Old Habits Die Hard

14

Barry entered the pizza place. As usual, he was late. He scanned through the various seats in the restaurant until his eyes landed on his friends.

"Yo!" Nicholas greeted him from the table.

Barry gave the group a smile as he made his way over. "Hey, guys. Sorry I'm late." He apologized. "This is a normal thing for me, honestly."

"As long as you're here, it doesn't matter, dude," James said. Barry smiled wider, feeling great about his new friendships.

"So, as a new team and new friends, we should try and get to know each other," Relish said. "And since we're here for pizza, let's start off with best pizza topping."

"I like pineapple and diced tomatoes," Nicholas stated.

"Of course british boy picks something weird," James stated. "Just pepperoni for me."

"Basic," Relish rolled his eyes. "Here they have this chicken alfredo pizza, and it's the best I've ever had."

"I like pepperoni, jalapenos and olives," Barry stated.

"Black or green? This is important," Nicholas said.

"Both," Barry said.

"Wrong, green olives are disgusting," Nicholas said, and Barry laughed.

"All olives are disgusting." Relish commented. "Though, Nicholas, you don't have much to say on the matter with your pineapple."

"I was just answering the question," Nicholas held his hands up. "Besides, what is your second go to pizza topping, Relish?" He asked, using the boy's full name.

Relish stayed quiet for a moment. He muttered the words. "Kiwi Pizza."

"Okay, what the hell?" Nicholas asked in disgust.

"Dude," Barry shook his head.

"Suddenly, I think you made the right choice with your first." James stated.

"It's not that bad..." Relish muttered.

"Does anyone here have a favorite parent?" Nicholas changed the subject, too disgusted to continue with the pizza conversation.

"My dad." James said.

Relish nodded. "Same here."

Nicholas thought about it for a minute, "Mine is definitely my mom." He said.

The group of boys turned to Barry. "What about you?" Relish asked.

"I...uh...I don't know, I love both of my parents," Barry said honestly. "If we go off alive parents though, my dad."

There was a brief silence as the teens took a moment to process the info. "I'm sorry," Nicholas said. "I can't imagine losing my mom."

"Sorry, I kind of broke the mood," Barry said, starting to scratch his arm a bit as he tried to think of a quick topic change. "Uh...favorite fast food place?"

Thankfully, none of them acknowledged his attempt, just went with it.

The teens kept exchanging questions and answers for a few moments until they reached the question, "Favorite childhood memory?" James was the one who asked the question, so he went first.

"Mine is probably when I was four, my grandmother and her new husband came over and we all ended up just watching movies all night. Sharing stories and such."

Nicholas continued. "When my Mom moved us to Ohio. We drove the whole way so we just spoke the whole time."

"Oh, where are you from originally?" Relish asked.