~Avella~
Friday, August 16, 2019
Many songs later, we had finally reached Greensboro. Since it was a different city for me, I was shocked that Indy knew where she was going because of how chaotic traffic was as soon as we entered. Luckily, she wasn't the reckless type. She made sure that she was in the clear before shifting lanes, so she wouldn't hit anyone else or damage her car and possibly harm us.
"You're gonna love this place!" Indy said. "It may look medieval inside, but the pizza? It's so good!"
I raised an eyebrow, becoming interested but amused because I remembered her telling me that she never tried it. "So, you have been here before?"
"Yeah, I have tried it before. I'm sorry for telling ya otherwise that I didn't. I just wanted you to come along!" She blushed.
"Awww, don't be. I'm willing to try something out with a friend. So, what exactly do they have that you enjoy?"
"I'm happy you asked," she said so ecstatically. "They have a build-your-own pizza option, which is forever my go-to. And what I usually get is a small pizza—or medium, depending on my hunger—, with the traditional marinara sauce, vegan cheese, spinach, and jerk tofu, with extra jerk! Easily my most favorite pizza!"
I quickly turned to her in awe. "You vegan...?"
"Yes! Are you?"
"Yeah! Small world!" The way that I nearly lost my shit knowing this.
Is this fucking destiny?! Am I gonna have a vegan girlfriend if it plays out well?! This is way too good to be true!
We arrived at the pizza place, the Mellow Mushroom, and honestly it did look pretty neat! Though, I had to take a mental note of how well she parallel parked, taking into account that she had a rear view camera to aid. She must've had good mental measurements. Regardless, she deserved mad respect for that because I can't do that, even though I also had a rear view camera on my SUV. Shit's a nightmare to learn and to perfect.
As we got out of the car, I walked around to Indy's side, and it blew me away just seeing her when neither she nor I were sitting down. She was just...precious.
"I have to say that before we go inside, you are a bit taller than I had expected," she said. "I'm not complaining though! Treating someone who's like two inches taller than me to lunch is a great way to start! I like tall people!"
I impulsively cackled. I could tell that this was the start of something beautiful between us.
"Well, need I to say that I kinda did expect you to be shorter. I find that very ideal for me. I'm quite fond of 'shorties.'" We both laughed and hugged each other as we were both just delighted to be hanging out today.
Headed inside, holding the door for her, and Indy was right about the medieval decor inside. Not something that I'd expect a pizza restaurant to have, but it was pretty unique. As we approached the hostess, Indy grabbed my arm. I felt my face warming up because I did not expect her to do that.
"How many? Just two?" The hostess smiled as she noticed our arms interlocking.
Indy nodded with a big grin on her face. The way she would smile practically all the time had me wondering if she naturally just smiled if she were having a great day. She was way too cute when she smiled. We followed the hostess to a little table near the back of the restaurant, where a few other people were seated, since the place was practically packed...given that it was Friday. Luckily, it was one of the last few tables they had available.
As we got seated, Indy helped me look around the menu. They had a lot of options other than pizza, but since I was only in the mood for pizza, she showed me the pizza menu. The build-your-own pizza section had so many choices to choose from. The many different sauces, several varieties of cheeses—including the vegan one, which I really wanted to try—, and the countless number of protein toppings. Before I could ask Indy about them, our waitress asked about our drinks for the day. Indy chose strawberry sweet tea, which sounded pretty good.
"Make that two, please! I'd like to try it," I said. Indy's smile couldn't get any bigger. While the waitress took our drink orders, I continued looking through the protein list on the build-your-own pizza menu. I happened to see "tempeh" on the menu, and it piqued my interest.
"So, have you tried the tempeh here? Or, is that a meat option?" I needed to know because for as long as I've been vegan, never in my life have I heard of tempeh.
