“Just eat it,” said Paul as he inched the plate closer to Billy.

“Dude, fuck off.”

“C’mon, Billy! Eat the damn thing!” Paul shouted. He stood up and let his napkin fall out of his lap effortlessly and float to the ground.

“It’s not like we’re asking you to eat your mom or anything,” Joel poked at the item sitting on the red plate in front of Billy.

“Yeah, I ate your mom last night,” Benji shifted his eyes around the room. “Her pussy!”

“Oh, dude!” Billy screamed. “That is no way to get me to eat this.”

“Try it, try it, you will see…” Joel said in his best Dr. Seuss voice. Green Eggs and Ham had always been Joel’s favorite book.

“Shut up.”

“Oh, what’s wrong, Billy?” Benji shifted his eyes around again. They saw the “Eric Cartmen” look roll onto his face. “You got sand up your vagina?” He said in the annoying South Part character’s voice.

“I’ve got a five that says you don’t even know what a vagina is, Benj.”

“Vagina, where your mom likes it.”

“That’s it. I’m not eating it.”

The boys screamed and hollered for Billy to eat it.

Paul walked around behind Benji and rested his hands on the spiky haired boy’s shoulders. “What if we make Benji leave?”

“You can’t make me leave! I’m the life of the party! Aww, hell man, I’m just life!” Benji squirmed under Paul’s grip, but ended up out in the hall outside the dressing room.

“You’ve been very quiet, Chris. What’s up?” Joel asked, seeing their new drummer sit on the couch with, maybe, a tear in his eye.

“I’m so hungry.” He whispered, staring at the plate.

“Be my guest, Chris,” Billy pointed at the plate. It was still steaming.

“No! Chris, I love you, bro, but this is Billy’s.” Paul smiled and sat down next to Billy. He felt his stomach drop. That thing on the plate was making everyone in the room hungry, except for Billy. Paul coughed and masked his hunger as his stomach growled. “You used to love these things.”

“Used to.”

“I know you want it, Billy.”

“Would you eat them in a train?” Joel whispered across the table.

“Shut up.” Paul and Billy yelled at the same moment.

“Take it easy you two.” Joel stood up from his chair and sat down next to Chris.

“Don’t you remember it, remember sitting outside on warm May nights is Naptown when my dad would make these things out on the grill. I remember you used to eat maybe two of these whenever you came over and we were cooking. Remember, Billy?”

The smell was intoxicating. He could feel himself getting weaker and weaker by the second. He knew he couldn’t hold out much longer. Billy shook his head. “That was a long time ago.”

“Let’s recreate the memories, Billy. Let’s relive the past!” Paul screamed with joy, reaching over the plate and holding his best friends hand.

“Oh, Christ. I joined the wrong band,” Chris moaned.

Joel looked over and ran his hand down the drummer’s thigh jokingly. “Hey big boy…”

Billy looked at his plate. The smell was getting to him. A bite couldn’t hurt that much, could it? “I’d probably get sick after I ate it, anyway.”

Joel sat up quickly on the couch and screamed, “I got one, I got one! Would you eat it with a hot chick, would you eat it with a guitar pick?”

“You’ll be fine afterwards…you’ll feel even better than you do now. Just eat it, Billy, go for the gold!” Paul said, still holding Billy’s hand.

“Did anyone hear me? I was funny.”

Chris looked over at Joel. “Yeah man, I heard you. You screamed right in my ear. And no. You weren’t funny.” Chris clutched his stomach. “Damn, I am so fucking hungry.”

“I’ll do it!” Billy said, shooting up from his chair. “I’ll eat this steak!”

He cut off a strip of the tender, juicy meat. He took great care in cutting the strip into four equally delicious cubes. He stabbed one with his fork and slid it into his mouth.

It burst with fantastic flavors. He couldn’t believe how much he missed steak. He ate another and another and another until the nine-ounce steak had disappeared into Billy’s full stomach.

Benji walked in the room. “Am I welcome?” He asked cautiously. Everyone nodded. Benji looked over and saw that the shiny red plate no longer held the steak. “You ate it?” He asked.

Billy nodded, still basking in the after taste of the juicy steak. “It was fantastic.”

Joel shook his head. “PETA will not be happy with you.”

“I’ll just send them a basket of steak.” Billy closed his eyes and basked in the aroma that was still encircling the room. “We have too many cows anyway.”

“So,” Paul spoke. “How does it feel to be an omnivore again?”

“Omnivore? Screw it. I’m a carnivore. I sure don’t need to lose weight, but that Atkins diet is sounding better and better.”

“Anyway, how does it feel to be eating red meat, like a real man, again?”

Billy sat back in his chair and smiled. Then, quickly it faded. “Oh, God…” he whispered.

“What, what’s wrong?”

“Aww, dude. I think I ate too much steak…”

“Are you going to be sick?” Paul asked just a second before Billy suffered the wrath of the Cow Gods and got a second taste of his last meat product ever.