"Hey," Maia says to us, "I'm just gonna go to the bathroom real quick, you guys can order ahead of me."
I reply, "Ok, do you want me to order anything for you?"
Maia shakes her head, "No, I can wait." She struts to the bathroom, her hips swaying to the faint music playing in the pizzeria. Damn, she's hot. And damn, I hate that song. Work, work, work, work, work, it's the same fricking thing over and over again.
I turn to Melinda, "Sooo, your sister's amazing."
She giggles.
"What?"
Melinda shakes her head, "Nothing, it's just that you've been dating for like 1 hour and you're already saying that she's the greatest person in the world."
"Well, she is."
"You don't know her that well yet, though."
"That's why I'm dating her. How am I supposed to - Is it hot in here or -"
An ear-piercing alarm fills the air.
Melinda and I look at each other.
"Shit, a fire," I say, "We've gotta get out of here."
I grab Melinda by the hand and race to the door. As we're running, I see the source of the fire. One of the pizza ovens apparently overheated and set the whole kitchen on fire. I see someone trying to put it out with a fire extinguisher, but it's no use, the fire is just too huge. We exit the smoke-filled building, into the open air, when I realise I forgot something very important.
"Shit, where's Maia?" I say.
Melinda looks frantically around the the building for any sign of her. "Maia? MAIA!?"
"I have to get her," I tell Melinda, "Stay here in case she gets out."
I race back towards the pizzeria when the whole building explodes, the blast throwing me back and knocking me into unconsciousness.
The last thing I see is the building collapsing into a heap of rubble, my best friend and lover buried underneath.
//odear//
