Hazel's Boba Shop Buffet Tiny Terry chapter 6 by KoroKoroAi

Hazel was already steering them toward the new boba place before Terry could even get his bearings in her palm. Her eyes had that glazed look they got when she spotted the pink and shiny sign, and her grip around him tightened with excitement.

 

"Ooh, ooh, ooh! Terry, look!" She bounced on her heels again, and Terry had to grab onto her thumb to keep from sliding off her palm. "They finally opened it! The new boba place! I've been waiting for, like, ever!"

 

The shop was aggressively contemporary in that way new franchises always were, all clean white surfaces and sleek pastel accents and geometric light fixtures hanging from the ceiling. The logo was some kind of stylized bubble tea cup with a smiley face, repeated on every possible surface. There was an ordering booth with touch screens and a separate pickup counter.

 

"Didn't we just eat breakfast?" Terry asked, already knowing the answer wouldn't matter.

 

"Yeah, but that was, like, two hours ago!" Hazel was already walking toward the entrance, her heels clicking on the polished floor. "And I'm hungry again! I'm a growing girl, Terry-Berry. I need fuel!"

 

"You're eighteen. You're not growing anymore."

 

"My boobs are!" She said this so loudly that a woman walking past them actually turned and looked. Hazel didn't notice. Or didn't care. She was already studying the menu boards mounted above the ordering station, her lips moving as she read through the options.

 

Terry sighed and settled into her palm. He knew from experience that arguing with Hazel about food was like arguing with a hurricane. You could try, but you were just going to get wet.

 

The inside of the boba shop was even more sleek than the outside. Everything was white and rose gold, with little pops of pastel pink and mint green. The counter was some kind of polished quartz, and the menu boards were backlit LED screens displaying high-definition photos of drinks in various pastel colors. There were chalkboard signs on the walls advertising seasonal specials and "build your own boba" options.

 

Hazel pressed her nose against the glass display case next to the ordering station. "Terry. Terry, look. They have macarons. And mochi. And little waffles shaped like fish. And taiyaki! Real taiyaki! And mini donuts and cake pops and OH MY GOD they have matcha crepe cakes, Terry, I'm going to die."

 

She was pressing her free hand against her chest, right over where her heart was, and her eyes were literally sparkling.

 

"You're going to make Mom mad if you spend too much money," Terry said, because someone had to be the voice of reason. "She gave you that card for a specific reason."

 

"Hmm?" Hazel wasn't listening. She was already stepping up to the touch screen ordering kiosk, her finger hovering over the options. "Okay, okay, okay. First, I need a drink. But which one? Brown sugar milk tea? Or oolong? Or maybe the mango lychee one? Ooh, or the honeydew with extra honey!"

 

"Just pick one."

 

"I can't just pick one, Terry! This is a serious decision!" She tapped her finger against her chin, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Okay, you know what? I'm getting two. No, three. No, wait, four. Four drinks. That way I can try everything and see which one I like best."

 

"Four drinks? Hazel, that's insane."

 

"They're only this size!" She held up her fingers to show him the size of a medium cup. The top finger hovered far, far above him. "That's not that much liquid! I drink, like, a gallon of water a day. This is nothing."

 

Terry opened his mouth to argue, but he knew it was pointless. She was tapping away at the screen, her eyes darting across the options with manic energy.

 

"Okay, first drink: brown sugar milk tea with boba, less ice, more sugar." Tap. "Second drink: oolong milk tea with grass jelly instead of boba, less ice, more sugar." Tap. "Third drink: mango lychee green tea with rainbow jelly, normal ice, more sugar." Tap. "Fourth drink: honey black tea with honey boba and extra honey, no ice, ummm, extra sweet because why not."

 

"Hazel!"

 

"What?" She looked down at him with wide, innocent eyes. "I'm thirsty!"

 

"You're going to spend like fifty dollars on just drinks!"

 

Hazel waved her hand dismissively. "Mom said I could use her card for whatever I wanted. She said, and I quote, 'get whatever makes you happy, sweetie.' And this makes me happy!" She beamed down at him. "Don't you want me to be happy, Terry-Berry?"

 

Before he could answer, she was tapping through to the snack menu.

 

"Ooh, ooh, ooh, they have matcha mochi! And regular mochi! And strawberry mochi! And the taiyaki comes in red bean AND custard AND chocolate!" She was practically vibrating. "Okay, I need one of each. No, two of each. No, wait, three of each? No, that's too many. Okay, two of each. And the mini waffles, the ones with the pearl sugar? Yes, please. And the macarons, obviously, look at all those flavors! Lavender honey? Raspberry rose? Salted caramel black sesame? I need all of them. All of them, Terry. Every single flavor."

 

"Hazel, that's - that’s going to be so much money for snacks."

 

"Sixty-two, actually." She glanced down at the running total on the screen. "But who's counting? Not me! I'm just a girl standing in front of a boba shop, asking for a good time."

 

She tapped the order button with a flourish.

