The Hooded Figure

NINETEEN

Less half naked guys, as requested^^

And I forgot to add a song but here it is, more Lauv^^

I didn't say much as I started to work. Probably because I was too petrified. Hot guys are my kryptonite.

We worked side by side for about fifteen minutes and I took the liberty of assuming that he wasn't on delivery duty today. "So, Amy, where do you go to school?" Asher suddenly asked me, causing my fingers to stop pressing the dough for a moment.

"Charlesteen," I replied before quickly adding, "you?"

"I'm nineteen, I'm not in school," he said and I looked up at him. His lips held a sad smile as he watched his hands fold the dough.

"You didn't want to continue your education?" I inquired curiously as my fingers started to work again. I hadn't noticed, but the awkward tension had thinned and it was almost non-existent.

"I did, but I couldn't leave this place," he told me sadly. I found it hard to believe that we were having anything other than small talk being as it was the first time we'd actually had a conversation.

"Why not?" It's not like he has to stay here, it's just a pizza place. I smoothed out my dough and grabbed the ladle, dipping it in tomato sauce before dripping it around the pizza.

Asher did the same as he continued, "Marco and Maria are my parents." My hands stopped once more as I gaped up at him.

"Really?" I asked dumbly as if he were lying.

"I know, I'm too striking to be their son," he joked with a woeful sigh. I couldn't quite describe the expression on his face, but I laughed at it nonetheless. It was true, though.

"So, how long have you been working here?" I questioned, sprinkling a heavy amount of cheese onto the pizza.

"Since I was about fourteen," he revealed, only making more intrusive questions enter my mind.

"Do you, uh, get paid?" I said awkwardly. I was desperate to know, but it was a weird question. He chuckled at me and I swooned a little bit, but quickly snapped out of it. I realized that talking to Asher had allowed me to forget what was happening in my life. It was my temporary getaway at the moment.

"I started getting paid when I was sixteen, yeah," he smiled down at me, him still being about a head taller than me. "What made you want to work here?"

I shrugged, "I need money for university."

"Where do you want to go?" He continued. It was his turn to ask questions.

"Preferably McGill, but anywhere good is fine with me." I itched at the hairnet that restrained my brown hair.

"Wow, you must be smart." I just giggled embarrassingly, not wanting to deny nor accept the compliment. "Why away from home, why don't you want to stay?"

If I thought I was the inquisitive one, I was being rivalled. Once again, I shrugged. "I just want to travel, go abroad. I've never left the city."

"The city? Are you serious? Like, ever?" He seemed flabbergasted, looking down at me with his mouth agape. I had been separating the pepperoni slices and now I was putting them on the pizza.

"Like, ever," I repeated, finishing my pizza with a satisfied smile on my face. My gloves had some tomato sauce on them, but I continued working.

"That's ridiculous," he stated, finishing his pizza with unattainable perfection. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, my mom's a nurse and she works like, all the time. My dad doesn't want to go anywhere without her and she can't catch a break," I explained, wondering why I told him that. He was so relaxed and easy to talk to that I'd let it slip. It was nothing I was sensitive about, but I usually didn't tell people.

"Oh," was all he said before we returned to our somewhat awkward silence. I put my pizza in the oven and started on another one. Suddenly, I was inhaling dust. I coughed, covering my mouth with my elbow before turned to my left. Asher held a bag of flour in one hand, and remnants of flour in the other. I quirked an eyebrow at him.

"You did not just do that," I said as I grabbed the ladle out of the tomato sauce bin. I flung the sauce at him and even though his reaction time was fast, it still landed right on his face. There was a line of tomato sauce from his forehead down to the corner of his lips. He slowly raised his hand and wiped the sauce out of his eye before his tongue darted out to lick the sauce off his cheek.

He opened his eyes and glared at me playfully. "Oh, it's on." With that, he reached over the table and grabbed a large bowl, using it as a shield. I grabbed a cutting board and a handful of sugar from nearby before ducking down behind the table. I couldn't see him and I was pretty sure he couldn't see me.

I was too absorbed in my hiding that I hadn't noticed the shadow looming over me. I only noticed when I felt the familiarly sensation of water trickling down my scalp.

It clung to the flour on my head and my hair moistened inside the hairnet. I sprung up and launched the sugar at him, but he raised his bowl shield and blocked my attack. He then threw a ladle full of tomato sauce at me and I dropped to the floor. I heard a gasp from behind me and froze. I stood up and turned around slowly, onto to find Maria covered in tomato sauce.

She looked from me to Asher, then back again. I thought I was fired, done, over, but then, Maria reached into her apron at lightning speed and unscrewed the lid to her Parmesan shaker. Before I knew what was happening, I was covered from waist to toe with Parmesan cheese and Maria was running to hide behind a working table.

I grinned from ear to ear and I turned around and threw a handful of mushrooms at Asher. Asher, Maria, and I were running around the room, trying to distance ourselves from each other. Thankfully, the shop wasn't very busy on this particular Thursday so we weren't in a rush to finish anything. I was looking the other way as I got up and started to run. I wasn't looking ahead of me as I collided with something hard. For a moment I thought I'd hit the push door, but when I fell the the floor with two grunts, I realized that the floor felt a lot softer than I'd remembered it.

I looked down and smiled sheepishly, putting my hands on Asher's chest to distance our faces from one another.

"Sorry," I said with a small smile.

"It's all good." He smile back somewhat evilly. I was about to get up, but Asher reached up and put his hand on the back of my head. I instantly felt the familiar texture of tomato sauce in my hair and grimaced.

"Well played," I stated grimly with a small smile on my face. I got up just as Marco entered, looking angry.

"What is happening!" He exclaimed confusedly, looking around the room at the mess we'd created. He saw Maria's appearance and gasped, covering his mouth.

"It's okay Marco, we were just having some fun," she defended, approaching him with open arms. As she hugged him, she made sure to hold on extra tight. When she stepped back, I covered my mouth to hold back the laughter that threatened to spill out.

Marco's black apron was covered in flour and tomato sauce. He gaped at Maria, then his shirt, then at Maria. She smiled at him sweetly and he sighed defeatedly. "Get this cleaned up," he said tiredly as he turned around and left the kitchen. I noticed that Asher had gotten up and Maria turned to both of us.

"You heard him, clean up this mess!" She said with a laugh before exiting the room. The pizza buzzer beeped and I jumped. Asher laughed at me and I frowned.

As I took the pizza out of the oven, I stated, "Well, let's get cleaning."