My stomach felt bare and empty. I had eaten nothing for breakfast and now it was 1:00 p.m. I was ready to chow down.

I went into the kitchen and checked the fridge. Onions and almond milk. Eh, no meals there.

I checked the pantry.

Nothing.

I walked over to Merissa, whose eyes wouldn’t leave the TV screen.

“I’m so hungry.”

“Me too, and I know there ‘ain't nothing in the fridge to eat.”

“You got that right.” I rolled my eyes.

We just sat there quiet for a minute.

Merissa sighed. “Well, I’ll ask dad to bring food when he comes home.”

“Oh, You know how his job is! He'll come home late! I can’t wait that long for a decent meal!” I whined.

Now Merissa rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Well, we don’t have a choice! Now if you’re gonna whine in my face like that, you can go upstairs and leave me alone!”

There was no use talking to Merissa when she got in her ‘le'me alone’ state. I stomped up the wooden steps to my room and collapsed on my small twin-sized bed.

I stared at the ceiling. The rain pitter-pattered outside, the sky showing off a depressing display of grey.

I stared my open color pencil box filled with a little over 100 colors. I thought about the time I thought I NEEDED 100 color pencils to have a full array of color to choose from when I drew my art. That was before I bought myself a computer and my dad introduced me to digital art. Yes, embarrassingly enough, my dad had to get me out of the old age and show me that people drew on apps and websites now, not the old pencil and paper.

I wondered if pencils and papers would go extinct soon. If they would be lost to time from my generation as technology started to dip it’s toes in all activities and taks of every day life. Wait, Dip its toes? More like go for a swim.

This topic started to make me sad, so I got up and walked over to my dresser. Being the only thing I allowed to be cluttered in my room, it took a long time to find one specific old tattered notebook in a corn field that had drawers filled with tons of old, tattered notebooks, three of every size and color. But I wasn’t going over there for a notebook. I decided to look at something recent. I picked up the tiny fake check I had earned from winning the writing contest. I revisited what I had written on the back. ‘won the writing contest!’ Then I looked at the front. ‘Free Large Pizza And Two Drinks’.

What a dingy prize, I thought. But then, I read it again. Wait. That pizza place is just down the neighborhood. Me and Merissa could have lunch there!

We’ve never walked out of our subdivision before, I thought. Would Dad even let us go? Of course he would, he knows you and Merissa have each other’s back. My mind was at war with staying or going. I decided to get Merissa’s opinion on the whole thing.

I called Merissa upstairs.

“What?” she snapped sharply.

I ignored her attitude. “I’ve still got this coupon for Leah’s Pizzaria. It’s good for a free large Pizza and two drinks. I’m thinking we can use it today before it expires, which is tomorrow.

“I thought you wanted to keep that coupon as a keepsake to remember you won the contest.” Merissa replied. “You wrote on it and everything.”

“Yeah, but we’re hungry, and if that contest was any indication of my future, there'll be a lot more contests that I’ll win, even bigger than the school’s.” I was aware of my playful bragging, and Merissa was too.

She smiled. “Cool. then let's go get that pizza!”

We soon got dressed. I put on my thickest hoodie, since I didn’t think it was cold enough for coats yet. I put on a pair of my mother’s pants that were hand-me-downed to me. They didn’t fit too well, and I had to bring the cuffs up past my ankles, but whatever. It wasn’t like I was going on a date or anything.

When I walked out of my room I saw Merissa fixing her hair in the bathroom.

She was putting it in some type of fancy bun, which involved bobby pins and hair gel.

“Why are you doing all that for the pizzeria down the street? We're not going anywhere fancy.

“I’d still get my hair in check if we were going on a hike through the forest. You have to treat your hair Melissa. Not just clamp it up in a messy ponytail. Her lip turned up in an ugly sneer at my frizzy ponytail.

I huffed and went downstairs. She was right though. My hair was getting dry, and I needed to wash it soon. I made a promise to myself that I would wash it soon, but not today. I was just too hungry.

My phone beeped. It was this long fuzzy beep that would go, then stop, the start again.

When I finally pulled my phone out of my pocket, I saw that it said AMBER ALERT: KID KIDNAPPED ON TAKEN STREET. AGE:8 NAME: MISSY.

Well that certainly made me uncomfortable.

Or maybe I should wash it today, I contemplated. I mean do I really want to walk all the way out of the neighborhood in the rain for some decent-tasting pizza? There could be kidnappers or muggers waiting outside the subdivision right for you to walk outside, daydreaming, not paying attention and…

My heart jumped when I heard Merissa clip-clop down the steps. “Ready!” she smiled, her top knot bun looking neat and shiny.

My stomach began to get uneasy. “Maybe we shouldn’t go.” I told her. “I mean, it’s raining and it’s gonna be all mucky outside and…” I trailed off.

“Come on, Melissa, we got dressed and everything. I did my hair.” she waved her hands around her head to put emphasis on how important her hair was.

“Yeah, but, there could be creeps outside, or… kidnappers.” I didn’t like to talk about this, but it’s why I was so skeptical to go. I was beginning to not even be hungry, my stomach swirling.

Mirissa huffed loudly. “Melissa, you can’t tell me you scared yourself out of going at the last minute. The pizza place is literally right out of the subdivision. You’ll be fine, plus, we’ll be together the whole way!” Merissa reasoned. “Come on, you can’t be a scaredy cat your whole life or you’ll never do anything. Ever.” Merissa said this in a serious tone I wasn’t used to hearing from her.

She was right.

The pizza coupon expired tomorrow. It was now or never. I took a deep breath.

“Okay, let’s head out.”

TO BE CONTINUED

This story is a continuation of my online story series, 'The Pair'. this was part four.

part 3 is here: https://hive.blog/hive-124999/@restcity/i-stole-her-boyfriend-for-the-night-the-pair-part-3

To Pizza, Or Not To Pizza? (Short Story)

TO BE CONTINUED