Just One Night

Chapter Two

It took twenty minutes for the food to arrive, but in those twenty minutes, we’d gotten so lost in conversation that it hadn’t mattered. “I do want to apologize,” the waitress said. “The rolls were meant to come out before the pizza, but the kitchen is a little backed up at the moment.”

“You’re good,” I said. “They’ll still be eaten. So, don’t worry about it.”

As she placed the cheese pizza in the middle of the table, a sense of relief seemed to cover her face. “Thank you for that, you have no idea how many people I’ve had to apologize to tonight. I just wish most were even a tiny bit as understanding as you. And I didn’t forget the second pizza. I’ll bring it out when you’re ready for the check. I was under the impression it’s going home, so I hope that’s okay.”

“That is correct.” Ever reached for a slice of cheese pizza and placed it on her plate. “Thank you again.”

The waitress nodded her head and made her way back into the kitchen with her empty tray. I glanced down at the pizza and carefully considered the slice sizes before I settled on which piece I wanted. There weren’t many foods I loved, but pizza? Pizza was my absolute favorite, especially Primanti’s pizza. It was just the right thickness and the sauce along with the tomato chunks? Absolutely delicious.

“I’ve been craving this all day,” I said as I took a slice. “Is that bad?”

“Never! This place is the best, if I lived closer, I’d be here weekly.”

“And I’d be here to bother you,” I joked.

“Well, now you have me wishing I still lived here, Anna.”

If only. I’d only recently come out to my parents and that was a disaster. They’d always To my family, bisexuality was disgusting. They felt it was dirty and simply a matter of being indecisive. So, I opted out of bringing partners home to meet them. They’d met the guys, of course, because that “wasn’t a problem.” But any girls I dated? I couldn’t bare the idea of how my family might’ve treated them. Thankfully, my grandmother had no issues with my sexuality. So, I at least had one family member to confide in.

She’d known about Ever. She’d known everything about my love life. Well, almost everything. I wasn’t one to discuss my s*x life with my grandmother, of course, but she’d known about my relationships. And she’d met most of my partners. If it wasn’t for her, I wasn’t sure I would’ve been able to feel comfortable being myself.

Ever, though, was out and proud. More importantly, she had a family that fully supported her. They didn’t care about the gender of their child’s partner – so long as they treated her well and she was happy. When I explained it to Ever, she told me to just give them time. “Eventually they’ll come around,” she would say.

But it’d be four years. Four years and they were still very much grossed out by the idea of me potentially falling in love with a woman. It was ridiculous.

But it was also why I’d made it a point to move out as soon as I could afford it… which in Florida, particularly South Florida, was not an easy thing. A one-bedroom apartment seemingly required a dual income household as it was - $1,400 a month for a one bed, one bath? Plus utilities? No, thank you. But somehow, I managed to save enough to do it.

It just required staying at a job I hated.

But wasn’t that part of being an adult? Tolerating the nonsense in order to be happy?

I finished my slice of pizza and went to grab another, along with one of Primanti’s famous rolls, and Ever seemed to follow suit. Her hand briefly grazed mine, creating an awkward silence between the both of us. “Sorry, I didn’t look,” she said, apologizing. “I was in full pizza mode, I admit.”

“It’s alright.” I smiled as I dropped my slice onto my plate and began to rip pieces from my garlic roll. The thing was far too massive to even attempt to take a bite from it. “I don’t understand how they make these so freaking good.”

“You have no idea,” she agreed. “I’ve been looking for good garlic rolls since I moved, and I haven’t found any that are close to this. They’re either too greasy or just smothered in parmesan cheese.”

“Finally, someone who understands how amazing these things are!” I polished off the remainder of my roll before taking a bite out of my second slice of pizza. Realistically, I probably should’ve stopped at one slice – the doctor had recently put me on a strict diet due to some minor health concerns. But their pizza was just too hard to resist.

“What do you say we finish up here and then maybe go for a walk?” Ever asked. “There’s that park we used to visit when we were younger. It’s maybe ten minutes from here.”

“Did you forget you have a pizza box to take home?” I asked her. “Or were you planning on bringing that with us to the park? Because I’m pretty sure that won’t end well.”

“I do have my car,” she reminded me. “The pizza will be perfectly safe in there until I head home. I just don’t want to say goodnight yet.”

“Well, in that case, let’s do it.”