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."
He told us to decide, in pairs, what kind of pizza we wanted to make, so he could divide us into teams of Vegetarian, Pepperoni and Hawaiian.
I turned to Logan. "So, which topping do you want? Because I'm fine with each option. I'll take my pizza anyway I can get it."
Logan bit his lower lip and looked warily at me. I frowned, confused. Did I say something wrong already?
"The truth is…" he paused, avoiding my eyes. "I− I don't like this particular dish," he confessed in a low voice.
"You don't like pizza?" I hissed, baffled beyond belief.
He seemed to writhe a little before explaining, "When I was a kid, I got a really awful food poisoning form pizza. Haven't touched it ever since."
I had to take a minute to process his words. While everybody was discussing toppings, my world philosophy was crumbling. "I didn't even know you could combine words 'don't like' with 'pizza'. I mean, is that grammatically correct in English language?"
"Can you just please not make a big deal out of it?" he pleaded. "It's worse than admitting you're an alien invader. It creeps people out."
"Duh! What kind of person do you have to be to turn down pizza?”
Logan crooked his eyebrow. "A good looking one?”
Maybe it was the general idea of someone not liking pizza, or the fact that Logan was making such a big secret out of it, or maybe it was his lame, lame joke that triggered the worst laugh attack I had in years. It started as a series of giggles, and when Logan grunted "Melanie, stop", it turned into a full blown hysterical laughter. And the more I tried to stop it, the worse it got. I doubled over because my stomach muscles were hurting, there were tears dripping down my face and whenever I thought I was done, I looked at Logan's disconcerted face and it started all over again. Soon everybody was looking at me, not sure what was happening.
"We're just having a little situation here. It's under control, no need to worry," Logan announced, patting me on the back.
"Logan, can you please take her outside?" I heard my sister's irritated voice. He put his hands on my arms and steered me out of the kitchen.
Once the doors closed behind us, he said bitterly, "I'm glad you find it so amusing."
"I'm s-sorry," I sputtered, aftershocks still rippling through me. "It's just‒ can't s‒stop."
"I've gathered that much," he grunted, crossing his arms on his chest. There was a gloomy frown on his face and I knew I was being an asshole for laughing like that, but I just couldn't help it.
"No wonder you were so crestfallen when Lena said we're not making pasta," I jeered, wiping the tears off my face.
Logan just glared at me in silence.
"I'm sorry." I coughed. "I swear I won't tell anybody. I'll take your secret to my grave."
"You keep it up and that might happen sooner than you think," he grumbled and I smacked him playfully on the arm, suddenly feeling optimistic about this whole thing.
"Come on, let's make some pizza!" I cheered.
➳♥
Fortunately, they gave us balls of pizza dough, which had been prepared in advance, so that saved us some work. But it was still pretty obvious my cooking skills were more than lacking and Logan refused to touch anything pizza-related, which left me doing all the work.
"I think you're doing it wrong," he eyed me from the safe distance he kept, while I was struggling stretching the dough.
I bit my lower lip, spreading the crust−which was far from round shape−on the pizza peel. "One more complaint about my pizza skills and I'll push that dough down your throat," I threatened, shooting him a nasty look. "'Lethal pizza' would actually be a great title for a horror movie. Or 'Pizza: The Revenge'." And just like that, I cracked up again. "'This time it's personal'," I quoted the famous 'Jaws' tagline, choking with laughter. "Get it?"
"You're such a jerk," he grunted, but I could see his eyes glimmer at my lame joke.
"Yeah, but you make it so much easier for me. You're bad influence." I proceeded to spread the tomato sauce on the crust, which actually felt nice compared to the grueling task of forming the dough. Then I covered it with mozzarella (my lactose intolerance fortunately not including cheese because world without cheese would be a very sad place to live in) and mushrooms. The generous amount would have to make up for the lack of pepperoni, because by the time I subdued my laugh attack, all the spots in Pepperoni team were taken and we were stuck with Vegetarian option.
