34. Don't Jump from Rooftops

                                    

                                          
Monday, May 1st
I never thought I would scoop vegan tartare into my mouth until now. As the party's personal chef explained, the fancily plated layered tartare is made from "tomatoes with balsamic vinegar, steamed beetroot with horseradish, creamy peas with mint and salty-smoky carrot lox." All I know is that it tastes pretty damn good. It's only the second course, after a phenomenal German Flaedle soup. The next course is mostly composed of meat. Duck dumplings with fried veal, served with some sort of cream cabbage and caramelized onions. Not my type of thing. I asked to skip right to dessert and they were delighted to accept. I'm definitely looking forward to see what marvelous dish they'll come up with. Anything would surprise me, considering my mother only ever makes my great-grandmother's apple and peach pie. It's a great pie, just a bit less great the 100th time around.
"And then," Crash, sat next to me, tries to say but can't contain his giggling. "And then she said, sir, that's an eggplant." He bursts out laughing.
Considering I wasn't following and don't have any idea who "she" or the "sir" is and why he has an eggplant, I laugh in hopes he doesn't refer to the joke later on. I stuff my mouth with the tartare because it's probably the best thing I'll ever taste in my lifetime. As I chew, I give the dining room another look. It's a private room, windows strewn on two of the walls, doors on the others. There's a large table where all 30-ish of us sit, with Seamus at one end and Anth at the other. Aqua and Petrovish eat together. Crash and I eat together too. Tavish sits on the other side of the table and, every now and then, I feel his eyes drift over me and Crash. It feels like walking on eggshells, living to the same life beat as him. Eating at the same time as him, sleeping a the same time as him, being with him all the time. I don't know how I'll make it out unharmed, whether it be physically or mentally.
A warm hand strokes the small of my back. I flinch. Crash takes his hand off in surprise. "Didn't mean to scare you. Are you okay? You're zoning out again."
I press my lips together and swallow the bite I was masticating. "Yeah. Just tired." I shrug.
"We're going to the pool afterwards. You can just rest in your room instead," he advises.
I take another bite before answering. "That's a good idea." He smiles at me, I return the gesture.
Petrovish boasts to Aqua, quite loudly might I add, about winning third place in the competition. Which, to be fair, he did. But he's been praised for hours, I wonder when he's going to have enough. I wonder if Aqua's praises are all he needs for it to be enough. That's a real possibility. I clean up my plate, nothing's left but a smear of the minty peas' sauce. A waiter notices, striding up to me to rid me of my dirty dishes.
"Shall I serve you dessert, sir?" he asks. Flustered, I nod. He delivers a polite nod and walks away, right into the kitchen.
The doors close behind him but I just keep staring there, lost in my thoughts. Crash waves a hand in my face. I glance at him.
"What's your guess?" he asks and passes his fingers through his curls.
Our eyes meet and green really is quite a nice colour. "If there's no edible gold on it, I don't want it," I joke.
Crash expresses agreement, muddled with laughter. The waiter walks back out with a plate balanced on his palm. I try not to stare as he nears my seat. The plate is placed in front of me. On there is a small, flat pie with almonds flakes on the outer crust and specks of gold all over. I bite my cheek to keep myself from laughing. Next to me, Crash breathes heavily and I can see hilarity in his widened eyes.
"Galette with marzipan and wild blackberries," the server tells me.
I croak out a thank and he's on his way out of the room. The second the door clicks closed, Crash and I burst out laughing because of the irony of it all. Still quaking with laughter, I poke at the pieces of gold with my fork. I cut myself a piece and pop it in on my tongue. As expected, it's heavenly.