Luckily, there was little time to wallow in the awkwardness because the second waitress opened the kitchen doors balancing two plates in her hands. She gently placed the plates in front of them. She was much nicer than the first waitress, but after delivering the dishes to the table, she turned and walked back to the kitchen with her arms crossed and nose in the air.
Naya inspected the dish in front of her. It appeared to be something that looked like a ball of dough or a dumpling in orange curry. Naya cautiously poked the pounded yam with her fork, leaving four small indentations in the ball. Dante watched with amusement as Naya tried to figure the most dignified, or rather, least messiest way to approach the platter.
"Here, try this." Dante said after watching Naya struggle for far too long, and turned his fingers into a right angle, waiting for Naya to mirror him. He stuck his fingers in the iyan, and ripped a piece off. Finally, he mixed his piece of iyan with the egusi soup and groaned in satisfaction as he carefully popped the piece in his mouth. Naya followed and her eyes widened with pleasant surprise over the delightful burst of taste.
"Oh my god, this is so damn good!" she exclaimed, hurriedly ripping off another piece of the iyan.
Dante chuckled. "I know right!"
Naya stuffed her face with another piece. "Okay, you have no idea how lucky you are! I would've never gotten to go to this place if it was just me or my parents, and apparently you're a regular? You probably get to show up anywhere and get a meal at the house!" Naya gestured to the almost empty restaurant. "Don't you see? You are so lucky to have all this."
Dante pretended to check the inside of Naya's glass. "Did they slip some alcohol in this or something? You do realize you're moving into the huge ass house I'm building you right now, right?" Dante asked.
"Who cares about that empty shell of a house I'm going to have to call home for another six months before I get shipped off to college? You get to have all this!" Naya exclaimed. Dante felt like he was seeing a totally new side of Naya, one where she could get excited over the smallest of things. He thought it was adorable.
"Okay, you keep saying all this, but it's not like I can afford to go to all those fancy shmancy restaurants your parents probably take you to."
"Ugh, those restaurants are so boring and stuffy," Naya groaned, "You have to get all dressed up,and the food isn't always that great. And it kinda all tastes the same. You, you have all of this. You have a community. No matter how much you might want to be alone, you will always have these people to back you up. Not everyone is that lucky."
Dante thought for a second. She was right. There were times when all he'd wanted was to be alone, but someone was always waiting on the other side of his closed door, whether that be his mom, his neighbor, his uncle, or even Freddie's mom. When they were ten, Freddie had managed to gather a group of six kids to look for Dante's pet bunny when it'd gone missing. The elderly woman at the corner of the street always prayed for Dante's brother's soul. Even Mrs. Eze had delivered a week's worth of iyan and egusi when his abuela had died.
"I'd still trade Joy for your house," Dante declared for the sake of argument.
Naya smacked his hand in feigned alarm. "You do not mean that!" Naya said disapprovingly, but her eyes twinkled with her familiar childish joy.
"I totally do," Dante said, standing by his statement.
"Come on, she can't be that bad."
"You only say that because you don't know her."
Their playful banter continued throughout their lunch and through the car ride. Dante could see that Naya's wall finally seemed to come down. Even as they pulled into their driveway, Naya seemed disappointed to see their conversation cut short. She'd found him to be the most honest interaction she'd had with a person in a long time.
"Are you coming inside?" Naya questioned, hoping he would at least walk her to the door.
Dante replied half-heartedly, "Nah, I promised Freddie I'd hang out with him at his place."
"Oh..." Naya bit her lip nervously. Was she sure she wanted to do this? It would probably be her last chance. Was it worth the risk?
Suddenly Dante found Naya's lips locked with his. Once he'd recovered from the initial shock, he leaned into the kiss, eventually taking control. Dante released all the inhibited instincts he'd been suppressing for the entire day and kissed her deeper. Dante found himself running his fingers through her silky locks, trying to make the kiss last as long as he could. Everything was a blur. Fleeting thoughts rushed past him as white noise. It almost hurt to break the electrifying kiss, but when they did, the adrenalin rush couldn't have been clearer on their faces. Dante's cheeks ached from smiling so wide and Naya looked to be the same. But only for a moment.
Dante's hand was still entangled in Naya's hair when her expression changed from pure bliss to absolute horror.
"What's wrong? I couldn't have possibly been that bad," Dante joked, trying to ignore the giant knot in his stomach telling him he'd somehow messed up big time.
"I… I have to go," Naya stuttered, grabbing her backpack and slamming the door behind her.
Naya ran up the porch steps. She rushed to grab the door handle and faltered for a split second. Dante thought she would turn around and yell "Gotcha!", revealing the whole thing to be a cruel prank or something of that nature, but Naya pushed through the hesitation and opened the door, never looking back at the rundown pickup truck.
Dante's phone chimed. Alex had messaged him.
Alex: Hey bro, looks like the next few weeks are gonna have rainy afternoons, so we're changing the schedule so everyone comes in and leaves an hour and a half earlier.
Alex: Does that work for you?
Dante dropped his phone, buried his head in his arms, and groaned.