After a mighty struggle with the sugar and caffeine in his system, Rufus fell asleep at last. His dreams were strange; Ellowyne, battle robots, and black Labrador puppies danced around his subconscious. Nevertheless, he slept well and felt refreshed when he awakened around 5:00 PM. He showered, skipped shaving, and turned on his phone. There were a couple of texts from Ellowyne, along with pictures on the beach. He answered her texts right away. And there were a dozen texts from Penn, most of them asking what he wanted to do that day. Rufus figured he wouldn’t have time to get to the computer lab—and he was hungry—so he hoped Penn might want to do something. 

“Dude! Where have you been?” Penn asked. “I’ve sent you text after text…”

“I know,” Rufus answered. “I needed my beauty sleep. So do you have plans for the rest of today?”

“Welp,” Penn commented glumly. “I got tired of waiting for you so I worked on my paper.”

“Good for you! Sounds like you could use a night off. What do you want to do?” 

“Hmm. You know there’s a new Tex-Mex restaurant, Sombrero Cowboy. I hear they make a mean Margarita and the best chimichangas around,” Penn suggested.

Rufus nodded his head. “Okay, I’m going to get a rideshare, probably a Lyft. The driver will pick me up in ten minutes and I’ll call before we get to your place.”

There was a 45-minute wait at Sombrero Cowboy, so the guys sat at the bar and ordered Margaritas, which were every bit as flavorful as Penn had heard. Rufus was so glad he ordered a rideshare.

The restaurant was so busy that service, while excellent, was slow. The men didn’t mind because they could have more Margaritas. Fortunately, the food was well worth the wait. From nachos to chimichangas to rice and beans to decadent deep-fried ice cream, everything they ate was delicious. 

As they were walking out of the dining area, Penn saw a mechanical bull in the bar. Rufus cocked an eyebrow and said, “If you think we should do this after eating and drinking so much, I’m not going to clean up after you!” The guys got into their rideshare and then were taken home. Rufus warned, “Tomorrow, we need to get serious. I have to get into the computer lab and you have got to work on your paper. I don’t want to have this project hanging over my head when Ellowyne comes home. And you want to get done before you see Amber again.”

Penn looked at his best friend, and his jaw nearly hit the floor. How did Rufus know?