AmericaxReader: An American Walked Into A Bar 10

For the rest of the week, I was faithful to my word and did not drink. Alfred and I spent most of our time in the French Quarter. I would spend most of my time either dragging Alfred to shops, or sitting underneath a tree in Jackson Square. Alfred would try to get me to try different food places. We tried this tiny shop that sold frozen yogurt. We were hooked on the first bite. Alfred had us wait thirty minutes to get into the Cafe du Monde. All we ate there were Beniegts and drank milk, but it sure was delicious. On Sunday, we decided to go to the Cathedral for a church service. I wasn't the frequent church-goer, but for the cathedral, I had to make an exception. We would look for jazz concerts from local bands at night. We wouldn't dance though. We sat, talked and enjoyed the music. I liked it that way, and it was obvious to me that Alfred did as well.

As the end of our vacation crept up, I noticed that Alfred had started to get a little nervous. I constantly asked him if he were okay, but he'd smile and tell me that there was nothing wrong.

It was our last night in New Orleans. We were hanging out in our hotel room. I was tired from all the sightseeing and activities Alfred and I had done. I was listening to the jazz music I had recently put on my iPod. I closed my eyes as I began to drift to sleep.

However, Alfred leaped onto my bed and shook me as if I had a sign saying "shake well",

"Dude, _____! You can't be tired! Not now!" he shouted. "You can sleep later tonight!"

His shaking and shouting irritated me. I shoved him off my bed. "It's been a long week, Alfred. I don't think I could possibly do anything else. We haven't really relaxed much. How about we stay in our room and order a pizza or something?"

Alfred sprung back up on my bed and continued to shake. "No, dude! We absolutely have to go out tonight!"

"Why?"

Alfred stopped shaking me. He was lost for words. "Just...just take my word on it, okay? We don't want to miss this at all."

I groaned. "Okay, okay. I'll trust you." I got up and tidied my hair. I began to put my shoes on, when Alfred stopped me.

"Dude! You can't wear street clothes!" he shouted.

Alfred had begun to get on my nerves. "Why can't I, Alfred?"

He hesitated to answer. "I...just trust me and wear that nice top with the dress pants. You know, the ones I asked you to bring?"

I rolled my eyes and agreed. I ran into the bathroom to change. I even reapplied make up. For some reason, what was going on was a big deal to Alfred. When I exited the bathroom, Alfred had already changed his clothes. He wore a light blue button up shirt, black dress pants, and a red tie.

That was the first time I saw Alfred as handsome. Not cute. Not hot. Handsome. He looked over at me and smiled.

"Alfred, where are we going?" I asked.

"Dude, you'll see."

We drove over to the French Quarter, and stopped over by the aquarium. We stood by the docks on the Mississippi River. Alfred was silent throughout the entire time. Something was up. Alfred was never quiet for more than five minutes.

Just then, a large riverboat came up and docked over by us. The boat was labeled "Natchez". A large amount of people began to crowd over by the boat. I looked over at Alfred. He held out two tickets that allowed admission to the Natchez.

"What are those?" I asked.

"The Natchez is a dinner cruise, _____," he replied. "I thought we could do this for fun. It's semi-formal, which is why we're wearing nice clothes." He looked over at me. I was so lost for words that I probably looked stupid. "We better get in line. You can ask questions later."

We walked inside the boat, and we were directed inside, where there were tons of tables fancied up. Over to our right were two long tables full of food. It was nice to see that dinner would be a buffet. We found a place to sit, and we waited until we were given direction to get our dinner. I took this opportunity to ask Alfred what was going on.

"So…" I muttered. "What decided a dinner cruise?"

Alfred chuckled. "When you asked me to join you on a New Orleans trip, I immediately bought tickets."

"But why?"

Alfred sighed, but immediately smiled brightly. "It's a way of saying 'thanks for being the best bud ever, ______!'" He began to fiddle with his hands. "I was a little nervous at first when the day kept coming close though."

I snickered. "Why would you be nervous? This isn't a date or anything."

"Yeah I know, but knowing you, you'd think this is way over the top. You'd say something like, 'You don't take your best bud to a fancy dinner cruise!' or something." His eyes wandered the room. "Plus, there are a lot of couples here right now. I was just nervous that you wouldn't like this."

I looked Alfred right in the eye and with a straight face. "Alfred. I love this. It was really thoughtful of you."

Alfred let out a chuckle once again. "Of course. I'd do anything to make my best friend happy."

My eyes widened. He hardly called me his best friend. It was always best bud. Of course, I would always call him my best bud as well. We were directed to get our food. Alfred and I stood up, filled our plates, and spent our dinner time reminiscing about our vacation. We had an hour to eat before we were kicked out for the rest of the people on the boat to eat. We were sent to the deck. I was fine with that, because when we got out, the sun was setting. I had never seen a sunset so gorgeous before. At the bow of the boat was a dance floor, and a professional jazz band played. Alfred and I stood back and watched the dancers enjoy themselves.

The sky grew darker, and the band started playing slower songs. I found myself tapping my food more often now. A few couples urged Alfred and me to dance. I shook my head and told them that we weren't a couple. Alfred backed me up. They still insisted we danced. I told them that we didn't dance.

Alfred laughed obnoxiously. "You're such a liar, ______!" he shouted. With that, he led me onto the dance floor. My face grew red as we danced hand-in-hand.
"I-I don't know about this, Alfred. We're just friends."

He laughed again. "Friends can dance together, dude! This is the twenty-first century."

"I can't dance."

"Stop making excuses, ______. With me as your dance partner, you'll be fine."

Alfred was right. He knew what he was doing the entire time. He was always in step, and knew what to do when the music called for it.

"When do you ever dance?" I asked him.

He chuckled. "My mother made me take dance lessons when I started high school. She told me it would help me attract girls at dances."

"Did it work?"

His eyes widened. "It worked really well! All these girls wanted to go out with me, until they got to know me."

I laughed. "So they didn't like an obnoxious nerd who loves superheroes and McDonald's?"

He looked away. "Yeah. It's pretty sad, am I right?"

I nodded. "But hey, you've got me, your best bud that puts up with you."

His smile perked back up. "You're right! We made a deal that relationships were pointless! Having a best bud is so much better, and less stressful."

"And I'm fine with nothing more than that."

"Me too, dude."

For the rest of the chart, Alfred and I were silent. We just danced. My mind had gone blank by the middle of the song. I felt like I had escaped my mind, and I was just unconscious of everything around me. Everything just seemed perfect that I really didn't need to be in any state of mind.

The song had come to an end. I started to come back to mind. Something was odd. I could feel Alfred's body being close to mine, and there was an odd pressure on my face. I opened my eyes. I opened them in horror of the sudden realization.

Alfred and I were kissing passionately.

Immediately after I opened my eyes, Alfred had too. We both gasped and pushed each other off. I looked at him. He looked just as terrified as I was. Then we both ran off in different directions.

The sun had set. The moon was shining bright on the Mississippi river. I hung over the railing of the Natchez and stared at the waves being made by the boat. My mind kept replaying the kiss. I didn't know what caused it. I didn't know who kissed who first. All I know was that both of us had no idea it was happening until the music stopped.

How could I ever face Alfred again?