Two Kids Stupid and Fearless

I entered Jack's room without notice the next morning and shook him awake.

"Nicole's busy throwing up her guts," I told him. "So I don't have to work today."

He sat up and rubbed his eyes sleepily. "What do you wanna do today?"

I shrugged and sat down on the edge of his bed. "What do you wanna do today?"

"I have a few ideas," he said, smiling widely.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Can you please tell me where we're going?!" I asked from the hundredth time from my perch on Jack's back. We were walking through Chinatown, apparently looking for what Jack called 'New York's best churros'. What they were doing in Chinatown, I have no idea.

"We're almost there," he answered, jumping slightly to adjust my position on his back.

I groaned and laid my head down in the crook of his neck, blowing raspberries in it.

He giggled and swatted at my head. "Stop that," he mumbled. "I have churros to find."

We rounded another corner and Jack stopped abruptly, letting go of my legs so I could slip off of his back.

“This is it! Ping and Alberto’s Fiesta Dragon!!!” He yelled as he opened the bright green door.

The inside of Ping and Alberto’s Fiesta Dragon was small and empty, but looked well-loved. Split right down the middle, one half of the restaurant was decorated with harcore asian decor, and the other with mexican-looking furniture. At the back of the dining area where the two halves met, there was a counter with an old asian lady behind it.

“Ah, Jack!” She exclaimed when she saw us. “Who is your friend?”

Jack and I approached the counter. “This is Mia, we live together,” he said, gesturing to me. “Mia, this is Ping.”

“Hi Ping,” I greeted, waving shyly.

“She is ruvry gir, Jack. You be good to her,” Ping advised, looking at him sternly. “Churros for two, then?”

Jack nodded. “And some hot chocolate, too.”

Ping smiled and pushed some buttons on the cash register as Jack handed her a wrinkled up five dollar bill.

“TWO CHURROS AND TWO HOT COCOAS!!!” She yelled to the Mexican guy in the kitchen (who I’m guessing is Alberto) with surprising volume.

Jack and I turned around and sat a table that was literally half asian and half mexican. Jack’s side was painted with bright paintings of people with sombreros and donkeys and other stereotypical stuff, whereas my side had a painting of a cherry blossom branch on it, and several rows of chinese symbols. My chair was covered in red silk embroidered with gold dragons.

We took our seats and Jack shrugged off his coat.

“You must be a regular here,” I hinted, noting how Ping knew his name and his order.

He nodded, and his nose crinkled cutely under his glasses. “Yeah, when I first moved here, I got lost on my way to Alex’s, and ended up coming here to ask for directions.”

“Cool,” I said. “What are we gonna do all day?”

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out,” he replied, as Ping placed a cup of hot chocolate and a churro wrapped in foil in front of each of us. He nodded a thank you to her, and she winked.

I rolled my eyes at his childishness. “Whatever you say, Joke.”

“Hey!” he protested. “Only my dad is allowed to call me that!”

I took a sip of my hot chocolate but quickly pulled back when I burnt my tongue. “Owwww,” I mumbled, mostly to myself.

“I can fix that for you if you like,” Jack suggested, winking. When I frowned at him, he unwrapped our churros and shoved mine at me. “Prepare your body, woman. This is going to change your life.”

I took it from him with a weird look. It’s a freaking churro, it can’t seriously be that amazing. He talked about it like it was god or something. He pulled out his phone and aimed it at me from across our multicultural table. “What are you doing?” I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

“I need to capture this moment,” he answered. “Whenever you’re ready.”

I shrugged and shook my head at his weirdness. Now or never, I guess. I leaned in slowly, making sure to kill Jack with the suspense, as he had an extremely anticipated look on his face. I took a big bite of it off the top, and started to chew.

H o l y s h i t.

tHIS CHURRO IS FANTASTIC. It’s like...not too crunchy but not too soft and it has the perfect amount of cinnamon and sugar on it. I felt my eyes roll to the back of my head and my knees go weak as I continued to chew and swallow this little piece of doughy heaven.

“Eh? Eh?” Jack said, smiling. “You’re a changed woman, aren’t you?”

I nodded. “I think this churro got me pregnant.”

“The secret is syrup and brown sugar,” Jack whispered to me, taking a bite of his churro and having the same reaction I did.

We ate the rest of our churros in silence, too caught up in their deliciousness to bother with conversation.

Jack took the wrappers once he finished and crumpled them up in a ball. “Let’s go, take you hot chocolate with you,” he told me, standing up and putting his coat on.

I stood up with him and picked up my hot chocolate. “Where are we going now?” I asked.

“I told you, Mia, it’s a surprise,” he said, waving to Ping and exiting the restaurant, me in tow.