When Red Velvet is Your Weakness

You were hungry. Honestly starving. And your stomach’s cries were getting worse by the second. Now, this could be easily remedied by finishing up your leftovers back at home. The Italian sausage pasta you made a couple of days ago was still good. You were sure of it. But you didn’t want any tonight. For whatever reason, you were just not in the mood. Now, usually when you felt this way about leftovers, you would grab some emergency hot dogs from the freezer and treat yourself to that.

However, it was with great horror that you realized, as you searched for them, that there were no hot dogs to be found. Absolutely none.

But since you had already planned on not finishing your Italian sausage pasta tonight, you huffed as you walked out the door and headed to the mall. A voice in your mind told you that it would be less stressful if you just drove to the supermarket. It would be cheaper if you just made your own food, even if you just bought more emergency hot dogs. You spent a little too much last month, so you were trying to be more mindful of your budget in this month.

But you shut that voice down by saying that you did enough driving today. That gas wasn’t cheap right now. The mall was only about five minutes away on foot, so really, this was quicker. And maybe even healthier since you had to walk there. You had been craving Asian lately anyway, and the Asian restaurant in the food court should satisfy that craving just fine. Your budget would be just fine.

At least, that was what you thought. You were in the mall now, heading straight for the food court when you realized that it had been a while since you had eaten there. Were the prices still the same? Or...did they jump? Like...a lot?

You were now wondering if you should have listened to that little voice in your head.

Then you smelt it. Spices accentuated the cheese and the tomato as it penetrated your nostril, causing you to stop with a smile. You knew this smell well. It was unmistakably pizza. Your stomach rolled with hunger and desire as you looked around. There was a pizza restaurant in the food court, but you weren’t near the food court yet. Right?

Then you saw him. A man carrying a plate of pizza. When he went towards the back of the store and out of sight, you looked up and saw that the store was called Playing with Dragons. You instantly remembered that you went inside this store back when it first opened. It was a DnD store, complete with dice and figurines. There were even tables in the back, where people could play Dungeons and Dragons or any board game that they so desired. You never came back because, while you personally didn’t have anything against the game, you didn’t play it either.

Without much thought, you entered the store and headed for the back. When you reached the table section, you stopped once more.

There were boxes upon boxes of pizza on a long table. No, scratch that. It was actually three tables pushed together so that all the pizza could fit. Along with bags of chips and vegetable trays with ranch. And a big cake that had already been cut into.

It was red velvet.

You love red velvet.

Your stomach grumbled as your mouth started to water. All cravings for Asian food left your mind as you gulped your saliva back down. As you looked around, it did not take you long to see familiar cone hats strapped to people’s heads as they ate their food. It took even less time for you to spy the “Happy Birthday Cole” right above the food.

A birthday party, then...you didn’t know that you could have birthday parties in mall stores. But since people were allowed to play their own games here, it made sense to you. Everyone here was probably a regular at Playing with Dragons, or at least knew a regular. Too bad you only went here once. You might have been invited otherwise.

Then again….

You looked at all the people mingling with each other, none of them paying any attention to you. No one was ready to stop you from just grabbing some food to go. And even if they did see you, they might just assume you were invited.

So what was stopping you from getting some free food? Food that was right in front of you?

Well, morality, perhaps. At best, you were crashing a party and at worst, you were stealing food. But there was so much pizza. Would they really be upset if a piece or two went missing? Or three with a few veggies and chips? Though-

Your stomach growled in impatience. It hurt. Not enough to place your hand on your stomach in reflex, but close. Very close.

...You couldn’t afford to wait to eat anymore.

You were worried about your budget after all.

Having come to a firm resolution, you walked to the table, doing your best to act as if you belonged there. The smile on your face, mostly real, grew as you grabbed a paper plate and pulled a slice of pepperoni pizza away from the cardboard box.

Although you didn’t make a sound, seeing the cheese from your chosen slice tear from the others made the saliva pool in your mouth again. Any hesitation that you might have had disappeared as you grabbed another pepperoni slice and scooted over to get to the chips. A minute later, your plate was full and heavy with samples of all the goodies, that is except for the cake. You eyed your plate, wondering how you were going to fit the cake on there when you saw the mini plates by the cake. So after carefully placing your big plate down, you served yourself a piece of cake on a new plate.

Once done, you took a big breath, and after some careful maneuvering, you were holding a plate securely in each hand. Alright, you should be able to carry these until you get home...or till you get to the food court? Yeah, that might be safer. And quicker-

“So, how do you know Cole?” You froze in place as you turned your head to see a tall man with a blue birthday hat, smiling as he leaned on the table carelessly with one hand.

“Uh…” you started to say, your mind floundering for a reasonable answer. For some reason, you didn’t think you would actually get caught. But you realized that the safest answer would be that you met him here once. And since you have been to this store once before, that lie would have some truth. Not much, but still.

But before you could open your mouth, you realized that the hat that the man was wearing was a baseball cap.

Not the traditional cone hats like the others.

“...You’re Cole, aren’t you?” you said, defeated and knowing when to accept that you were caught.

“Yep. The hat gave it away, huh?” Cole said as he tilted his special baseball cap slightly. Then he pushed himself off the table, prompting you to move to put the plates back on the table.

If you apologize and exit quickly, you should get away unscath-

Right before you could place the plates on the table, Cole touched your shoulder.

“Ah, don’t worry, I ain’t mad,” Cole said with a reassuring smile. “You can eat that. You can even have more. We figured something like this might happen, so we ordered a heck ton. We were also expecting more people to show up, so honestly, you’re helping us out.”

“Really?...Thank you,” you said, surprised but relieved.

It was just as you thought-

“With that said, you do have to do one thing for us.”

Ah, there it was. Of course there was a catch. But as you looked down at the pizza and the delicious red velvet, you decided it was probably fair. You did crash Cole’s party.

And if the thing was really that bad, then you could always drop the food and run.

“Like what?” you asked, your stomach growling terribly. Cole’s smile widened.

“Well, we’re in a DnD shop. What do ya think about doing a one-shot with us?”

Three hours later, you left Playing with Dragons with a full stomach, a bag with two sets of dice, and a promise to be there next week to start your first-ever campaign with the same people you played with tonight.

In the end, you didn’t help your budget. But hey, your stomach is happy, you have new friends, and you have a new hobby now.

It all worked out.

With that said, you would think twice before crashing a party just for the food again.