Page 29 of Emergency Exit
“No, it isn’t,” Ash blurted out before Tommy could respond.
“Yes, it is,” said Harper, without looking perturbed.
“Ooh, is this another Smoak and Ash fight?” demanded Colin Kwayana, turning away from his cluster of friends, a grin lighting up his umber face. “Please say yes.”
“We don’t fight,” said Harper, looking perplexed.
It was their eighth fight in the last two weeks. Ash had discovered that he liked fighting with Harper, mostly because she had no clue they were fighting. She just stated facts and stuck with them until he came around to her point of view. This made him think he was probably wrong about now, but he would enjoy finding out.
“Well, we might be fighting,” said Ash. “Are you sticking with the argument that teriyaki is American?”
“Yes,” said Harper simply.
“Well, then it’s on, Smoak, because, to put it plainly, nuh-uh.”
Ash folded his arms and tried to look confident. Harper laughed, probably because she knew he was about as serious as a donut. She had her hair up in a bun tonight, and a pair of blue earrings dangled against her neck with a tantalizing sparkle that made him want to bat at them like a cat. Or maybe just take them away so he could kiss her neck right there. He kept callingher Smoak like that would make him keep his distance from her, but it wasn’t working.
Ash looked around, hoping his thoughts weren’t obvious, and realized that the circle of finance guys was looking nervous at this public display of disagreement. Only Tommy and Colin looked like they were finding the friction hilarious. But Tommy seemed increasingly pro-Harper with every party, and Colin had been on Harper’s side the moment he met her.
“Yes,” said Harper, “it’s American fusion, and what everyone thinks of as teriyaki is from Seattle.”
“With only straight white male confidence to back me up, I declare you to be wrong,” said Ash. Colin let out a bark of laughter, and Tommy snorted into his seltzer water.
“OK, no Googling,” said Tommy, “but show of hands, who agrees with Smoak that Teriyaki is an American invention?”
“What are the reasons again?” asked Colin—leaning over to stage whisper at Harper.
“They aren’t reasons,” said Harper. “They’re facts. Teriyaki sauce as we know it was invented in Hawaii and then adjusted and popularized by a chef in Seattle during the seventies. Teriyaki is a Japanese-American fusion dish. I researched Seattle before I moved here.”
“Research wins. Voting with Harper,” said Colin promptly and raised his hand. More hands followed.
“And it’s a fact that teriyaki is a Japanese grilled meat dish that is hundreds of years old,” said Ash.
“Show of hands for Ash,” said Tommy, and a solid number of hands shot up. “OK, phones out, search commences ongo.Three, two, one, go!”
Ash grabbed for his phone, but saw the disconnect alert pop up. “Did we all just crash the wi-fi?” he asked, laughing and giving up on searching.
“Yes! Now shut up! I’m on 5G and closing in!” said Colin.
Ash checked Harper’s face. She was looking slightly puzzled and a little concerned. He suspected that she had just now noticed that they were arguing. Ash theorized that Harper was a little neurodivergent but didn’t know it. She was awfully good at masking, but the way she missed social cues and found some sensory situations overwhelming ticked a lot of the boxes for being on the spectrum. Ash wasn’t sure if he should bring it up. If she were really his girlfriend, he would have found a quiet time to open the discussion.
“The grilling style is Japanese,” someone yelled.
But Harper wasn’t his girlfriend.
He had to remember that. Harper was his friend. He supposed that once she got her feet under her and made normal friends at work, she probably wouldn’t want to continue being at his beck and call for every social event. And some rando guy bringing up her Harper Moments and suggesting that maybe they were caused by some extra neuro-spiciness might not be what she wanted.
“But traditionally for fish,” said Colin. “Americans switched to chicken and beef. And the sauce recipe…”
And right now, Ash was enjoying the hell out of being Harper’s pretend boyfriend.
“Sauce is Hawaiian!” yelled someone at the back.
Harper made his endless string of networking events not just bearable but fun.
“Adjusted and popularized in Seattle!” yelled Colin, pumping the fist without his phone.
“Japanese-American fusion,” said Harper with a beatific smile.
