While not having the actual experience, Taylor knows about the troubles, difficulties and, occasional, horrors that come with delivery in any retail environment. So, while Tony the Pizza Guy wasn’t going to have a terrible time delivering the goods for their little party, the guy wasn’t having an overall good time today…week…okay, he hasn’t been having a good time on the job at least a month and the customers (mostly ones that have yet to go through any changes done by Taylor) were only half the problem the guy faced.
So, deciding to extend some good fortune, Taylor sets to work…
Tony expected another miserable day, delivering pizzas to argumentative people who just enjoyed making the lives of minimum wage workers difficult for a quick power trip. Some regulars were okay, which made this job not completely worthless. But that was just the backdrop, as student debt would not be paid off otherwise. So, Tony just grits his teeth and goes with the next delivery after the Woods one…
…
…Tony is almost amazed by the fact that the rest of the day was, in fact, actually pretty nice. Even some of the regular screamers were in a good mood.
‘Could it be with the strange couplings going on lately?’ He pondered, recalling how the regional manager Bob broke up with store manager Betty to get together with the assistant store manager Carl, while Betty found herself a girlfriend in Sweet Shop Donna…all in one day. And the way they did – so smoothly and with no problems from one another (especially considering Betty’s explosive temper) – was even stranger then when the three cooks, Jacque, Tom and Herbert got together. Tony could only shake his head at the oddity of today, though grateful that the absence of the usual screamers seemed to bring him back energy he hadn’t seen in…when did he finish elementary school? 15 years ago...damn, that was a long time to be without a spark.
Tony shakes his head and looks at the last delivery for the day, a simple regular pizza at some old brick building on his way home – perfect. Betty waves him away, telling it’s fine if he brings the money from the delivery tomorrow – which surprised Tony greatly, as the woman before would get controlling and count the minutes with online maps to make sure nobody would take the money and waste it somewhere themselves, but he wasn’t going to waste this chance of goodness to get some more time to relax.
So, with a slight pep to his step, Tony reaches the door and rings the bell, ready to get this shift over with. But when the door opened, it was someone he didn’t expect – someone he hadn’t seen in years, not since high school.
“Tony?”
Feeling a bit unsure of himself, Tony shrugged at that, “Umm…hey, Max. Long time no see!”
“True that…” The other, Max, looked him over with a slight laugh, “And the first we do see each other is like this – and I just thought about you. What are the odds?”
“You…thought about me?” Tony felt a bit hot under the collar.
“Well, we did have a thing back then, even if it did fall apart during the final months of high school.”
“True…” Yeah, Tony remembers that fall out, it was explosive to say the least. Even the usual bullies stopped harassing them after that and gave them space, “You…have you been good?”
Max shrugged, “Could be better, could be worse. Just glad to not be sinking.”
“Yeah…”
“So…wanna come in?”
“I don’t…I mean…”
“C’mon, it’s been a while since we last even saw each other. We should catch up at least. I’ll pay double even.”
Well, Tony wasn’t one to refuse money. And, he realizes, he had been very lonely for a while…
Taylor smiles to herself, satisfied with another life happily on its way to bliss.