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1.
Lydia flew into the kitchen, her eyes wide with fear. The room was clouded with thick black smoke, and she nearly choked on the acrid fumes. She attempted futilely to wave it away from her face as her eyes started to burn, but the smoke was too overpowering. “Jubilee,” she coughed. “What the hell happened?”
Jubilee was waving a towel around, balanced precariously on an old kitchen chair and cursing as she tried to disable the screaming smoke detector one-handed. “Fuck if I know—the oven just fucking burst into flames. Stupid piece of fucking shit. I kept telling the landlord that this thing was a hazard, but no, it’s fine, Jubilee, it’s just finicky, not dangerous. Well, fuck him and his fucking oven.”
Lydia’s eyes widened, and she took a small step back from her roommate. Jubilee must have managed to put out the fire because nothing seemed to be burning. There was, however, the charred remains of whatever she had been making for dinner lingering in the blackened oven. “So, um, what can I do to help?” she asked cautiously, stepping around Jubilee to push open the back door.
“Well, we need to figure something out,” she muttered, climbing off the chair and shoving it forcefully back toward the table. “I can’t feed like a dozen people with nothing but salad and some snacks.”
“Okay, so we still have salad—that’s good,” Lydia said, trying to keep her tone light and optimistic.
Jubilee gave her a hard look. “What do you think Fangs and my brother would say if we offered them nothing but salad for dinner? Not even to mention Sweet Pea and Archie—between the four of them alone, they could eat half the fridge.”
Lydia let out a long breath, coughing as the smell of smoke hit her again. “How about we just order some pizzas?”
“Fine,” Jubilee huffed, putting on oven mitts to start pulling the remains of dinner out of the wrecked oven. "Just order a bunch seeing as I won’t be able to fucking cook anything until that bastard—”
“Got it,” Lydia cut her off, already pulling out her phone to open the pizza app. She eyed the mess carefully. “Need any help?”
“No,” Jubilee snapped. “It’s all ruined anyway, so I’m just going to bag it and walk it out to the dumpster.” She yanked a handful of trash bags out of the cabinet and started muttering under her breath again.
Taking that as her cue to leave, Lydia slipped out of the kitchen, making sure the door was shut tightly behind her.
“So, what was going on in there?” Fangs asked, barely glancing away from the beer pong table. “Heard a lot of shouting.”
“Oh, nothing,” Lydia drawled, earning a skeptical look from Sweet Pea. “Just a little oven malfunction.” She forced a weak smile. “So, on that note, any preferences on pizza toppings?”
By the time Lydia went to go answer the door, Jubilee had calmed down substantially, placated by Sweet Pea and what appeared to be a very strong drink. She was still threatening to go beat the landlord with a fire extinguisher every few minutes, but Lydia was less and less convinced she would actually go through with it.
Lydia pulled open the door, and her mouth fell open. Standing in the hazy light of their tiny front porch had to be the hottest man she’d ever seen. Even in his bright red t-shirt and matching baseball cap, he looked absolutely jaw-dropping.
“Order for Lydia,” he said, sounding bored as he hauled several warmer bags off his shoulder. Then, he glanced up at her, and his eyes widened. “Are you Lydia?”
She bit her lip slightly, then nodded. “That’s me.” The breeze picked up, and the cool night air made her shiver. She wrapped her arms around herself, wishing the guy would hurry up a little.
Instead, he seemed to be taking his time pulling the pizza boxes out of the bag to hand to her. “Six pizzas, right? And four cheesy breads?” His eyes were fixed on her again, a little too intently for her liking.
“Yup,” she said impatiently, holding her arms out as he stacked the boxes. “And it’s already paid for, right?”
“Yeah.” He nodded, his lips curving into a slight grin. “Sure is.”
Her eyes narrowed, and she nodded back, trying to read his amused expression. “Alright then, let me just set these down and I’ll be right back with a tip.”
He was damn-near smirking now, his dark eyes fixed on her. “I’ll be right here.”
“Okay, yeah.” Trying not to let her face reveal her confusion, Lydia turned back inside, handing off the boxes to a very eager Archie. She grabbed the stack of money on the end table—despite Jubilee and Lydia’s insistence that they not pay, their friends had collectively supplied the tip. It was almost certainly more than necessary, but Lydia really wasn’t in the mood to fight them on it when their oven had literally just burst into flames.
Turning back to the door, she opened it to see him standing there, holding his hat in one hand as he ran the other through his hair. Lydia’s breath caught for a second, and her mind flashed with an image of her running her hand through his hair. Quickly, she forced the thought away. “Here,” she said abruptly, handing him the pile of cash. “Thanks.”
He barely looked at the cash, his eyes fixed on her instead. “Anytime.”
For a moment, he kept standing there, that soft smile on his lips. Confused, Lydia just nodded, her lips moving wordlessly. “Well then, I—um—bye.” She stepped back in the house, closing the door behind her. Her eyes narrowed, she considered what had just happened, why he had stood there for so long, all the looks he had been giving her.
Was he flirting with me?
Jubilee wandered over, her half-empty drink in hand. Her eyes narrowed perceptively as she looked at her roommate. “What’s up with you?”
Lydia shook it off, shaking her head and taking another few steps into the house. “Nothing, I just—” She cut off, searching for the words. “I think the pizza guy might have been flirting with me.”
Jubilee’s eyes widened, and her lips curved into a grin. “Was he hot?”
“Very.”