 

The machine beeped. The total appeared on the screen. It was over a hundred dollars.

 

Hazel fished their Mom's credit card out of her bra and tapped it like she was starring in a credit card commercial.

 

"Perfect!" She bounced on her heels. "Now we wait!"

---

 

 

The wait wasn't long. The boba shop was efficient, clearly designed to move customers through quickly, but Hazel's order was so massive that it took three different workers to assemble everything.

 

The girl at the pickup counter looked bewildered when she saw the tray.

 

"Um," she said, looking at the receipt, then at Hazel, then back at the receipt. "Is this... all for you?"

 

"Yep! Me and my big brother!" Hazel chirped as she clasped her hands together. "Isn't it beautiful?"

 

The tray was piled high. Four drinks in different pastel colors, each one topped with a sealed plastic lid and a fat straw. Little paper bags of macarons. A box of mochi in three different colors. Two fish-shaped taiyaki wrapped in individual paper sleeves. A container of mini waffles dusted with powdered sugar. A slice of matcha crepe cake on a tiny paper plate. A container of donut holes. A little cup of pudding topped with caramel sauce.

 

Terry stared at the mountain of food.

 

"There's no way you're going to eat all of this," he said.

 

Hazel looked down at him. Her smile was serene.

 

"Is that a challenge, Terry-Berry?"

 

"No, it's an observation. That's like three thousand calories."

 

"I'm a growing girl!" She picked up the tray with both hands, balancing it carefully. Her palms were full, which meant Terry had to scramble to hold onto her thumb as she shifted her grip. "Now come on, let's find a table!"

 

She found one in the corner, a small two-top near the window. She set the tray down with a flourish and then plopped into the chair, her dress fluffing out around her. Terry tumbled out of her hand onto the table, landing on his hands and knees on the polished white surface.

 

"Okay!" Hazel cracked her knuckles. "Operation: Eat Everything begins NOW!"

 

She reached for the first drink - the brown sugar milk tea - and stuck the straw through the seal. She took a long sip, her eyes closing in bliss. Terry watched as dozens of pearls flew up the straw into her mouth.

 

"Mmm. Oh my god, Terry. This is so good. The boba is perfect. It's chewy but not too chewy and the brown sugar is so caramel-y and warm." She took another sip, louder this time. "You have to try this."

 

"How? I'm an inch tall."

 

Hazel paused. She looked at the drink. She looked at Terry. She looked back at the drink.

 

"I have an idea!"

 

She sucked some more, pulling just one pearl into up into the straw, and stopped. Then she pulled the straw out of the cup, held it over the table, and tilted it, letting the sugary tapioca pearl slide out onto the surface. It landed with a wet plop, rolling to a stop by Terry.

 

Then she stuck her tongue out, leaned over, and spat at him.

 

A mouthful of brown sugar milk tea splattered onto the table in a puddle, and Terry had to jump back to avoid getting soaked.

 

"Hazel! What the hell!"

 

"I'm making you food!" She was already reaching for the taiyaki, breaking off a tiny piece of the fish-shaped pastry with her fingernails. "Here, see? I'm making you a little plate. Isn't that nice of me?"

 

She broke off a corner of the matcha crepe cake. A bite of the mini waffle. Half a macaron, crushed into crumbs. A piece of mochi, stretched and pulled apart with her fingers. A few drops of pudding from the cup, which she scraped onto the table with her fingernail.

 

She fished a few boba out of the oolong tea with her straw, spat them onto the table, and added them to the pile, ignoring Terry’s disgust. A piece of taiyaki filling - red bean, which looked like dark paste on the white table. A smear of custard from the other taiyaki. A squirt of honey from the honey tea, which she'd somehow managed to get on her fingers and then dripped onto the table.

 

By the time she was done, there was a small pile of tiny food scraps on the corner of her tray, enough to feed an army of Terrys, and soaked wet with milk tea - and some spit.

 

"There!" She beamed at him. "Now you can eat too! See? I'm such a good big sister. I always take care of you."

 

Terry looked at the pile. The boba were each about the size of his head. The piece of taiyaki was the size of his torso. The smear of custard could drown him.

 

"I can't eat all of this," he said.

 

"Then eat what you can! The rest is for me anyway." She was already stuffing a whole macaron into her mouth, her cheeks puffing out like a chipmunk. "Mmm. The raspberry rose one is so good, Terry. You have to try it. Here."

 

She picked a small chunk of chewed-up macaron out of her mouth and held it to him on the tip of her finger.

 

"I'm… I’m not hungry," he said.

 

"Terry." Hazel's voice took on that tone, the one that meant she was about to get pouty. "I made this special for you. I spat out boba for you. Don't you want to try it? I thought you liked spending time with me."

 

"I do like spending time with you, but-"

 

"Then eat the macaron."

 

He ate the macaron.

 

It was good. He hated that it was good. If he ignored the spit, it was light and crisp and the filling was creamy and floral and it melted on his tongue in a way that made his eyes want to close.

