Chapter 1: Returning Home
I couldn't be so much happier. My three best friends and I had just graduated from Columbia University two weeks ago. Raymond, Hannah, Tess and I were heading back to our hometown of Bloomfield Hills to take a break from life during the summer. Even though we were nepo kids, the four of us had worked our asses off for the whole four years of our college careers. While having access to our parents' unlimited wealth was nice, we did everything in our power to do things for ourselves. Raymond and Tess had gotten both of themselves a Bachelor's degree in engineering and applied sciences. On the other hand, Hannah had gotten her Bachelor's in business and law, while I had gotten mine in interior design.
"You good over there, Carlos?" Tess asked me, while keeping her eyes on the road ahead.
I turned and smiled at her, "Yeah, why?"
"Just checking. It looked like you were thinking intently into that forest as if something were there", Tess chuckled lightly.
We were almost halfway back home, for we were about to head into the state of Ohio and out of Pennsylvania. All of a sudden, both Tess and I heard a low, rumbling sound coming from the backseat! I turned my head and body to face the backseat, so I could see which of my best friends it was.
"My bad", Raymond sheepishly smiled, "I guess I'm really that hungry". The rest of us just laughed with him.
That meant it was dinner time, and it was 5:30 pm anyway. I looked at the GPS to double-check on where we were at.
"It looks like we're near the town of Grove City, we can stop there to get something to eat real quick", I stated.
I put Tess's phone back on the little phone stand that was attached to the car's console. Pulling out my own cell phone, I started to look up what was in the area to eat as Tess was pulling up to the exit ramp.
"Oohh, There's a place called Broad Street Grille!", I exclaimed, "You guys want to go there? I heard it has great reviews!"
"Sure, I could literally eat everything there at this point", Raymond grumbled hungrily, while Hannah just laughed at his misery.
"Yeah, I'm down to try something new", Tess replied with a smile.
"Okay, I'll just put it in the GPS real quick", I smiled while pausing the trek home and inserting the address into the GPS on Tess's phone, "It's only five minutes away from the interstate!"
"Sweet! Can't wait!" Tess said smoothly while we were turning left out of the exit ramp.
Not long after going down the road, the four of us had arrived at the restaurant. Unfortunately, we had to find parking since the building itself was down a corridor of the downtown area. We had to go around the block until we had found the free parking garage that was just around the corner.
"Thank God we found empty parking spaces instead of driving around aimlessly for a place to park!" Raymond exclaimed while Tess chuckled at him.
"Yeah, you're not wrong", Hannah smirked, "Especially when you're very fucking hungry!" All of us laughed while Tess parked the car a couple of spaces away from the entrance.
Once Tess finished parking the car and had unlocked it, the four of us piled out of it.
"Oh thank fucking God!", I groaned as I stretched my legs a bit once outside, "I definitely needed to stretch for a bit since we left New York!"
"A-fuckin-men to that!" Raymond exclaimed as he stood up from his sitting position. He also started to stretch his legs.
Hannah rolled her eyes and smirked, "You guys and your excessive needs".
As soon as she was about to step down from the car, from being asleep after sitting down during the drive, her right leg gave out and she started to fall out of the car!
"Oh no!" she yelped, putting her hands out. Luckily, Tess was there to catch her just in time.
"Are you okay, Hannah?" Tess asked her friend while setting her feet back onto the ground.
"Yeah, I'm okay", Hannah sighed and smiled with relief.
"Uh huh, and I'm the needy one!" Raymond smirked.
"Oh shut it", Hannah rolled her eyes. I just shook my head and laughed.
When everyone was more calm, the four of us headed out of the parking garage.
"I can't wait to eat!" Raymond whined while walking towards the restaurant. His stomach grumbled loudly.
"Yeah, your fuckin' stomach keeps reminding us!" Tess rolled her eyes and then smirked. Raymond pouted while Hannah and I started cracking up.
The walk wasn't too far as we had gotten there in less than ten minutes. I opened the door for Raymond and our lady friends to walk in before I let myself into the building. Once inside, the smells were amazing! It even made my stomach rumble in hunger. It also seemed like it was kind of busy tonight, not surprising though. One of the hosts looked up from the host station and he smiled at us. He looked like he was still in college, so he was in our age range. The host was on the taller side, maybe six foot two?
Wait, I stopped myself, No Carlos, we are not doing that yet.
"Welcome guys!" the host smiled with enthusiasm.
"Thanks, you got room for four more?" Tess playfully asked.
"We sure do!", the host replied with his signature smile, "Right this way!"
My friends and I followed him over to a booth that was by one of the windows. Our host had set down our menus in front of us after we had gotten ourselves situated into the booth.
"Your server will be right with you!" the host smiled, winked at me and walked away. I blushed a bit from that.
We quickly started to look over the menu. We already had the glasses of water out in front of us.
"I can't decide on what to have! It all looks so good!" Hannah stated hungrily.
"Yeah, tell me about", Raymond deadpanned. I tried so hard to stifle a laugh.
Just then, our waitress came over to our table.