“Well, congrats, girl,” Jubilee slapped her on the shoulder, wrapping her arm around her to walk back into the main room. “Lord knows you could use a good lay.”
“Jubilee!” Lydia snapped, glancing around to make sure no one had heard. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She gave her friend a hard look. “C’mon, Lydia, you know exactly what that’s supposed to mean.”
Lydia sighed, her shoulders slumping as she wiggled out of Jubilee’s grasp. “Yeah, I do.”
2.
“You know what, fuck them!” Fangs laughed as he flopped onto the couch, a red solo cup full of wine in hand. “Fuck all of them and their happy relationships.”
Lydia rolled her eyes, finishing off her own cup with a smirk as she turned down the blaring music. As was tradition, it was Valentine’s Day, Fangs had just gotten out of a terribly short-lived relationship, and he was coping with cheap wine and a playlist of only the finest Taylor Swift breakup songs.
“Fangs,” Lydia chuckled. “Do we have any more wine?”
“Do we have more wine?” he scoffed, hopping off the couch and grabbing another bottle. “Lydia, today is Valentine’s Day, and I made damn sure we are not going to run out of cheap wine tonight.”
She giggled as he topped her off, taking a sip and relaxing back into the couch. Her and Fangs had the place to themselves—a necessity since Jubilee and Sweet Pea were likely banging on every surface of his and Fangs’ shared apartment. “Fangs, let’s make a pact that neither of us are going to be single this time next year,” she said, a few of her words starting to slur slightly. “For the past three years, the two of us have gotten drunk alone together on this miserable holiday, and we deserve a good fuck, too.”
Fangs bellowed out a laugh, nearly spilling his wine on his lap. “Lydia, you say that every year.”
“I know,” she sighed dramatically, lifting his cup back to her lips for another long drink. She let out a low sigh, tapping her finger against the plastic cup. “And every year, I’m still single.”
Laughing, Fangs wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close. His voice was low, and his breath was hot against her neck. “You know, Lyds, we could always just fuck.”
She rolled her eyes, resting her head on his shoulder contentedly. She let her eyes drift shut, and for a moment, she could pretend it was someone else, someone besides Fangs. Despite all their joking, they would never actually sleep together, but sometimes, it was fun to pretend it could be that easy. “Keep saying that, and one of these years, I’m going to cave and take you up on it.”
Before he could respond with what was sure to be another lascivious comment, the doorbell rang, and they both shot up off the couch. “Is that the pizza?” Fangs asked, his eyes wide with excitement.
“I don’t know,” Lydia laughed, snagging her sweatshirt off the couch as she walked to the door. “But I would assume so unless you invited someone else to our annual pity party because that would be—” She cut off mid-sentence the moment she opened the door.
Hot pizza guy.
His smirk was immediate. “Order for Lydia.”
Her mouth opened and shut a few times, and she had the distinct realization that if he was delivering pizzas on Valentine’s Day, he was almost certainly single. Before she could say a word, though, Fangs was at her side, leaning seductively against the door frame. He ran his hand through his messy hair, looking at the man with a hooded gaze.
“Well hey, there,” he said, putting in his most charming grin. He was a little wobbly on his feet, and Lydia couldn’t help but giggle at his dopey-looking smile. “My name is Fangs.”
“Fangs, get the hell out of here,” she laughed, attempting to shove him back into the house. Luckily, he was just drunk enough that she managed to make him move. “Just let me pay the guy in peace.”
Fangs waggled his eyebrows, his gaze flicking between the two of them. “Is this like one of those bad pornos? You know, where instead of just giving you pizza, he gives you a—”
“Fangs!” Her eyes widened, and she elbowed him out of the doorway and shoved him the rest of the way back into the house. Quickly, she stepped onto the porch, shutting the door behind her.
Hot pizza guy was giving her an amused look, the warmer bag still slung over his shoulder. “Your boyfriend?”
“Oh, God no,” she answered quickly, nearly tripping over the words. “Just a friend—this is definitely not a date.”
“Hm.” He nodded, finally pulling the bag off his shoulder to pull out the pizza. “Good to know.”
She swallowed hard, crossing her arms as her heart started racing in her chest. Even as drunk as she was, Lydia knew that look anywhere. “How about you?” she asked, the words spilling from her lips before she even had a chance to consider them. “No hot date tonight?”
His eyes widened slightly, and then he let out an easy laugh. “No, not for me.” His gaze ran over her again, and he hadn’t even made a move to hand her the pizza. “I am single as can be.” He said each word slowly, deliberately, his eyes never leaving hers.
“Hm.” Her lips curved into a soft grin, and it occurred to her that she might be flirting. “Good to know.”
His grin widened, his eyes flashing with amusement as he finally handed her the box. “Well, here’s your pizza. Need any plates, napkins?” His tone was neutral—he had probably recited those same words a million times—but something about them felt different, more personal.
“I’m good.” She uncrossed her arms to take the box, and her hand brushed against his for the briefest of seconds. Resting the box against her hip, she slipped her other hand in her pocket to fish out the tip money. When she glanced back up at him, he was still looking at her. Biting back a smile, she handed him the folded-up bills. This time, when their hands touched, both of them lingered for too long, feeling the heat of their skin in sharp contrast to the cool night air.
“Anything else I can do for you?” he asked, his hand still outstretched.
“Not right now.” Biting her lip, she shook her head. “See you around.”
“See you around.” He was still smiling when Lydia slipped back into the house.
