After taking a sip of his root beer, Tom sat down at the dinner table. He put the frosty mug down on the table and rubbed his hands together. He had returned the previous day from college and had headed over to Dan's house for a meal at the first opportunity. He said, "I've been looking forward to one of your pizzas ever since I went to Austin."
"Sorry, but we're not having pizza tonight," Dan said with a smile. He knew that he was going to get a reaction out of Tom on that little announcement.
Tom looked over at the materials that Dan had in the kitchen. It looked like the same stuff he used for making pizzas. He frowned and asked, "What's that?"
"We're not having pizza tonight," Dan said knowing that Tom was having a little trouble accepting the news.
"What are we having?" Tom asked looking over at Dan as if he had just announced that the Pope was a woman and had converted to Islam.
"We are having calzones," Dan answered. He glanced over at the timer and then checked the oven. The calzones looked good. Initially he had a tendency to over cook them.
"What's a calzone?" Tom asked.
Dan laughed and said, "Think of it as a pizza that has been folded over on itself."
"I'm not sure that I'm going to like it," Tom said looking down at the bowl of marinara sauce that Dan had set in front of him. Gesturing to the bowl, he asked, "What's that for?"
"That's to dunk your calzone in when you're eating it," Dan answered.
"Okay," Tom said. He watched Dan move around the kitchen. It seemed to him that Dan was a lot more comfortable in the kitchen than he had been in the summer.
"You don't seem very confident in my cooking abilities," Dan said with a smile.
Grinning over at his friend, Tom said, "Oh, I remember some of your early pizza experiments. You've got to admit that my concerns are justified."
"I'll grant you that," Dan said with a laugh. Some of his early sauces had bordered on being toxic. Fortunately, they had tasted so bad that it wasn't possible to swallow enough of it to have long term health effects. He asked, "So how is your pursuit for happiness going?"
More than happy to discuss his four months at the university, Tom said, "I discovered that I really like chemistry. I even got a part- time job in one of the labs. All I do is wash test tubes, but I enjoy the work."
Looking at the expression on Tom's face, Dan asked, "What do you like about it?"
"There's a kind of demand for precision that I've never experienced before. You measure everything. If the formula calls for a hundred milliliters of water, it means one hundred milliliters and not ninety-nine or a hundred and one. You have to check and double check everything. I kind of like it," Tom said.
It seemed to Dan that no time had passed since Tom had headed off to Austin. Their conversation just picked up right where it had left off. Dan said, "It sounds like you truly enjoy it."
"Yes, I do," Tom said, "It is a lot like you with the pizzeria. I can tell that you're enjoying putting that together."
"I am enjoying it," Dan said. The timer went off and he went over to the oven. With a quick move with the pizza paddle, he had three calzones out of the oven and on the counter. He shouted, "The calzones are done!"
As the rest of the family arrived in the dining room, Dan removed the last two calzones. He made a couple of trips from the counter to the table delivering the calzones. As he set the plate in front of his father, he said, "Here's your Italian Sausage calzone."
"Thanks," his father said eyeing the golden brown treat.
Dan set down a plate in front of Diana and said, "Here's your spinach calzone."
"I love the spinach calzone," Diana said with a smile. The first time that Dan had made calzones; they had tasted a bit of each kind. Not surprising anyone, they all had a different favorite.
Watching Diana examine her calzone, his mother asked, "You made the broccoli calzone for me?"
"You bet," Dan said putting the plate with the calzone on it in front of her.
Tom said, "You didn't ask me what kind I wanted."
"That's because I know what you want," Dan replied going back to the counter for the last two plates.
"I don't even know what a calzone is. How can you know what kind I would want?" Tom asked.
Looking over at Diana, Dan said, "Tell him."
"You want the pepperoni calzone," Diana said looking over at Tom.
Tom gave up and said, "You're probably right."
Dan put a plate down in front of Tom and then took a seat. He noticed Tom watching him as he cut a slice of his calzone off. Tom asked, "How did you know what was inside each calzone?"
"I use a different mark on each kind," Dan said with a smile. He had mixed up the different calzones until he had worked out a set of simple cuts that allowed him to distinguish them from each other.
"Clever," Tom said. He tried the calzone and was suitably impressed. He said, "Hey, this is pretty good."
Dan looked over at Tom and said, "It's good to have you back in town."
Dan and Alison were seated on the couch at her parent's house late in the afternoon after she had arrived home. She winked seductively at Dan and said, "It's a shame you have to work tonight."
"I'd call it a tragedy of Biblical proportions," Dan said looking over at her. It was hard to believe that she looked even better now than she had when she left for school.
She laughed and asked, "Biblical proportions, huh?"
"That's right," Dan said with a lopsided grin.
She thought he was particularly cute when he grinned at her like that. Smiling at him, Alison said, "I've missed your humor."
"I've missed you a lot," Dan said.
Believing that she knew what he had missed, she winked at him and said, "You missed the sex."
Dan shook his head and said, "No. I missed you. I really enjoy our times together. You're a breath of fresh air. I like your straightforward manner. There are no games."
