Work Text:
Was the place even open? You hope it was open. It was probably open. What kind of pizza place wasn’t open at 11:44pm? With your luck, all the ones near you. You shook your head clear of intrusive thoughts and opened your laptop to search up your local Domino's.
College was tough. You’d just turned 19 last July, and this was your first time living alone in a dorm like this. It was nice, to live alone, but it felt like something was missing. This wasn’t exactly how you’d planned it. You thought it’d be… warmer.
'I’ll just get a cat or something… or at least figure out how to work the goddamn thermostat…'
Not like pets were allowed in the dorms or anything. But whatever. It’d have to wait till after college, whatever that longing was. You sighed and shook your head again. Your thoughts were scattered from hours of research, and you hadn’t even started the paper yet. Fuck college. And its freezing-ass dorms with their confusing thermostats.
Domino’s website finally loaded. You needed fuel if you intended to finish this paper by the deadline, and there was no way you were gonna cook. You went to the ordering page and filled out the basic directions. Large pepperoni pizza, cool cool. You finalized the address and all…
Special Instructions:
You stared it down for a while. Why not?
Draw a plant on the box.
You sent your order in. And now we wait.
It took a lot longer than you expected. While waiting, you managed to somehow lose the TV remote and 80% of your homework motivation, which was dropping by the minute. You were down to 20%. Cool cool. You probably weren’t gonna finish by the deadline. 18%. It was also really cold in your dorm room. 15%. And you were so, so tired. 10%.
BZZZZZZZZZZ!
There it go. You stumbled to the door and into the common room, flopped into the elevator, and made your way down to the entrance of the dorm hall. You noticed you hadn’t showered in a while. Too late now. You took a breath and opened the door.
“Hi, I have pizza for you.”
The delivery guy had a blonde ponytail tucked into a Domino’s hat and a customer service smile. They were holding a b-
“iS THAT AUDREY 2?” You practically shout, excitement flooding through you. When you said ‘draw a plant’, you never expected…
“YES YES IT IS I-” They squealed in response. The customer service smile was gone, this was full on beaming. Taped onto the box was a sheet of printer paper with an unmistakable Audrey 2, complete with the words ‘DON’T FEED THE PLANTS’ written above it.
“Did you draw it??” You asked. Little Shop of Horrors was your entire life.
“Yes aaaAAAa” They screeched, bouncing on their toes. Recognition is a wonderful thing. You wanted to stay there with this Little Shop pizza guy all night, but it was late and dark- and freezing.
“YEs- ah, um, sorry- how much do I owe you?” you ask.
“Oh, yeah. Uhm, Six ninety-nine,” they said. There it is, the fateful return of the automated smile.
“Yes let me get-” you puffed out your cheeks in realization. Your wallet was in your room. “Its- my wallet, I left it in- uhm, my dorm room- I’m sorry-” Nice one, Aran. Good job. A++.
The delivery kid gave a sympathetic nod. “I feel you.”
“Uh, come inside, its like midnight and this neighborhood sucks, lemme grab my wallet, one sec.” Ahfghdklgsl;hk.
“I can carry this to your room if you want- ah, I mean, I’m not really supposed to go into houses but with college dorms it's kinda different… Like, I won’t get in trouble or anything.”
“Yes, yes that’d be good. My room’s right by the elevator anyway. 4th floor. Follow me,” you say. Whelp. Why not?
“Thank you,” they said, following you into the elevator. Suddenly their ‘professional’ façade was broken by a burst of delighted laughter. “I still can’t believe you got the Little Shop reference.”
You chuckled in return. “I can’t believe you drew Audrey 2 on the pizza box, I’m still gone. I love that musical so much.”
“Saaame. Are you studying theatre?”
“Uh, sort of. I’m a botany major, with a minor in musical theatre and creative arts.”
“Botany, nice! And yEs, theatre, very nice. I want to study that someday.”
“You should, its pretty cool. You can do stuff like order pizza at midnight.”
They laughed. “Sounds a lot better than delivering pizza at midnight. But what can you do.” They looked at their uniform with a wistful exhale. “4th floor, right?”
The elevator dinged, doors opening. “Yes, yes, here we are. My room’s right here. It’s… it’s kinda messy but come in.”
“Cleaner than my room. Dorm rooms are so cool.”
“They’re cold. I can’t figure out the thermostat to be honest. Now where in the fuck is my-”
“Oh, I know how to work those! Do you want me to set it?”
“Uh- sure, can you make it, like, not 50 degrees in here?” you joked, digging through your bag for your wallet. Where the fucking hell
“Hella. I grew up in a desert, I’m not used to super cold temperatures to be honest. Is 75 degrees good?”
“Yes, perfect- wow, you’re actually doing it, thank you- hERE IT IS” you exclaimed in victory. Obtained wallet.
They chuckled. “Nice. I lose my wallet way too often, I am not qualified to be an adult I swear.”
“Same, you have no idea,” you said with a smile. This was probably the most comfortable interaction you’ve had in, fuck, probably a month. “Alright, uhm, I have a five, uh, some quarters… ah, sorry…”
“Nah, don’t worry about a tip. You’re in college.”
“No, no, I got this. Six, six ninety-nine, three dollars for the thermostat and three dollars for the Audrey 2.”
“I- thank you, thank you so much. This was definitely the best delivery I’ve ever done. Here you go.”
“No, thank you, I- yes, this was nice. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Have a good night.” They brightened for a second. “Oh, and whatever they offer you, don’t feed the plant,” they warned with a sly smile before heading out of your room and out of sight.
Wow, yes. I agree with everything that just happened.
You stood there for a minute after they left the building, grinning like an idiot at the drawing on the box. It was a little shoddy, but clearly recognizable, and you thought it was perfect. Yep, definitely gonna frame this.
You grabbed a slice and opened your laptop back up. It was still on the Domino’s page.
How would you rate your service experience?
You clicked in all 5 stars.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“TH E RE. DONE.”
Not really. Not done. But you had finished three quality paragraphs and you were definitely not writing any more that night. It was almost 4am, anyway.
You stood up to head to bed when your eye caught the Audrey 2 drawing. You laughed, did that even really happen? You carefully pulled the paper off the pizza box.
Hmm, yep. Belongs on the bulletin board.
You put it up on the board above your desk, stuck in among the portraits and little sketches you’ve done.
The bed felt a little softer that night.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
BONUS:
Turning in that paper had felt fantastic. It was a little rough but it was done. Technically you barely finished it that morning, but hey, it was done and over now. For now, you just wanted food.
You laid down on your little dorm couch, laptop on your stomach. You didn't feel like cooking, and had saved a good amount of money. Looks like you were ordering Domino's again.
Or not, apparently, because you know, college wifi.
Once the page loaded, you glanced down at the little customer review comment section. No way...
Dear Little Shop college student I delivered to last night:
Hey, I hope your thermostat is working well. If you ever want pizza, or anything really, my name’s Lithy.