Letting out a huge breath, Lydia leaned back on the front door, her heart sprinting in her chest. She tried to bite back her smile, but she couldn’t contain it, the high of the brief moment still surging through her.
“Damn, I was just kidding about him giving you something else,” Fangs observed, his arms crossed over his chest. “You look like you just had the fuck of your life.”
“Fangs!” she shrieked, nearly throwing the pizza at him. “Shut up!”
Fangs laughed, darting toward her to rescue the pizza before she tried to tackle him or something. “Just saying, Lydia, you’re damn-near glowing.”
“I am not!” she replied firmly, crossing her arms to look up at him. “All I did was pay the guy for pizza.”
“Oh really?” Fangs’ eyebrows quirked as he gave her a skeptical look. “Then why the hell did it take so long?”
“It did not take so long.” She held his amused gaze with a stern one of her own. “Maybe you’re just drunker than you realize.”
“Oh, I am drunk,” he replied, lazily wandering back to the couch to drop the pizza on the coffee table. “But I know that look, Lydia Boyd. You have a crush.”
“I don’t think you know me as well as you think, Fangs Fogarty,” she replied, mocking his teasing tone. “Because I could not possibly have a crush on him—I don’t even know his name.”
Fangs rolled his eyes, picking up two slices of pizza and smushing them together like a sandwich before lifting them to his mouth. “Check the app, dude. Doesn’t it give you the driver’s name?”
Lydia sat down next to him, picking a pepperoni off the pizza and popping it into her mouth. “Wouldn’t that be weird, though?”
“Nah,” Fangs said between bites. “Dude probably even had a name tag on, assuming you didn’t rip his clothes off in a mad frenzy the second you shut the door.”
“Idiot.” She shouldered him, tucking her hair behind her ear as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. “I suppose you’re right, though. I mean, he knows my name, after all, so it’s only fair.”
“Exactly.” Fangs took a huge bite of pizza, muffling his next words. “Really, if you’re going to fuck the guy, you should at least know his name.”
“You’re disgusting, Fogarty,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “Absolutely disgusting.” She rolled her eyes again, waiting until he was thoroughly distracted before pulling out her phone to open the pizza app. Quickly, she scrolled to the most recent orders, clicking on today.
Reggie, she thought, biting back a soft smile. His name is Reggie.
3.
Lydia slumped through the front door, her backpack overloaded with books and her head pounding. Angrily, she kicked her shoes off, grumpy that the “waterproof” boots had sprung a leak on the first real rainy day of the spring.
“Damn, look what the cat dragged in.”
Eyes narrowed, Lydia looked up to see Sweet Pea sprawled on their couch, a blanket tossed over him and the cat laying contentedly on his chest. “What are you doing here?”
Immune to her biting tone, he fought back a chuckle, going instead for his sweetest grin. “Jubilee’s cooking, and she said I should stop by.” He ran his hand down the cat’s back, earning a satisfied purr. “Now, what the hell happened to you?”
Lydia glanced at herself in the hall mirror to see that she looked absolutely as bad as she felt. Her long hair hung around her face like seaweed, and even her mascara was running a little, accentuating the dark circles under her eyes. With a heaving sigh, she dropped her backpack on the floor, too tired to drag it back to her room. Then, she peeled off his dripping raincoat, pushing aside some of the other coats in the closet to keep them dry.
“Well, Sweet Pea, if you must know, today sucked.”
His eyes narrowed slightly in concern, and he sat up as much as he could without pissing off the cat. “Shit, really? What happened?”
“Just everything.” She yanked off her damp sweatshirt, tossing it onto her backpack. Plucking a blanket off the couch, she settled into the chair. “First, I had a math exam this morning that I almost certainly bombed. Then, my art history professor decided last minute that we were going to meet in the gallery today, so I had to trek all the way across campus only to be late anyway. Finally, when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, it started to pour on my walk home.” She gestured at herself. “Which is why I look like a drowned rat.”
Before he could come up with an appropriate response, Jubilee walked in. “Hey, babe—oh, hey, Lydia.” Her eyes widened. “What the hell—”
Sweet Pea cut her off with a quick shake of his head, his lips pressed into a tight line.
“Oookay,” Jubilee drawled. “I was just going to say that dinner’s about done.”
Lydia perked up excitedly. “What are you making?”
“Shrimp, rice, and some steamed vegetables,” she replied, grateful to see that Lydia looked slightly less like she wanted to murder someone. “Any preferences on what veggies?”
“I’ll eat whatever,” Sweet Pea answered, returning his attention to the cat who had started nudging his hand with increasing urgency.
“I’ll come to look at what we have,” Lydia answered, dropping the blanket to follow her back to the kitchen. She smiled when she saw the new oven—it stood out like a shiny steel sore thumb in their otherwise dingy kitchen. Lydia had a feeling that the landlord had only gone above and beyond because he was a little scared of Jubilee. She glanced at the table, and her eyes narrowed. “Jubilee, what’s up with that shrimp?”
Jubilee’s lips curved into a concerned frown. “What do you mean?”
“The shrimp,” Lydia replied, gesturing at the pan. “Why do they have legs?”
The look Jubilee gave her was caught somewhere between confusion and frustration. “What are you talking about? Of course, they have legs. Shrimp have legs, Lydia.”
“Well yeah, when they’re in the ocean.”
“And where do you think they come from before they end up in the grocery store?” Jubilee bit back a laugh. “Because I would assume it’s the ocean.”
Lydia’s expression twisted, and she took a slight step back. “I can’t eat those, Jubilee.”
