away the water with my napkin. I repeated my sorries to her as she constantly replied, "Don't worry, it happens all the time!" Once all that was done and my shirt wet again, she smiled at us while I flushed in embarrassment, "Now, what would you ladies like to drink?"

Speck beamed at her, obviously liking the hospitality radiating from her. "Could I get two Sprites please? And a cherry chocolate milkshake? And a-" She winced as I kicked her shin with my foot. We matched eyes and I gave her the glare to not order so much. She blushed and went back to the menu, "Sorry, um... can I just have the milkshake please?"

"For a drink?" the waitress questioned, raising her perfectly drawn eyebrow.

"She likes to have dessert first," I butted in, kicking Speck's shin again. She stuck her tongue out at me, rubbing the area. "She'll have that and then maybe a Sprite later?" Speck lowly nodded with a pout on her face. Good, we don't need to attract more attention. We already got a few stares just because of our green-blue scales over our bodies. I glanced over the drink menu again. "I'll have a lemonade, and a Sprite later too." The waiter nodded and closed up her notepad, and said she'll be back with our drinks.

I let out a shaky sigh and looked over the menu again. As much as I wanted to just run from this whole situation, my stomach yearned for some grub. Plus, Speck was loving it. I glanced over at her, forcing a smirk as she bounced in her seat. "Look Amber, they even have steak here!" she pointed at it as her eyes glazed to another item. "And pasta! Ooh- shrimp and mushrooms in the taga- tagla... tagatel-" She frowned at the word.

"Tagliatelle?" I spoke, reading the pasta dish.

"Yeah! Doesn't that sound delicious?" she hungrily stared at the menu.

I knew I couldn't beat her in being worried. We were finally getting a break from it all. But because of it, my gut was telling me it wasn't right. Like the quiet before the storm. Letting out a shaky breath, I decided on a meal and an appetizer, knowing it would help fuel us in our journey. Once the waiter came back around, we placed our order for fried pickles and asparagus as our appetizer, the tagliatelle dish with extra mushrooms for Speck, and a grilled burger with bacon and tomatoes with a side of sweet potato fries for me. We were also planning for dessert afterwards.

Once she left, flustered with the amount of food we ordered, I leaned back in my chair to stretch a bit. Sitting here, being able to feel just a little bit more human than I've ever had, strangely felt good. It brought back several memories of me sitting with my parents, my fake parents, as I stuffed myself to the brim with a sundae only a sumo wrestler could finish. I lightly smiled but it quickly faded at the thought of them again. What if I grew up with my real parents? Would I have experienced everything up until now? Would I have ever been created into this... thing?

"So we're headed to D.C. right?" Speck slurped away at her water.

"Right," I replied, opening my mouth to say something just as the waiter brought over Speck's milkshake. It was ginormous, and the cherry on top just perfected it. Speck oohed and thanked the waiter. She happily went to town on it, pausing as I watched her sip the glorious dessert. She pushed it my way and I happily took a taste. The chocolate swirled around my taste buds; the cherry flavor kicking in with the sharp, sweet tang; the coldness making me shiver in delight, "Oh my god-"

"Doesn't it?" she pulled it back to sip on as I continued.

I licked my lips as I thought about our next move, "I think our best bet is to take a bus." As much as I wanted to deny it. Seeing as our surroundings were more jampacked than your regular southwest desert, I didn't want to take any chances of trying to take flight and being seen. Plus, there were buildings here as high as my altitude limit. "I don't want to take the subway again."

"I don't even think it goes that far," Speck happily slurped. From where we landed, D.C. seemed like ages to get to. It didn't help that there were other cities and towns to wade through to get there. When I read that my parents were located there, I instantly thought if they lived near the White House, but instantly denied it. If they did, I doubted they would give up on finding me.

"We'd have to get some cash too," I added. Buses only took coins and paper, but with how far we were going? Maybe we should just take a cab- no, too private. The more public, the better. The likelihood of them going after us is slight. "And also stock up, we're starting to run low on food."

"Right!" she smiled, nearly done with the shake. The waiter set down our appetizers, and I tried to keep myself from eating everything right then and there. I slapped Speck's hand for grabbing a handful of the fried pickles, "But I'm hungry."

I frowned at her, "You just had a milkshake, and we're still expecting our meal."

Pouting, she took a pickle and nibbled on it to spite me. I rolled my eyes and dipped an asparagus into the dip. It also tasted amazing, or was that the dip? I closed my eyes and took in the flavors. I could just eat this all day. At that thought, I glanced around and grabbed a couple from each basket and placed into my napkin. I tied it all up and slipped it into my bag for later.

"So where exactly do they live?" Speck asked as she loudly slurped away the rest of her drink. A kid behind her looked hungrily in her direction.

"You should know," I huffed. "You read the file. It's fifty-four thirty, Jefferson St. It's a corner house, and they live a few blocks away from a church." I couldn't help but memorize the information, just in case we lost the laptop.

