Soup-erb Faux Pas

I didn’t want to go. The text came through days ago: "Casual dinner! Just a few of us. It'll be fun!" It wouldn’t. But I said yes anyway. Because "no" felt heavier. Because saying "I’d rather sit in my flat and eat toast while watching reruns of shows I don’t care about" was somehow unacceptable. So here I was. Standing at the door, gripping a bottle of wine I didn’t know was good or not, but it had a label with a tree on it and that felt safe. Inside, it was warm. People were laughing in that way where the laughter isn't the point, it's just scaffolding for being together. I nodded, smiled, nodded again, holding the wine like a life preserver. Small talk came at me like a series of waves— "What do you do?" "Have you been on holiday lately?" "Isn’t this weather something?" I said words, felt them leave my mouth, then immediately forgot them. Dinner was announced. The table was long. The chairs were close. The candlelight was dim, and I thought about how fire makes everything seem intimate, even with people you barely know. Bowls appeared. Steaming, green, earthy. “Pea soup,” said the host, and everyone nodded like soup was an idea that could unite the world. I nodded too. Because that’s what you do. I took a sip. It was good, actually. Fresh, warm, familiar. And then— before my brain could catch up to my tongue, before the soup could even cool— I said it. "You can really taste the pea-ness." It landed like a dropped plate. The words hung in the air. For a second, no one reacted, and I thought, maybe they didn’t hear it. But then the giggles started. A ripple. A tidal wave. The person across from me choked on their breadstick. The host covered their face. I laughed too, because what else was there to do? Because the word was already out there, doing its damage. The moment passed. Conversation shifted, but I stayed stuck, replaying it over and over like a broken tape. "You can really taste the pea-ness." Of course I said that. Later, walking home in the cold, I thought about the soup. It really was good.