Pizza 14.1

Chapter 14

"The game itself is bigger than the winning." - Dejan Stojanovic, The Sun Watches The Sun

"What does he know?" Nathan whispered to himself as he rode his motorcycle home. He couldn't get the thought of what Anthony said out of his head. It kept replaying itself in his head no matter how much he tried to mute it. 'You don't even know who she is, do you?' It bugged Nathan that even though he would never admit it, Anthony was right. He didn't really know Lexie. No, he knows Lexie, Lexie is a helpless little kid that works at the bar, Lexie is kind, hardworking, sometimes funny, usually weird girl. Lexie is a person who almost throws up every time she has to clean up the comfort room but does it anyway, Lexie who can carry herself in such a way that you can't help but get drawn to her. She blushes easily, she somehow can't eat when distracted but could be tricked to eating so easily, she usually inhales her food when hungry, she snores softly when she sleeps, sometimes she whispers something too but Nathan could never understand what she's saying. Nathan knew who Lexie was, it was Alexandra that he didn't know. The Alexandra who just showed up one night at the bar, Alexandra who - with one look - people can easily tell was obviously from the high society.

Nathan shook his head, pushing the thoughts away from his mind, silencing the little voice at the back. He didn't want to think about this anymore. Anthony was bluffing, he just wanted to get inside his head and he somehow knew how to do it.

As he rounded the corner to the apartment he saw Lexie, she was on the pavement holding something that Nathan couldn't make out. He stopped the motorcycle just in front of Lexie.

"Where have you been?" Lexie stood. Pouting, she put her hands on her waist. "Do you know how long I've been waiting?"

"Oh." Nathan couldn't help but laugh at the sight before him. It looked like he was being scolded by a child, he burst out laughing.

"This is not funny! I had to pee!" Lexie tried to sound angry but Nathan's laugh was so contagious she couldn't help but laugh along.

Nathan parked the motorcycle and moved to unlock the door, still laughing.

"What's that?" Nathan was eyeing the item that Lexie was holding, she held it out to him and he saw it was some sort of horn. Lifting his eyebrows in confusion as he looked at Lexie.

"I thought you went home with some girl." She explained as she handed him the item. Nathan pressed the horn and was startled with how loud the sound it made.

"It's good right? Too bad I didn't get to use it." Lexie watched with delight as Nathan tested the horn again, no longer getting as startled as the first time. "Where did you go anyway?"

"Oh… I just had some business to attend to. Get some rest." Nathan tossed the horn to the couch and went to his room. He couldn't help the thoughts forming in his mind, is this playful Lexie also the same as Alexandra?

==

Nathan couldn't sleep that afternoon, he tossed and turned but sleep refused to come. His mind was still filled with thoughts of Lexie or Alexandra. Eventually he decided to get up, he walked slowly out of his room to find Lexie laying on the couch. His footsteps caught her attention and she turned her head towards him.

"You're awake." She tilted her head a little.

"So are you." Nathan smirked as she raised an eyebrow at him.

Lexie sat up making room for him, Nathan moved to sit beside her.

"Do you wanna eat something or you still want to get some sleep?" Nathan took out his phone already thinking food to distract himself.

"I could it." Lexie leaned in to look at what Nathan was doing. She didn't notice Nathan stopped breathing when she got close.

Nathan could smell her scent, it was like a garden. For a moment his mind stopped, what was he doing again? He cleared his throat and handed the phone to Lexie, leaning back to get away from the scent that is invading his senses.

"Pizza." It took only a few seconds for Lexie to answer, truth is, she had actually been craving for Pizza for a while now.

Nathan nodded for her to order.

==

They ate in silence for a few minutes, both staring at the box.

"What are you doing?" Nathan looked over at Lexie and noticed that she was nibbling on her food, it was still her first slice and she barely ate anything. "You were the one who wanted pizza, remember?"

"Oh. Yeah." Lexie took two bites as she stared at the box, later she went back to nibbling without even noticing it.

"So, what is the best pizza you had ever had?" Nathan asked. He noticed how Lexie tend to nibble on her food when there is silence, he realized he had to make her talk somehow.

"Well… uhhmmmmm…" Lexie took a bite as she thought of the answer. "Well, there's this one when we went to Ita… uhm, to this place, it was a small shop and we were just walking around, we happened to pass by this street that's so full of people. There was a really long line and we decided to just join in…"

"Wait, who's 'we'?" Nathan interjected. He watched as Lexie's eyes brightened with the memory, she was smiling as she finished her first slice and Nathan held the box to her as she took another slice.

"Oh, me and my mom. So anyway, we decided to just line up, and we didn't know what we were lining up for. So we waited like maybe an hour or less, and when we got to the counter it was all pizza. They only had two kinds of pizza though but there were so many people eating. I think they probably serve thousands of slices a day. My mom and I got a whole pizza of both kinds and then we ate it a nearby park." She looked over to Nathan who was watching her intently. "Anyway, that's it. The best pizza I've ever had. Funny thing is, I could never remember what the shop is called no matter how many times I go there."

"So how did the pizza taste? Was it like, a drop of heaven? Or like feeling the rain after months of drought? Or… or…?" Nathan laughed as he thought things to add.

Lexie laughed along with him, playfully smacking him in the shoulder. "No, it's not 'that' great, it was okay. I mean, more than okay, it was really delicious but I think it was the moment that made it great, you know? I think it was having to wait for almost an hour, and it was eating it with my mom on the ground that made it great. It was like, the overall thing."