"Does the bus go all the way there?" she queried.

"I doubt it, it looked like a residential neighborhood. Most likely near the church, or a park, or something."

"Do you think they'll recognize you?"

I paused, looking at her, "I don't know. I was a baby, most likely, the last time they saw me..." At least I hoped so. Well, the files wouldn't lie. Would they? I hoped that they would recognize me. I mean, I was their daughter after all.

"Maybe if they had a picture? Or birth certificate?"

"You're very nosey today," I teased, poking a fried asparagus at her.

She shrugged, "The more you know, the better."

"Excuse me."

I whipped around, expecting a menacing person ready to deck me, but only to see an elderly lady tapping my shoulder. Her white hair curled around her scalp, and freckles dappled her wrinkled skin. Her eyes peered behind small, square shaped glasses, looking me up and down. My teeth clenched. "Do you happen to be in a gang?"

Wha-?

I stared at the woman in confusion, now realizing that the rest of the table was also looking at me, as well as Speck while she dipped a pickle in the remains of her shake. I blinked and the lady matched eyes with me. Was she serious?

"Uh- uhum- what do you mean?" I nervously chuckled. No way was she serious...

"I mean are you in a gang? You two seem quite different, except for those strange tattoos over your skin," she pointed to the speckles of scales on my arms, as well as the ones on Speck's face. It didn't register what she was saying until a man next to her added, "Who else would have tattoos like that? Kids these days are getting into the weirdest things."

I heard Speck snort and I tried my hardest to hold back a giggle. A gang? Seriously? And all this time I thought people were seeing us as runaway kids looking for no good. But it made sense to these oldies, since we had these fancy tattoos and all.

"Yeah, sure we are," I chuckled, smirking as Speck slowly drew her knife out of her pocket just so they could see. The woman's eyes widened at the glint of it, the color washing out of her cheeks. I leaned forward to lowly whisper, "You should watch what you're saying, or you might all be in trouble." She went even more, if possible, pale and turned back around. The chatter at their table went silent.

Turning back around, I glanced at Speck before bursting into laughter. A gang! Who would've thought of that? Speck joined me, grinning from ear to ear. I kept trying to speak, but every time I opened my mouth I wheezed from laughing. It was the most ridiculous thing that ever came to mind. Whoever put "gang" before "runaway" was just crazy. It goes to show that when you live on the street, everybody else was too innocent for their own good.

Once our main meal came around, and we started chowing down, I thought of how we were going to get to my house- home- or whatever. I chewed a fry slowly, trying to muster up some image of my parents, of what they would look like, and what I would say to them. My insides churned so much I had to set my burger down.

"Amber?" Speck twirled her pasta with her fork.

"I'm fine," I muttered. But I wasn't. The more I wanted to not think about it, the more it came back slapping me across the face.

"Here's your receipt ladies."

I almost kneed Speck as the waiter set a little booklet down and a pen sticking out of it. She walked off to tend to another tables' needs. The table behind Speck was getting cleaned, and my food was getting cold the longer I looked at it.

"Here," Speck handed me the credit card and I tucked it in the book. I had to double take at the total, but tried to keep a straight face as the waiter came back around to grab it. This is what we get for dining in. I could feel Speck's eyes on me, and I lightly pushed away my plate. "What's wrong?"

"You know," I hung my head. The more time passed, the closer I was to seeing them. My parents. My real, actual, biological parents. It was nerve wracking. I clenched my fist, ready to leave when the waiter came back to say: "Your card isn't working."

"What?" Speck blinked, glancing at me in worry.

I shook my head, needing to focus on the present, "It should. We just used it today."

The lady shook her head in reply, "Sorry, I tried a couple times, but it keeps coming back as declined." She handed me the card and I stared at it, "Maybe your card provider-"

She didn't finish her sentence because I was already up and running, grabbing Speck by her arm and throwing her over the little fence where we ate. The busboy behind her shouted as plates went flying, her legs kicking back to race out of there. I threw my bag over my shoulder and brought Speck close to me as I picked up speed. This was the only good option I thought of. It was either this or waiting around for officers to write us up. Oh heck no I was not going to allow that. Speck clung to me as I raced down the sidewalk, glancing back at the restaurant to see them just giving up. They couldn't do anything. I laughed at them as I rounded a corner and started slowing down to a jog. I then rounded into an alleyway and set Speck down. She stumbled and plopped onto the ground, breathing heavily from the sudden surge of the run. I took a couple breaths to cool down.

"Sorry we had to bolt," I breathed. "I know you wanted dessert."

"It's fine," she replied, tilting her head back to bask in the sun. She then smirked and started laughing. I raised an eyebrow at her, wondering if she was getting a "runner's high" or something.

"I can't believe they thought we were in a gang!" she laughed, holding her sides.

I chuckled, "Yeah, that was pretty crazy."

"Heh, if only they found out the truth!" she grinned.