A Taste of New York...and other things.

As the three of us stepped into the odd little restaurant, I had to agree...the place was new and different. The warm place was bright and colored, a pretty little cafe type pizza parlor. It certainly looked like any one of those New York sidestreet cafes you see in the movies.
As we stepped into the line (which was pretty much non-existant, the place was empty) and ordered our stuff, me and Sam moved over to fill up our drinks while John took care of the ordering. As the guy with most of the money(the only one of us three that had a decent job), it was his unofficial position to be our main buyer...his expense for us was paid back in various fives and tens we gave him later.
"Get me a Pepsi!" He called out over his shoulder as he ordered with the fast-talking Yankee fellow behind the counter. These dudes were authentic all right.
I grinned and nudged Sam. "Maybe he wants tea instead." I suggested. I was half tempted to do it too.
He grinned too, the idea a good one, but shook his head. "Nah, he might get mad." Was all he replied with, and I sighed. Sam usually could care less about pranking his older brother, he did it himself plenty, but it was true John was kind of painfully sensitive and over-conscious...about everything. He was a great guy, don't get me wrong, and he was an excellent, godly man, but...the guy's typical response for any kind of mischievous joke was almost funny, something like a five-year-olds, "I'm not your friend anymore!" pout that lasted about three hours. I sighed disgustedly. Pepsi then.
While the classic Frank Sinatra music played over the speakers, we sat down to enjoy our meal, we watched the cars go by outside on the highway. It was already almost 7:30, so definitely a late meal. About halfway through it we got the call, or rather John did, and it was decided. That night we would spend at another church guy's house, all three of us, to play board games, watch movies, and hang out. Matthew's place. A twenty-year old, he had his own bachelor place, which was a common hanging out location for us church youth guys.
Listening to Brandon Heath and Tal & Acacia all the way there, we drove for twenty minutes through the irritating traffic of upper town Hickory, drew up in the lit driveway of Matthew's house, and unloaded all of our equipment. Tonight would not be an early bed night either, I was pretty sure.