2. Pizza

"Yes mom, I remember. Yeah. No, I didn't make any plans, I told you I remember. Yeah, I know. I know, mom." I said to the phone and rolled my eyes.

I laid back in my chair, raising my legs to rest them on my desk in front of me. Seeing this as a cue, Pickles, my dog –he was a Schnauzer. Or, well, a Miniature Schnauzer, but don't tell him that- immediately jumped on my lap and curled in a little ball, his face turned just enough for him to eye me carefully from the corner or his eyes. I gave him a small smile.

"Yes, mom. Yes, I will. I will, I already told you, I-" I left my sentence unfinished, as she cut me off again. I groaned. "Mom! I said I'll be there, would you drop it already?" I said, my voice raising and Pickles' head shot up in alarm.

I let out sigh. "I know it's important for dad, okay? I'll be there, I promise." I exclaimed in a much calmer demeanor. "I know you do. Yes. Yeah, okay. Alright. Aha. Okay, bye." I mumbled, and quickly added "Love you!" before finally hanging up.

Pickles was stating right at me and with yet another sigh I raised my hand to pet his head.
"I guess we're going back to Moline for Thanksgiving, buddy." I told him with a small grimace. "With all those annoying redheads you don't like and the big scary cows."

Prickles just blinked at me.

"Well, at least you'll get to chaise around the chickens." I said with a shrug, and at the last word he immediately stood up in alarm, his eyes wide and ears erected.

I giggled. "Not now dummy. At the farm. The only chickens you'll find here are in the fridge. Which reminds me…" I trailed off, narrowing my eyes. I took hold of Pickles and gave him a quick kiss before setting him on the ground so that I could stand up. "Does pizza sound good for dinner?" I asked him. "Sure it does." I replied to myself instead. "And some delicious dry food for my little man. How lucky are you to have me as a mom?"

He gaped at me.

I shook my head. "Okay, well, now I'm definitely not letting you take a single bite of pizza. You brought this on yourself, bud." I muttered while walking to the kitchen cabinet and grabbing the catalog of the pizza place down the corner, the phone in my hand.

One-sided arguments with my dog. Story of my life.

With a sigh I quickly dilated the number. The beeping sound came twice before I heard a male voice echo in my ears.

"Pepi's Pizza, how can I help you?"

"Hi. Um, I'd like to order a pizza please." I quickly replied.

"Of course. Is this for take-out or delivery?"

"Delivery."

"Can I have your name and address please?" he asked.

"Uh, April Kepner. 715 E Pine Street. It's an apartment. Number 17." I mumbled and waited for him to write it down.

"Okay." He eventually said after a moment. "And what would you like to order today?"

"I'd like a pepperoni pizza with mushrooms, olives and extra cheese." I replied, a bit too quickly.

He paused for a second. "Uh, sorry, could you repeat that? It was kind of…"

"…fast, yeah, sorry." I grimaced. Way to suck at even interactions over the goddamn phone, Kepner. "That's a pepperoni pizza."

"Yes."

"With mushrooms, olives and extra cheese." I said slowly –perhaps too slowly- as if explaining something to a child.

To my surprise, I heard him chuckle. "Alright, I sure caught that one." He muttered. "Would you like something to drink?"

"No, that's alright. Thank you."

"Alright then, that'll be 7.50 dollars and should take about thirty minutes, is that okay?"

I nodded.

"Uh, miss? Are you there?" he asked after a moment, and only then did I realize he couldn't really see me nodding through the phone. Not how phones work, dumbass.

"Oh, yes, sorry! Sounds perfect, thank you." I patched it up.

"Okay. Great." He exclaimed. "Well, thank you for your order."

"Sure, bye. Love you!" I chirped and then suddenly froze.

Did I just…

No.

No way. There was no freaking way I said that. I rerun my last words in my mind.

Sure, bye. Love you!

Love you.

Love. You.

I felt my heart skip a beat in my throat, my stomach dropping to my feet.

For the love of…

"Oh." I heard him mumble through the phone. "I love you too."

I blinked once. Twice.

Oh. My. GOD.

I felt the blood run up to my face in no time, my cheeks flushing into a lively shade of red. My mouth dropped wide open but no sound came out of it.

I didn't know if it was seconds, minutes or hours, but after the most uncomfortable silence of my very existence, he finally spoke again. And the second he did I wished he hadn't.

"I hope you're not expecting a discount on the pizza just because we confessed our undying love for each other."

A weird mix of a huff and a sob escaped my throat. "Oh dear God!"

He bursted out laughing.

"Uh, I mean- no! I don't… what? Oh, oh crap, I really didn't… I meant… Crap, crap, crap, I'm so sorry! It just came out, you know, out of habit and I just… I didn't… Oh, God!"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down!" He let out between chuckles.

I buried my head in my free hand and groaned. "This is not happening!"

"No, wait, don't feel bad, I was just… Look, miss… April, was it?"

"Yeah." I winced, the pain clear in my voice. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"Well", he began, the amusement clear in his own, "it sure sounds pathetic but this was the most exciting thing that has happened to me all week, so thank you for that."

I frowned. "Uh… you're welcome, I guess." The uncertainty in my voice made the sentence sound more like a question than a statement.

His chuckle came again, this time softer, and I let out a sigh.

Great. Just perfect.

After a moment he cleared his throat. "Look, uh, April… I have another call coming through so I have to-"

"Right, yeah, sorry." I blurted out. "Uh… thanks and… bye."

"Bye." He said, and I could hear a smile in his voice.

Once the beeping sound finally came, I all but threw the phone on the counter and with large, hurried steps I walked to the couch. I threw my body on it with force, facing it, and buried my head into one of the throw pillows before letting out a long, loud groan.

I was such a dumb, stupid, idiot! How more could I have possibly embarrassed myself? Love you? Seriously, April?

I let out a whimper and I felt a little push on my shoulder. I slightly turned my head to take a peek, and I was met with a pair of big, brown eyes filled with wonder. I sighed and pushed the hair that had fallen on my face behind my ear. "Mommy is a lame-ass idiot, buddy." I murmured.

Pickles stared at me motionless for a moment, before jumping back off the couch and running away.

"Where on earth are you-" I began asking, but he was already back with a fluffy, gray monkey in his mouth. I rolled my eyes. "Pickles, no time for playing, I'm dying of shame here!"

And the monkey was in the air then, landing straight on my face.

Perfection.

It was a while after that when I had finally forgotten all about that phone call, and that was when the order finally arrived. With hurried steps I all but run to the door to look through the peephole, and let out a long sigh of relief at the sight of a woman standing there. I knew, of course, that the guy I had spoken to earlier was probably just a phone operator and wouldn't deliver orders too, but still you can never be sure, can you?

Paranoid as always, I quickly received the pizza and gave the woman a quite large tip, hoping we could all just forget what happened and move on, while in knowledge that she probably knew nothing about my exchange with that guy.

But apparently I wasn't going to forget about it anytime soon.

Because there I was a couple of minutes later, sat on the chair with the pizza placed in front of me, breath hitched and heartbeat flying, as I stared at the little handwritten note left on the napkin in my hands.

Hey April,

This is sort of cheesy but you are one supreme slice. No, I don't usually talk like that.
I just wanted to thank you for making my day, and also ask you if you want to go out sometime? You know where to find me if you do.

Yours truly,
The guy you confessed your undying love to (aka Jackson)

PS. You sound adorable when you're flustered.

Nope. No way I was ever going to forget that phone call