"You say the nicest things," Alison said. He had always said that he appreciated her friendship and that the benefits were just icing on the cake. She believed him. He never pressed her for more than what she was willing to give.
"So can we go out to dinner tomorrow night?" Dan asked.
Satisfied with the idea of having him come over to her house for dinner, Alison didn't really want to go out. She asked, "Where were you thinking of going?"
Dan said, "I'd like to take you to the Crabby Steak."
The reminder of the first place that they had gone out reminded her of something that she feared would become a problem. Frowning, she said, "There's something that I have to tell you."
"Okay," Dan said wondering why she suddenly got so serious. He shifted on the couch so that he was looking directly at her.
"I have a friend with benefits at college," Alison said. She bit her lower lip afraid of his reaction.
Dan looked at her wondering when she was going to tell him something bad. Finally, he said, "Okay."
Alison looked at Dan still waiting for some sort of reaction. When she realized that he was still waiting for the bad news, she asked, "Aren't you jealous?"
"No. Am I supposed to be jealous?" Dan asked. He had fully expected that she would find a boyfriend there. If she didn't find a boyfriend, then he was pretty sure that she'd find a friend with benefits.
"No," Alison answered feeling a little let down despite the fact that this conversation was going better than anticipated. She had expected a big scene and had hoped that he'd not react too poorly. She looked at him and asked, "Aren't you bothered at all?"
"Alison, I knew when you went off to college that you'd find a friend there. You aren't happy without a good friend in your life. You enjoy the benefits as much as I do. I'm not surprised that you found a friend with benefits there. I would have been surprised if you hadn't," Dan said.
Stunned at how well he knew and understood her, Alison said, "Oh."
"So what do you say about dinner tomorrow night at the Crabby Steak?" Dan asked.
Dan didn't do grand gestures on rare occasions to let her know that he appreciated her. He was consistent in doing little things that let her know that he always considered her happiness. Even more important was the fact that he accepted her as she was. She smiled and said, "That would be great."
Dan was hard at work in the kitchen helping Jimmy cook food. It was a few minutes after eleven and the restaurant was busier than usual for that time of night. Christmas was in three days and all of the stores were open late; most of them didn't close until ten. A lot of the sales clerks had stopped by for something to eat before heading home. Most of them looked tired.
Alison entered the restaurant and was immediately greeted by Rob. She talked to him for a few minutes before he led her to the counter. He called Sandy over and introduced the two of them before returning to where he usually waited to greet customers entering the diner. He looked over at Alison and shook his head.
Sandy brought over a cup of coffee to Alison and then leaned on the counter. She said, "You say that Dan is a friend of yours."
"That's right," Alison said.
Sandy frowned and said, "The last person who claimed to know Dan wasn't very nice. We threw her out of here."
Alison got the impression that Sandy was more than willing to throw her out of the diner if she wasn't nice. She smiled and said, "That person wasn't his friend. Dan's friends are all very nice people."
"Are you here to talk to him?" Sandy asked. She glanced over in the direction of the order window.
"No. I'm here to meet some of his female friends," Alison said.
Sandy raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why?"
"I worry about him," Alison answered. She looked around the room and said, "He hasn't had a girlfriend or a friend with benefits since I went off to college. He needs a good friend while I'm away."
Sandy asked, "Were you his girlfriend?"
Alison shook her head and said, "No. He's never had a girlfriend. I'm a friend with benefits."
Raising an eyebrow at the young woman's candor, Sandy asked, "Are those benefits what I think they are?"
"I'm sure you know exactly what benefits I'm talking about," Alison answered looking Sandy in the eye.
"So why are you here?"
Alison looked over all of the waitresses on the floor. She leaned over to where no one except Sandy would be able to hear what she said. Once she was sure that she had Sandy's attention, she said, "I was hoping that maybe one of his female friends might be considering adding some benefits to the relationship. I'd like to talk to her and suggest that she'd really enjoy the benefits."
Sandy stepped back and stared at Alison with a shocked expression on her face. She didn't know what to make of the young woman. Finally, she said, "You're serious, aren't you?"
"Very," Alison said with a smile. She had already seen that she and Dan were growing apart. She was involved in school and he was involved in getting his pizzeria started. She feared that it would only get worse with time. She was pretty sure that they'd remain good friends, but that the intimacy they had shared over summer would be lost.
Looking as nervous as a mouse trying to sneak by a cat, Sue sat down at the break table with Dan. Used to how she behaved when there was something on her mind, Dan continued eating allowing her the time to work up her courage. She licked her lips and said, "I have some sketches here."
"Sketches?" Dan asked wondering why she had brought in some sketches.
She laid out a page on the table and said, "For your pizzeria."
After putting down his fork, Dan picked up the picture. He studied it for a minute. It had Parker's Perfect Pizza in a semi-circle across the top crowning a pizza. A slice was missing from the pizza. There was a cartoon face of a kid eating the missing slice of pizza. He nodded his head and then said, "I like it."
