"Some infinities are simply bigger than other infinities."

~The Fault in Our Stars

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"You ready?" Ethan asked, peeking his head into the kitchen.

Kelsey unbuttoned her chef's coat and dusted off a little flour that had gotten on the black tank top underneath. She pulled on a light yellow cardigan and picked up her purse. "Yep."

Sandy was having a party, or "summer soiree", as she called it, with a group of fancy bloggers in the area that night.

Sandy had met Kelsey early that morning and told her the plans before she went to work.

She had explained every detail of the "soiree" elaborately, making it sound exciting, and making it clear that they didn't include Kelsey.

"And, I mean, it'd be okay if you had to stay here," Sandy said, clearly insinuating that it should be the absolute last resort.

"Oh," Kelsey had said. "No, um, I'll make plans elsewhere."

Sandy breathed a sigh of relief and squeezed Kelsey's arm. "You understand, right? It's not you. I just think you'd feel a little out of place with all these crazy bloggers parading around the house."

They'd both laughed about it, but Kelsey couldn't help but revisit her high school memories of not being cool enough to go to her classmate's parties.

She'd never wanted to go—just like she didn't want to join Sandy's get together—but still, she secretly wanted to be invited.

It had put her in quite a spot, however. What was she going to do? Wander the streets of L.A.? Sit in a café?

And Sandy kept dodging the question of when the party would be over.

"I'll text you when everyone leaves," she'd said, which didn't help Kelsey in the least.

She'd thought of a thousand things she could do, but came up short. For all she knew, the party could last anywhere from ten to four a.m. Unless she wanted to spend the night in a casino, there wasn't much she felt safe doing alone at night.

So, despite her better judgement, she'd called Ethan during her lunch break. She kept pretending that things were back to normal, that he was the same guy he'd always been. And, in a way, he still was.

"Thanks for this," Kelsey said, following him to his car outside.

"Not a problem," he replied cheerily, opening the door for her before going around to his side and starting the engine. "Too bad it took your roommate giving you the boot for you to be able to discover the best pizza in California."

Kelsey raised her eyebrows. "Is that where we're going?"

"Dude, I've been thinking about this pizza ever since my sister's graduation last weekend. They served some crap on top of flatbread, called it pizza, and I've been craving the real stuff ever since."

"Ew."

"Exactly. Now, Kelsey," he said, his voice growing serious, "are you a pineapple pizza weirdo?"

Kelsey smiled demurely. "Yes," she admitted. "Sue me."

"Noooo," Ethan groaned. "We can't even be friends anymore."

"Excuse me, but who's the chef here? You think I'd be the expert on the subject."

"Oh no, you've apparently got a lot to learn."

Kelsey smiled and watched the movie set pass by, now eerily quiet after-hours.

Sitting in the car next to Ethan felt different this time. It wasn't two people trying not to bump elbows on the center console anymore.

There was a tiny part of Kelsey that felt like he was a stranger. She'd made up so many scenarios in her head over the last four days, she didn't know which one was true, if any of them. It was hard to look at him clearly—like his face had been blurred out and a question mark had replaced it.

"You okay?" Ethan asked, glancing at her.

"Oh, yeah," Kelsey replied, "fine."

They pulled up to a greasy looking place at the corner of a moldy building. A gas station stretched out to the side, and the windows were dark, with a neon "open" sign hanging in one of them.

Kelsey had half-expected some fancy Californian pizza joint, with a menu of unorthodox flavors that probably included avocado and seafood.

Instead, what she was looking at was a typical storefront called Monte's Pizzeria and Grocery.

"It doesn't look like much, but trust me," Ethan promised.

"You haven't failed me before," Kelsey replied, still a little wary.

They walked inside and she was surprised to see that there were at least fifteen people in line to either pick up an order or pay for groceries.

There were about seven small aisles of food adjacent to the seating area, and Kelsey realized they sold Italian foodstuffs. Pasta, sauce, flour, and pesto were among some of the things she saw as they made their way up to the front.

"Ah, hey!" An Italian voice called.

A short, fat man waddled by, carrying a giant tray of food. He waved to Ethan when he passed.

"That's Monte," Ethan informed Kelsey.

She nodded.

They found a seat in the corner and a tall, lanky, black-haired guy walked up.

He and Ethan did a handshake/fistbump and the guy said, "I figured I'd be seeing you here on Saturday, man. We had half-off pizzas."

"I was at my sister's graduation," Ethan explained.

