Page 121 of Never Forever

“Gimme.” I handed it to her. She opened the box. Tilted her head. Lifted it and sniffed. “A quesadilla?”

“Yep.”

She peeled open the quesadilla. “With… are those beets?”

“And jalapenos.”

“And…”

“Cheetos.”

Anyone in the world would be grossed out. But not her. “What’s the sauce?” She asked, prying open the lids. “Sour cream? And…” she sniffed the other one.

“Caramel sauce. I mean… you don’t have to eat it.”

The words weren’t even out of my mouth and she had a slice of that quesadilla dipped in the sour cream and then the caramel sauce. I couldn’t control my face – it was like watching a cheetah taking down an antelope.

She took a bite. Chewed. Her eyes opened wide and I reached for a paper bag so she could spit it out.

“Fucking delicious,” she said and went back for more.

“Are you joking?” I asked.

“I could not joke about how amazing this is. The earthiness of the beets, the zing of the jalapenos. The sour cream and caramel sauce taste like cheese cake.”

“And the Cheetos?”

“Just awesome crunch.”

“It sounds disgusting.”

“Tastes amazing.”

We sat in the sun as she polished off that quesadilla. I noticed the bookMidnight and Madnessin the grass beside her chair. “You’re reading the book.”

“Yeah,” she said, she had sour cream in the corner of her mouth. I never saw her so messy. Not even when we were teenagers. “I don’t understand the appeal.”

“What?” I felt that in my belly. Could a relationship between us even work if she didn’t understand the genius of that book?

“Yeah? I mean… I get it. He’s a hot bad guy.”

“You haven’t gotten to the part where you find out-”

“He’s a ghost? I got there.”

“The garden?”

“With the bodies?” She shrugged like it wasn’t the most heartbreaking thing I’d ever read in fiction.

I reached forward and got the sour cream with my thumb. She licked her lip and I felt the momentary wet heat and pulled my hand away. “Sorry,” I said.

“It’s okay,” she said. Her eyes everywhere but on mine. “I was kidding about the book. It’s amazing, obvs. It’s won like all kinds of literary awards.”

I sagged with relief. “Why would you lie about such a thing?”

“Sometimes, it’s fun to see you get riled.”

She grinned up at me, her face pink and a little freckled from her time in the sun. I licked the sour cream off my own thumb. She blinked and her lips parted. Her eyes on my mouth.

---