Second Creative Writing Challenge Task #2: Tom's Pizza and Joey's Pasta

This is a story of rivalry, romance, and revenge.

Everything started when Tom was 27 and Joey was 28. They both lived in Gruene, Texas, although neither had grown up there.

Joey had worked his way up from busboy to fry cook to sous chef at restaurants across the Midwest. He dreamed of being a head chef with control over his own menu.

Meanwhile, Tom had mentored under his father’s restaurant business, Big J’s Famous Ribs in Dallas, and wanted to manage his own. He was a whiz with numbers and finances and kept the books ship-tight enough to weather any storm.

It would have been the perfect partnership, if it weren’t for the fact that they didn’t find each other until after they had both purchased restaurant properties, right across the street from each other on Cypress Avenue.

On one side of the street, a sign read “Tom’s Pizza”. On the other, “Joey’s Pasta”.

Each man lived in a small apartment above their respective restaurant, with their curtains shut tight against the offensive sight of their rival. Tom and Joey refused to set foot in the other’s place of business and instead spread nasty rumors about the other.

One townsperson would say, “Did you hear Joey never cleans his kitchen - it’s infested with rats!” And another would reply, “Yes, but I heard Tom is so stingy he passes rats off as a sausage to save money.”

Both their businesses suffered as a consequence.

Then, Margarita came into town. She had a dimpled smile and a waterfall of dark hair that tumbled down to her curvy hips. She was the type of big-hearted person for whom quantity mattered more than quality. She loved Italian food indiscriminately. And she loved Tom and Joey indiscriminately, too.

On Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Margarita would order the Meat Lover’s Special at Tom’s Pizza before heading upstairs to the Meat Lover’s Extra Special.

On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, she’d sashay into Joey’s Pasta and slurp down some noodles, first in the restaurant then in the bedroom.

Both men gave her sizeable discounts and didn’t question her stories about where she spent the rest of the week.

But things came to a head at church one Sunday when Tom announced his intention to marry Margarita. Joey sat in the pews shaking with rage, but he didn’t confront Tom until after the sermon. As they compared notes in a quiet corner of the churchyard, neither man had ever felt so betrayed.

Tom used the shadier side of his business contacts to purchase a very specific type of mushroom. And Joey cooked it into a beautiful mushroom risotto that he set before Margarita that Tuesday.

When it was all over, they stood side-by-side looking down at her body.

“She was going to be a veterinarian…” Joey mused sadly.

“Really? She told me she was studying to be a lawyer,” Tom said.

The official cause of death was determined to be acute food poisoning. Joey’s Pasta was shut down for health violations, but he packed up his kitchen and walked across the street to Tom’s Pizza to work as his chef.

It turns out committing murder can really bring two people together.

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Today, Tom and Joey own Tom & Joey’s Pizza-Pasta, the greatest Italian franchise in the state of Texas. Tom is 94. Joey is 95.

Tom is still the smartest accountant in town, and keeps an eye on the finances of their Italian food empire. Joey is his best friend, and still putters away in the kitchen coming up with new recipes to add to the menu.

Now, passersby see them dozing off side-by-side on a park bench and say, “Why, aren’t they so sweet? Friends and partners for all these years.” And the other adds, “You know, they never did marry. All they have is each other.”

Meanwhile, behind twitching eyelids, each man dreams of a dimpled smile and ways to destroy the other for taking away the only woman they ever loved.

Thanks for reading! The prompt for this task is here. I honestly had no idea where this story was going, but I was running out of time and had to make do with what emerged, haha. I suppose that's the fun with this kind of challenge!
-Katie, @therovingreader