All the usual T's & C's apply. If you are offended by stories involving boys or same sex relationships, then this is not the story for you. ________________________________________________________________________________
Welcome to the first instalment of "Pizza". I suppose the best thing to do here is to add a quick explanation of what this story is about. So here goes:
`Darren is just an ordinary 17 year old boy who thinks about all the things a teenager likes to think about. The number one thing that he thinks about is girls, Carrie being the one in particular.
It is only after a "role-playing date" with gay teenager, Jack, that Darren begins to realise that perhaps he is not who he thought he was.
What follow is the internal struggle with Darren having to choose and choose fast. The question? Straight or gay. Carrie or Jack?' ________________________________________________________________________________
Pizza
The most important meal of the day is breakfast. It gives people enough energy to wake up from their sleep and keep going until lunch with a variety of products from breakfast cereal to bacon, beans and sausage. This was the reason why the cafe that Darren worked in was currently full this Saturday morning. The cafe was within a supermarket and the queue was stretching out and into the supermarket itself.
Darren was a 17 year old boy with short brown hair and green eyes. He was about average height with a slim body probably kept in shape thanks to running around this cafe all day.
"Darren, I need some more bacon cooked now." Shouted his boss as Darren ran passed him and placed some sausages in the oven.
"Right boss." Said Darren running back towards the fridges for the bacon, cracking six eggs and placing them in the frying pan on his way passed.
"Boss. I'm running out of change." called Mel, a 16 year old girl with long black hair. She was quite tall for her age being taller than anyone else there and wore black rimmed glasses. She was currently serving people at the till.
"Right, ok. Carrie!" the boss called.
Carrie emerged from the washing up room from the back. She was the same age as Mel but much shorter, in fact, she was the shortest person who worked there. She had short blonde hair and this was who Darren secretly had a crush on. He was always trying to start conversation with her and was all that Darren could think about out of work.
"Yes boss?" she replied.
"Take over serving from me while I go get some change for the till." With that the boss left the cafe to go to the cash office.
"His a little bit angry today." said Darren, who was currently removing the eggs from the frying pan behind Carrie.
"His wife has just given birth, I think. That means he probably has not had a good nights sleep in ages." replied Carrie. She and Darren both had a quick chuckle over this.
"My friend Jack says that's one advantage of being gay." said Mel, who was standing near them with a glass, ready to fill up with water for a customer.
"What is?" asked Darren.
"Well he says that if you are gay you don't have to put up with little children. The sex is supposed to be much better too. He says that there is nothing better than holding a mans-"
"-Ok! Too much information! Time out!" said Darren giving Carrie the plate of eggs for her to serve and going into the back storage area to open a large can of beans.
Mel went to the sink where Darren was standing and turned on the cold tap, leaving it run for a little while as the hygiene training they had received said that one should always leave a tap running for thirty seconds if they want pure water from the mains and not what has been left in the pipes. She also seemed deep in thought as she watch the water go down the plug-hole before turning to Darren. "What is your problem with Jack?"
This outburst surprised Darren a little. "Problem? I have no problem."
"Well you could have fooled me. Every time I start talking about Jack you run away as though I am spitting poison!"
"No I do not." was Darren's reply, although for the first time he realised that he did in fact run away every time Jack was talked about.
"Yes you do. You are homophobic Darren!"
"Mel! Why are you not on the till?" the boss had returned.
"I'm coming boss!" Mel filled up her glass before running back out to the till.
Darren felt as though his stomach had just been ripped out of him. He stared into the now open can of beans, thinking. He hated it when people used to bully other kids just for being "different" in his high school and now he was kind of doing the same thing. He never realised that what he was doing could be hurting people. Darren decided that as soon as the "Breakfast Rush" had finished, he would apologise, hoping that Mel would forgive him.
"Darren! Where is that bacon?" Darren was brought out of his trance with the cries of his boss.
-X-
The "Breakfast Rush" ended at 11:30am. It had been one of the busiest mornings in the history of the cafe and everyone was tired from all the rushing around from the last four hours.
Darren knew that this was his moment to apologise but Mel had started laughing and joking. She often covered up her real emotions with laughter and this is exactly what she was doing now. Carrie had gone back into the back room to wash-up and the boss had gone to the supermarket office to do paperwork leaving Mel and Darren alone. The afternoons in the cafe were never really busy so there was no danger of having large queues and having to run around again.
Mel and Darren laughed at one of Mel's jokes as they knelt side by side cleaning the two microwaves that were on a low shelf below the ovens.
"Look, Mel" Darren began. He would have to apologise some time and now seemed the best time to do it. "I'm really really sorry about this morning. I have been a real idiot and probably homophobic."
"There's no "probably" about it. You were being homophobic." replied Mel who was starting to clean the microwave faster and faster with her cloth, showing her anger.
Darren sighed before carrying on. "Mel I'm no good at saying "sorry" so how about you say how I can make it up to you and I will. I'm not homophobic; I'm just an ignorant stupid prat."
"Alright then," Mel stopped cleaning and turned to face Darren. "Prove it. You say you are not homophobic, right? Then I suppose going on a date with him would be no problem for you."
Darren did not say anything. He just stared at Mel not sure if he could do this.
"See. You can't, can you? You can be a real dick sometimes, Darren." With that she got up off her knees and stormed into the back room.
Darren sat down on the floor, thinking once again. Surly there was no problem with two guys going to the cinema and perhaps having dinner together. It was not like they were going to kiss or anything. But what would Carrie think? He really liked her and found it hard enough trying to tell her how he felt about her without her finding out about this "date". He decided that he would explain to Mel why he could not do this so he got up and went into the back room.
In the back room, Mel was cleaning the fridge doors when Darren approached her.
"Mel-" began Darren but he was interrupted by Mel.
"-I think that there is a customer that needs serving." She ran out of the back room and to the serving area.
"There is no customer so what's her problem?" asked Carrie who was loading the dishwasher with dirty dishes.
Darren explained what was happening.
"I assume you said "yes"," Carrie replied.
"No, of course not. How am I supposed to get a girlfriend if everyone finds out that I have been on a date with another man?"
"You could just say that you were giving him tips. You know, a bit of role playing to help him out. I would think that was kind of sweet and I wouldn't think any less of you."
Carrie's approval was all that Darren needed. Now he would agree to it but first he had to try to get Mel to talk to him.
He decided that he would do it straight away and went back out to the serving area to find her. She was stood at the till staring at all the people who where buying shopping goods in the supermarket.
Darren walked over to her and before she could walk off he said. "Alright! I'll do it."
Mel smiled. "Will you really?" she asked.
"Yeah sure, but let me add a few terms and conditions, please." Mel agreed so Darren continued. "Firstly, he has to know that nothing will come of this. It's just going to be good fun with a bit of playful banter here and there. Secondly, it must be out of town. There's a cinema and a pizza place in the city we can go to."
Mel smiled and hugged Darren. "Oh Darren, you are the best. So are you going to do it tomorrow night?" she asked
"Tomorrow night." Darren agreed. ________________________________________________________________________________
Hope you like the set up. Thanks for being so patient and reading this far. The second part is complete and ready and waiting for you if you want to know what happens next!
If you want to get in touch feel free: yeti0711@fsmail.net