When I finally put my pizza into the oven, and 'shimmy shook my way out' as Tim had instructed, I was covered in sweat and flour and I didn't know which felt more disgusting. Probably the sweat.
"You've got flour on your forehead," Logan pointed out when I got back from the oven.
"Gee, wonder where that came from," I snarled, eyeing his pristine outfit. I could swear the flour and tomato sauce were flying everywhere, but Logan managed to only get a tiny white smudge across his apron. Life was unfair.
But then Logan was missing out on all the pizza, so maybe there was justice after all.
Then I felt someone wiping my forehead with a kitchen towel. I jerked my head back. "What are you doing?!"
"Cleaning you up?" Logan supplied.
"Give me that." I snatched the towel from his hand and started to rub my face. "Now?" I turned to him for inspection.
"Better," he stated firmly.
"Better, as in flour-free or better because this towel magically turned me into Candice Swanepoel?"
He cracked up. "Better, as in I forgot who the hell is Candice Swanepoel."
I blew a strand of hair out of my face. "Flattery will get you nowhere near my pizza."
He grinned. "Wouldn't dream of it."
➳♥
"Do you think you could cover for me and maybe eat, like, half of it?" Logan pointed at my pizza creation. We were sitting in a booth with Rosie, Sayaka and the guys, who were already biting into their first slices.
My lip started to quiver. Would now be the right moment to tell Logan I could eat the whole thing and still have room for dessert?
"Sure," I said flippantly, and then added not to seem too eager, "I mean, I can try."
In the end, I left two slices, because that seemed like a proper thing to do. I even managed to distract girls from the fact that Logan didn't touch the food. I talked to Rosie about a One Direction concert she attended, and asked Sayaka about weird pizza toppings in Japan. It seemed that once I concentrated on covering up for Logan, I became pretty good at social interaction. Huh.
But all my efforts were almost turned into dust, when a second group of buddies flooded the restaurant.
"Brother! You, in a pizza place. I think I must be dreaming!"
I recognized the voice immediately and I whipped my head so fast, it almost broke my neck. Ryan was coming towards us, with a killer smile on his face and Alexis at his side.
"We were just leaving," I heard Logan slip out of the booth. He gave me a pointed look.
"Let me just get a waiter to wrap this up," I said, pointing at the last two slices. Logan raised his eyebrows, his expression incredulous. "I heard leaving pizza uneaten is bad karma," I explained, taking the plate and walking towards the kitchen.
"Hi, Melanie" Ryan winked at me as I walked pass him. I blushed, which I never ever did.
"Hi Ryan," I replied sheepishly and made my escape, before anybody noticed my face turned red like tomato sauce.
Once we got out, with my leftovers wrapped in a take-away box, and George, Justin, Rosie and Sayaka said their goodbyes, I heard Logan's stomach grumble long and loud.
I sent him a sideways glance. "So…McDonald's now?"
"That's exactly what I was thinking," he confessed, giving me a grateful smile.
"The only problem is, I'm on my bike."
"We can just put it in my truck," Logan offered, pointing at Dodge Ram pickup truck that was parked few spots away from us. Living in a family of 2-cars-5-people I forgot that there were families like Logan's, who had more cars than family members. Yeah, the Perrys were kind of loaded.
"There's no way I'm getting into that Pussy Wagon," I deadpanned.
"Well then good luck cycling back home balancing that pizza box on your head."
I sighed. "Fine. After all, I was the one who suggested this."
➳♥
"I can't believe you still have room for ice cream." Logan shook his head as we were sitting down at our town's only McDonald's.
I glared at him. "You never tell a girl she eats too much. In fact, you should never make anybody feel guilty about eating because, who knows, maybe your words will make them stop eating altogether."
"Do you always have to make me feel like an asshole about everything I say?"
"That's because, most of the time, you talk before you think," I pointed out. "Besides, there's always room for ice cream." I took a big scoop of my McFlurry. "There are two compartments in my stomach. One is for ice cream and one is for everything else. Like with cows."
