Chapter 5 - Pizza Sessions

Trevor walked away from Sadie’s house with a bounce in his step. That had gone rather well, give or take a little awkwardness. And that part at the end, “math buddy”, was icing on the cake!

And Trevor sincerely hoped she really did like the pizza. “With luck”, he thought, “maybe she or her family will order again soon”. After all, twice in a month was already a good sign. “But what if - “, Trevor stopped in his tracks, mid-thought as an idea came to him…

The next day, as the first period bell rang, Trevor and Sadie were in their seats in math class. “Hiya, math buddy!”, exclaimed Trevor as Sadie opened up her daily bag of chips. “Some diet for a runner, she has”, he again thought to himself as he launched his plan into action.

Before Sadie could reply, “Hey Trevor”, Trevor followed up with, “So, tell me, was I right about the pizza or what?”. To his surprise, Sadie went pink, almost as if she were embarrassed, then answered, with more enthusiasm than he’d ever heard from her, “Dude, it was incredible. You were right. The different kinds of meat went together so well. I probably had way too many slices.”

Sheepishness aside, this was exactly the kind of response Trevor had been looking for. “That’s great”, he said, smiling, “I knew you’d like it”. Then he pretended to have an idea. “You know, I actually get free pizzas from work. Maybe I can grab one for us for our homework sessions.”

It was a lie. There was no way Trevor could ever get free pizzas like that, unfortunately. And yet, it had the desired effect. To this, Sadie seemed to radiate enthusiasm, but then blinked. “That sounds amazing, but homework sessions?”.

“Ah that’s right”, said Trevor, shrugging off the hiccup. He was so close. “I was thinking that since we have to work on these assignments each week, we might as well make it a regular thing. What do you think?”

Sadie seemed to mull it over for a moment, then replied, “ahhhh, yeah, that makes sense. We should for sure do that. But if you’re gonna bring pizza, we can’t do it on campus. Maybe the park? Or your house? I’m not sure mine would work.”

Before Trevor could answer with his opinion, however, the teacher cleared her throat. “Ahem - Mr. Anderson, Ms. Holloway. I’m so glad the pair of you are taking my assignments so seriously, but could you please leave the planning to outside my classroom?”

———

It was the last period of the day, a week after Trevor and Sadie made their in-class plans. They were due to meet up the first time as soon as the day ended. But right now, Sadie was running.

7th period was track practice, and Sadie was meant to run and sprint, and sprint and run. Admittedly, she’d never loved it, but was very good at it. She’d been on the team throughput her high school life, and in a mere 2.5 months, with the start of spring break, it would be over for good.

But until that happy day, Sadie did her thing. And at that moment, that included feeling particularly resentful. She was craving pizza, and was kicking herself for wanting to end her track career gracefully, as opposed to suddenly quitting.

She was about to call it a day when the bell did it for her. Sadie came to a halt, and as she did so, she could feel her newfound jiggles for the briefest of moments. It was intoxicating and Sadie wanted more. That’s what this afternoon was for.

Without running, Sadie walked quickly to the locker rooms, changed, and made for her car, where she set the GPS to her destination. 15 minutes later, she pulled into a parking space outside the pizzeria. Until they could decide on a better place to meet, Trevor and Sadie had reasoned that they might as well have the pizza fresh while the my studied.

Sadie found Trevor seated at a quiet, out-of-the-way table just as the pizza was placed before them. The steam was rising off the fresh-baked pie and the grease and cheese were still sizzling. If it had been appropriate, Sadie would’ve drooled in awe. Instead she settled on a, “Woah, that looks great”.

“I knew you’d like the look of this one!”, exclaimed Trevor, with an enthusiasm Sadie found altogether endearing. And her eyes must’ve spoken for her, since he continued, “Wanna eat first before you get started? You know, to build those studying juices and whatnot?”

Sadie didn’t need him to ask twice. No sooner had Trevor made the suggestion when she grabbed a slice, coated it in Mozzarella, and went to town. Now, she wasn’t oblivious. She couldn’t pig out for all to see, at least not yet. But, she had a plan…

A couple hours later, the two departed the pizza place with most of their assignment completed, pizza box in Sadie’s arms. The first hour had been mostly a wash, with idle chat about Trevor’s job and Sadie’s role on track. And as they did so, she kept herself to a mere 2 slices of pizza. But as they were leaving, she asked, “Hey, do you mind if I take the rest with me? It’s just soooo good”.

At the moment, Sadie was parked at the back of a remote parking lot. She moved her seat back, and opened the pizza box. Though it was no longer sizzling, Sadie intended to finish every morsel before letting herself head home.

———

It was now February and Trevor was seated at the usual table in the pizza place. This would be he and Sadie’s seventh meeting, and Trevor thought it was going rather well.

He always arrived early to order and pay, so he could continue pretending the pizzas were free. By the time she got there, the pizza would be ready. They’d share a few slices before getting started on their homework, and would talk. At first, it was pretty mindless chatter - his job, her hobby, that sort of thing.

But as they’d gotten more comfortable with one another, the conversation improved. Travel goals, college hopes, and what they’d do when they finally got out of math all became frequent topics. It was all becoming so normal, so routine, that Trevor knew the next step had to be to ask her to dinner, a proper date.

It was at that thought that Trevor heard the front door chime and saw Sadie head towards their secluded corner. She was wearing her usual outfit - some variation on an oversized hoodie and leggings. Only today - she’d swapped the leggings for jeans. The only time he’d seen her In something different was when he’d delivered to her house.

These days, there was little preamble before Trevor handed her a plate and they started eating. The conversation would only begin once she’d well and truly savored the first slice. Then she would slowly make her way through a second, and sometimes a third, over the next hour before they actually started on their work.

But this time, Trevor wanted to mix things up. He’d gone through the plan so many times in his head, he was surprised it hadn’t simply become reality. When Sadie grabbed the first slice, he jumped in, saying, “I got us pesto chicken today, I hope that’s alright.”

Sadie had to swallow before she could respond. “Oh my god”, she said, radiating happiness, “it’s so good. I love trying something new every week. To be honest, this is my first time having real pesto, it’s my life now, I swear to god”.

This wasn’t quite the answer Trevor had expected, but went with it; this was better. “What?!”, he replied, with obvious exaggerated surprise, “how have you never had pesto before?”

And that’s when Sadie really, truly opened up. “So my dad moved away I was younger”, she started, “and a couple years later, my mom starting dating Greg. He’s been my step-dad about ten years now. I love him, he’s great and nice and supportive and, like, not an evil step-person at all. But, oh man is he a health nut. When he moved in, he started making us run together, and when I was a freshman, he signed me up for track. It wasn’t an option, so much. But yeah, stuff like pesto is a big no no in my house. That’s actually why we don’t meet at my place.“

Trevor had questions. Like, if pesto was banned in her house, pizza probably was too. And if so, what was she doing with the leftovers each week? And how did she get away with the two pies he’d previously delivered? But, now wasn’t the time. He was so close. “Woah, that’s a lot. Sounds like Greg really cares about you, but no pesto…”, he trailed off before continuing, “ But you know, we don’t have to keep having pizza. If there’s other stuff you want to try, I, as your math buddy, am honor bound to help you.”

It was a little dorky, but it had the desired effect. Sadie smiled. She took a bite of pizza. Then, she replied, “aw that’s really sweet. Yeah, maybe we can go somewhere different. I’ve always want to try - “

If only she’d finished the sentence. Trevor could’ve asked her out on a date. The words had been forming on his lips, but life threw a curve ball. There was a loud snap.