You need to try harder to ruin this date.“I only want dessert,” I told him, sitting down.
He cocked his head. “You only want dessert?”
I nodded. I hadn’t eaten a real lunch, and my stomach chose that moment to growl. I clapped a hand over it. “Is that okay?” I chirped.
“Of course. I guess I should have known,” Mark said with a slight smile. “Someone who eats cake for breakfast is going to want chocolate mousse for dinner.”
He didn’t even crack.
The server came by to take our orders. As she listed the specials, I tried to refrain from drooling.
“I’ll have the fish,” Mark said. “And Brea wants to start with her dessert.”
The server was too polite to make a face, but she paused for a beat, probably to take in my ridiculous outfit, then asked, “And what dessert would you like?”
“Let me guess,” Mark said, sliding the menu across the table, “you want the brownie terrarium.”
“Uh,” I said, “sure.”
The server placed a basket of bread with herb butter on the table.
“You don’t want any bread?” Mark asked, “I’m sure they can provide some syrup with it if you’d like.” There was that slight smirk on his mouth. “You know, I’ve never met anyone with a sweet tooth like yours.”
Yeah, me neither, and I can feel my teeth falling out just from looking at that dessert menu.
The bread called to me. Bread and butter were two of my favorite food groups.
It’s bad enough that you’re going on a date with him. If you actually tried to be pleasant, he might actually like you. Then you’d be just as bad as his ex-girlfriend Rhonda and Memphis Eve.
My control almost slipped when the server brought out our entrées—or entrée in Mark’s case and terrible idea in mine. My stomach growled as the server set down the sizzling fish fillets in front of him. Lightly breaded with a lemony cream sauce, cheesy garlicky mashed potatoes, and broccoli rabe, the dinner looked so good I wanted to snatch the plate from Mark and scarf down the fish.
“That’s a very interesting-looking dessert,” Mark said as the server set an edible terrarium in front of me. The glass bowl was made out of clear sugar. The dirt was brownie pieces. The plants were made out of what looked like dried molasses. There were some cookie animals for decoration.
I’m going to puke, I thought as I took a bite.
“Delicious,” I said and crunched through the sugar-glass bowl. “Best thing I’ve ever eaten.”
Crunch.
“I think I’m going to lose my appetite watching you eat all that sugar,” Mark joked.
Please do!my stomach screeched.I want that pan-fried fish and the cheesy mashed potatoes!
I took another bite of the terrarium. It tasted like bad decisions.
“So we’re going to look at flowers tomorrow,” I said, eating a bite of brownie. It coated my tongue, and I sipped the ice water, trying not to grimace.
I’m never eating another sweet food again. From now on, I will only eat healthy—well, scratch that, I will only eat tasty savory foods.
“I think Wes is coming,” I told Mark. “So you don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”
“No, I’ll come,” he said as he cut off a piece of the fish.
The smell wafted over to me. I took another agonizing bite of the dessert.
“I want to watch you get all huffy about the flowers.” Mark grinned.
Maybe it was all the sugar, but that heavy-lidded look Mark was giving me and the way he sipped his drink were giving me all kinds of ideas of things I would rather do with him than act like a weirdo on a date.
