Grapes Upside Down

56. Fried Egg Burger

~Madisen~

When we finally arrive in Puerto Natales after plane flight and three bus rides, we find this little diner in the middle of the sparse town that serves hamburgers the size of dinner plates. We're all starving after surviving on airplane food and snacks for the past 12 hours.

Noah orders the fried egg burger, and when he bites into it, the runny yoke bursts so explosively that it spatters all over the arm of Daria's sweatshirt.

After a collective moment of shock, we all burst out laughing. Raymond is doubled over, pounding the table in hilarity as he laughs mercilessly at Noah.

"¿En serio, weón? How does that even happen?" He's still pointing with wheezy cackling as Noah dabs Daria's clothing with a stack of napkins, grimacing apologetically.

Daria merely blinks in mild surprise throughout the whole ordeal, showing almost no reaction.

"I guess I deserved that," she deadpans, but I don't catch her meaning at first.

She and Noah make eye contact that holds some kind of shared meaning, and for a second I freak out internally, wondering if he hooked up with her at some point. I spiral momentarily, imagining he's been out at the club making out with all the girls in our exchange program.

"That was an interesting form of Karma," Daria notes, raising one humorously judgmental eyebrow Noah's direction before inspecting the dried yellow goop on her sleeve. Noah scrunches up his nose and sticks his tongue out at Daria. It's all very friendly, and then it hits me.

Daria was the one who introduced me to Ignacio!

Suddenly, that part of the story replays in my memory for the first time--how I ducked back into the Casino to grab a forgotten jacket, resulting in a vomit-saturated Noah abandoning me, which led to my subsequent meet-cute with Ignacio. Our ugly, fateful, chance meeting.

God, I hope I've learned the lessons I was supposed to learn from this.

In time, you'll view this a million different ways...

Without warning, inappropriate and overly emotional laughter begins rumbling in my chest and spilling from my mouth, despite my attempts to shove it back down with my palms.

The egg yolk moment has passed; judging by everyone's bewildered expressions, I imagine think I'm having a very delayed reaction to Noah's mishap.

"Chica, ¿estás bien?" Clara asks with alarmed eyebrows.

"It's all so ridiculous!" I snort.

"What is?" asks Raymond. "The amount and variety of ways Noah manages to embarrass himself?"

Noah flips him the bird, then grins sweetly at me, pretending he hasn't just made a crude gesture.

"No, just all of it. La vida." I wipe the tears from under my eyes, hoping everyone doesn't assume I've completely lost my marbles.

Impulsivity in the driver's seat, I turn to Noah, lightly smacking his arm.

"This was all your fault!" I blurt.

"What was?" He's perplexed. "The egg exploded, how is that my fault?"

"No!" This sends me into another hurricane of uncontrolled laughter.

"Is she okay?" Daniela asks sardonically, while Clara shakes her head and snorts in amusement.

"I'm not talking about eggs!" I shove Noah's foot with mine under the table. "I just remembered that you ditched me at the club that night, on your birthday."