“Because of the legs?”
“Yes, because of the legs!” Lydia shuddered, her voice rising. “Look at them! Those bastards look like they were swimming this morning.”
At this point, Sweet Pea pulled open the kitchen door, biting back at laugh at what he was overhearing. His eyes flicked between the two girls, watching the argument unfold like a high-stakes tennis match.
“But, you’ve always been happy to eat them when they’re not in the shell,” Jubilee replied, crossing her arms. “You love shrimp.”
“Yeah, when they don’t have legs.” Lydia crossed her arms, matching Jubilee’s stern look with her own.
“You pull the legs off, Lyds.”
Lydia shuddered, her entire body tensing. “Yeah, because that’s not horrifying.”
“It’s food, Lydia.” Jubilee was shaking her head. “Where do you think it comes from?”
“I know where it comes from,” Lydia said, shaking her head like she was trying to shake away the image. “But I, for one, am not a fan of my food looking like it just swum its shrimpy self onto my plate!”
Sweet Pea let out a sharp laugh, and both girls gave him a murderous glare. Quickly, he snapped his mouth shut, mumbling something about needing to grab a drink.
Jubilee inhaled and exhaled sharply. “Well, I don’t know what to tell you, Lydia, because there is no way in hell I’m peeling your shrimp for you, a grown-ass woman.”
“Fine.” Lydia crossed her arms adamantly. “I don’t expect you to. I cannot bring myself to do it, though, so I’m going to have to find something else.”
“Afraid they’ll scream for mercy in their tiny little shrimp voices as you yank their legs off, Boyd?” Sweet Pea teased, ducking out of reach before Lydia had a chance to smack him.
Lydia huffed out a sigh, rolling her eyes. “You guys are too much for me. I’m ordering pizza.”
“Ooooh, trying to spend some time with hot pizza guy, I see,” Sweet Pea observed, sitting down at the kitchen table and kicking his legs onto the spare chair. “According to Fangs, you were all over him on Valentine’s Day.”
“Fangs is a filthy fucking liar,” Lydia replied, pulling out a chair to sit next to him, as far away from the legged-shrimp as possible. She glanced back up at Sweet Pea before returning her attention to the pizza app. “If anyone was flirting with him, it was Fangs, not me.”
Jubilee scoffed. “Now that I can believe. Fangs flirts with anyone with a pulse.”
“I don’t know,” Sweet Pea mused. “Drunk Lydia gets a little crazy sometimes. Remember that St. Patrick’s Day when—”
“No, Sweet Pea,” Lydia cut him off with a glare. “We do not remember that St. Patrick’s Day.”
“You might not,” he murmured, trying not to laugh, “but I sure do.”
Lydia rolled her eyes. “Well, either way, it better not be hot pizza guy today. I seriously look like a drowned rat.”
Sweet Pea gave her a confused look. “But, you’re dry now.”
She let out an exasperated sigh, shaking her head. “Jubilee, please?”
Jubilee glanced over her shoulder, a pan of vegetables in hand. “Nah, she’s right, Sweets, she does look like a drowned rat.”
“Thank you,” Lydia said, nodding.
Sweet Pea looked between the two of them, his eyes narrowing. “I am so confused.”
Lydia was alone in the living room when the doorbell rang, even the cat having abandoned her to beg for shrimp in the kitchen. With an exhausted sigh, she slid off the couch, tempted to bring the blanket with her to get the door. She couldn’t, though, not knowing that there was a chance it could be Reggie. While she may still look like a drowned rat, she absolutely could not look like a drowned rat wrapped in a fluffy pink blanket.
When she got to the door, she took a deep breath, shaking her head and willing herself to open it. As the door opened, she was greeted by a familiar smirk. Just like always, he was dressed in the dorky, unflattering pizza delivery uniform, but Lydia still couldn’t help but be somewhat transfixed. His dark eyes were fixed on her, an amused glint shining through his controlled expression.
“Lydia?”
Her shoulders slumped, but she couldn’t help but return his smile. “God, I must order way too much pizza if you know my name.”
He bit back a laugh, handing her the pizza. “Maybe, but your name’s on the order, you know.”
Lydia’s mouth fell open slightly, and her cheeks flushed with heat. Of course. Her name is on the fucking order—he didn’t know who she was at all. Quickly, she snapped her mouth shut, stammering in an attempt to find something less idiotic to say. Instead, she just yanked the tip money out of her pocket, nearly throwing it at him with a murmured, “thank you.”
Before Reggie even had a chance to respond, she flung the door shut behind her, leaving him standing there. Laughing, he tucked the money in his pocket, the image of her blushing filling his mind. She was cute, too cute. He glanced back at the house, wishing he could see what was going on inside. Instead, he walked back to his car, unable to shake the warm, fuzzy feeling in his stomach.
From the kitchen, Sweet Pea and Jubilee heard the door slam, followed by a loud moan and a low thump. Undisturbed, Jubilee kept eating, but Sweet Pea froze.
“Should we go check on her?” he asked, glancing uneasily at the door to the living room. “That didn’t sound good.”
“It didn’t sound that bad,” Jubilee countered, taking another bite.
Sweet Pea’s eyes narrowed—Jubilee may know Lydia better, but a slamming door followed by a moan and the sound of someone falling couldn’t be good. He looked back at his girlfriend. She was still eating, clearly unperturbed by it. Anxiously, he tried to count off a few seconds in his head, attempting to distract himself. He got to ten before breaking. “I can’t do it, Jubilee. I need to go check on her anyway.”
