What The Fork?

Chapter 4

*6/7/20 I made some minor grammatical corrections*

Roz was having trouble keeping up with the guys as they walked to the diner. *Being 5’1” sucks! I’m a foot shorter than Nikki and just over a foot shorter than Tommy. I’m even over half a foot shorter than Mick and Vince. I have got to go faster or I’ll fall behind* After a little bit Roz noticed a diner down at the end of the block. She ran to get closer to Tommy, “Hey T, is that the diner we are headed to?”

“Yea it is. Why do you –“ he cut himself off as Roz literally skipped ahead of him towards the diner. Tommy started laughing, “Where are you off to skipping like that?”

“I’m off to see the wonderful wizard of Oz of course!” Roz giggled and came to a stop just outside the diner. She looked back at the guys and noticed that by skipping she had gotten decently ahead of them. “Let’s go guys! I wanna see if they have grits. I would kill for grits and sausage drenched in syrup.”

Vince gave her a weird look and asked, “What the hell are grits?”

As they entered the diner Roz answered, “They are ground hominy cooked up. Sometimes they are savory and sometimes they are sweet. I prefer them with salt, butter, and sausage or bacon.”

Vince scrunched up his nose, “That sounds gross. How can you eat something like that?”

Roz rolled her eyes, “It’s a southern thing Vinny.”

Tommy looked confused as he sat next to her in the booth. “I thought you said you’re from Wisconsin. Isn’t that in the Midwest?”

“Yea Tommy it is. My grandma Rose is from South Carolina though. My mom was born there too. She was 5 when they moved to Wisconsin. I grew up eating grits for breakfast and my favorite dinner is black-eye peas and rice. I should cook something for you guys! I can make black-eye peas and rice! It’s easy but it takes a long time to cook. I’d need a giant stock pot though. I would need the food too. I have some really old bills in my wallet. If they’re old enough we could use them to buy groceries. I think I’m rambling. Am I rambling? Someone stop me from rambling plea-“ Roz’s eyes widen as Nikki, who sat down on her other side, put his hand over her mouth.

Roz took a couple of deep breaths and then looked at Nikki. She couldn’t really read the look in his eyes. He looked amused but there was something else there. He chuckled and leaned closer with his hand still over her mouth. “Are you done ramblin’ babe?”

Roz got a wicked gleam in her eyes. She stuck her tongue out and licked Nikki’s palm while staring straight into his eyes. Nikki pulled his hand away and laughed.  Roz looked at the menu and sadly didn’t see grits on it. When the waitress came to take their order, she ordered coffee and chocolate chip pancakes.

While waiting for their food, Mick spoke up, “So what are black-eye peas?”

Roz looked to Mick and said, “The dish is a really hearty dish. It has black-eye peas which are actually a type of bean. It also has ham in it. It’s kinda like a soup that you dish up over rice. We started out having it a lot because it was cheap to make, but it ended up being my favorite dinner. Same thing went with the grits. They were cheap but filling”

“Sounds good,” Mick responded.

Roz looked to Vince, Tommy, then Nikki. “What do you guys think? I wanna be useful and cooking is relaxing to me and is useful. I don’t wanna be a complete free-loader.”