Bon Bons to Yoga Pants

Chapter 25-Girl Time Continues

Megan took me to her friend's restaurant for breakfast after our workout on Saturday morning, all right.

Only she took me to a grass hut.

We walked into a small restaurant that closely resembled the inside of a tiki shack, one I'd expect to see on the side streets of an island somewhere. Torches burned up the path, flickering to island music that sounded like seashells playing in the background. Not that I'd been to any island, of course. Islands had a high swimsuit expectation, and the world wasn't ready for all the cottage cheese my thighs had to offer. The farthest I'd been from my little town had been through the television.

Dad and I had been cheap explorers.

"They serve clean food here," Megan explained, flinging a backpack over her shoulder. I'd driven over because she walked to the gym—a concept I could barely wrap my head around—and held my awkward little hand bag on my wrist. How did she attain such casual ease while I managed to make a handbag look frumpy? "They get most of their stuff local, and all their produce is organic. They don't have any of that added crap."

She chose a side table before I could ask what she meant by 'added crap' and 'clean food' as opposed to dirty. A man with dreadlocks and a surfing shirt glanced up from his place behind a register in the back. Once he recognized Megan, he grinned in a way that made me think he'd probably been smoking some of the grass decorating the fringes of the restaurant. Other customers clustered around tables, creating a low, quiet symphony.

"Megan, Megan," he said, loping over with a dopey grin on his face. "It's been a few weeks."

"Hey Cooper. This is my friend Lexie. We just came from the gym."

"Hey, Lex."

While I didn't find Cooper's scruffy hair at all appealing or attractive, I still felt flattered by his casual use of my name. So flattered I forgot to respond and just smiled like I didn't know what was going on. He gestured to the menus already in front of us.

"What are you gals wanting?"

Megan didn't even have to look. "The mango pineapple smoothie with coconut milk and the omelet with goat cheese and bacon." It rolled off her tongue with all the grace of a smooth waterfall. Clearly, this hadn't been the first time she'd eaten here.

"Of course. And you, Lady Lexie?"

I scrambled frantically, my eyes skimming the menu. Chicken sausage? Roasted red pepper omelets? How many calories? Everything sounded so delicious. My stomach wouldn't stop rumbling. I couldn't make a decision so fast! What if I broke my diet again?

And what the heck was kale?

"Give her a second, Coop," Megan said. "She's never been here before. But bring her a blackberry kale smoothie for starters on me." She winked at me. "It's my favorite."

He glided away, leaving an earthy fragrance behind.

"Thanks. I haven't eaten out since I . . . well that's not important and—"

"The calories are included on the menu," she said, pointing out a small bold font at the bottom of each dish description that I hadn't noticed in my panic.

"Whoa!" I called in shock. What a novel idea! "That's so cool!"

"And don't worry. Everything you see here is clean."

Images of food rolling around on dirt floors and pigs in mud mires flipped through my mind. Bitsy had used the phrase clean eating a few times, but I hadn't really known what it meant. Likely it had something to do with washing fruit before eating it.