It had been a rough week
, I thought to myself as I pumped gas, getting ready for my DoorDash shift. I had already worked my 40 hours at my regular job, and now it was time to spend my weekend delivering food. It was a fun gig most of the time; I set my own hours, I got to listen to my own music and enjoy the solitude of the drive. Last week had been trying: a number of cancelled orders and long waits at busy restaurants surrounded by noise and impatient people. The thing that had made it all worth it had been one delivery in particular. The restaurant had the food ready to go, and when I arrived at the apartment, I was greeted by an enthusiastic German Shepard named Thor, who nearly bowled me over when his owner opened the door. Her name was Naomi, and she was disarmingly cute. She was flustered, and overly apologetic as I laughed off the assault by Thor. I pet him and scratched behind his ears, chatted with Naomi for a minute while she got him calmed down and back inside, and then gave her the food she had ordered, wished her a great night, and continued on with my Dash. A few minutes after leaving her place, I got a text from one of the masked numbers DoorDash uses for communication between drivers and customers, thanking me for the delivery, and for putting up with her knucklehead of a dog. I told her it was my pleasure, and that I hoped to be able to deliver to her again, and say hi to the both of them.
I was snapped back to the present but the click of the gas handle signalling my tank was full.
Ready for the night, I turned on my DoorDash app and got to work. The first couple of hours flew by and everything was going smoothly. I had just dropped off a delivery to a hungry family with 3 rambunctious kids running around the house, when my phone pinged a new order. I looked down and saw the name 'Naomi R.' and my heart skipped. I couldn't be sure if it was her, but the whole drive to the pizza place to pick up the food, I was hoping it would be. I waited a couple of minutes for the food to be ready, and then swiped right to update the app and get the delivery location. A huge smile blossomed on my face: it was her apartment. I tapped the link to contact her via text.
Hi Naomi, it's Scott! I was the Dasher who Thor affectionately assaulted last week. I've got your order for tonight, and I'm on the way. See you and Thor soon!
I hopped in my car, slid the food in my delivery bag, and turned out of the lot and onto the street. It was a minute or two later when I got a reply:
Hi Scott! We can't wait!
It took about ten minutes before I got to her apartment complex, and a couple of minutes to get out and up to her apartment, which was on the 15th floor. The elevators just happened to be out of service for the weekend. I was slightly out of breath by the time I got up to the right floor, and then it was down the long hallway and around the corner to her apartment. I knocked on the door, and then braced myself for the welcome by Thor. The door opened, Naomi was standing there, and next thing I know, she was in my arms. Thor had tried to push his way through from between her legs, but only succeeded in toppling her into me. I caught her, stumbling backwards and almost dropping the pizza, while Thor pushed his way out into the hall, trying to smell the bag of food and lick my hand at the same time. It was then that I noticed that Naomi was clinging tightly to my arm. I looked down at her, and she sheepishly smiled and then went red, let go of my arm, and practically jumped back to her doorway.
"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry again!" She said, reaching down and grabbing Thor by his collar and pulling him back into the apartment. "This guy is just too much sometimes."
"I don't mind at all. I've got 4 dogs at home, and I love the attention. Honestly, I wish I could come see Thor every day. And you too, I might add. You're the best part of my night again, hands down. I got excited when I saw your name pop up for a delivery." She smiled, turned even redder than she already was, and glanced down the at the ground for a moment, then down the hallway behind me, then back to my face.
"You must be exhausted from trudging up all the stairs to get here, with the elevator being busted. And then saving me from eating carpet because of my dumb dog here." She said. I noticed she was nervously picking at one of her fingernails. She briefly glanced down again, and then when she looked up at me, I noticed a brief glint of something pass across her face. "W-would you like to come inside for a moment? I can give you a glass of a water, and if you needed to use the bathroom, you're welcome to it. It's totally okay if you're not allowed to, but it's the least I can do."
"Technically, I'm not supposed to enter anyone's residence when I deliver food," I began, "but you don't strike me as a serial killer, and I do actually need to use the bathroom. Really badly, now that I think about it. Are you sure it's ok? I don't want you to feel uncomfortable. Strange guy like me and all."
"I insist, please," she replied, stepping back and motioning me inside, "based on Thor's response, you're basically a member of the pack. He never gets that excited, especially around men."
After walking in, I set the bag of food down on the counter, took a moment to swipe complete on the delivery, and then paused the app so I wouldn't get any more orders for a bit. Naomi pointed me to the bathroom, and I made a quick pit stop. When I came back out, she was behind the counter of the little kitchen area, facing away from me. I couldn't help looking, she had a nice ass. She was curvy, a little chubby, and was wearing a pair of comfy pajama pants and a tank top. Her feet were bare and her hair was pulled back into a sloppy ponytail that hung down just below the top of her shoulder blades. She was reaching up to grab a glass out of the cabinet, and this gave a nice profile of her back curving out to her hips. I felt Thor walk up and lean against my leg, and I absentmindedly scratched behind his ears while I took in the sight of Naomi. She turned, and i think she noticed me looking, because she turned slightly red again. She filled the glass with water, and handed it to me on the other side of the counter. I thanked her, and then downed the glass while she pulled her pizza out of the bag.
"So, I had ordered this pizza for myself a friend, but my friend bailed. Would you like to stay for a bit and have a bite to eat?" She asked, pulling a couple of plates from the cabinet behind her again. "I could really use the company, to be honest. it's been a really shitty week, and it would be nice to sit down with someone and ignore it all for a while."
"I've got about 20 minutes before my break is over, I'd love to stay and keep you company." I replied with a smile. "I'm sorry you had a bad week, Naomi. I hope it gets better. Now, that pizza smells delicious, let's eat!" She served me a couple slices, grabbed two for herself, and we went and sat at her little dining table off the living room. We chatted about Thor, and my dogs, and she asked about my deliveries. I told her about a couple of the interesting ones I'd had since I started, and we laughed at how weird people can be. Next thing I know, my phone is buzzing, letting me know my break was almost over.
"Naomi, thank you so much for this, it was wonderful." I said with a smile. "I have to get going, but I would really enjoy spending some more time with you, if you'd be willing." I got up from the table and set my empty plate on her kitchen counter. When I turned back, she had a thoughtful, distant look in her eyes. After a moment, she looked up at me, and grinned.
"I'd like that." She replied as she got up from the table. "I would love to meet your dogs, maybe we can have a play date next week sometime?"