Papa's Pizza Love

Chapter 1

It was a brisk summer evening in June, and I had just gotten back from a night on the town with the girls. Monica had gotten black-out drunk so Shelby had to take her home, which left me out in the dark, dangerous city streets alone. I could see the streetlamps lighting up the streets, the crisp night air filling my lungs and mind with a sense of uneasiness, but also excitement. Not to mention I was starving. I hadn't eaten anything since lunch. I wandered the streets, looking helplessly for a place to eat, but nowhere seemed good enough. I was just about to give up and call a cab home before there, I saw it! A bright glowing neon sign, illuminating the dark streets like a beacon of hope. Papa's Pizzeria.

I walked into the pizzeria, a little bell over the door jingling as I walked in. I was met with stained green checkered floor patterns, white and green striped walls, sticky green countertops, and a glowing green and yellow menu above the register. For such an iffy location, the place had style. The young man behind the counter looked up as I entered, smiling warmly at me.

"Hey there, I'm Roy! What can I get for ya?" He had warm tanned yet pale skin and tangled, fluffy dark brown hair. His soft bushy eyebrows peeked out from under his blue and red trimmed Papa's Pizzeria worker hat, and his red polo employee shirt hanging loosely around his lanky yet sturdy frame. A name tag on his shirt read his name, 'Roy'.

"Oh I don't really know, what would you recommend?", I asked, fluttering my eyelashes confusedly. He came around from behind the register to stand beside me, looking up at the menu sign in consideration.

"Well my personal favourite would be the plain cheese pizza, but maybe that's just cuz it's the easiest for me to make, aha!", he said, turning to me and laughing to himself. His laugh was warm and sweet and husky, and his breath smelled nice, like pizza oven smoke and fresh baked cookies on a summer afternoon.

I had only been able to see the upper half of his body from behind the counter, but now that I got a better look at him, I could see that he was actually kind of cute!

"Well I guess I'll have that then!", I said.

He looked surprised for a second, then smiled warmly at me again.

"Coming right up!", He said, walking back behind the counter and into the kitchen.

I waited in the main area for a while, taking in the room around me and waiting for my pizza to be ready. Eventually, he came out from behind the counter and placed two large and piping hot slices of plain cheese pizza on the counter.

"Order up!", He said, placing the pieces on the counter and ringing up my order.

"That'll be $1.49, thank you!", He said as I walked towards him, getting out my money and smiling at him. I placed my money on the counter, reaching for another coin, and as I reached to place the final coin on the counter, and he reached forward to collect it, our hands touched. It was only for a moment, the smooth sensation of skin brushing against skin, looking up into each other's eyes in surprise before I withdrew my hand, blushing, and looked down, busying myself with putting my coin purse away in my bag. I peeked a glance up at him again, and found him looking at me still, before turning away back to the register and blushing with the embarrassment at being caught. We stood in awkward silence for a moment, before him clearing his throat and saying,"Uh, has anyone ever told you you have a really nice nose?", he said, still blushing.

"Uh, n-no, no ones ever said that to me before..." I blushed even redder at the compliment, no one had noticed such a thing about me before.

"Well, you do, sorry if that sounds weird, I just thought you ought to know." His voice was no longer the energetic tone it was earlier, but lower, more shy and husky, he really believed what he said, and that only made the compliment better. Come to think of it, it was probably the most meaningful and intimate thing anyone had ever said to me in my life. And to think, it came from some random pizza guy! But maybe...there was a reason his compliment meant so much to me. Maybe...he was...we were meant to be more than just two random strangers.