Date: Fri,  2 Nov 2007 23:10:10 +0100 (CET)
From: D D <yeti0711@fsmail.net>
Subject: Pizza

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