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Amber sauntered into the local Mexican restaurant, the tables empty and only the hostess working, as it was well past dinner for most. Amber and her friends, Jean, Lisa, and Kaeya were on a road trip, and about halfway through their journey. Amber was ahead of the group and because of that, she was the one to grab the table for the group.
She waves to the hostess, and she leads the brunette to a booth tucked away in the corner, the warm light showering the restaurant in a cozy glow. Waiting around for her friends, Amber decides to take a look at the laminated menu, various stains on the pages. Hopefully of condiments and nothing else. Scanning the menu, her eyes lock with one item; the queso fundido. So cheesy, so chorizo filled, Amber felt her mouth beginning to water at the prospect of it.
Within the blink of an eye, Amber waved over the waiter, and ordered the cheese bowl, completely ignoring ordering a drink or any appetizers for the group. While she was waiting for her cheesy, crisp pan from heaven, the chime of a bell rang through the restaurant.
Turning towards the noise, Amber noticed her friends walking through the door, looking very disheveled, dragging a limp Kaeya. They slowly made their way to Amber’s booth, throwing Kaeyas’ ragdolled body in first, then Lisa and Jean sat down across from it, resulting in Kaeya taking up one side of the booth, and the three crunched into the other.
“So...why’s Kaeya...like that?” Amber questioned, gazing at the body strewn across the other end of the booth.
“Not completely sure. He said something like ‘I bet you guys wouldn’t dare me to eat this croissant off the ground’ and neither of us did.” Jean started. “He put it in his mouth anyways after saying ‘Oh my God you guys are crazy’, and then he passed out.”
A moment of silence passed before Lisa spoke up.
“I think he’s dead.”
A sense of grief washed over the friend group.
Then the waiter came by with that steaming, pan of cheese, all kinds of tasty ingredients thrown in, and the moment was over. The girls all grabbed a piece of tortilla and started digging in, completely disregarding their recently deceased friend.
While they were enjoying their meal in silence, Amber heard a light sizzle from the pan. Still nice and hot! But then the sizzling continued and grew in volume, and eventually the sound morphed into that of a voice.
“Hey, baby..” The pan whispers, seeming to only be heard by Amber, as the other thre- two had no response. “Why don’t we...get out of here….run away together…”
And who was Amber to deny a pan so cheesy?
So she grabbed the hot pan with her bare hands, feeling the skin there start to burn, and took off running out of the restaurant. Past the French bakery, past the dentist’s office, and she let her legs lead her farther and farther away, the voices yelling behind her becoming more distant.
Eventually, those shouts were nothing more than a memory as Amber's legs finally gave out, collapsing in an empty desert, hands blistered from her now cool queso fundido pan.
The sizzling had long since faded. She was too late. There was no forever with this bowl of cheese and chorizo. She held the pan to her chest and wept, alone in the sand, underneath the stars.