“It doesn’t matter to me. We’ll be here for the next several hours. So we have time to do everything.” She paused, looking around for a moment before pulling him towards a table selling handcrafted jewelry, and he refrained from chuckling. She didn’t care where they went first, but seemed to know exactly where she wanted to go.
They perused the jewelry, and Eri chose three pieces: a pair of earrings, a burnt orange beaded bracelet with a single black bead, and a black beaded bracelet with a single burnt orange bead.
“I got it,” Eri told him when he pulled out his wallet to pay.
“Okay, here.” He handed her his wallet, and she pursed her lips. “We’ve been through this already, Amate.”
She sighed, but didn’t fight him on it as she took some cash from his wallet and paid the lady. She bagged the items and handed them to Eri. His girlfriend gave him his wallet back after thanking the woman, and they headed off.
Eri pulled him off to the side and removed the bracelets from the bag. She put the orange one on and slid the other one on his wrist.
“What if I want that one?” he teased, gesturing to her bracelet.
“We can swap, but not now.”
Elias chuckled as he leaned down to kiss her. “Thank you.”
“I don’t know why you’re thanking me since you insisted on paying for it.”
“You paid for it, baby.”
“Handing her the money is not the same thing,” Eri countered.
“Sure it is,” Elias replied, smirking, and she pinched him.
“Come on. Let’s look at more tables.”
They looked at several more tables over the next hour, only purchasing something at one. They were headed toward the grills to grab some food when they ran into Marco and Avian.The four got food together before taking up residence at an empty table.
“What do the two of you have planned for your stay this weekend?” Avian asked as they ate.
“We’ll probably relax in the hot spring tonight. I’m not sure about tomorrow,” Eri responded.
They weren’t leaving until tomorrow afternoon, and while Elias proposed they stay to relax, he didn’t mind them doing something else while they were there.
“You two aren’t staying?” he asked as Eri reached over and stole one of his fries.
“No, I’m choreographing a routine for a bride and her bridesmaids, and the only time all of them can get together is on Sundays. So, I’ll be doing that for the next two weeks. Three if I think they need it, but I don’t mind. They’re each paying for the class, and the bride is paying me extra for working with them outside of my normal appointment hours,” Avian replied. “It’s at nine in the morning, or we might have stayed and left tomorrow.”
“Have you had any interest in the posts you put up, Eri?” Marco asked.
“I’ve gotten two people so far. Both projects were pretty simple, but they made me feel like going into business for myself is possible. I know I need to advertise more and not just rely on the gig sites to bring me business. I’m going to start doing that after the event.”
“That’s a good idea, Amate. Then you’d have a proven success under your belt on a semi-large scale.”
They continued to converse while they ate, and once they finished, Eri and Avian wandered over to a table that was doing henna and temporary tattoos.
“Nice bracelet,” Marco teased when they were alone.
“I’m sure Avian would enjoy getting a set for the two of you,” Elias responded.
“I’m sure we’ll leave here with something similar,” his cousin replied. “Honestly, I’m shocked she hasn’t picked something yet.”
“She hasn’t found anything she likes.”
They sat at the table as they waited for the women to return. When they did, twenty minutes later, it was with small flower henna tattoos on their middle fingers. Eri held her hands up so he could get a better look at them. There was a daisy on her right middle finger and a daffodil on her left. She tilted her head like she was waiting for him to get something, and Elias could admit he had no idea what it was. He glanced at his cousin to see that he was having the same issue.
“Men,” Eri teased.
