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A pepperoni pizza - an order that should be simple enough to memorize - but when Isaac took the one he was making (for a customer) out of the oven, he saw onions that were most definitely not supposed to be there. His coworker, Amy, told him to throw it out whilst she made a new one for the person waiting.
He was grateful for the help, accepted it before she had a chance to even consider retracting the offer, but he was never over the moon by the whole "throw the other perfectly good food out just because you screwed up a bit" . Unfortunately though, those were the rules - so it had to be gone with.
Isaac put the pizza in a box - which the logo had printed wrong on, so was also "useless" - and left the building through the back door to throw them in the trash. But when he reached the garbage bin, he stared down the alley at a man in worn out clothes that had been sat on a bench for most of the day and decided that the pizza would do far more good in a (presumably) homeless person's stomach than wasting away in the trash.
Isaac cleared his throat, when coming up next to the man. "Excuse me?"
The man looked at Isaac through a squint, and he realized that they couldn't be much older than he was; barely looked like he was out of high school.
"I accidentally made the wrong pizza and usually we just throw them out, but…" Isaac glanced at the box in his hands, as the thought that he was just offending someone with an odd fashion sense and nothing better to do with their day ran through his head. "Do you want it? It's free and it just came out of the oven."
The corners of the man's mouth raised and he nodded. "Yes, please."
Isaac smiled back and handed over the box. "Okay, well, have a nice day."
"Thank you so much."
Isaac gave a small nod then went back in through the front door.
The person he was supposed to be serving sat aside, scrolling through their phone, and a group of five teenagers were waiting at the counter. One of them, a boy, was leaning over to look for someone to take their order as the others talked amongst themselves.
"Hello?" the boy practically lying on the counter called.
"Hi, sorry," Isaac said as he opened the gate to get behind the counter. "What can I get you?"
The boy scrambled back and stood up, pulling his plaid shirt down. A girl with ginger hair linked her arm with his and rested her head against his shoulder. Then, almost like they'd timed it, four of the five started rambling over one another.
"Pepperoni, obviously-"
"What's the veggie pizza like-"
"How fresh are the mushrooms-"
"-screw it, I'll get a vegetarian, anyway-"
"Can I get a medium cheese-"
"Guys!" A sweet looking boy with brown eyes spoke over them and they stopped simultaneously. He nodded towards Isaac, who held the expression that he was sure he'd worn the entirety of the exams he'd been facing recently. The boy spoke through gritted teeth, "I thought we'd already decided what we wanted before we left."
"We did." A girl with straight black hair spoke with a gentle voice.
"But that was before we saw the menu." The last girl, with short brown hair, shrugged.
"Right," the boy with the cute brown eyes sighed.
Eventually, Isaac was able to get coherent orders out of them. Then he went into the kitchen to start making their food.
"No, I got this one." Amy took the slip of paper from him.
"What? Why?" Isaac frowned.
"I went and told the person out there that their pizza was gonna take a bit longer and I saw you giving the one you messed up to that man. It was nice, so now I'll do this order as your good karma."
"Oh… Thanks," Isaac said and went back round to the front without a second thought. He saw that the three girls and the boy in plaid were at a table in the far corner, but their friend remained leaning against the counter. "Everything alright?"
The boy flinched, clutching his chest, and took a step back. "Yeah… Just wanted to ask you something."
Isaac leaned against the counter, crossing his arms. "Ask away."
"Do you go to Beacon Hills high school? Because I swear I've seen you around before." The boy's eyebrows furrowed in query.
"Oh, yeah, you're on the lacrosse team aren't you?" Isaac stood up straight as his thoughts raced, trying to pin a name to the attractive face beyond him. The boy nodded with an adorable dopey grin. "So am I."
"Wait, number 14: Isaac! " He exclaimed, enthusiastically.
"Yeah," Isaac chuckled. "It's Scott, right?"
"Yeah–" Scott turned to face his friends. "–that guy there, his name's Stiles, and the girl opposite him, her name's Kira; they're on the team too."
"Oh yeah." Isaac's eyes narrowed as he took a closer look at the two remaining girls, trying to remember their names.
Scott noticed and beat him to it, pointing to each of them as he spoke. "The girl next to Stiles is his girlfriend, Lydia. Then the one with short hair is Malia - she's Kira's girlfriend."
"So you're like fifth wheeling?" Isaac scoffed, allowing his gaze to meet Scott's again.
"Yeah, I guess," Scott laughed. "What about you?"
"Am I in a relationship?" Isaac raised his eyebrows as a slight sickish, anxious feeling caught in his throat. Scott nodded, awaiting a reply, with a gentle curve in his lips. Isaac shrugged, letting his eyes noticeably give Scott a once over. "Nah."
"Ah, also a victim to third or–" Scott gestured back to his friends. "–fifth wheeling?"
"Third, kinda. But I've got another friend that hangs out with us and she's single, so." Isaac peered back at the group at the table. "It's not that bad."
"Who're your friends? Are they on the team too?" Scott held a stare with deep interest and Isaac was on the verge of nausea under it.
"Vernon Boyd and Cora Hale are the ones dating, then Erica Reyes is the single one like me," Isaac said, lightly biting on his bottom lip and serving Scott an intense stare back.
"Hm." He looked away in thought. "I recognise the names."
The two went on back and forth until the food was ready. They had ordered a lot, so Isaac helped Scott carry the bags and boxes to the boy's friends, since the group hadn't noticed it finished.
"Guys, this is Isaac. He goes to our school," Scott announced, seemingly proudly, as they put the food down on the table. A few "hello" s and small waves were exchanged. "Stiles, Kira, he's on the lacrosse team with us."
"Oh, yeah, isn't he the one that you–" Stiles cut himself off when Scott gave him a quick glare. "Nevermind."
Isaac briefly glanced at Scott, before feeling a pair of eyes practically piercing into his skin. He scanned the faces, landing on the girl next to Stiles - Lydia , he recalled - who was looking him up and down. It didn't necessarily seem like in a judgy way, but he still definitely felt judged.
"What year are you?" Lydia asked, like she was trying to solve some extravagant mystery.
"Junior."
"Ah, that makes sense." Lydia pointed a finger at him with a satisfied smile. "We're all seniors, which is why I haven't seen you around before."
Isaac nodded. Usually, he wasn't one to be insecure about much. But, all of a sudden, he was hyper aware of every move he could make. And, for some reason, the ones he'd already made started to feel like the wrong ones. Though when he checked the expressions of the faces around him he stopped at Scott - who only looked more joyful by the second - and the urgency of the intrusive thoughts left as quickly as they came.
"Anyway," Malia said through a bite of pizza, the rest of the slice being held in the hand that wasn't occupied by her girlfriend, "we should get back to yours, Scott, because I'm starving."
"Uh, yeah, okay."
The five of them scurried out of their seats and picked up their food.
"I'll get the door," Isaac said. The four Isaac hardly knew the names of walked out with various "thank you" s or "it was nice to meet you" s, with Scott being the last one out.
"I'll see you at school on Monday," Scott said with that signature grin that Isaac had quickly come accustomed to in the last few minutes.
"Looking forward to it." Isaac smiled back with a wink and closed the door behind him.