The number rang. One, two, three times.
On the fourth ring, an answering machine activated. "This is Gio's Pizza," a recording greeting the boy's anxious ears. "We're open 11 to 10 Sunday through Friday and 11 to 11 on Saturdays. Please call again during our regular hours."
"Shit!" David cursed, setting a bad example for his giggling boyfriend.
"Davey's saying bad words!"
David's perception of Oliver shifted and he looked on with some horror at the giggling, immature, silly boy in front of him who was wearing an absurd pair of briefs splashed with cartoonish renditions of Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street.
He grabbed Ollie by the arms and tried to shake him. "Ollie, do you know what this means?"
Ollie resented being grabbed and shook. "Lemme go," he demanded as he squirmed out of Davey's grip.
"Ollie, please listen," Davey begged, hoping to assuage his own fear of becoming a silly, stupid little boy like Oliver had apparently become. "The restaurant's closed..."
"We can call 'em back tomorrow then." Ollie rubbed his arms when Davey let go of him.
"But..." Davey stumbled. Of course, his boyfriend was right. They could call back tomorrow. If the delivery guy did take the ring, was he very likely to get rid of it overnight? Of course not.
He remained anxious, but he also felt something else. The inexorable tug on his eyelids felt by a boy who had stayed up way beyond his bedtime. He yawned. The waves of drowsiness seemed to increase exponentially.
He felt Oliver take his hand. "Davey's sleepy," he said in his sing-song, silly, boyish chirp.
Davey felt himself led to the big bed in Ollie's room. With some pulling and pushing, the boys helped each other into the huge bed and fell together in the middle of the bed on top of the covers.
Davey could barely keep his eyes open. He remembered the last time they had been in this bed together and almost blushed except such feelings seemed almost foreign now.
They mustn't sleep, though. They must regain the ring...
His eyes fluttered open. Resisting sleep was becoming impossible. He felt the comforting warmth of Ollie next to him.
One last time, fighting the tug of sleep, he tried. "Ollie, we gotta... get... the ring..."
When his best friend in the whole wide world fell asleep, Ollie snuggled closer to him. They would have made the sweetest picture. Two best friends innocently snuggling together in their cartoon undies.