Night-Owl Trucking

Tuesday, 12:24am

A single cash register sat to one side of the counter, a menu board beside it with a small metal bell sitting nearby—one of the ones Amity had seen before in tv shows and cartoons. Behind the countertop was a huge blackened metal shape that shimmered with heat, nearly filling the visible kitchen area. Whatever was behind it was completely hidden, even from the taller girl's higher point of view.

Luz walked right up to the counter and started banging the little bell over and over, and Amity hunched her shoulders at all the heads turning from the incessant ding-ding-ding-ding-ding echoing through the truck stop. Loud groans came from behind the big black pizza oven, a male voice calling out, "Dammit, Luz, I'mma break those hands!" The brown-haired girl turned bright, smiling eyes on Amity, and grinned. The taller girl tried to grin back. A tall black man walked around the pizza oven, wiping his hands on a towel, and tried to take the bell away from Luz. She slammed it again, the ding! louder than before, nearly catching his fingers in the process. He growled and hung the towel over his shoulder as she crouched slightly, her body coiled like a spring, ready for his next attempt. He faked a grab with one hand and she rang one last ding! from the bell before he snatched it away with his other hand. Amity breathed a sigh of relief. The man shook the bell at Luz, "One day I won't feed you," then set it aside, far away from where the short brown-haired girl could reach.

Luz threw out one arm like she was going to give him a hug, "Gustopher!" When the man smiled and rolled his eyes, Amity could see that he was younger than she had initially thought. He reached out a hand and Luz gave it a loud slap.

"Why you pullin' up at midnight, Luz?" he chuckled, running his hand over his closely cropped hair, "I mean— b'sides the food."

"The food, ya ding-dong," the trucker responded quickly, then his last few words registered, "Oh, uh, I'm on a run to Boston, and I told my friend here that you guys have the best pizza this side of LA." Luz grinned and turned toward Amity, tugging her a step closer before letting the taller girl's hand go as she motioned between the two, "Amity, this is Gus. Gus is short for Augustus, as in Caesar Augustus—"

Gus looked at Amity and shook his head, "I'm not named after—"

Luz barreled on, ticking off facts on her fingers, "—first Emperor of Rome, which is in Italy, which is where pizza is from, hence, Augustus Pizza Porter." She gestured at him with both hands, waggling her fingers.

He turned a flat look on the brown-haired girl, "My middle name is not 'Pizza'."

"Well, you never told me what it was, what do you expect me to do when I introduce you?" Luz argued with a growing grin.

"I expect you..." He paused, made a frustrated hiss, and then sighed, throwing his hands up in the air, "To do basically what'chu did, so, jokes on me, I guess." Gus laughed and held out a large hand towards Amity, "Hi, call me Gus. Please be normal."

Amity was still a bit rattled by all the noise and the attention, but years of Six Sigma networking and etiquette training took over as she reached out to firmly shake his hand with a laugh and a smile, "A pleasure to meet you, Gus. I've heard wonderful things about your work here."

"Nice to meet you too, Amity," He gave her a light chuckle and a grin, then looked to Luz, crossing his wrists as he leaned his elbows on the counter, "Amity's here to teach you some class, right? Eda finally got sick of your table manners?" He laughed at the horrified choking noise the brown-haired girl made, and she balled her fists at her sides.

"I— actually— I hired Eda and Luz to transport equipment for me," Amity began explaining, and she folded her hands at her stomach to keep from picking at her fingernails. "My sister heard nothing but good reports of their company," she added, giving the other girl a smile when Luz turned grateful eyes and slightly pink cheeks her way.