Finding His Mate (His Mate Book 1)

Chapter 2

TUESDAY

"What are we doing for day 2 of your Lunar week?" Liam asked, prancing around me excitedly.

"Guess," I told him simply.

"Is it...a trip to the park?"

"No."

"Pancakes?"

"Nope."

"Going to the museum on the lake?"

"Nada."

"A movie?"

I shook my head.

He slumped in confusion. "Then what? Can you give me a hint, pretty please?"

I racked my brain, trying to recall the Spanish words that 6 year old me learned from Dora. "Hola, amigo."

He gasped. "I know what it is! Today's Taco Tuesday!"

I gave him a wide grin. "I was waiting for you to guess that. Isn't Taco Tuesday your national holiday or something? I know tacos are one of your favourite foods."

He flushed adorably. "Yeah, but I wasn't expecting you to actually go to a Mexican restaurant. Didn't you have a super traumatic experience at one, and that's why you couldn't bring yourself to go afterwards?"

I shuddered at the memory. A few years back, I went to a Mexican restaurant with a couple of my friends. Of course, with my sensitive palate, I could only handle mild food, with at most a slight kick. My Italian friend, on the other hand, could eat hellfire-level spicy without even batting an eye. How could people eat painful food? It baffled truly me, but to each their own, I supposed.

Long story short, we accidentally switched up our dishes, and I ended up biting into an extra-hot chicken burrito. For the next several hours, my tongue felt as if it were scraped clean and rubbed with acid, my stomach rumbled angrily, and I felt incredibly nauseous. I must've drank 10 bags of milk trying to relieve the burning taste in my mouth.

And so ever since, whenever I went to restaurants, I was always worried that some hardcore spice would find its way into my food.

"Well, I know you've spoken a lot about Serrano," I said. "According to everyone, they have the best tacos in town."

"Everyone is right, then. Their tacos are fantástico and you can't change my mind. So, when are we going?"

"This evening. I'll pick you up at your place, at around 6, and we'll head on down."

"Oh, this evening? That feels so far away, and I don't think I can put up with Coach Retch much longer," he sighed, referring to our awful PE teacher with no redeeming qualities. Her actual name was Coach Rodriguez, but at this point, everyone called her anything but that.

"Well, I guess I'll have to wait," he said, brightening. "I'll be looking forward to it all day!"

"It's a date, then," I said, smiling at him. "I'll text you later tonight to confirm everything, okay?"

-

"Um...sir?" the food preparer said nervously behind the counter. "Is there something wrong with how I'm preparing your food?"

I stood right in front of the counter, analyzing the worker's every move. I was so busy worrying about spices, I hadn't even realized that I was giving the poor young man my 'death stare', the look I gave my enemies to intimidate them.

"Don't mind him," Liam elbowed me and rolled his eyes. Having grown up around me, he was one of the few people who knew how to deal with me when I acted overly Alpha. "He's terrified of spices, even though I promised him that the tacos aren't spicy."