”WHAT TOOK YOU TWO SO LONG!” Gio was sitting in the backseat of the FIAT with Chovy in the driver seat and I’m riding shotgun. He seems to be a bit too tall for the backseat as he’s having to bend his knees just to fit in the back. Talk about a shitty design for such a small car. “AS IF IT WASN’T BAD ENOUGH I WAS LEFT CAR-LESS ON SUNDAY, NOW I HAVE TO RIDE IN THE BACK LIKE I’M SOME SORT OF CHILD. WHAT IS THIS? MISS ANZAI IS MY MOM AND MR TOM-ME-OH IS MY DAD NOW. HOW EMBARRASSING!”
”Gio, it’s only for today.” Chovy stated with some authority. “I’m still thankful for you lending your car yesterday. I’ve even left cash for the gas we used in the glovebox.” “Yeah, that’s right.” I added. “So speak to your parents with some respect.” I joked. “You’re not my real dad Tomio! How dare you joke to your superior like that. I starting to think you’ve been hanging out with Miss Anzai too much since.” Gio Snapped as he bumped his head into the roof as we went over the curve. “You still have a lot of growing up to do Tomio. Getting a date isn’t the end game of life you know.” “Neither is working at a pizzeria.” I replied back with a smug attitude. “You little shit...I’ll” “Alright that’s enough you two.” Chovy snapped. “We’re here already. Early too.” We both shut up.
We arrive at the pizzeria. Earlier than usual since the doors are still locked. Our boss Benito was waiting outside with the keys on his lanyard. “Bonjourno! Glad you three are here early. We have a busy day ahead of ourselves. I’ll explain it all in the debriefing room.” He explained to us as he unlocked the doors for us. The debriefing room he is referring to is in fact his office with a whiteboard on the wall. Something about these people and their military jargon mixed with Italian catch phrases. It’s very unusual. Chovy had told me on the first day that’s it’s something that’s also practiced in Anzio High. They do similar things at the other Sensha-do Schools with a couple of exceptions. Once we got to the debriefing room, Benito flipped the whiteboard to reveal the other side with various financial goals and expected sales figures. Figured if you are going to run your own business, you may as well try to manage your finances with some thought and care. I’d tell Chovy seeing as she runs her own Sensha-do team with a poor budget but something tells me she wouldn’t take that lightly. Could I be honest with her considering we are lovers? “Ever since Tomio has joined our team, our workload has significantly improved in terms of productivity. I’m glad you had insisted on staying with us for the rest of the summer season.” He remarked. “However, this also means our potential for making orders for more customers is going to also be more than it usually is. Hopefully, with this increase in sales and orders, we’ll be in the green by the end of summer.” “So does that mean we’ll finally get to upgrade our restaurant interior for once?” Asked Gio. “Only if we can budget for used decor. That’s not a priority right now Gio.” Benito replied. He crossed his arms and let out a sigh. “But at the very least, we’ll be able to keep the lights and essentials up and running. So far we haven’t had any customers critique our interior. But for now let’s focus on this weeks objective.” He circled a number on the whiteboard and wrote down a deadline bellow it. “We’ll have to sell at least this amount if we are to stay on track for the rest of summer. I’m considering doing something new to help us reach this goal. Miss Anzai.” Chovy stood at attention, almost like a cadet. “You seem to got the hang of making various kinds of pasta. If I add them to the menu, would you be able to make those according to the customer’s needs?” Chovy nodded and affirmed “That won’t be a problem Boss. I could even help Tomm…Tomio so he can cover my work load.” “Bene! That’ll do. Alright everyone. Looks like it’s time to get to work. Let’sa go!”