"Hey y'all!" the young woman smiled at our group.
The four of us replied in somewhat unison.
"What can I get y'all to drink today?" our waitress asked while pulling out her pen and paper.
"I'll have the strawberry margarita" I replied with a smile.
"I think I'll have one, too," Hannah added.
"I'll have an Angry Orchard", replied Raymond.
"I'll just stick with water", Tess piped up.
"Oh also, we'll have a thing of onion rings as an appetizer!" Raymond quickly added.
"Okay! I'll have those out in a jiff!" the waitress exclaimed happily.
She quickly walked away with our drink and appetizer orders.
"So, who's ready to have a great summer back at home?" Raymond asked everyone else curiously.
There was an awkward silence for a bit between the four of us.
"You know how our parents feel about us coming back for the summer", Hannah quietly responded before taking a sip of water.
"I know, but that's why we got ourselves a big house here for the summer", Raymond exclaimed.
"So we could still be here, just not around our parents", all four of us said in unison.
"See you guys get it!" Raymond smiled eagerly.
"Yeah, yeah we know" I rolled my eyes.
Our waitress brought out our drinks and tower of onion rings.
"Here you guys go!" the waitress smiled.
"Thank you", I smiled softly at her when she handed me my drink.
"Anytime hun", she smiled and winked, "You guys ready to order?" the waitress brought out her pen and paper pad again.
"Yes!" All four of us replied in unison. We stopped for a second and looked at each other.
That's weird, I thought to myself.
We just shook it off as nothing and gave the waitress our orders. Tess and Raymond both got the pork barbecue sandwiches with fries. Hannah had ordered the Caesar wrap with fries, while I had ordered the Tuscan grilled chicken sandwich with fries. Once she had written down our orders, the waitress quickly walked off to the kitchen.
"Since it's around 6:30 PM, and we're literally halfway to our destination, maybe we should take turns driving if we aren't there before midnight?" I suggested as I took an onion ring to munch on.
"Yeah we should do that" Tess grinned, while other two just agreed.
The four of us were there sitting there talking, drinking, and eating the onion rings. After a while, our waitress came back to our table with the host, since no human can carry that much food without dropping the plates.
"Tuscan grilled chicken with fries?" The host from earlier asked our group. I quietly raised my hand.
When he saw I ordered it, he winked and grinned at me as he handed me my plate. "Here you go!"
"Thanks", I just smiled at him politely.
After the both of them finished handing out the food to our table, the waitress and the host went in their separate directions. Everyone's food smelled so savory that my mouth watered severely. I quickly took a bite of my sandwich and I instantly fell in love!
This is too good! I definitely am going to finish all of this! I thought to myself in pure bliss.
"Yooo, this food is so wonderful! How's your food guys?" Raymond was in food heaven.
"My wrap is excellent!" Hannah exclaimed with joy.
"Muh fwood is so ghood!" Tess tried to reply with food in her mouth.
The three of us just laughed at her goofiness while she was trying to finish swallowing her food.
"Sorry, my food was just too good", Tess sheepishly smiled.
We just laughed at the situation again.
When the four of us were done with our food and drink, we waited for the waitress to come back to us.
"Separate checks then?" Tess asked the rest of us.
"Yeah, sure," I replied. The other two agreed with me as well.
"You four ready for the check or checks?" Our waitress asked us cheerfully as she walked up to the table.
"Yup!" Hannah beamed politely.
"Okay let me go grab 'em!" the waitress smiled and quickly walked away from our table.
When each of us pulled out our wallets, she came back with four checkbooks. We put our cards into the appropriate book, and each handed them back to our waitress. It wasn't too long when she came back with them.
"Here y'all go! Thank you for coming in!" the waitress said while expressing gratitude in her voice.
"You are so welcome!" I smiled back at her.
She walked away from our table to her other table of guests in the restaurant.
"It's twenty percent for tipping, right?" Raymond asked us with a confused expression.
Tess, Hannah, and I looked at each other before looking over at Raymond with a "What the fuck?!" expression.
"Dude", Tess shook her head while I was trying to hold in a laugh.
When we were done gathering our things, the four of us headed out of the restaurant. Raymond accidentally tripped over the curb on our way back to the car. Of course, the three of us tried so hard to help him up without laughing. Tess was in tears from laughing as we arrived at the car.
"Remind me to not let Raymond and his 'needs' drive my car tonight" Tess laughed while getting into the driver's seat.
"Oh shut it!" Raymond rolled his eyes.
"Don't be upset now, remember earlier?" Hannah smirked.
Raymond just tiredly grunted and I just giggled at his ego being crushed. Tess started the car and we left the parking garage. It wasn't long before we were back on the interstate heading home.
"Let's get this show back onto the road!" Tess grinned with a goofy smile.
Hannah and I laughed at Tess being her goofy self. I looked back at Raymond, he was already asleep.
"I guess Mr. Ego has fallen asleep already", Hannah smirked.
I can't wait to be home for the summer, I thought to myself blissfully while I saw that we were passing the "Ohio: Welcome To The Heart Of It All!" sign on the interstate.