Better now Quote by Claire LaZebnik

““It takes me a minute to find the others, who are no longer at Panda, but once I turn a corner, I spot their table instantly—​they’re hard to miss, mostly because Ethan is standing up and shouting and flailing his arms. “It hurts!” he’s shouting. “It hurts!” He sticks his tongue out and rubs at it with first one hand and then the other—​he looks like he’s slapping at his own mouth. David grabs at his hands. “Hey, hey, hey. Don’t do that. Eat some rice—​that’ll help.” “Why did they give that to me?” Ethan cries. “It hurts!” “They’re just for flavor—​you’re not supposed to eat them.” “Why do they put them in there, then?” He wrenches his hands out of his brother’s grasp and swipes at his mouth again. David sees me standing there. “Chili pepper,” he says wearily. “Oh.” Now I understand. “He’s right about eating rice,” I tell Ethan. “It stops the burning.” “The rice is hot too!” “It’s a different kind of hot. Blow on it first, and it will help, I promise...” David pushes Ethan into a chair and stands over him. “Seriously, dude, eat some rice.” He plunges a fork into the mound on Ethan’s plate. Ethan glares at him but opens his mouth, and David shoves the rice in. Ethan chews and swallows. “It still hurts.” “You shouldn’t have eaten the chili pepper,” Ivy says. “Everyone knows they’re hot.” “I didn’t mean to!” Ethan roars at her, spraying chewed-up rice across the table. “It got in my mouth on accident!” “Chilis can be sneaky,” I say. “Tricky little beasts,” David agrees. “You can’t trust a chili.” “Bell peppers, though—​they’re trustworthy.” “The really evil ones are those little shishito bastards,” David says. “Some of them are hot, and some aren’t. You can’t tell until you bite into one. How is that fair?” “It’s not,” I say. “It’s not fair at all.” “And don’t get me started on pepperoncini. I mean, first of all that name . . .” “My tongue is better now,” Ethan says. “Because of the rice.” He takes the fork from David and starts rapidly shoveling more rice into his mouth. “I’m not going to eat any more orange chicken,” he says through the mess in his mouth. “Just the rice. There’s no chili pepper in rice.””

— Claire LaZebnik