make this look so easy?"
"I do it every day at work. I don't know, I just kind of picked it up right away."
His mom and I were reassembling our dough and we both tried again, she was doing just a little bit better than I was. Finally on the third try I was able to spin it without mangling it.
"Is this thin enough now?"
"Do you like thick crust?"
"Sure."
"Then it's fine." He took everyone's dough and slipped it onto baking sheets so it would be easier for us to work with them and move them around. He showed us how much sauce to put on and then cheese, followed by the rest of the toppings. He loaded his up with everything, his mom went for mushrooms, and I just used up all of the remaining cheese.
"Is that all you want?"
"Yes, extra cheese for me please."
"All right." He arranged them all in the oven and we put away the rest of the extra toppings while his mom wiped all the flour off the table. We stood around in the kitchen waiting for the timer to go off, she asking random questions about college and fashion design and how I got into all that.
"Jon told me you're making dresses for yourself and Kate."
"Yeah, I was actually sewing all day yesterday once I got home from work."
"Was it very productive?"
"I guess I'm halfway done, but sometimes it's the finishing details that take forever."
The timer went off and Jon checked on dinner. He pulled out the pizzas and cut them into slices before moving them to plates and handing them out. We sat around the table and blew on our slices, as they were too hot to pick up. After a minute of blowing I picked up a slice and my cheese started to slide off. "Oh no, too much cheese!" I laughed and nudged it back on with my fingers.
"Would you like a fork and knife?" Jon asked watching me struggle to get it up on one piece.
"Yeah, that might be easier."
He got them for me and I cut off a bite and it scalded the roof of my mouth.
"How is it?"
"Hot," I said grabbing my iced tea and held a sip in my mouth to cool it down. I swallowed and tried again, holding my fork up and blowing on it to cool off until it stopped steaming. This bite was easier to chew on. Mm, not bad, but I probably should have gone thinner on the dough.
We finished up and his mom cleared the plates away, saying, "So Lucy, Jon tells me you know how to play rummy 500. Are you up for a game?"
"Sounds good," I answered. Jon wiped the table down and went to get a deck of cards as his mom washed the dishes. Uh-oh, his mom was washing the dishes, should I do something? I forced myself up to help her dry them off.
"Thanks, there's a clean towel in the top drawer down there." I found it and dried the plates off as she tackled the baking sheets. I opened the wrong cabinet door looking for the plate's homes, when Jon snuck up behind me and opened the next one over.
"In here," he said taking them away from me and stacking them. "The baking pans go under the oven." He walked away and started shuffling cards until we had finished. He dealt the cards like a pro and flipped the top card from the deck. We started playing at a furious place and before you knew it his mom went out with 125 points. I at least did better than Jon did on that hand but neither of us could keep up with her. He kept score until his mom got to 500, I was next with 320 and he wasn't far behind me with 295. After that his mom said she was going to go read in the bedroom, and it was very nice to meet me.
"Yes, I love rummy, we should all play again sometime."
"So," he said once his mom was gone.
"Alone again."
"Sort of. What do you want to do now?"
"I don't know, what else is there to do around here."
"Umm, I rented some movies."
"Which ones?"
"Poltergeist..."
"I love Poltergeist!"
"I remembered from that first night."
"Oh yeah, with Ling and Alex, that was a weird night wasn't it?"
"Weird?"
"Yeah, all that awkward getting to know you chit chat, and then you and Alex started talking about sports and I was all like, god kill me."
"You were?"
"I really can't stand sports