Jubilee shrugged, shaking her head as she plucked a shrimp off her plate. “Be my guest.”
Sweet Pea got up from the table quickly, pushing open the door to see Lydia sprawled on the floor. The pizza box was open next to her, and she was awkwardly holding the slice above her head to eat. Her hair was splayed out around her, even more messed up than before.
“Lydia,” he ventured. “Everything okay?”
She groaned in response, taking another huge bite of pizza and yanking the blanket off the couch to cover herself.
Sweet Pea nodded, biting his lip. “Alright then—need anything?”
She shook her head, making another noise that didn’t even vaguely resemble speech.
“Okay.” Confused, Sweet Pea walked back into the kitchen to see Jubilee smirking amusedly.
“Is she on the floor eating pizza and replying in groans?”
“Yeah,” Sweet Pea drawled, getting more confused by the second. “Is that a regular occurrence?”
Jubilee shrugged. “Maybe not regular, but I wouldn’t call it irregular.”
“So, I shouldn’t be worried?”
“Nah, it’ll pass.”
4.
Jubilee’s shoulders heaved as she cried into her sleeve. “I just don’t know what I’m going to do, Lydia. I need that class next fall if I want to graduate, and I don’t have time to go deal with my advisor right now when I have three papers due, and I still have to read that godawful book, and—”
“Hey, hey, breathe,” Lydia soothed, gently rubbing her back. “Just breathe, Jubilee. You’re going to get through this, but first, you need to calm down.”
“How can I calm down when everything’s going to shit?” Jubilee muttered. “And on top of that, next year’s our senior year—what the hell am I even going to do with this degree?” She burst into another round of sobs, her entire body shaking.
“You can’t think about that now, Jubilee.” Lydia’s voice was soft, steady. Calming people down was something she was relatively good at, her gentle demeanor perfect for making people feel cared for. “Right now, you need to take it one step at a time, and the first step is getting through tonight.” She pulled her in close, the slightly taller girl curling into her arms. “Let’s start with dinner—you hungry?”
“A little,” Jubilee sniffled. “But I don’t want to cook, and I really don’t want to eat your cooking.”
Lydia snorted. At least she still had her sense of humor. “That’s fair—you good with pizza?”
Jubilee nodded, her eyes squeezing shut as he breathing finally started to slow. “Yeah, that’s fine.”
Wresting her arm out from underneath her friend, Lydia grabbed her phone to place the order. “Lots of mushrooms, right?”
Jubilee made a gagging sound, looking up at Lydia with a hard gaze. “You order mushrooms on that pizza, Boyd, and I’m throwing you out a window.”
“What window?” Lydia chuckled, quickly hitting send and tucking the phone back in her pocket. “We live on the first floor—even if you did somehow hulk out and throw me out, I’m pretty sure I’d live.”
Jubilee rolled her eyes, grabbing the blanket off the back of the couch and wrapping it around herself like a burrito. “I’ll find a window, Lydia. I’ve seen that big, sunny studio where you practice piano—those windows look about high enough.”
Lydia wrapped her arm around her, glad to see that she was smiling at least a little bit. “Alright, fine, no mushrooms.”
“Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way…” Jubilee drawled, fiddling with the fraying hem of the blanket. “You seemed pretty quick to order pizza there. Not too scarred by your last encounter with hot pizza guy?”
Lydia rolled her eyes. “You are so full of shit, Jubilee. You know me—I can’t cook for shit, and I’m desperate to make people feel better. Thus, when you’re sad and hungry, I order pizza. And cheesy bread. And maybe a giant cookie-brownie.”
“A giant cookie-brownie?” she chuckled. “I feel like that’s more for you than for me.”
“No comment.”
Lydia hadn’t even been thinking about Reggie when she ordered the pizza—she had been too focused on Jubilee. Now that Jubilee was back to her usual, teasing self, though, Lydia wondered what she had gotten into. She had ordered a million pizzas, and it had never fazed her to answer the door looking like garbage. None of those other pizza guys had been quite so hot, though.
Before she had too much time to dwell on it, the doorbell rang, and Lydia nearly flew off the couch.
“Damn girl,” Jubilee laughed. “Try not to break the sound barrier next time.”
Lydia rolled her eyes and double-checked herself in the mirror. Not terrible, but nothing too impressive either—hopefully it would be enough to purge the image of her looking like a drowned rat from his mind. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door.
As soon as he saw her, Reggie smirked. “Hey there, Laura—right?”
“Oh, someone thinks they’re being funny, now?” Lydia let the door fall shut behind her, stepping onto the front porch so Jubilee couldn’t listen in. “I thought my name was on the order?”
He shrugged. “Lydia, Laura, a guy can get confused.”
Lydia crossed her arms, looking up at him with a subtle smile. “Sounds like you do remember my name.”
His grin widened. “What can I say? It’s not often that such a pretty girl orders so much pizza.”
Her cheeks flushed with a heated blush, and she wasn’t sure if she should be flattered or embarrassed. “I—um—”
Laughing, he shook his head, pulling the pizza out of the box. “That wasn’t a jab.” He smirked as he handed her the boxes, his eyes glinting with amusement. “Trust me, I’m always happy to eat out.”
Lydia swallowed hard, her throat bobbing as she realized what he’d just said. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, clutching the stack of boxes. “Um—thank you.” Dumbly, she fished the tip money out of her pocket, handing it to him.
