The high-pitched vrrrrrr sound coming from Anna's ancient electric scooter just barely drowns out the sound of her inner monologue.
I'm going to be so late. Later than usual. They probably got a bunch of orders already, and I'm the only one in today. Which means I'm going to have to really move. Gotta go fast. Well, I can handle that. It's too hot to go slow. It's too hot for anything, really. It's the middle of June and I'm literally melting.
She's at a red light. The light seems to be eternal. She glances down at her watch and sighs heavily. It was going to be one of those days, wasn't it?
As the light turns green and she hits the gas with her hand, the sound of her motor is suddenly eclipsed by another, louder sound. A deeper sound. A rumbling, ripping sound tears through the air, increasing in volume and doppler-effected pitch as it nears.
A electric blue sport bike whips by Anna with such a swiftness that she wouldn't have been surprised if her twin braids had been blown forward in a comical fashion. The rider is wearing the most expensive-looking race suit Anna has ever seen. It looks so unbearably hot that Anna can feel herself sweating.
And that's when she notices it. A long braid of blonde hair coming out the back of the pure white helmet.
Who is she.
It's literally the first thing that comes into Anna's head.
She doesn't really care for the fact that her mind had chosen this one phrase to appear in giant marquee flashing letters.
But the question still remains.
Anna watches the biker fly off into the distance, painfully aware of the crawling pace of her own vehicle as she nears her destination.
Decent Pizza isn't far from her apartment, but somehow, miraculously, Anna is always just a little bit late. Well, it could partly be that she set her alarm for the last possible minute to wake up in order to be on time, and then still chose to hit the snooze button a few times. It wasn't a... particularly responsible habit.
"It's just pizza," she mumbles, voice covered by her scooter's quieting engine as she pulls up in front of the storefront.
It's reasonable to say that her mind draws a blank when she sees the electric blue sport bike parked outside the store next door. Anna's head shoots up to the sign to make sure her eyes aren't playing tricks on her, and she tilts her head when the sign for the liquor store hangs there, just like it has for the past three years.
She takes a tentative step forward. The beautiful, powerful bike is calling to her. She imagines herself riding it, bent down low as the wind flies through her hair. For once, she could look badass instead of… whatever she looked like right now. And god, she'd never be late to anything ever again.
The jingling sound of the bell attached to the liquor store's door almost sends Anna falling backwards. Instead, she takes a step back, and her arms are stretched awkwardly at her sides. She looks like she was just caught trying to steal a candy bar from a gas station.
It's the blonde biker. She's walking out to her bike. There's a plastic bag in her hands. She's coming closer, and all Anna can do is watch it all happen in slow motion.
"Uh…"
Her awkward statement spills out of her lips like a curse, and the sound of it is what draws the biker's gorgeously blue eyes towards her, but she's still in motion, approaching her bike to open the storage compartment so she can put her bag inside.
Just before another painfully awkward "uh" is about to leave Anna's lips, a voice from inside her place of employ rings out.
"Anna, what the hell, dude. Get in here, we're slammed!"
Anna is more than thankful for a reason to literally run away , shaking her head to herself as her feet carry her quickly inside. It's sweltering, and the pizza ovens aren't helping. Anna is suddenly thankful that she's going to be able to go back outside to take care of deliveries instead of getting baked alive in the kitchen. She can see her boss towards the back of the store, kicking at a box fan and cursing.
The door opens behind her as she's gathering as many pizza boxes as she can hold within her arms. She doesn't bother turning around.
"Excuse me."
The delicate, feminine voice behind her is so incredibly out of place. Anna stands up straighter, but it's too late to drop all the pizza boxes back down onto the table, so she just… holds them all in her arms as she slowly shuffles her feet to turn around.
"Uh, hi. Yeah?" Anna babbles. She's not usually the one to interact with store customers, so she can at least forgive herself for that. And besides, Anna can't but begin to wonder what this classy, hardcore biker lady could possibly want with her, or pizza. Like, she probably doesn't even need to eat, subsisting solely on the power of her charisma.
"Um, when do you close?" The unsurety in her voice has a calming effect on Anna, but she's still trying to hide behind her stack of pizza boxes as well as she can.
"Oh, oh. Uh, I think it's at eleven, tonight?" Anna replies, "But make sure to get your order in a little bit before then."
"Ah, yes. I see. Thank you," the woman responds, turning in an almost comical about face and heading straight back out the door.
Okay, she's weird too. Anna can't help but think as she watches her leave.
Anna follows her out, busying herself with storing the pizzas in the oversized compartment attached to the top of the back of her scooter. She glances over, and the woman looks away. Had she been watching her...?
"Sweet bike, by the way," Anna blurts out without thinking. She can feel her cheeks going hot.
"Thanks," the blonde murmurs. Anna looks up, eyes widening as she watches her fumbling nervously with the straps of her helmet. Anna licks her lips.
