Chapter 22 – Principles of Mexican Cuisine

Britta was in the kitchen when she heard Ian's bedroom door open. His crazy bedhead put a smile on her face as she made her way to the dining table with a bowl of Kashi. "Morning, handsome." He cracked a smile as he attempted to fix his hair. "Aww, now you ruined it!" He grabbed a bowl from the cabinet and poured himself some Lucky Charms.

"You know, Britta, not all of us can wake up with perfect blonde curls like you."

"Oh, please. I've been up for an hour to make this happen. I'm a mess when I wake up." He and his breakfast took a seat next to her at the table.

"One of these days, I'm going to wake up before you see this supposed 'hot mess'."

"I'll believe that when I see it. You're not exactly a morning person." They shared a smirk.

"Ugh, who in the world is texting me this early?" He pulled out his phone and saw a message from Jeff.

"Hey, do you have any time for a session this week? Annie could really use someone to talk to with a degree in this stuff."

Britta saw his face turn more serious as he read the message.

"Is everything okay?" He paused for a moment and then put away his phone.

"Oh, yes. Yes, no problems. Just a student making excuses for missing the first class." Britta didn't seem convinced, but decided to let it go. She had more important things on her mind.

"Hey, so about last night…"

He immediately started defending her 'obvious' mistake. "Don't even worry about it. I'm sure there's a version of Stockholm Syndrome for roommates-"

"No. What? No, I mean what do we do now? I've never lived with a guy before sleeping with them. I typically use sex as an icebreaker."

"Now, that's interesting."

"Don't turn all therapist on me. Besides, that's supposed to be my job."

"Hey, the last woman I lived with was my mother, so call us equally inexperienced on this topic."

"So, what do we do?"

"I suppose in a normal scenario, I'd take you on a date." Britta tried to hold in her laughter, but failed. "Why was that funny?"

"I'm not exactly the 'date' kind of person. Can't we just go to a bar or some-oh, shit. Sorry."

"And you wondered why you couldn't be my sponsor." He shot her a smirk and she relaxed. "We don't have to do anything crazy. Besides, I think tent dinner counts as a date anyway, wouldn't you say? I mean, I brought fifteen-dollar root beer."

"Was that a date? Does it count if I don't know about it until after?"

"I've got it. What about the Mexican food truck around the corner? We can eat in the plaza so it's technically going out."

"Now you're talking. I'll even get all sexed up for it." Ian's eyes lit up.

It was 7 o'clock when Britta emerged from her bedroom, 'all sexed up', as promised while still sticking to the causal vibe of the evening. Even in jeans and a (low-cut) tee-shirt, she exceeded expectations. Her hair was freshly curled, her favorite dark lipstick was on that she could no longer wear to school because of Chang, and she had on her favorite pair of heeled boots.

"Britta, you look…wow." Ian was at a loss for words, which she took as a compliment and couldn't help but blush.

"You look…like you raided Jeff's closet.", she said with a giggle.

"I may have had some help. I wasn't quite sure what 'food truck/romantic/casual' was as a means of dress code."

"I'm surprised he helped."

"Why are you surprised? We're friends, we hang out."

"No, I get that. I just didn't think he was into this whole thing: You and me."

"Really? We actually had a very good talk today…while he dressed me. It sounds weirder than it was. He felt it necessary to remind me of what a good person you are and that you deserve to be with someone who respects your passion for life and embraces your quirks."

"He said that?"

"Yeah. He just doesn't want me fucking it all up, basically. He really loves you, as a friend of course, and is just trying to protect you without holding you back. It's sweet, really."

All this time, she thought Jeff was trying to keep them apart when really, he was sincerely just watching out for her. He was really turning into a functioning adult.

"You ready to go?" Ian had a look of excitement that he was trying so hard to cover up.

"Absolutely."

As they approached the food truck, the smells wafted throughout the night air.

"I'm so excited for this. I haven't had these tacos in like a week."

"A week? How often do you come here?" Ian smiled with curiosity.

"What? It's easier than cooking. Also, this is the same truck that would come to campus, so I ate a lot of it while I was tenting it up. You want to split some guac?"

"Certainly. Being that you are the expert here, what do you recommend?"

"Well, I don't eat meat, so you probably won't like my opinions. I usually get the veggie tacos. It's just loaded with grilled veggies but the spices they use are to die for."

"You know what? I'll give it a try. However, I'll also get carnitas as a backup."

"Excellent choice." As she placed their order, Ian stood back and admired her. He loved how decisive she was, how she always said what she thought and especially how she looked in those jeans. Never in a million years would he picture himself on a date at a food truck or think pizza and root beer in the middle of campus would be the highlight of his life. He felt better than he had in such a long time and hadn't given drinking a thought today. Right now, he didn't need it. All he needed was some tacos with excellent company.