Shame (Ruin 3)

“Told me…” I raised my hands in a show of innocence. “…that you hated tacos? Shit, do you hate tacos?”

She grinned and started piling up her plate. “Nope, I love them. Next to pizza, best food ever created.”

“Thank God, you’re not a vegan, organic-loving, soy milk drinker.”

Lisa popped a chunk of ground beef in her mouth. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m more of a cheese-loving, hamburger-eating, whole-milk-drinking, potato chip cruncher.”

“Chip of choice?”

“Lay’s Sour Cream and Onion.” She rolled her eyes. “Like there’s any other choice.”

I nodded my approval. “And cheese?”

“All cheese. That’s not even a real question. You should know this by now.”

“Hamburger? With onions or without?”

“With, but I like the little crunchy ones that are fried and tend to permanently find their way onto your hips.”

“Yeah, I hate that.” I winked.

Lisa rolled her eyes and loaded up two tacos with sour cream. “And you?”

“Doritos… ranch.” I rubbed circles on my stomach and lifted my eyebrows in teasing. “Though I’ll eat anything with a crunch.”

Lisa paused before biting into her taco and chewing. “So you’d eat a crunchy spider or snail?”

“Only if I was dared…” I started making my own tacos. “And only if they had ranch on them.”

“Cheese?”

“Gouda.”

“Snob.”

“You know this about me. Plus, Gouda always has the best labels, all expensive cheeses do.”

“Hopeless.” Lisa took another bite and wiped her mouth. “What about you? Hamburgers with or without onions?”

“Am I with you?”

“Umm… sure.”

“No onions.” As Lisa chuckled, her smile had me staring at her mouth for a good few seconds before I responded. “Or give me onions. Since you’ll be eating them, it wouldn’t make a difference anyway. I’d still kiss you… and I’d still really enjoy it.” And that was the truth.

That was the last of the food talk. Lisa averted her eyes and chewed while I tried to wrack my brain for more ideas to keep her with me rather than drop her back at the school.

From her purse came the sound of her ringtone. Damn it. I hated phones. Always interrupting things, interrupting us. I wondered if she’d be pissed if I threw her entire purse into the pool and took her with me, stopping all interruptions for good.

She wiped her hands on the napkin and pulled out her phone. After reading through it, she groaned. “Ugh, Jack.”

Every nerve jumped to high alert as I cleared my throat. “Oh?”

“Yeah.” She typed something into her phone. “He wants to meet tomorrow morning again about the project.”

“Just out of curiosity.” I worded the question carefully. “How often have you guys been meeting?”

“Just twice.” She put her phone back in her purse. “I think we have the basis for our project outlined and ready to go… at least I hope so. I hear this professor’s a tight-ass.”