 

"See? I told you!" Hazel popped another whole macaron into her mouth and chewed happily. "I have good taste!"

 

She turned her attention to the taiyaki, picking up the custard one and taking a huge bite. The custard oozed out the side, dripping onto her fingers. She licked it off with a long, slow swipe of her tongue.

 

Terry busied himself with the pile of food scraps instead, digging into and grabbing a small piece of the matcha crepe cake. It was soft and layered and tasted like green tea and cream. He ate it in two bites, then reached for a boba pearl. It was slippery and sweet and chewy, and he could barely make a dent in it, because it was just taller than he was.

 

Hazel, meanwhile, was demolishing the snacks with terrifying efficiency.

 

She ate both taiyaki in under two minutes, alternating bites between the red bean and custard fillings. She polished off the mini waffles by picking them up two at a time and shoving them into her mouth. She ate half the mochi in a single bite, her cheeks bulging comically as she chewed. It was not lost on Terry that, if he was anywhere near her food, he’d probably get gobbled up without his sister even noticing.

 

"Mmm. Terry. Terry, you have to try the matcha mochi. It's so soft and chewy and it tastes like, like happiness, Terry." She broke off a piece and dropped it onto his pile. "Eat it. Like right now."

 

"I'm still eating the boba."

 

"Eat faster!"

 

She was on her second drink now, the mango lychee tea with rainbow jelly. She'd abandoned the straw entirely and was just drinking from the cup, her head tilted back, her throat moving as she swallowed.

 

"God, I love boba," she said, setting the cup down with a thunk. "I could drink this every day for the rest of my life and never get tired of it."

 

"You'd get diabetes."

 

"Worth it!"

 

She reached for the honey tea, the one with extra honey, and took a long sip. Her eyes went wide.

 

"Oh my god. Terry. This one. This one is the best one. You have to try it." She pulled the straw out and spat a mouthful of honey tea onto the table, adding to the puddle that was already spreading toward Terry's pile. "See? Honey boba. They're, like, translucent and golden and they taste like flowers. Try one."

“Stop spitting them at me!” Terry looked at the puddle of tea spreading across the table. The honey boba were rolling in the liquid, little golden orbs floating in a lake of sweet tea.

 

"I'm going to drown," he said.

 

"You're not going to drown. It's just tea."

 

"This is like a lake of tea."

 

Hazel looked down. The tea had indeed spread across the table, forming a shallow pool that was creeping toward Terry's feet.

 

"Oh." She giggled. "Oops!"

 

She grabbed a napkin from the dispenser and pressed it down on the puddle, soaking up the tea in one big blot. The napkin came away stained brown, and the table was mostly dry again.

 

"See? Fixed!" She beamed at him. "Now eat the boba."

 

Terry ate the boba - as much of it as he could, anyway. It was sweet and floral and sticky, and by the time he finished it, his fingers were coated in honey.

 

Hazel was already moving on to the matcha crepe cake, picking up the slice and eating it like a piece of pizza, the layers of cake and cream squishing between her fingers.

 

"This is so good," she said through a mouthful of cake. "I'm so happy right now, Terry. Are you happy?"

 

"I'm eating food that came out of your mouth."

 

"That's called sharing! It's a sign of affection!" She swallowed and licked her lips. "In some cultures, people feed each other with their hands. This is basically the same thing."

 

"It's... really not."

 

"You're so grumpy." She reached across the table and poked him with her pinky, nearly knocking him over. "Eat your mochi. I broke off the best piece for you."

 

Terry ate an unnoticeable amount of mochi. It was soft and chewy and dusted with matcha powder, and it was genuinely delicious, which only annoyed him more.

 

He watched as Hazel finished the crepe cake, then the rest of the mochi, then the donut holes, then the pudding cup. She was on her third drink now, the oolong tea with grass jelly, and she was using the straw to fish out the slippery squares of jelly and slurp them up.

 

"I'm so full," she announced, patting her stomach. Her dress was pulled tight across her midsection, and Terry could see the faint outline of her belly button through the fabric. "I can't eat another bite." She leaned back in her chair, her head tilted back, her eyes half closed. A smear of custard was on her chin. There was a crumb of macaron on her chest, right at the edge of her cleavage.

 

Terry stared at the crumb. Hazel caught him looking and grinned.

 

"You want this?" She flicked the crumb with her finger, sending it flying across the table. It landed in the honey puddle and dissolved. "Oops. Too slow!"

 

She laughed, a bright, bubbly sound that echoed off the white walls of the boba shop.

 

Terry sighed and turned back to his pile of food scraps. It was taller than him. Hazel had, of course, given him way too much. Even though he’d been nice and ate way more than he wanted, it probably looked to Hazel as though he hadn’t eaten anything at all. Hazel had given him enough food for a week.

 

But she was watching him with those big blue eyes, her chin propped on her hand, her smile soft and warm.

 

"Terry-Berry….”

 

Terry looked at the mountain of food. He looked at Hazel's expectant face.

 

“Are you gonna finish that?”

 

"..."