“Get back here!” The lady screamed from behind as we ran down the busy street. 

After being told that we weren’t allowed to get back home by Uber, and instead had to call our parents to actually come and pick us up, Jenny held a firm grasp on my wrist, and the two of us booked it down one of the busy streets of San Diego. 

The lady tried to chase after us. I think I saw her running for a bit before quitting. And I couldn’t blame her, because me and Jenny had already turned a corner and kept on running. 

“Jenny, are you crazy?!” 

She laughed.

“Just a bit!”  

We ran down another block before we called it quits and started walking. And in a few moments, we stopped altogether. 

“Huff…huff, huff…” 

I bent over with my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath. 

“Why—huff—did we have to run?” I asked Jenny. 

She stood tall with her luggage in hand. She wasn’t the least bit exhausted and looked at me as if the answer was obvious—and it kind of was. 

“Because there’s no way I’m going on a car ride home with my dad,” she said. “And I know you don’t want your mom to give you a ride home.” 

“Yeah, but what’ll happen to us if we get caught?” 

Jenny raised her head to the blue sky, thinking for a bit before saying, “I don’t know,” in the end. 

“Let’s not find out,” she said in conclusion. 

We walked down another block, passing by a nail salon and barber shop. 

There was no wind whatsoever, which was a curse because I’m pretty sure it was ninety degrees Fahrenheit.  

Jenny and I were sweating. 

“Do you want to call us an Uber?” Jenny asked, lightly elbowing me. 

I was going to do just that until I pulled out my phone. 

“It’s only two o’ clock,” I said, showing her the time. “Do you want to go home this early?” 

Jenny groaned and hung her head back. 

“Noooo~, I don’t want to go baaack~,” she said, almost crying. “But I don’t want to be out in the sun for another minute.” 

I understood her completely. The heat was killing me. So I looked around the area and proposed an idea to Jenny. 

“How about we look for a place to eat at?” I asked. “That way, we can stay out of the sun and kill a couple hours. So by the time it’s four or five, we can get back home and BAM!” 

I mimicked a mini explosion with my fists. 

“We don’t have to eat dinner AND we can hold off the awkward small talk until tomorrow.” 

Jenny nodded in agreement. 

“It sounds like a wonderful plan if it gets us away from this stupid, STUPID sun,” she said a bit sarcastically. 

She was annoyed beyond belief and was wiping the sweat off her forehead, but flashed me a smile as if she was joking—which I knew she wasn’t. 

I think she was half-joking at the max, but that didn’t matter much to me. What mattered was cash. So I said, 

“Great…so uh…do you have any cash?” 

I was nervous, but straightforward. 

I only had twenty-dollars to my name. Just cash, anyway. It was for sure enough money for a meal, but if Jenny had nothing on her, then I would have to whip out my debit card.

Jenny rummaged through her pockets. 

There was nothing. 

“Aw, man, please tell me you have some sort of money…” 

Jenny was tapping around her clothes before she said, “Oh!” as if she remembered something important. 

“I have a hundred dollars under my phone case.” 

“What?! A hundred dollars?!” I said, trying to confirm the truth. 

That number—one hundred—it was a blessing to my ears. 

Jenny pulled out the bill from under her phone case. 

“Woah…” I muttered under my breath. It was as if I was a kid staring at a bunch of money for the first time. 

“Do you want to buy food for the both of us?” I said, half-jokingly, as I pressed my shoulder against hers. 

Jenny scoffed at the idea. 

“No way, Dean. Buy your own food,” she teased, pushing me back with greater force. 

“Oh, come on,” I groaned, “I’m not gonna order a bunch of food. I’m sure you’ll have a bunch of change.” 

We stopped at a stoplight, waiting for the okay to walk across as Jenny hummed with her finger on her chin. 

“How about I pay for half of your food?” 

“How about all of it?” I said, trying to speak in the sweetest tone I could as I was giving her the puppy eyes. 

Jenny glanced at me, then to the sky, then back at me once more. 

She was sort of laughing to herself, as if she had the greatest joke in mind. 

And with a couple of cackles in between, she said, 

“I’ll do it if you get on your knees and say please like a good little dog.” 

I didn’t know what kind of joke Jenny was trying to make. 

My ‘sweet boy act’ ended in that instant. 

The light turned green, and the sign flashed the symbol of the walking person, but the two of us didn’t go. 

Instead, I stared at Jenny with a mix of confusion, fear, and a bit of disgust. 

“…Beg on my knees like what?” I said in utter shock. 

I couldn’t even laugh at what Jenny had just said. I was just weirded out. 

But Jenny bursted out laughing. There might’ve been a tear at the edge of her eyes. 

“I’m just joking! I’ll pay for it!” 

She placed her hand on my arm and continued laughing like a madman as we crossed the street. 

“Oh! I’m crying! I’m actually crying!” 

Jenny was wiping away tears while I walked with a weirded out expression. 

That was…something, I told myself. I wouldn’t have ever thought that Jenny would say something like that. 

Though the thing was that the more I thought about it, the less I cared. 

Eh, whatever, it’s just a joke, I told myself as I shrugged my shoulders. 

“Let’s just find a place with some AC and food.” 

I was scouting the area to see if there was any place to eat. Lucky for us, there were restaurants everywhere. 

“Is there anything specific you want to eat, Jenny? I’m willing to eat anything right now.” 

Jenny was still quietly laughing, but scoped the area for a place to eat at. 

“How about that place over there? Sam’s Burgers,” she said.

She was pointing at the small building that had a poster of a delicious cheeseburger on the window. 

The sight made my mouth water and my stomach rumble. 

“Oh man, a cheeseburger sounds so good right about now.” 

“Yeah, I thought so,” Jenny said. “You’re welcome, by the way.” 

She was clearly teasing me, but I paid it no attention. 

I dragged my suitcase and with my backpack slung over my shoulder, the two of us entered Sam’s Burgers and ordered ourselves a meal—with Jenny paying of course.