Into the Light

33

Kat had a glass placed in front of her that had half of a sliced banana pieced on the side of it. "What's that?" Sam asked, leaning over to take a sip from her straw. She popped his forehead, but he had already tasted it. "Oh damn, that's really good," he said, rubbing his forehead. "It's a Mango Groove. Just a mango smoothie with banana," she shrugged, then took a sip from her straw. "Oh wow," she moaned. I had to admit, the food that was set around the table looked fantastic. My own burger was dripping swiss cheese, and had bacon hanging over the side of it. The garlic aioli added an amazing fragrance to it. I glanced at Anna to see her taking a giant bite of her own burger. A jalapeno fell out the end of it, and splatted into her paper lined bowl. She caught me staring, grinned, then nabbed the stray jalapeno. She popped it into her mouth with the rest of the bite that she had taken. I shook my head, and smiled. The milkshakes was the last thing that the waitress delivered. I literally started to salivate, just watching her set them down onto the table. They were in the old style, curved, milkshake glasses. You could see the chocolate and peanut butter swirled together through the glass. The whipped cream was circled perfectly on top, and had not only Reese's pieces on top, but also mini Reese cups. I automatically took a sip of the thick milkshake, as soon as she set it down. The flavors were so intense, it was actually like a chocolate, peanut butter, explosion in my mouth. "Oh my God," Anna moaned. I looked over to see her taking a few sips of her own milkshake. "This is the best thing I've ever tasted, in my life. Nothing will ever compare." I laughed at her dramatics, but I was inclined to agree with her. I didn't know what was so different with this milkshake, than any other one I'd had, but it was definitely different. There was a lot of passing food around the table, so that we could all share how good our own meal was with the others. I even liked Tara's veggie burger. Corey got Anna to explain what every name on the menu referenced, and she looked like she enjoyed teaching us about it. "Doc Brown Burger is from Back to the Future movies. Please tell me you've seen them!" she begged. Some of us had, but some of us hadn't. "Okay, that's it. We're having an 80's movie night when we get back home. This is just sad," she insisted. The waitress came back over after most of us had finished eating, to get our plates. We ordered dessert while she was there. I was stuffed, but I had to try this ice cream out. "Captain Crunch Cake Ice Cream Sandwich," I said. My stomach literally hurt when I read it out loud. "I'll just share with you, if that's okay?" Anna asked. I nodded, thanking God, because there was no way that I would be able to eat the entire thing. "Captain crunch cereal ground like flour and baked into a cake, then deep fried and made in an ice cream sandwich topped with house made caramel," Corey read aloud. "That's diabetes waiting to happen. I'll take it!" Everyone ordered what they wanted, then we all leaned back in our chairs after the waitress walked away. "How are we going to eat this when we can barely move as it is?" Kat groaned. "I'm miserable." Anna poked her little food baby belly, and nodded. "I agree. I'm miserable. Dessert is a bad idea." "Dessert is never a bad idea," Jake replied. "I'm gonna have to do so much extra gym time," Brennen groaned. "I'm going straight to sleep when we get back to the hotel. I quit life right now," Corey replied. I wasn't even sure that Tara was awake, since she had her head down on the table. Sam wasn't saying a word. He was just leaning back in his chair, head all the way back, staring at the ceiling. "You good, bro?" I asked. He kept looking at the ceiling but nodded. "Trying to concentrate on digesting this food. Trying to make room for dessert. Shhh," he replied. We all started to laugh, then quieted when our dessert was brought out on a huge round table that the waitress was pushing. My stomach clenched in response. Anna was right. This was a bad idea...but it was one that we were diving into without any preconceived notions. I sighed and picked up my spoon to cut the ice cream sandwich that was just placed in front of me. I pushed half towards Anna, and moved the plate so that it was equally between us. I wasn't at all sure how this was going to taste, but it looked decadent. Anna was holding a bite in her spoon, just staring at it. "You gonna eat that?" I asked, with a chuckle. She groaned and met my gaze. "Yes?" she replied, making it sound like more of a question than an answer. "On three," I said, holding up a bite in my own spoon. "You ready?" She sighed, and nodded. "Okay, one...two...three!" I counted, then popped the spoonful of dessert in my mouth. Anna did the same, and closed her eyes. "Oh mu Gawd," she moaned, with a mouthful of ice cream sandwich. The textures that were going on in my mouth didn't make sense. There was a crunch from the deep fried Captain Crunch cake, but it was paired with the vanilla ice cream, and the chocolate covering. The homemade caramel that was drizzled on top brought it all together, and made this amazing bundle of flavors in my mouth. We devoured it. I hadn't thought that we would be able to finish it, but we did. Down to the last drop that was on the plate. "Okay, I quit. I need to sleep all of this off," Tara groaned, pushing her half finished milkshake away from her. Jake took it and started to drink. "How?" Tara asked, wide eyed. He had already finished his own milkshake. He shrugged and kept drinking. After we were all as finished as we could get, we sat there for another 30 minutes, just trying to digest the food. "Do you guys want to go play the games or anything?" Sam asked, looking like he really didn't want too. Everyone shook their head, including Anna.