The guy then noticed Kelsey for the first time and he lifted a bushy eyebrow, then glanced at Ethan. He had an unspoken thought going through his head, and Kelsey could only guess what it was.

"Uh, this is my friend Kelsey," Ethan said. "I figured she needed to try your dad's famous pizza before the other places could convert her. Kelsey, this is Anthony."

"Nice to meet you," Kelsey said.

"You as well. Welcome to the best pizzeria in all of California, though I have to say I'm partial."

Kelsey laughed. "By the looks of it, half the county's here, so it has to be pretty amazing."

Anthony turned to Ethan and gave an 'okay' sign. "Keep her around, Glenn. She knows good food when she sees it."

Ethan looked at Kelsey and grinned. "You have no idea."

He rushed off to get their drinks and Kelsey chuckled. "He seems nice."

"He's a good guy," Ethan agreed. "He paid his way through college working here—got a degree in fish science."

Kelsey suppressed a laugh. "What?"

"No idea," Ethan shrugged. "He loves it here and he's going to take over when his dad retires. But now he knows a lot about fish, I guess."

They chatted until their food came—a giant pizza with pepperoni the size of Kelsey's palm on top. Globs of fresh mozzarella were dotted across the entire thing, and Kelsey found out that Monte had spent ten years perfecting the art of making mozzarella, importing it from somewhere in Sicily, and making fifty pounds of it every morning.

The sauce was mild, but rich, with fresh undertones of garlic and tomato and basil.

"I don't have words," Kelsey uttered through a mouthful of cheese and bread.

Ethan grinned and nodded sagely.

They ate in relative silence, each one too enamored by the food to think of much conversation.

After two and a half pieces, Kelsey was so full, she was pretty sure she wouldn't want to eat until next week. She propped her cheek on her fist and swirled her straw around the red cup her root beer had come in.

"So," Ethan said, finishing off a parmesan-doused crust, "how'd your party go? I know I saw you after it, but I forgot to ask."

Kelsey stopped stirring her straw and looked up at him. "Uh, good."

"Just good?" He pried. "Come on, Kelsey! Tell me about the cheese puffs! I've got to know!"

Kelsey offered a half smile. She'd thought Becca would tell him—or assumed, rather. Was he just trying to test her to see if she'd come clean? But Ethan's face was innocent. Then again, it always looked innocent, and Kelsey had believed it until now.

She bit her lip and looked down.

"Hey," Ethan said, his voice dropping a few notches, "what's wrong? Did it not work out?"

"It was Becca Lynn's party," Kelsey blurted.

Ethan blinked and sat back.

"Oh," was all he said.

"I didn't tell you," Kelsey said, "I just thought it'd be awkward, you know?"

"Why?" Ethan asked, looking genuinely hurt.

Kelsey searched for words. She hadn't been prepared for this conversation. "I just, I don't know. I would've told you if you were going to the party, but since you weren't..."

"I don't go to Becca's parties," Ethan stated seriously, but didn't elaborate.

Kelsey gulped and nodded. She was surprised at the relief she felt knowing that he didn't do that sort of thing. Then she was embarrassed that she'd been a part of it. "I'm sorry. Really. I should've told you, but I'm kinda surprised Becca didn't?'

A look of concern hardened Ethan's features, and Kelsey hadn't realized how cheerful he always was until, suddenly, he wasn't. "You talked to Becca?"

Kelsey chewed on the inside of her cheek. "I—I did. She recognized me from lunchtime on the set."

Ethan stared at her for a second, and she could see his brain calculating, wondering what they could've talked about. Not wanting to reveal something he shouldn't.

Kelsey stared back, doing some calculating of her own. She had to ask. To ease her own conscience. To get rid of the tension she felt. "Ethan, who—"

"You guys are taking up my table!" Anthony reminded them, casually dropping their bill on top of the to-go box he'd brought.

Ethan averted his gaze and paid.

They walked to the car in silence, and Kelsey grew increasingly nervous. From Ethan's composure, her mind was racing in all directions at once. Was he mad at her for not telling him? For talking to Becca? Or was he afraid she'd found out about whatever it was he'd been hiding?

Was his past as bad as Kelsey had thought?

She slid into her seat and glanced at Ethan. She could tell he was straining to be lighthearted.

"Have you seen a California sunset yet?" He asked. 

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~What do you think of Kelsey and Ethan's pizza "date"?

~What do you think Ethan's hiding?

~General thoughts in the chapter?

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