The Handsome Interruption

I had been sitting inside my house, waiting for the call from my boyfriend to confirm our plans for tonight.

It didn't come.

I thought we were going to be hanging out at my place, watching a movie, having a drink, the works. But his phone seemed busy. I didn't push the matter more. After all, I wanted some time to work on my manuscript, as I was an author. I was writing a romance story and needed the peace and quiet.

It was now 7 pm. My boyfriend still hadn't called me back. It left me worried, but I assumed he had his own life and was busy with friends or something.

I sat down at my computer and started typing away. The romance story I was working on was a good one. It was a about a woman who finds love at a pool. She's set to be married but ends up falling for this other man. I wanted to make this a really nice story that would grab people's attention. Make it a beach read or fast paced read.

As I worked on the story, I heard a knock on the door. I jumped. Who could it be now? I walked over to the door and opened it just a crack. It was a delivery man. He was dressed in a red and black shirt and shorts and wore a red hat

"Yes?" I asked.

"Pizza delivery for a Ms. Danica Flowers?"

"I didn't order any pizza," I said, puzzled.

"We received an order for this address." The delivery man didn't seem to care about my perplexed face.

"I see. Should I pay now?" I asked dumbly.

"No need to. They already paid for your order."

"They?"

"Someone named--" The man looked down at the receipt. "--Sam Kentworth."

I stopped. "My boyfriend ordered pizza for me?" I asked, incredulously.

"If that's who he is, I guess so. It's all paid for. Here you go." The man handed me the box. I asked him to wait there so I could pay him a tip. I scrambled into the kitchen to set the pizza box down and grab some bills from my wallet.

After I paid the man, he smiled and said, "Thank you very much."

"No problem, have a good night!" I called out.

After the pizza delivery man left, I stared at the cheese pizza, confused. Why did Sam order a pizza for me, if he wasn't picking up my phone calls? I tried calling him again, but he didn’t pick up.

Frustration hit me. Perhaps he was out with another woman, and to cover it up, he bought me this pizza? No. I struck the thought out of my mind. That couldn't be. Why would I even think that?

I went back to my computer, munched on the pizza slices and continued writing, while listening to music on my desktop's Spotify. The peace and quiet and the sound of my music playing in my ears resonated.

An hour later, my phone buzzed. I sighed in frustration. My peace and quiet was momentarily abandoned.

I reached to pick it up. My heart dropped. It was not Sam. It was from Tom, my next-door neighbor and the town's most eligible bachelor. Apparently all the women liked him and wanted to marry him. Sporting a beard, a blue t-shirt and jeans, he looked like a Hollywood hero.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Danica, hey. I was wondering if you're busy tonight."

Yes, I'm very busy, I thought. Very busy all alone with pizza and my made up world of romance.

"Not really. Why what's up?" I ended up saying.

"My TV is not turning on. The remote doesn't seem to be working or something. Do you know how to fix this problem? It's much too late for a repairman and I see your light are on, so I thought I'd ask you..."

I groaned. I didn't want to fix other people's problems when I had yet to resolve my own. Plus, I had never been to Tom's house before and that too, alone. Would it be right?

"Have you tried keeping your fingers on the power button? Sometimes that works. "

"I tried everything, love, Believe me." Love? The heck? I couldn't take him seriously with the slight grin he had on his face at first.

 "Okay...I see. Um, I was kind of busy with work, stuff" I lied. "But if you really need help--"

"I do. I'm going to be entertaining a friend tonight and don't want to have a broken TV."

Silence. "What do you want me to do?" I asked, after a few seconds.

"Can your possibly come over and fix it for me?" Tom had turned serious. His tone was genuine. I knew he was speaking the truth, but I didn't like being constantly interrupted in my writing routine.

I then thought of Sam and how he could be out with friends, having his own fun. I might as well help a neighbor. I closed the laptop and walked out of my house, with my phone and jacket on.

I knocked on Tom's door. He opened it with tenacity and worry.

"Please help me out," he said, motioning to the living room. The TV sat on the wall; it was wide-screened. He handed me the X-finity remote.

"I'm no engineer or expert but I’ll try." I reassured him.

I pressed the power button multiple times. Nothing worked. I then asked Tom to check his network connection on his computer, as maybe an interception or lack of it was causing the problem.

When he did, he came back. "It's working fine."

"I don't know what seems to be the problem then." I said, genuinely confused.

"Well then. I guess I'll have to entertain without a guest."

I laughed. "Well since it's you, I bet your guest will be entertained with or without a TV."

After saying this I realized I shouldn’t have said that. It was time for me to go.

"Thanks for the help," Tom said, looking me in the eyes.

"Yep. I tried all I could. Hope you have a good evening." I was about to walk out, when I paused. I saw a poster on his foyer wall. It was a movie poster of the movie Pillow Talk with Rock Hudson and Doris Day. It looked vintage, of course, but the bright colors and images popped out to me. I found myself staring at it.

"My ex-girlfriend gave it to me," Tom explained walking over.

"I see. Lucky you. This is a great movie."

"It is. I didn't know you liked old movies."

"You don’t know me at all then. I love them."

"Me too," he smiled. "We can watch one of them, once my TV works. "

I nodded. Then I remembered. "I can't actually. I have a boyfriend. But we can make it a group thing. You, me, my boyfriend and your friend."

Tom's eyes went down. He seemed a little upset. "Is that so? I didn't know. I always see you alone."