His smile widened, and he appeared to be biting back a laugh. “See you soon, Lydia.”
5.
Lydia threw open the door, a sound escaping her mouth that could only be compared to an angry, dying cow. In one hurried motion, she kicked off her heels, flung her purse onto the floor, ripped off her coat, and flopped onto the floor, resting her face on her arms with a dejected groan.
“Um, Lydia, you okay?” Sweet Pea asked, gently removing the cat from his lap to look down at her.
“Hmpf,” she responded, her incoherent moan muffled further by her arms in her face.
“Ah, I see.” Sweet Pea looked at her, attempting to determine if she was crying. Suddenly, it was very clear why Jubilee had been decidedly not concerned last time Lydia sprawled on the floor like that—apparently, it was kind of a regular thing. “Hey, Jubilee,” he called. “Need you in the living room!”
There was a sigh and a clatter from her bedroom, and she walked out, an exasperated look on her face as she clipped her necklace on. “What is it—oh, hey Lyds.”
“Mmmmmmm,” she groaned, shifting slightly so she could look up at them. “Hey, Jubilee.”
“Date didn’t go so well?” Jubilee asked lightly, biting back a laugh.
“Horribly, actually. The guy was such a creep.”
Jubilee sat down on the floor next to her, her legs crossed. “What happened?”
Lydia shuddered. “He was just so weird and creepy,” she replied, cringing at the memory. “We hadn’t even ordered dinner yet, and he was already asking all sorts of questions about what I was into and if I planned to get married.”
Jubilee made a face, her nose wrinkling. “Okay, ew.”
“And he kept looking at my boobs!” Lydia groaned, finally rolling over so that she was looking up at her friends. “Like, I bet he couldn’t even tell you what color my eyes were because he sure wasn’t looking at them.”
Sweet Pea’s fists clenched, his shoulders tensing. “Who the fuck was this guy?”
“Dilton Doiley. Betty set me up with him. She said he was a nice guy, just misunderstood.” Lydia scoffed. “Remind me to never take any romance tips from Betty ever again.”
Sweet Pea crackled his knuckles, his eyes narrowing. “Just say the word, Lyds, and I’ll go, uh, teach him a little lesson.”
Her lips curved into a soft smile, and she propped herself up on her elbows. “Thank you, but that will not be necessary tonight, Sweet Pea. Anyway, you guys look like you were getting ready to go out.”
“We were,” Jubilee answered. “We were thinking of seeing a movie and getting drinks or something.” She glanced up at Sweet Pea, and he shrugged. “Want to come with? Might be a good distraction.”
“No, no,” Lydia drawled, relaxing back onto the floor. “I most certainly do not want to go third wheel right now.” In truth, she had been hoping that this date would go amazing, that it would distract her from Reggie and how good he looked in that stupid pizza delivery uniform. It had done the opposite, though. Now, more than ever, she couldn’t stop thinking about that annoying little smirk of his.
“You sure?” Jubilee asked. “You know we really don’t mind, right?”
“I know, I know.” Lydia sighed, running her hand through her carefully-curled hair, messing it up. “I really don’t need to be around a happy couple right now, though. You guys go have fun—I’ll just put on a sappy movie and cry into a gallon of ice cream or something.”
Jubilee climbed back to her feet, chuckling slightly. “Okay, Lyds, you do that.”
“And hey, maybe this means you can finally fuck the hot pizza guy,” Sweet Pea teased, his lips curving into a smirk. “Seeing as I don’t see you cooking tonight.”
Lydia rolled her eyes, finally sitting up and scooting over to the couch to lean on it. “Actually, Sweet Pea, I was going to make that last box of mac and cheese I’ve been saving for the perfect moment.”
“Oh, and now’s the perfect moment?” he asked, biting back a laugh. “When you’ve just been eye-groped by some creep?”
“Yup,” she replied, nodding sharply. “It is.”
Sweet Pea chuckled, wrapping his arm around Jubilee’s shoulders and kissing the top of her head. “Alright, then, Boyd. We’ll see you tonight—be sure to text if you and the hot pizza guy are getting freaky in the kitchen or something.”
Grabbing a throw pillow off the couch, she flung it at him, earning an angry screech from the cat she dislodged. Sweet Pea caught the pillow easily, laughing at her steely expression.
“Get out of here, you two!” She grabbed another pillow to throw. “Just leave me to mope with the cat and sad movies and ice cream!”
“And hot pizza guy!” Jubilee laughed, ducking as a pillow soared through the room toward her. “Don’t forget hot pizza guy!”
Lydia couldn’t bring herself to hit send on the order. Of course, she wanted to see him, but she was starting to wonder if it was even a good idea. He was just some random hot guy, a complete stranger, really. Nothing good would come from nursing this stupid crush. She was pretty hungry, though, and she only needed to order one more pizza to get one free. Damning the consequences, she hit send.
The next twenty minutes passed in excruciating slowness. She started by trying to pet the cat, only to get scratched and ignored. Then, she tried to clean her room, but that got boring as soon as she had to start folding the pile of neglected laundry. Finally, she settled on sitting in the living room, flipping through the collection of DVD’s she and Jubilee had accumulated, knowing full well that she’d never be able to settle on one.
Mercifully, the doorbell rang, and she tossed the mess of DVD cases aside. Hurriedly, she grabbed a sweatshirt, shoving the tip money in her pocket and praying that it would be hot pizza guy.
When she pulled open the door, her prayers were answered.