"That's actually the very first thing I tried when I found out about this place," Indy said. "Tempeh is similar to tofu, except the soybeans aren't mushed and solidified into a block. It's fermented soybeans! It has a very similar texture to sausage! It's pretty good, especially if you get it with jerk or buffalo sauce!"
You learn something new every day...
"I'm glad I asked. I just might try it!"
Indy clapped. "Yes, go for it! You honestly won't regret it! Now, the vegan cheese—oh my GOD! It literally melts like dairy cheese, and it's something to die for! You won't regret trying that, either!"
The way she sounded so unapologetically enthusiastic about the menu choices and explaining them. She obviously must enjoy the food here that much; that or she really enjoyed going vegan. Either way, I really liked that in a person: someone who isn't afraid of showing enthusiasm for things they love or care about. I could really see us being good friends after this.
As our waitress brought our drinks, I told her that we'd share a large pizza. While we wanted mostly the same things, Indy wanted jerk tofu on her half, and I wanted jerk tempeh on mine. I didn't want to damage her wallet if we both got two different pizzas. I wanted to be courteous. I wasn't used to letting people pay for me, let alone do something nice for me and refuse to let me owe them anything, but I wanted to let this slide because I really grew to like her from the start of the road trip. I did owe her, however. I wanted to do something nice for her in return whenever I had the opportunity.
"So, this begs the question: how long have you gone vegan?" I was dying to know. I had to ask while our pizza was being made.
Indy winced in an amused way. "You won't believe me if I told ya."
"C'mon, how long?"
She inhaled, bracing herself to tell me. "I've gone vegan for a little over nine months."
I was flabbergasted. "Nine months?!"
She wheezed, laughing at my reaction. "Told ya!"
"But...I'm impressed though. I've gone longer than you have, but you seem to look into it and do your research and find very interesting things to suit your lifestyle. You're, like, more enthusiastic about it than I am, and that really says a lot. Which now I got a follow-up. How? Or what made you change your eating habits?"
She took a sip of her tea before she spoke. "Well, pretty much, I used to eat so much junk food. So much processed shit. So much meat. It got to the point where I had a health scare one day, which was a sign that I really needed to eat better, or I would further damage my body. I never really thought that I would get a health scare at the young age of 22. So, in November of last year, I took on the vegan lifestyle. The first few months were very hard because I was giving up meat that I used to enjoy, and it made me miss eating it. But then, I started finding alternatives for most of those meats. Now I'm just content with how I'm living now. The funny thing is: I would've chosen to be vegetarian, but when I found alternatives to dairy, I found out that I was also lactose intolerant...which explained a lot of things. So, all in all, I'm very happy with my choice."
I smiled at her.
"Not that...eating processed vegan food is any better..." She laughed at the irony, which made me laugh. "But, I'd rather eat that of plants than that of animals. It'll leave me with a clean conscience. I'm only doing it for my health, not because it's a 'trend,' or to be 'greener.' I'm doing it for me, and me only. I want to live long enough to find love and explore what I have never seen before. It's my life, y'know? I want no one taking charge of it...with the exception of doctors, which in that case, I have no choice." A snicker came out of me. She really knew how to keep the conversation going.
"And now, I must ask you! How long have you gone vegan, and what made you change your lifestyle?" Indy leaned over the table close to me, and rested her chin in her hands, to show that she wanted to be invested, but in a humorous manner.
I almost choked on my tea, which tasted refreshing. It was kinda embarrassing, but anything to get a laugh out of her. "Well, mine isn't as endearing as yours, but, like, I've been at this for almost 11 years."
Indy's eyes widened. "Eleven?!"
"Yeah! Technically, it would be almost 18 years because I didn't know what I was eating, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. But, like, the way that I got into it isn't like how you did it. Sweet and inspirational. My parents...they thought it was okay to scar me for life, like, as soon as I turned 13 in order for me to change my eating choices. They showed me videos...like, very morbid videos...that's all I'm gonna put down, that's as if you understand."