"Are you watching me?" I narrowed my gaze at him. I didn’t know Tom well and we had exchanged numbers at a house party, but that was a few months ago. I hadn’t received a call from him ever. So it was a surprise he actually noticed me all these days.

"No, it's just that whenever I get back home, I see you arrive as well. And you're always alone. I didn't know you had a boyfriend."

"Yeah, well that's because he doesn't pick up my phone calls and doesn't bother to want to meet me."

I was still salty over the fact I could have been cuddling on the couch, watching a movie, when instead, I was talking to my neighbor about my relationship problems.

"I'm sorry." There was a long pause after he said that. I looked around awkwardly.

"Well, have a good evening, Hope you and your girlfriend have fun."

I walked out of his house, feeling worse than when I entered. TV or no TV he wouldn’t be alone at least. I got back inside and called Sam again.

This time he picked up. "Sam! Finally! Where are you? What happened to us having a movie night?"

"I'm sorry Danica. I don't know how to tell you this," he said. "But I found someone else and am going to be with her. I couldn’t tell you in person, as I am not brave enough to. I hope you understand. So, I'm breaking up with you, if you didn't understand my drift. I hope you like the pizza I ordered, as a parting gift."

The tears welled up in my eyes as I felt like throwing something to the ground. How dare he do this to me, and that took over phone? Did he think I was an idiot?

"Screw you Sam! I waited all night for your call and this is what you say to me? Well, we're done. Have a nice day, have a nice life." I hung up. "UGHHHH!" I then yelled.

How could this be happening to me? I just wanted a quiet evening without interruptions and now this had to be the icing on the cake. Two years of being with Sam meant nothing?

Great, just great.

I should have just stayed at Tom's. Maybe I'd be more happier discussing Pillow Talk than I would, hearing Sam’s announcement.

I put my phone down and my head in my arms, crying. I lost the mood to write.

I was in two cents whether to go to Tom's and vent out my frustration, but I had just told him I had a boyfriend, so it would look silly if I went back and said, "I don’t have a boyfriend anymore now."

I pondered on what to do, alone, when a knock fell at my door. Not again, I thought. Who was it this time? If it wasn't Tom, I wasn't interested.

I opened it with great might. To my relief, it was Tom.

"What?" I asked, in a harsh tone.

He could tell I was crying. "You good? Everything all right?"

"No, everything's not alright. What is it?"

"You left your jacket. Here it is." Tom held out my green zipped jacket.

"Oh. Thank you. I didn’t realize I left it there."

Tom nodded. Then he asked. "Are you alright? You can tell me."

"Alright is an understatement. I'm just fantastic. Great! I could jump with joy."

Tom didn't believe me. "I'm sorry whatever it is--"

"My boyfriend broke up with me over phone just now.” There I said it.

“What?” Really?” He frowned.

“Yes. I feel terrible. I shouldn’t have expected much. He’s a real pig.”

“I agree. No man should ever do that.”

I sipped my eyes. “I’m sure you have better things to do than worry about my problems. Leave me be.”

Tom sighed. “Well, I came here to return your jacket. And to tell you my friend won’t make it tonight. She’s caught up in her thesis work.”

“Ah, a grad student you’re dating. How nice.”

“We’re not dating. I’m just a colleague in the same class as her. Literature.”

I nodded.

“If it makes you feel better, can I come inside, provide some moral support? We can watch some TV.”

I thought of his offer. “Uh, sure. Why not?” A little company didn’t hurt. I was over Sam now. And as for my writing, I didn’t care for it for the time being.

Tom sat down on the couch while I grabbed drinks from the kitchen. We drank our glasses of wine, me sitting on one end and Tom sitting on the other end. We watched some Downton Abbey for a while, laughing at scenes and admiring the characters. I then commented, “Thank you, Tom. I appreciate this.”

“We all could use a little company,” he said, clinking his glass to mine.

I felt at peace all of a sudden. It felt nice having someone over, whom I could share my problems with.

After watching, Tom got up. “I should go,” he said. I secretly didn’t want him to, but I kept a neutral face.

“Alright, if you have to,” I said.

“It was fun. We should do this again. Now that you don’t have a boyfriend,” he winked.

As if on impulse, I suddenly hugged him. Perhaps I needed that moral support.

“Thank you, for making tonight better,” I said, sniffling. Then I pulled away, composing myself.

Tom smiled. He returned the hug back. “You know something? The reason I came over asking for help with my TV was to get to know you better. I always wanted to talk to you, but you seemed so busy in your own world, I didn’t bother trying to interact with you. So thank you for letting me have this first time conversation with you.”

I stood there, silent. Taking in his words, I didn’t realize how genuine Tom seemed. He wasn’t the hard-to-get bachelor that neighbors sought him out to be.

“I don’t know what to say, except---that’s pretty cool. I didn’t know you were interested in me.”

“I was interested to get to know you, but now I think I kinda like you.”

I smiled for the first time that night. We stood there in silence, not knowing what to do. Tom leaned in and kissed me. I felt warm all of a sudden.

“I’m sorry,” Tom said, leaning back. “That was wrong—”

“No, no,” I said. “It was alright.”

We kissed again. We went back to the couch where we lay there for the rest of the night. We ended up falling asleep that way.

The following days, we both watched more old movies while entertaining our mutual friends. Tom and I had a lot more in common than I knew—we both loved movies, loved watching TV shows, and loved writing.

Safe to say, my interrupted evening, starting with the pizza delivery man to Tom’s appearance made the evening a lot more interesting than it would have, if none of it had happened.

 THE END