"I have some other versions here. I thought this might be a good starting point at defining the overall concept for the artwork. I'm not really satisfied with that one. There's something missing in it," Sue said with a frown. She wasn't really a graphic designer. She handed him another picture and said, "I think the kid is a little friendlier looking in this one."
Dan nodded his head as he studied this version of the same basic picture. He said, "You know, the kid's mouth is in a big 'O' like he's surprised or something. I'd rather see a great big grin on his face."
Sue leaned forward and looked at the picture. She nodded her head and said, "You're right."
Dan thought about it for a minute and then said, "I'd rather see most of the pizza gone and a few more people in the scene. It should look like a party."
Nodding her head vigorously, Sue started getting excited. She said, "You're right. I could use the text to suggest the outline of the top of the pizza pan. I could add some catchy text under the pizza slice to define the rest of the pizza pan. I could include a couple of people all reaching for the last slice. Their faces should suggest a friendly rivalry rather than an outright war over it."
"I like it," Dan said thinking about how his dad, Tom, and he always raced to be the one to get the last slice of pizza.
Sue said, "I'll work on it during my next few days off."
"Okay. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with," Dan said smiling at her.
Sue smiled back and said, "Good. I better get back to my tables."
"Alright," Dan said. He watched her leave the back room. He had forgotten completely about her saying that she would do the artwork for the pizzeria. At the time he had thought that it was just an idle offer, but it was obvious that she had put a lot of work into it.
Dan returned to eating his meal. He had just finished taking a bite when Sandy walked in and said, "I hear that you have a date tomorrow night."
Surprised that she knew that, Dan said, "It's not really a date. I'm going to dinner with a very dear friend of mine."
"I hope you have a good time with Alison," Sandy said. She laughed at the shocked expression on Dan's face.
"How do you know about Alison?" Dan asked.
Sandy smiled at the expression on his face and answered, "Oh, we had a long talk this evening."
"She was here?" Dan asked thinking that she must have come in while he was in the kitchen. He wondered why she hadn't asked to talk to him.
"Yes. She's a lovely woman," Sandy said.
"She's a very dear friend," Dan said wanting to emphasize the friend aspect of their relationship over anything else.
Impressed that Dan didn't mention anything about friendly benefits, Sandy said, "I'm sure she is."
Dan watched Sandy return to the front of the diner. Shaking his head, he returned to his meal wondering if he was going to get to finish it without further interruption. He had just taken another bite when Vicki waltzed into the break area. She smiled at Dan and said, "I really like Alison. She's a great girl."
"Oh, you met her?" Dan asked wondering what had been going on without him noticing anything.
"We had a nice long talk," Vicki answered. Unfortunately for Alison's plans, Vicki was already in a committed relationship. Despite the fact that it wasn't a very good one, it was still the best she had found and she wasn't willing to risk it.
Curious, Dan asked, "What did you talk about?"
"This and that, mostly that," Vicki answered with a smile. She enjoyed the look of frustration that crossed his face. She leaned over and patted him on the cheek. She said, "It was girl talk. Don't worry about it."
"Silly, she's trying to find you a girlfriend," Diana said looking at her brother as if he was simple minded. She was about the only one who could get away with looking at him like that.
"What are you talking about?" Dan asked.
Diana rolled her eyes and said, "She feels guilty that she found a friend with benefits while she was at college and you didn't."
"That's crazy," Dan said. He was responsible for his happiness.
Diana shook her head knowing that any further discussion wouldn't be of any value. She asked, "Where are you taking her tonight?"
"To the Crabby Steak," Dan answered.
"Why there?"
Not really sure why he had selected the place, Dan was silent for an uneasy minute. Finally, he answered, "I thought it would be nice to take her back to the first place we went out together. She's only going to be here for three weeks and I wanted her to enjoy her stay."
Diana studied her brother for a moment. She realized that he was trying to renew the relationship that he had with Alison. She understood that Alison had recognized that and suspected it wasn't going to succeed. Rather than hurt his feelings, she said, "That's a nice plan."
"I'm glad you approve," Dan said reaching out for her.
She watched his hand approach her and knew what he was going to do. She said, "Don't do it."
"Don't do what?" Dan asked with his hand hovering over her head.
"Mess up my hair," she answered.
"You want me to mess up your hair?" Dan asked with a wink. He rubbed the top of her head as she mock glared at him.
"My hair is a mess!" she said.
Nodding his head in agreement, he commented, "Your hair is a mess. Now toddle off like a good little girl and comb it."
She giggled and said, "One of these days I'm going to get you back."
Dan smiled and said, "Get me back for what? We were having a nice conversation and all of sudden you told me to mess up your hair."
Grinning over at him, Diana said, "I think I'm going to show Alison your pictures. You know which ones I mean."
"Don't do that!" Dan said knowing that she meant the baby pictures of him naked in the bathtub.
"Don't do what?"
"Show Alison my baby pictures," Dan said.
Diana looked at the ceiling as if talking to God and said, "We were just talking and all of a sudden he insists that I show Alison his baby pictures. Does he have no shame?"
Lazlo Zalezac