“Order for Lydia?” Instead of his usual smirk, he was smiling, a wider, less flirty smile.
“Hey.” Biting back a smile, she stepped out onto the porch, leaning against the doorframe. “Fancy seeing you here.”
He chuckled, his eyes roaming over her, taking in her curled hair and her slightly rumpled dress. “You looked pretty dressed up to be ordering pizza. Hot date?”
“I wish.” She snorted, rolling her eyes. “More like the worst blind date of my life.”
“Didn’t even make it to dinner?” His eyebrows rose. “Damn, that’s a tragically bad blind date.”
Lydia felt her heart racing, and she had to force herself to breathe evenly. It was obvious what they were doing now, and she wished she had the courage to take it to the next level. She sighed, running her hand through her hair and absentmindedly twisting a lock around her finger. “Guess it’s a sign that I may as well give up dating while I’m here—I feel like I’ve been on a bad date with half the guys on campus at this point.”
“You’re a student?” he asked, shrugging the warmer bag to his other shoulder and giving her an inquisitive look. “How come I never see you around campus?”
Lydia gave him an amused look. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but you don’t look like you spend much time in the Fine Arts building.”
“Yeah,” Reggie answered, nodding thoughtfully. “That would be it. Haven’t been in there since the time I had to see a play for English class freshman year.”
“Guess you’ll just have to stop by more often, then.”
“Guess so.” His lips curved back into a smirk, and he pulled the bag off his shoulder to hand her the pizza box. “Especially if it means I get to see more of you.”
Lydia felt her cheeks flush with heat, and she had to bite her lip to keep from making a surprised noise. She took the box from him, handing over the tip money. “I feel like I should really be tipping extra for the great conversation.”
He laughed, tucking the money in his pocket and slinging the empty bag back over his shoulder. “Are you kidding me? Just getting to talk to you is all the tip I need.” His phone pinged, and he looked down with a groan. “But now, duty calls. See you later, Lydia.”
“See you later, Reggie.”
His eyes widened at the sound of his name, and then he nodded, his grin widening. Quickly, he turned, heading off the porch and down to his car.
Lydia held tightly to the pizza, the cool breeze making her body erupt in goosebumps. She couldn’t wipe the grin from her face, couldn’t stop thinking about that little smile he got when she said his name. She was in deep, and there was no turning back now.
+ 1.
Lydia checked her phone, breaking her eyes away from the mirror for a split second before returning to fixing her hair. It was meticulously styled, curled just enough that it looked natural without being frizzy. She had on a bit more makeup than usual, too, actually taking the time to put on eyeliner and her favorite shade of pale pink lipstick.
“What are you all dressed up for?” Sweet Pea asked, walking through the front door without so much as a knock. “Hot date tonight?”
Lydia rolled her eyes, tucking a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. “No, but if all goes according to plan, I might soon.”
Sweet Pea’s eyebrows rose, and he crossed his arms to look down at her. “What are you talking about, Boyd?”
“She’s planning to seduce hot pizza guy!” Jubilee called from her bedroom. “She’s finally going to make a move.”
Sweet Pea’s eyes narrowed, and his lips pursed tightly. “Wait, what? I thought this whole thing was a joke—you’re really going to try to hook up with the guy?”
Lydia shrugged, shouldering past him to glance out the window. “I don’t know, maybe. I’m just going to very casually ask if maybe he’d want to get a drink sometime.”
His eyes widened, and Sweet Pea took a concerned step toward her. “Isn’t that kind of risky? I mean, the guy has your number, knows where you live—he might be a total creep, you know.”
Lydia rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest to look up at him. “That’s ridiculous, Sweet Pea. He’s just a normal guy—he even goes to our school.”
“Plenty of creeps go to our school, Lydia! I mean, they let Jughead in, didn’t they?”
Jubilee walked out of her room, her tight black dress earning a long look from Sweet Pea. For a moment, he was distracted as she wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him close for a kiss.
“Hey, baby,” she murmured, her lips pressed into his neck. “You ready to go?”
Biting his lip, he nodded. “Sure am, baby, you look so damn—wait,” he cut off, turning back to Lydia with a pained expression. “We can’t go yet.”
“And why the hell not?” Lydia asked, meeting his stern gaze with an equally firm glare. “What are you going to do, interrogate the guy?”
“Maybe I will,” Sweet Pea countered. “At the very least, you should let Jubilee and me meet him, make sure you’re not blinded by his abs or something.”
“Blinded by his abs?” Lydia asked incredulously. “What kind of pizzas do you think I’m ordering? This isn’t some kind of special delivery, and his shirt has always stayed on.”
“So far,” Jubilee muttered, biting back a smile as she took a seat on the couch. She knew both Lydia and Sweet Pea well enough to know that she wasn’t about to leave for this date anytime soon, so she may as well get comfortable.
Lydia shot her a steely glare. “You two need to get out of here.”
“Not until I meet him,” Sweet Pea answered, crossing his arms and pulling himself up to his full height. “You’ve been on enough terrible dates lately, Lydia, and I’m done standing by and watching it.”
Lydia groaned loudly, running her hand through her hair with frustration. Before she could snap back with some kind of reply, though, the doorbell rang.
“Ah, and here he is.” Using his bulk to his advantage, Sweet Pea pushed past Lydia to the door, cracking his neck as he geared up to open it. Lydia stood off to the side watching, her hands on her hips and her lips curved into an angry frown. On the couch, Jubilee had started petting the cat, watching the scene with amusement.
