❝ It's so simple but we can't stay, over analyze again, would it really kill you if we kissed? ❞
Jess Allen, aspiring photographer and local pizza maker, never had an easy life. Although, her life had always been normal...
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JESS GROANED INTO HER NOTEBOOK, the work of the day getting to her already just 2 hours into her shift. Sadly setting aside the notebook in her satchel slung on the chair beside Fran, she briskly walked to the newly empty tables and picked up the receipts and tips left behind. Said cash register was also next to the eccentrically dressed brunette, Fran, who was struggling to eat a pizza at the moment. Jess chuckled fondly, "You might want to wear a napkin or two on your neck if you're gonna eat like that Fran." she lightly jested.
Fran grumbled, knowing it was a slight dig at her messy style of eating (which at least wasn't as messy as the rooms RJ left behind after cooking some new pizza concoction). "Yes, I know. I just don't want to waste any of it. Also, the pizza never gets on my clothes!" she defended.
Jess smiled at her. "Fran, you come here everyday. No need to worry about it." Jess warmly expressed.
"Check!" A customer harshly shouted from afar, easily catching Jess's attention.
Jess turned her head towards the source of the yell, giving Fran a quick nod before moving to her next customer. That's when she spotted the reason for the sudden demand from the customer: three teens, who the man did not seem to know, were surrounding (and probably harassing) the poor guy.
Jess shook her head. "Great, more pranksters." She muttered. For some reason, every few weeks, there was always some troublemakers that decided to annoy customers, or the staff themselves, and it was always Jess's job to shoo them away. Her patience really ran thin with this sort of thing, contrasting her normally laidback personality.
Jess approached them, but thankfully the three scurried away from the guy. She went up to the guy, apologized for the disturbance and offered to give him a small discount for his troubles. He wasn't much happier, but it was the least she could do.
After retrieving his payment, Jess headed back to the bar. From not much further away, she could hear hurried clangs, crashes, and spiritual phrases from the kitchen. Jess groaned immediately. RJ.
"What is RJ doing in there?" She muttered, holding back the urge to roll her eyes. She knew that whatever was going on in there was going to be seriously messy. Most likely, it was another one of his strange concoctions that was supposed to be a pizza. Strangely, they almost always tasted good though, so, can't knock it until you try it, right?
And, of course, when you speak of the devil, he will appear. So, RJ busted out of the kitchen soon after, covered head-to-toe with pizza dough and flour. His mind looked blank, only filled with zen or some new age crap like that. She wasn't knocking any of his nonspecific spiritual beliefs though. She'd kill to be relaxed as he was, honestly. To each their own, y'know?
Eyes almost bugging out of his skull, he brushed the doughy goo away from his clothes. "Whoa. Intense." RJ stated. "So much for my Mt. Kilimanjaro pizza experiment." he somberly muttered.
"RJ!" Jess called out.
RJ turned his head and his eyes gaped. "I told you not to do this again. Last time this happened I got pizza dough stuck in my hair for a week, and it took days to clean up the kitchen." Jess criticized. She was firm, but not too mean-spirited. At the end of the day, he was still her boss: a surprisingly nice, relaxed one, at that. But on the outside, many would think that it was the other way around. It was almost a partnership between them at this point from how long she had been working there.
RJ nodded. "Sorry Jess." He apologized, earnestly, as RJ always did.
Jess softened, relaxing her tone. "It's fine. I know you want to make weird pizzas, but next time just try not to make something explode." Jess advised, handing a wet towel to him to clean off the mess.
"Noted." RJ said. His eyes soon trailed away from her towards something behind her. Jess turned towards what RJ was staring at, seeing that the runaway troublemakers had returned.
"Whoa. New customers," RJ rasped, "Welcome to Jungle Karma Pizza. The name's RJ." he welcomed, giving them all a warm grin.
Out of the three, the shortest of them, Asian, having tanned skin and jet black spiked hair, spoke first. "No, no, we're not customers." he said.
Meanwhile, the other two in the group were fair skinned, being Caucasian. The dark blonde spoke next. "We're looking for . . ." The girl drifted off. Cautiously, she checked around that no one else was listening in on them. "Our master." She finished.
Jess snorted. This was rich.
Of course, RJ was as calm as the smoothest of waters. "Aren't we all?" he remarked, carrying all his resident tranquil swagger in his body. Once again, Jess thought about how she would sell her soul to be as tranquil and zen as RJ was. She genuinely didn't know how he managed it. Maybe she's got to try that new age crap out, she joked internally.
Unlike the more gleeful duo of the trio, the shorter guy wasn't having it. "I say we go." He asserted, immediately heading for the exit.
Good. Jess thought as she saw him go. Although, RJ's surprisingly offended expression quite contrasted hers.
But, because God hates her or something, the brunet couldn't keep his mouth shut. "I'm hungry." He commented, gesturing to the blonde.
"Me too." She agreed. Seemingly deciding without factoring in the other guy's opinion, the two sat down at a nearby table, with RJ gesturing for them to sit down.
"Oh great." The other man grumbled. Honestly, Jess didn't know a better way to put it on her side either.
