Slave to Love

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

It was a pizza place.

I was going to eat pizza today, which normally would make me very happy, but there was this teeny tiny problem where I was supposed to make the pizza before eating it.

I just hoped they had a great salad bar.

I locked my bike to the bike rack, recognizing a few of the cars parked next to the restaurant. I had to get here on my bike because, apparently, the whole Buddy Program was too big of a group to fit into Chris parents' restaurant at once. So they split us into two groups and Lena had to stay when the second group arrived, which ruled out coming back with her.

I searched for Ryan's car, but it was nowhere in sight.

"Hey, Mel!" I spun around to see Rosie approaching me. "You coming in?"

I smiled at her. "Yeah. Ever made pizza?"

Rosie shook her head. "Never. But it should be fun, right?"

Right, if by fun you mean spending more time on preparing food than on eating it.

Together, we entered the building, which looked more like a villa rather than a restaurant, with its slate walls and wooden doors. The only thing that gave it away was the big red sign that read 'Tonny's Pizza' and a somewhat familiar greasy smell of fast food. Although, I had a strong feeling from that day on I’d have to redefine what 'fast food' meant to me.

Inside there was already a large group of seniors and their buddies, chatting and laughing over some accordion music that was blasting from the speakers. I quickly scanned the room but as predicted, Ryan was not there. Bummer. I spotted Logan, though, chatting with George and Sayaka. He was wearing a dark navy polo and a pair of cargo shorts. Not my choice of wardrobe when you know you're about to cook, but I imagined Logan was one of those people who put style before pragmatism.

"Hey there, bully," he said when he saw me. The lazy smile on his face was unnerving. Did he not know we were about to enter a space full of sharp objects together? I swear, he had no self-preservation instinct.

I arched an eyebrow. "Bully? That's the best you can do?"

"It's Saturday morning, cut me some slack."

It was noon already, but I had to agree with him. “There are other things on my mind I’d love to cut for you−”

"Are you ready to make some pizza?" My sister jumped out of nowhere, excited as ever. I just rolled my eyes; she’d been like that since morning.

"Pizza?" Logan asked, his voice wary. "I thought we were making pasta?"

"Pasta?" Lena looked baffled. "We want to teach you something new. Everybody knows how to make pasta. Where’s the fun in that?"

"Yeah, Logan, where’s the fun in that?" George asked in a voice that was a pitch higher then normally. Logan squinted at him and I had an impression there was something I was missing.

Fifteen minutes later, when everybody was there (including Justin, who looked like he overslept) we moved to the kitchen that was all stainless-steel and weird looking objects. We all had to wash our hands and put on aprons and baseball hats.

"Hi everybody!" A friendly looking fifty-something guy with a goatee appeared. "My name is Tim and I'm a chef here at Tony's Pizza. Today I'll teach you how to make your own pizza and if you follow my instructions carefully, you'll even be able to eat it later on." There were a few chuckles in the crowd. I, however, took his advice very seriously. Tim rubbed his hands together. "Okay, let's get started."