His expression set in a hard stare, Sweet Pea opened the door.
“Order for Lyd—Sweet Pea?”
Sweet Pea’s shoulders dropped, and he started with surprise. “Mantle?”
“What the hell are you doing here, man?” Reggie laughed, grabbing his hand for an exceptionally bro-y handshake fist bump thing. “Thought you still lived in that shitty place near campus with Fangs.”
“I do,” Sweet Pea replied, rolling his eyes. “My girlfriend lives here, and—”
“Oh, are you and Lydia dating?” Reggie asked, his eyes going wide. “Because I thought—”
“Absolutely not!”
“No!”
Lydia and Sweet Pea nearly tripped over each other to get the words out, Lydia losing her patience and wrestling her way in front of him and into the doorway. “Sweet Pea and I are most certainly not dating.”
Sweet Pea gave her a mildly horrified look, and Jubilee burst out laughing from her place on the couch. Reggie was looking between Sweet Pea and Lydia, quickly piecing together that Sweet Pea was, in fact, still dating Jubilee.
Reggie’s grin widened as his gaze rested on Lydia. “Well, then, I guess I don’t need to feel like an absolute ass for hitting on you for weeks now.”
She smiled, her cheeks flushing pink. “No, you don’t.”
Jubilee was still laughing as she climbed off the couch, nearly clutching her sides. “Oh my God, Lydia, hot pizza guy was Reggie? Reggie fucking Mantle? This is hilarious—you couldn’t make that shit up.”
Reggie rolled his eyes before giving Jubilee a hard look. “Lovely to see you, too, Jubilee.”
She was still gasping as her laughter died down, clinging to Sweet Pea for support. “I just can’t believe it was you of all people. You were hot pizza guy.”
“Hot pizza guy?” Reggie gave Lydia an amused look. “Didn’t know I had such a reputation.”
Lydia’s face went even brighter pink, and it took all the self-control she had not to sprint in the other direction right there. She had no idea how to respond to any of it, so she went for a change of topic. “I—um—uh—how do you and Sweet Pea even know each other?”
“We were roommates freshman year,” he answered, shooting Sweet Pea and Jubilee an amused look. “Which is why Jubilee seems to have such strong opinions of me.”
As if reminded that Jubilee and Sweet Pea were still there, Lydia shoved the two of them back even further, managing to get the door shut behind her as she stepped out onto the front porch.
The moment it closed, she let out a soft sigh of relief. Biting her lip, she looked up at Reggie with an easy smile. “I have to admit, that’s not how I saw this all going.”
His eyebrow cocked, and he gave her an amused look. “Saw what going? A simple pizza delivery?”
She rolled her eyes, her grin widening as she felt a sudden surge of confidence. “I was kind of hoping I’d get a little more than just pizza tonight.”
Reggie’s eyes widened, and he attempted to stammer out a reply before she cut him off with a laugh.
“I meant your number, Reggie,” she chuckled as he relaxed. “I mean, you probably have mine already, but I imagine it would be entirely unprofessional to use it to ask me out on a date.”
He smirked, pulling off his hat to run his hand through his hair as his dark gaze lingered on her. “Entirely unprofessional,” he agreed, his grin widening. “I’d be fired for sure.”
She slipped her phone out of her pocket, unlocking it and handing it to him. “I’ll be sure to text you first, then.”
Reggie punched in his number and then held the phone up for a quick selfie, putting on his most charming grin. “So, you don’t forget who I am,” he said, handing her the phone.
Lydia burst out laughing when she saw what he had named himself. “Hot pizza guy? Really? As if your contact picture of you with that dorky hat on wasn’t enough?”
“Dorky?” he asked, gasping with mock-offense. “I’ll have you know this hat is the absolute height of pizza delivery boy fashion.”
“I’m sure it is.” She tucked her phone back in her pocket, unable to wipe the satisfied smile from her face. “So, when do you get off tonight?”
“I actually only had one more delivery after this.” He bit back a smile. “Why?”
“Well,” she drawled, glancing at the pizza bag slung over his shoulder. “Jubilee and Sweet Pea are going out, and I happen to have ordered way too much pizza—if you’re not sick of it, of course.”
“Sick of pizza?” He shook his head, finally pulling the bag off his shoulder to hand her the box. “Never.”
“So, I’ll see you after your last delivery?”
He bit his lip hard, his eyes roaming over her like he wanted nothing more than to quit his job right then and there. “Absolutely.”
Laughing softly, she reached in her pocket and pulled out the tip money, handing it to him. “Sorry, it’s a bit less than usual.” Her hand still touching his, she leaned in close, her lips just inches from his neck. “I can absolutely make the rest up to you later, though.”
Reggie bit back a moan, forcing himself to stand still and not shove her back against the door. “I will be back as fast as humanly possible,” he said, his voice strained.
“Thirty minutes or less, right?”
This time, the moan escaped from his lips, and he nodded frantically. “Definitely.”
“Good.” She smiled and took the pizza from him, her eyes flashing with amusement. “See you then, Reggie.” Slowly, she stepped back into the house, letting the door fall shut behind her. She let out a long breath, her legs shaking as she walked over to set the pizza down on the coffee table.
Jubilee and Sweet Pea were giving her expectant looks.
“So,” Jubilee started excitedly. “How’d it go?”
Lydia grinned, unable to contain a soft laugh. “Any chance you guys can stay at Sweet Pea’s tonight?”