"I've just got this scooter," Anna says, realizing with terror that she had been trying to make a joke but she hadn't made a joke at all. She had just said something… totally ordinary… and she thought it was a good joke? What... what was she thinking…
"I like the scooter," the blonde says, just a little too loudly to sound normal, and then she adds, quietly, "It's cute…"
"Uh, I kinda don't like the scooter? But, I guess you're right," Anna says, stopping herself with great force of will from continuing to ramble. She had so much she wanted to say, right then and there.
And with that, the blonde gave her one final smile before she pulled her helmet over her head. Anna tried to make herself look busy as the sound of the sport bike motor fired up, and she couldn't help but watch her as she sped off.
"What… was that?" She said to herself, struck by this sudden, unexpected moment that shone more vividly than all the others in this stretch of days, coming one after the other, and everyone one of them the same.
Her deliveries flew by. What had usually been a painstaking trek across the city, in the glaring sun and the violent heat rising from the asphalt, was transformed into one long daydream. And every time Anna got a new delivery, she wondered, would this be the this be the delivery that took her to the biker's place of residence? Would this be the moment she would be allowed to see that smile again, or hear that voice?
Every door that opened sent Anna's heart fluttering up into her throat, and then every time she didn't see her face, it was tumbling disappointment. It's not that there weren't other cute girls in the city, and Anna wasn't unused to a group of them ordering pizza because they knew that she would be the one to deliver it. But this was… different. This was a magnetic pull. This was something deeper. ...Right?
You're being an idiot. And of course, she knew she was being exactly that. A chance meeting really shouldn't be sending her head over heels like this. What weight could it possibly hold, for two people to share a hasty glance and a few stuttered words?
And yet still, by the end of the night, as she was heading back to Decent to drop off the rest of the money, she couldn't help but feel deflated. The order never came. The moment she had been daydreaming about, the one that had gotten her through her entire day, faded away, dropping through her fingers like water.
She helped close up, so it wasn't until past eleven that she was finally ready to head back home. She would take a shower, and then get in bed. She could barely stand on her feet. Her thighs were killing her. Maybe she would watch a show on her phone. But more than likely, she would just sleep as much as possible until she had to go back to work the next day. And god, what a grind. She wasn't making ends meet, and she was working harder than she ever had before. Was it… supposed to work like that? She wouldn't be able to keep her apartment, if things continued the way they'd been going. She would need to rent a room in someone else's place. She supposed she could handle that, for a while. But… when would things change?
Anna kicks the scooter's foot rest and turns the key in the ignition.
It doesn't start.
She takes a measured breath and goes immediately into troubleshooting mode. The lights are on, so it's not the battery. She tries using the starter button on the handlebars, and the starter engages, but the engine doesn't fire. So it's either ignition or fuel.
"Fuuuuuuck me," she yells, loudly, as she sits back on the scooter's uncomfortable seat, arms hanging at her sides.
After a few minutes of quiet contemplation, Anna pushes herself off the scooter and grabs her paper bag of cold pizza.
"Guess I'm walking ," she mumbles in defeat. "So much for sleep."
And that's when the sound of the sport bike roars into Anna's ears. If a sound could be said to have a feeling attached to it, the engine's thundering hum was excitement, surprise, and elation all rolled into one.
The electric blue bike skids to a stop alongside where Anna stands. It's showy and silly, and still Anna's heart tightens in her chest. The woman with the beautifully braided blonde hair pulls her helmet off, and strands of hair fall across her deep blue eyes.
"We're… closed," Anna breathes the words out, immediately regretting them.
"I know," the woman replies, smiling in an almost apologetic way.
"You, uh, didn't order," Anna says, as if keeping the conversation focused on pizza is going to stop her cheeks from reddening, and her breathing from increasing in pace, and her entire body from tensing with jolts of fiery excitement.
"I'm actually not really a pizza person?"
Anna stares at her, and then it clicks. It clicks so hard that she doesn't even know what to say. The moment hangs, silence looming over the both of them. Anna feels each passing second like a weight, pressing down upon her chest. Her mind is working overtime to try to find a way through the forest of her feelings, to get out into a clearing, to say something… anything. God, what should she say?
"I'm sorry," the blonde offers, "I'm not really sure what I'm doing here." She looks suddenly, sad. Guilty? Her blue eyes drop, and it pushes Anna into action.
"No!" Anna says, albeit a bit too loudly. It startles the biker, she literally jumps, and it causes both of them to laugh nervously.
"No, I mean. Don't be sorry. I'm glad you came back, because, uh…" She looks down at her scooter. "My scooter won't start."
"Oh, that's…" the blonde replies, but her eyes are lighting up now. A pause, far too long a pause for Anna's hammering heart, and then, "Would you like a ride?"
Anna's heart nearly explodes out of her chest. Never in a million years would she have guessed that her day would end up like this. She gulps, throat suddenly dry. Why was it so hard, to talk to someone you've just met? She parts her lips, employing every ounce of control she has to respond like a normal person. Forcing her voice to an acceptable volume, steading the shaky breathes, and finally, responding.
"Yes, I'd love that."