Indy winced. "11th grade, environmental science class. Even though it didn't fully convince me, it was a little push in the right direction. I stopped eating beef entirely because of it. What your parents did to you is...brutal...at the age of 13? They couldn't wait, or like, not torture you at all? If I didn't know any better, I'd say that they used a medieval torture device, too, to get the job done. The inhumanity!"
As if I couldn't laugh any harder than I was right then, and Indy laughing along was bliss. Honestly, even though she was right about how my "parents" used an unethical method to change my eating lifestyle, I liked how she joked about it as an effort to not make me feel bad about it happening to me. It worked, though, because I wanted to laugh and shit talk about those subhumans! I hated them, so hearing her talk shit about them and their poor parenting skills for a moment made me happy inside. It's like she could make a light out of any situation. It's like she understood.
We laughed on till our pizza arrived. Like, holy fuck...this thing was huge! It was sizzlin' hot. Fresh out of the oven. It looked so good. Even Indy was amazed at how huge and delicious the pizza was. I couldn't wait to dig in, so I took a slice from my half while she took a slice from hers. Because it was too hot for me to eat with my hands, I unwrapped my silverware and wanted to use that until the pizza cooled. I started to cut into the pizza until I got a funny look from Indy.
"So, you're one of those people..." she scoffed. "Eating pizza with silverware...disgusting..."
I almost lost it at how she said "disgusting," but I wanted to keep my laughter in and play along in the banter.
"And, like, what do you suppose you'd do if I took a bite...with my fork?" I cut off a piece and jabbed it with my fork to show Indy, who returned an amusingly repulsed expression, making it so hard for me to not laugh.
"Don't you dare..." she said, leaning back, still keeping the same expression on her face.
How is she not laughing?
I raised my fork. Each time she said "no," I would draw the fork closer to my mouth. As soon as the pizza touched my tongue, she said in the same repulsed tone, "You will regret it."
It was already too late. I had taken a bite, and it was satisfying, and delicious.
"Ew. Revolting. Disgusting. Disgraceful. You will be hearing from my lawyers."
I almost choked, finally letting my laugh out. I had to cover my face at that point, for it was turning red, and my eyes were tearing up from holding the laugh in so long. My loud laughter sounded like I was crying. What made it even funnier was that she immediately started using silverware after she said that. I couldn't stop laughing to the point of Indy having to stop cutting her pizza to calm me down. She gave me one of her napkins so I could wipe my face. That was the most and the hardest I had ever laughed in my lifetime. She awoke something in me from her playfulness. I kept thinking how she's able to engage playful banter like that without laughing, not even a tiny snicker, or a crack of a smile. I had to recollect myself after that one.
"Are you okay?" she asked. "I didn't think that my banter would make you cry laughing like that. I'm so sorry." She wheezed afterwards.
"Are you kidding? Girl, like, I've never laughed that hard before, and I honestly have never felt that good doing it either. Don't ever feel sorry for letting me have a good time and sharing a few good, hearty laughs. I enjoyed that so much. Thank you for letting me have fun. Something that I wasn't able to do as a kid growing up." I smiled at her as I continued enjoying my pizza.
Indy smiled back as she dove into her pizza. "Y'know? I should mention something. When I joke like that, it means that I'm growing comfortable to be around you. Now that I know that you enjoyed what I did, I enjoyed making you laugh. I'd always like to bring some light into other people's lives, especially if they're going to be friends of mine. If anything and if physically possible, I wish I could get you all the light you need to get through life. It'd make me and you feel good living in this cruel, dark world. You having light will give me light, too." She smiled into my eyes once more before continuing to eat her pizza.
I was touched. She really won my heart at that point. I honestly didn't think that I'd have that much fun on a lunch "date," let alone think that she'd be funnier than the first time we spoke. Except for my friend Jonni, I've never had anyone make me laugh so much. After that, I didn't want this day to end. I wanted to continue spending time with her. I kept hoping on it as I continued eating my pizza.