"Let's be clear on this one," Logan unwrapped his Big Mac, "It wasn’t me who compared you to a cow. It was you."
In all honesty, if I was with Hugo, I would have ordered some fries with my McFlurry, but Logan was still oblivious to my stomach super powers and I intended to keep it that way. I mean, he could easily let it slip that I was a glutton in front of Ryan. Crap, maybe I shouldn't have ordered this ice cream. And did I have to devour nearly whole pizza? I bet Alexis needed only two slices to say she was stuffed.
"Still, you look pretty fit, is all I'm saying."
"Well, maybe because I run at least three times a week," I supplied.
"Running, biking and playing soccer? That's a lot of sports for one girl."
I shrugged. "Physical activity helps me cope with my temper."
"Oh, so it's being coped with." Logan grabbed his cup and took a large sip of cola. "You mean I'm getting the toned down version right now? Could’ve fooled me."
"Fun fact - I've never played football," I confessed and immediately slapped myself mentally. Why was I telling him about this?
He froze. "You're kidding, right?"
I shook my head. "I mean, I know how to play, and I've practiced passes and catches with dad multiple times, but I've never actually played, you know? Like with a team and all."
Logan nodded in acknowledgement and after a moment said: "I think we're having our first friendly conversation." And then he pulled out his phone. "This needs to be commemorated."
Immediately, I put up a hand to cover my face. "Hey, no pictures!" I protested. "I don't know you long enough to let you take pictures of me."
"Yeah, but I know you're listening to One Direction, so that makes us pretty close, don’t you think?" he said, still aiming his iPhone at me. Then I heard the characteristic 'click' and Logan hunched over his phone.
"Did you just take a snapshot of my hand?" I asked baffled.
He grinned. "Yeah, I did. Who knows, maybe next mission will be going to McDonald's with your buddy and look, we will have a picture ready to post. I even managed to fit your McFlurry into the frame."
I rolled my eyes. His competitive side was slowly outgrowing the general resentment he felt towards me. "How will they know it's really me if there's a hand in front of my face?"
Logan shrugged. "I'll tell them that's how you look without make-up."
"You post that photo on facebook and your pizza secret is out," I threatened.
"Well, then I tell everybody you're a One Direction fan," he retorted.
"I'm not ashamed of that!"
"Yeah, right," he snickered. "No touching my things!" he squealed in what was supposed to be an imitation of my voice.
I glared at him. "And just like that our friendly conversation is over."
➳♥
This evening, when I turned on my computer, I noticed immediately that Logan had added me on facebook. Was he stupid or…?
Of course he did, I thought, we were buddies. At least, for the outside world. But still, I couldn't shake off the feeling that he just added me out of habit and that as soon as he realized that, he'd unfriend me.
Then fear gripped me that he wanted to tag me in that horrible hand-picture he took before. I went to his wall but, fortunately, there was nothing there. I was safe. For now. And since I was already on his wall, I went ahead and did what every respectable girl with a crush would do ‒ I went through Logan's personal pictures and found all those which featured his brother. I Clicked-Saved-Image-As like a madman. Ryan was so photogenic it should be illegal. I was pretty sure people like him could donate their yearbook pictures to art galleries.
After I was done I stared at Logan's profile for a while. His profile picture must have been taken before one of the games. He was in his football uniform, holding the helmet in his hands. Always the quarterback, I thought and I clicked to send him a private message:
Melanie Bruckner 8:34 PM
help! how do i change our relationship status to master&slave???
I logged off and with a smile on my face went downstairs to watch some Netflix.
Author's Note: This is my last update before NaNoWriMo (yup, I'm participating this month). I have two chapters written ahead for Slave to Love, so don't worry ;)
PLS VOTE & COMMENT IF YOU LIKED THIS CHAPTER ( I know it's one of my favorites, Logan and Mel were so fun to write here, idk if I can fangirl over my own characters?)
Oh, and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
XOXO Gumiho