We made our way to the center of the town to its biggest grocery store. It was a kind of like a Food Lion but filled with a lot of off brand stuff. We began to walk around the store with a big cart. We kept getting stares from everyone. It made me feel so uncomfortable.
"You'll get used to it. The staring. This town has a thing against people or things that are different and new. Just think of them as less flashy paparazzi, and you are the star that they so badly want to get there hands on." She said while letting go of the cart and striking a pose. I laughed. I stopped and pose with her. Neither of us realizing that our cart was slowly rolling away from us.
"Oh shit. The cart." She ran to go grab and then turned to me. "So what's on the menu tomorrow? What are we going to be shmacking on?"she asked. I didn't really have anything special in mind. I probably should've thought of something.
I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't really care. I'm not a picky person." I said. We immediately made our way down the snack isle where all the junk food resided.
I grabbed me a bag of hot fries and a case of sweet tea. "Oh? Your the hot Cheetos girl? I would have never thought. I rolled my eyes. " I actually do t like hot Cheetos. I prefer the hot fries."
"Whatever you say." She turned and grabbed some Swiss rolls and Nutty Buddy's. I couldnt help but smile at her. "You like Swiss rolls and Nutty Buddys." I asked.
"Of course, who doesn't?" She asked
"My dad. He isn't that big of a fan of chocolate, so we don't buy them often." She grabbed one more of each and threw them in the cart. "Well this weekend we will eat so much chocolate, that we will be just like your papa. I can't wait to meet him by the way." She said. Her smile began to lower a bit.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Does he know that I'm...you know." She asked. This was the first time I hear genuine fear in her tone. I grabbed her hand and lifted her head up. "Yes he knows, and he is just as excited to meet as you are to meet him." I smiled at her. It was very much so true.
My fathers brother is gay and my dad learned that love is love and that being true to yourself is one of the most important things a person or being can do for themselves. And I if my father was even a little transphobic\homophobic, I would never put anyone in a position to be subjugated to that type of ignorance.
Her smile returned to her face, but her eyes were still laced with a little fear. I quickly wanted to change the subject so she didn't feel uncomfortable anymore. "So what are we doing for dinner?" I asked
She took a breath before talking. "I'm not sure, what did you want to eat?"
"I don't know, all I know is that I haven't had a home cooked mean in forever. Did you wanna make something for dinner? We could probably find some recipe-"
Her face brightened up. "No, since I'm the guess in the house I'll make dinner. And I know exactly what im going to make you. Mi abuela used to make the BEST tacos. And it just so happens, that I know the recipe. "
Tacos? I could go for some tacos. I nodded my head in agreement. A high squeal came from her lips. She was adorable when she wanted to be.
She grabbed me by my arm and grabbed the cart with the other hand and we began adventuring the store further. We walked up and down the isle. We made our way to one of my favorite sections. The seasoning isle.
"Finally." We both said at the same time. We looked at each other and laughed. We began walking down the isle and Becks looked like a kid in a candy store. She through damn near the whole seasoning section in our cart. Don't get me wrong. Seasoning is the most IMPORTANT part of making food, especially in a black household. However, half the seasonings she was putting I the cart, I couldn't even pronounce. And on top of that I have NEVER had anyone else's food besides my dads. So I'm not gonna lie Im a little nervous.
I started looking in the cart and noticed she got every single seasoning in the cart besides the taco seasoning. I began looking for it.
"What are you looking for mi amor?" She asked. I turned toward her quickly. "You didn't get any taco seasoning."
She looked at me with a questioning look. "Que?" I laughed at her. I started looking around and finally found the little blue packet. I grabbed it and held it to her. "This. You never used this?" I asked.
She gasped at me, while dramatically putting her hand on her heat. "No. No. No. My love I would never feed you such an American food. I want to give you an authentic Mexicano cuisine. Something every abuela in the world would be proud of. I could feed you something so.....Taco Bell. My ancestors would be ashamed."
"I like Taco Bell." I said. It was one of the only fast food places I could actually really eat at.
"Aye dios mio. It's worst than I thought. Come child. Once you eat my tacos you will be begging me to feed you." I couldn't hold my laughter.
"Alright, but since your making dinner, I'm doing breakfast the next morning. Deal?" I reached out my hand toward her. She smiled and shook it.
"Deal."
"How we doing this?" Becks asked. We finally finished shopping and we were now waiting at the grocery line.
"I can pay for the snacks and breakfast food, and you for the spices and dinner food?" I suggested she nodded her head and we began separating the food.
By the time we finished checking out it was around 6 or 7. "So did we want to drop this off at my house and then we'll make our way to a diner for some food?" Becks said on our way to the car. I nodded my head excitedly as we drove out of the parking lot.
"Before we blast off we gotta play some tunes?" She connected her phone to the Bluetooth of the car and began to scroll for a bit. Before she picked her song she lifted her head and looked over at me. "Do you mind if I play a song in different language?"
"Of course not. I love foreign music. Im not picky." I said. A smile gleamed across her face. "Do you like Maluma or Ricky Martin?" She asked.
I already knew what song she was going to play. "Are about to play what I think your about to play." As soon as the beat came in I knew exactly what song she began to play. Vente Pa'Ca by Rick Martin and Maluma. We started screaming the song at the top of our lungs as we began to pull out of the parking lot. I'm pretty sure I got some of the lyrics wrong because she kept stopping to look at me. When the song was over my head was light headed as shit. I quickly sat back in the car seat to catch my breathe.
"I didn't know you liked Spanish pop? How did you even get interested in it?"
"My Spanish teacher always had a lot of playlists of some of her favorite Spanish songs playing in the background of our lessons. I know some bachata songs too." My sentence came out way to breathy, i could see the worry on her face.
"You good?" A concerned Rebecca asked.
"Oh yeah. Just got a little excited, that's all. You like Maluma?" I asked trying to distract her from my uneven breathing.
By my surprise, she shook her head no. "Well do you like Ricky?" She shook her head no again. I looked at her confused.
"I usually listen to J. Cole or any good R&B artist out. I only really listen to my people's music when I'm a little sad or when I miss my fam." She said with a sad smile. She seemed to be spaced out. I was going to question her further but I remembered earlier she said that she wanted me to save the questions for tomorrow and just hang out and chill for today.
"Can I play something?" She passed her phone over to me. I began to play the song. "This was always the last song my teacher would play at the end lesson. It was always my favorite song on the playlist." For the rest of the ride we stayed quiet as she listened to the song.
The chorus came on and a smile spread across her face. "Yo no sé mañana....., I like it."
Ansle Elgort as Thomas
YOU ARE READING
His Name Was Tate
Teen Fiction"Why do you keep doing stuff like that?" I asked in a whisper. I walk over to him and grab his arm to stop him from painting. His body stiffened under my touch, and I couldn't help but smile at his reaction. "What do you want from me, Tate?" I aske...
