Page 81 of Company Ink

Blake takes a deep breath and plops the entire taco in his mouth, immediately bringing a napkin up to his face. "I feel like an animal," he mumbles.

"If you keep talking with your mouth full, I'd be inclined to agree," I tease, handing him another napkin. "So... which one did you like the best?"

"Hmm...I think I enjoyed the last one the most," he answers, slumping in his seat, a satisfied smile on his face.

"Really?" I exclaim. "Interesting."

"What was it?" he asks warily.

"Lengua."

"Which is...?"

I press my lips into a thin line. "Beef tongue?"

Blake's eyes expand. "Tongue? From a cow?"

"Yes," I answer calmly, trying not to laugh. "The tongue of a cow."

"Hmm," Blake hums, nodding his head a little too much. "A tongue. I just ate a tongue."

I roll my eyes. "Oh relax, you big baby, what's the difference? Thigh, leg, belly, tongue, it's all the same—it's meat. It'sgood."

Blake forces a smile. "Yes, I suppose you're right, it's all just—meat." He takes a deep breath. "For some reason, the idea of vegetarianism is looking quite nice right now."

I stand up and toss our containers into the trash. "Alright, let's get going before you decide to take it a step further and become a full-blown vegan."

Blake and I begin walking down the boardwalk. "Can I make a request?" he asks.

"Mm?"

"Next time, don't tell me what it is."

"You're really creeped out, aren't you?" I grin. "You want me to just always tell you it's chicken?"

Blake nods. "Yes, that would be much appreciated."

"Ok, fine," I sigh. "I guess the training wheels stay on for a little while longer."

"We'll get there, one day," Blake chuckles, looking up at the Seattle Great Wheel. "You know something, I've lived in Seattle my whole life, yet I've never been on the wheel. Is that weird?"

"What? Really? Oh, my God, wehaveto go! It's like a rite of passage!" I pause and begin laughing. "Actually, it's more like arideof passage."

Blake covers his eyes with his hand, his lips quirked up into a smile. "Good one," he teases.Does no one like puns anymore?!"But we don't have time."

I check my watch. "We still have twenty-two minutes until your meeting, plenty of time! Let's go!" I grab his hand and attempt to drag him to the payment stand, but the man is literally made out of marble. "Come on!"

"Cassandra, as much as I'd love to, wereallydon't have time." Blake points to the sign hanging above the stand. "Each ride is twelve minutes, it'll take us three minutes to buy the tickets and get on the Ferris wheel, then it'll take us five minutes to walk back to the office, and that will only leave me two minutes to prepare for this meeting which is simply not enough time."

"Wow." I blink rapidly, my eyes glazing over. "That was a lot of math."

"I'm sorry, Cassandra," he says softly. "Maybe next time, okay? We can make a plan to go next week. I'll make room in my schedule.'"

"Don't you ever do anything just spur of the moment?" I groan, slumping my shoulders in defeat as we start heading back towards the office. "Not everything needs to be scheduled and planned."

"Hey! We went for tacos today, that was 'spur of the moment'," Blake defends himself, a littletoohard. "How much spontaneity do you require in one day?"

Narrowing my eyes, I purse my lips.He's being totally sus right now."Let me get this straight, you just happened to find a See Seattle pamphlet in your office today andrandomlysaw that it was taco fest? You didn't read about it over the weekend? Didn't make room in your schedule for this little outing? This was all...spontaneous?"

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