The Pizzeria was at last open and soon the orders started coming in. Mostly from other businesses looking to feed their employees or local schools. Usually, the orders don’t usually pick up until around lunch time obviously so everything is pretty easy going at first. There’s a bit of time for Chovy and I to talk for a bit while we do our tasks. For now, Chovy is teaching me how to make pasta. “If you follow these steps at least somewhat accurately, you should be able to make them as good as I do. The girls at Anzio are pros at making them for our school booths too.” “So if they are competent at cooking, why aren’t they here Chovy?” She looked kind of bothered by that question. “Because…” She had to think about it for a second. “I need a break from them sometimes. It’s not like they aren’t capable of following orders or anything.” She muttered under her breath “well...except for Pepperoni.” She clears her throat. “Besides, I have you to help me out Tommy. I’d rather hang out with a handsome guy like you than spend all my time around girls like I usually do.” “Excuse me but what did you just call me? Handsome?” I believe we were both getting red from this conversation. “Um….well….” I don’t even think Chovy can form sentences. “I mean, nobody had really called me handsome before. T-thanks Chovy. You were always so pretty the first time I saw you.” Chovy couldn’t help herself and made a nervous laugh. “You’re telling me the first time you saw me was when you started working here Tomio? So was I not pretty when I was broadcaster for Sensha-do tournaments?!!” “Chovy. I haven’t even seen you in a Sensha-do match at all. I was never really interested in the sport to even notice you before this summer. You have to excuse me but I’m not exactly on top of all this sort of stuff.” Her slight anger seemed to settle after hearing my explanation. “That’s understandable Tommy. I guess it’s good to know someone who’s...different in someways.” She placed her hand on my shoulder as she leaned onto me. “Besides. You’ll be seeing Anzio practice this Saturday anyways. Remember our little scheme proposed by yours truly.” Yeah that’s true I suppose. Though I don’t think it would necessarily work. “Man, if only my truly would just hurry up and propose marriage to me instead of schemes.” I said in a mockingly bad poetic tone. “T….Tomio!” she spurted verbally. “Romantic relationships take time to develop before you can even propose marriage!” Toying with her is pretty fun I won’t lie. “Is that something that happens in those romantic novels.” Honestly watching her get irritated is worth the relationship damage as minor as it is. “Tommy…..jeeez….” She’s completely embarrassed. “You know I don’t really like talking about this kind of stuff in public.”
”Lunch Hour”, or what I like to call “Rush Hour” because there’s always a line of customers wanting to make orders at the cash register. Usually, Chovy and I alternate shifts between serving customers and actually making the orders. Gio isn’t usually around as he’s making deliveries in his car for customers whom order by phone and will occasionally come back to pick up additional orders to deliver. I think I’ve got to the point where I can pretty much automate all of my tasks without thinking to much about messing up. But I think the best part of all this is that I can get to see Chovy working alongside me. She just doesn’t look good in person, but whenever she’s dashing around the kitchen or in the dining area, she does it with such grace and cuteness it brings me a kind of peace I can’t really explain. Even when my workload is more than usual. “Tommy, I know you really admire me but can you please stay focused on your task.” She definitely noticed that I would sometimes glance at her for a long period of time. “Sorry. I’ll stay focused.” I noted to her before getting back to working on my priorities. As time went by and the orders became less prevalent, I started to feel the strain of working this much in my life. Considering how much actual productivity I’ve actually done in my life (outside of choir and film club), I’d never been in this kind of routine before in my life. It does make me sorry for Chovy. I wonder how she was able to handle all this without any additional help.
By the end of today’s shift, I was done for. My body was sore from all that movement involved with this sort of work. I’d imagine Chovy must feel the same way. All I can really do now is just sit at one of the dining tables and rest. I lay my head on my table with my arms crossed under and I close my eyes. I’m just at peace knowing that I was able to get through all this work in a single day. Why do I do it? For myself of course! Especially since I am getting paid to do all this. But there’s another reason why I even bothered to stay here working. Do you know the saying “to work out of love”? I don’t know who could even say such a thing but in my case it’s not necessarily a love for my work but a love for a co-worker, Chovy, and everything associated with her. Have I’ve always been like this? When was the last time I’d worked this hard for anything?