Chapter 3: Dinner at Primanti Brothers
One seasonably cool fourth Saturday of November 2024, I met up with my childhood friends Sarah, James, and Henri along with some of my other best friends Carly Shay and Spencer Puckett, along with Carly's stepdad, Freddie Benson, at Primanti Brothers in East Liberty to eat dinner and socialize. "Hi, guys!" I greeted my friends. "Hi, Angel!" Sarah greeted back. We jammed out to Kate Bush, NSYNC, and the Pop2Kountdown featuring 2007 with the #1 song being "Kiss Kiss" by Chris Brown and T-Pain. To eat, we all split a pepperoni and cheese pizza and ordered some appetizers to go along with them. "This is one of my favorite restaurants, Mr. Benson," Henri happily stated, licking his lips. "I love their pizza!" "I love their pizza, too, Henri," Mr. Benson agreed. "What do you think of Thanksgiving dinner being catered at Veltre's this year, Spencer?" James asked. "It's quite different but I am okay with it, James," Spencer replied. "I will miss cooking traditional stuffing, though," James admitted. "Cooking was something that I was naturally good at in high school, unlike juggling balls in the air and trying to catch them." "I will miss baking the pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving dessert this year, Sarah," Carly admitted. "This will be something new and different, Carly," Sarah stated. "Besides, I need a break from being in charge of cooking a big turkey, and Veltre's will have the holiday catered for us." "Will there still be pumpkin pie?" Carly asked. "Yes, there will be pumpkin pie and lots of other good foods at Veltre's," Sarah admitted. "I remember going to a fall festival in high school and wanting to learn how to bake a pie," Carly asked. "While cooking is fun, it can be a lot of hard work, so it can be good to take a break this year." "Plus, we have to celebrate your birthday sometime over the holiday weekend," I added. "I hope that they can bring a cake for your birthday or we can go out to eat on your birthday when we go back to work next Saturday. We have to do something fun!" "We will, Angel," Sarah told me. "Alex always has a fun party planned for me at Monroeville Mall. We can talk with her about that at Kennywood tomorrow." "One thing that I really miss is going to California with Mom to visit my grandmother," I told Sarah. "I did not even have you guys to talk about it with, since she died before I even reunited with you guys again." "Aw, I am very sorry, Angel," Sarah told me, giving me a hug. "There was just so much that you guys missed out on during my high school career," I told everyone. "We did not have to part ways whenever you guys moved to Pittsburgh." After dinner, it was time for all of us to go home. "Thanks for a great evening, everyone!" I thanked my friends. "You're welcome, Angel," Sarah replied. "Good night, guys!" "Good night!"