Riiiiing riiiiing.
No. That simply wasn't possible. It wasn't even worth thinking about.
     Riiiiing riiiiing
For the love of god, no. No!
     Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing
     With a horrified groan, I grab for the receiver. “Janna's Pizzeria, the only place in town serving pizza twenty four seven, my name is Yong Guk, how may I help you?” I answer with practiced ease. At this point in my illustrious career, I could answer the phone sleeping. I jot down the guys order and then type it out for the guys in back; one fourteen inch breakfast pizza with mild sausage, egg, mozzarella cheese, and ketchup. As soon as I hit send, I can hear the complaints echo forward as cigarettes are stamped out and the ovens are started. I tell the guy it will be about a half an hour and get his address before I hang up the phone.
     The morning shift at a twenty four hour eating establishment is hell; you get up at ungodly hours to serve people easy breakfast food that they're too lazy to make themselves. The rush can be stressful, but at least it's busy, you're always on the move. Now, let's say you work in an establishment like a pizzeria (which, mind you, almost never has customers in the morning since no one wants pizza for breakfast unless it's leftovers) and don't have a breakfast rush to speak of at all. Yeah. Shoot me. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to make a restaurant chain based on this idea was ing stupid. On most days, we don't get business at all. But, today? Today was going great already.
     I glance around the room at the 'eye-catching' posters of extreme wisdom with phrases such as: 'Make way for the Pizza Train', 'Our cheese just keeps stretching and stretching and stretching...', and my personal favorite 'We have Breadsticks'. I slide my gaze towards the glass walls near the front doors and watch the city begin to wake up. There are people already on the roads headed for work while others are jogging in place, waiting for a light to turn. My eyes focus on the reflection of our bare light bulbs on the glass and frown at my uniform. A plain white button-up shirt with the letters 'JP' stitched on the left side in black to match the required black khakis and shoes. The whole idea was ridiculous, placing people who work with sauce everyday in white uniforms. We had a whole crate in the back devoted to clean shirts. I sneak a quick look at myself, my unblemished face (probably my only good trait), boring hair, boring eyes. I look away before I become irritable.
     “Hey Yong Guk, come back here a second,” a voice yells as one of my coworkers comes up to cover the register. I nod to him and head back, cracking my back as I went. I come to a kitchen of pure anarchy. Flour has penetrated every crack of this old place, and you could still see the remains of past workdays splattered on the walls or littered on the floor. John, one of the guys who had been here even longer than I had, walks up with a grin on his face which completely cancels the mock concern in his eyes.
     “Hey, so, Francis here isn't feeling so hot right now so we need you to deliver this order while we whip something up to make him feel better. Okay?” I glance over at Francis with one eyebrow raised but say nothing. We both know that they are going to toke up after I leave.
     “That's fine,” I say, feeling more annoyed by the second to be around them. As I go to grab my hoodie, one of them coughs out '' at which the others laugh hysterically. I tense up in rage but I let it go and answer back, “Go yourself, er.”
     I grab the pizza and insert it into the bike bag before I head out. My bike is chained around back but I leave through the front so that I can avoid my coworkers. Once I secure the bag to the handlebars with the harness, I set out. The address isn't too far away, but most of the ride is uphill so by the time I get there, I'm sweating fairly heavily.  It was a good thing I went as it turned out, I was the only one who could have made it up all those hills on time since I was the only one who worked out regularly. I chain my bike up and press the button on the front door like he told me to, apartment D4. Without even explaining who I was, the door buzzes open and I head up the four flights of stairs to my destination.  Based on the decorating of the apartment, I expected the customer to be around middle-aged and knew that I'd have a pretty good chance of scoring a nice tip.
     I knock on the door and as I wait, I notice that the D on the door is slightly crooked. I reach up to straighten it, the door opens and my jaw drops. Standing there is the most beautiful man I've ever seen. He seems to be around my age, a little shorter and less active, but his face—oh, his face—was quite possibly the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.  He calmly sizes me up as I stare and finally interrupts me by clearing his throat. I focus in on his slight adam's apple as bobs before I come back to myself and look up at him. He's smiling now and I start to blush.
     “I have your pizza,” I offer. Now he actually bursts out laughing before answering.
     “I see that. Would you like me to pay for it or should we stare at each other some more?” his smile creeped into his voice as he added, “Don't get me wrong, I'm rather enjoying it.”
     My face burns again as I nod and exchange the food for the cash he had ready. I don't even count the tip when I mumble out a thanks and start to head for the door. I manage to take one step before he calls out from within his apartment for me to wait. He rushes back to the door and asks, “Did you bike all the way here from the pizza place? You look exhausted! Here, come inside for a bit, I have some coffee made.”
     At this, I'm shocked. I've never been invited into someone's house before, this was like those myths they tell about pizza delivery guys getting invited inside for ... Wait, why would you even think that, I mentally scold myself. He was obviously just a nice guy. I am pretty tired from the trek here and figured I might as well take a break here, especially if there's free coffee involved. I put aside my objections and head inside, closing the door behind me.