Pepsi

My aunt had the plastic Coke cups you can find at restaurants, the thick brown ones with the trademark curve. They weren’t clean (she desperately needed a new dishwasher), but I didn’t care. There was Pepsi in the fridge that day, and I wanted to be contrarian.

Pepsi tastes better in a Coke cup, even when you know it’s Pepsi. Maybe rebellion makes its flavor less forgettable, or maybe it keeps you from missing Coke’s sweeter edge. Pepsi is sharp and modern. It tastes like Twitter or New York City. Coke is nostalgic and bittersweet, like long-dead forums or Boston. There’s a joy in the contrast.

That day I decided that I liked Pepsi better than Coke, but I changed my mind when I was served it in a restaurant. In translucent red glasses, it tasted thin and watered-down. There was no contrast, only disappointment.









Margaret Madole is a student from Connecticut. She has been known to act and dance, and occasionally to travel. She has been published in Parallax Online Literary Journal.

See more of her work in 7.2 and 7.2 again.