BHOP.

Instead of boring you with a poorly written entry about why I would never make it as a rapper (probably because my main line would be “PANTIES PANTIES PANTIES PANTIES I’M A RAPPER”) , I will provide you with a “cover piece” that I wrote a few years ago about a friend who worked in a pizza place. Warning: it’s a little on the lengthy side.

Don’t worry though, I’ll be back later this week to write a unique, new, and sub-par entry.

With a blue apron casually slung around his waist, Peter Michaelidis wipes down the last table of the evening prior to heading home. His disheveled dark hair perches on top of a tired face as he slumps into a chair, absentmindedly watching the game on Sports Center. His weariness is warranted—he spent the day feeding swarms of drooling mouths before catering to two separate swim teams. Giving him the chance to temporarily prop his feet up, he savors the repose with a light-hearted grin. Even though he’s spent, his face never betrays anything but bright eyes and a carefree smile.

As he and a fellow employee volley absurd predictions about the football game, one last straggler shuffles into Boston House of Pizza and Peter resumes his position behind the counter. Dr. Don Lucas withdraws his hands from the pockets of his leather jacket and throws one over to Pete, an obvious invitation to shake it. He is a husky and balding trombone professor at Boston University who has been a regular customer at “BHOP” for quite some time. Professor Lucas chuckles giddily when he places his order of steak tips ‘to-go’, nostalgically remembering the days when Peter used him to test new food experiments.

“It’s always amusing to be his guinea pig,” the professor sighed in his Texan drawl. “When he goes off the menu, it gets interesting.”

Blushing a little, the cook tries to stand up for his culinary creations, but instead lets out his notoriously high-pitched giggle as a defense. Peter continues to chuckle as he prepares his prized steak tips and the two banter back and forth over the counter; their most amusing raillery focused on the temperature of Dr. Lucas’ bald head during the cold winter months in Boston and a haircut of Peter’s that went dreadfully wrong.

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