Page 16 of Sweeter Than Fiction

“You just had a date last night.”

“And look how that turned out. I don’t plan on going on another one any time soon.”

As he gets us each out a slice of pizza, I ask, “What about you? Shouldn’t you be out looking for the next hottie to bring home for the evening?”

“Nah. Not tonight. Figured I’d come here and see if you wanted to continue Gilmore Girls.”

“Does a bear shit in the woods?” I joke.

“Is the pizza okay?” He asks. “I didn’t know what you liked on it, so I kept it simple.”

“Yeah, it’s good,” I tell him, leaving out the fact that the cheese will have my stomach revolting against me by tomorrow.

“I’m still trying to figure out where the best pizzas are. In New York, there’s roughly a million pizza joints.”

I laugh. “Give or take a few. I’m a life-long New Yorker, so I can give you a few of my favorites sometime if you want.”

“That would be great.” He takes a bite. “So, do you like living in New York?”

“It’s my favorite place in the whole world—not that I’ve ever been a lot of other places.”

“What’s the best thing about New York?”

I think for a moment, trying to narrow it down to just one thing. Finally, I settle on, “It’s just like its own little world. Anything and everything you need is right here. It’s just its own self-contained biome.”

He chuckles a little.

“What’s so funny?” I ask.

“I like my small town back home for the same reason. It’s its own little world. I never thought that you could compare that town to New York.”

“Where’s that small town?”

“Nebraska. The small town isn’t too far from Omaha.”

I smile. “Nebraska, huh? That makes total sense.”

“Oh, yeah? Why do you say that?”

“Because you are just so…nice.”

He laughs. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

I feel my cheeks turning red as I worry I may have offended him. “No! Not a bad thing,” I try to backtrack. “It’s really not. Just that kind of attitude isn’t all that common around here. It’s…refreshing. It’s…”

“Weird?” He finishes for me. “I’m just giving you shit. I know that I stick out like a sore thumb in New York.”

“Not looks-wise,” I defend. “You’ve got the whole dark and brooding thing going on, which fits in well. But then, I get to know you, and you’re just so nice. Clearly a Midwestern trait.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot. Do you think New Yorkers aren’t nice?”

“It’s not that. People are just busy with their own lives. Things move so fast around here that it can be hard to keep up. The nice is still there; it just takes a little bit to find. People have their own business and don’t tend to get into other’s.”

“That’s all people do in small towns.”

I point at him. “That sounds like my worst nightmare.”

“I won’t lie. It can be a pain sometimes.”

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