Conquer and Triumph in Smoke

Yes, the title of this post is not lying. I did conquer. I conquered "him" and I'm very proud of myself for it, I admit. Now, what "him" am I talking about, you ask yourself?

Well, "he" is my nemesis.

Y'all know that I didn't like having a nemesis, so I don't need to restate that. I mean, it made for interesting stories, but in the moment I definitely wasn't happy with it. And I knew he was an okay guy because he got along with everyone else at work. He just wasn't in favor of being friends with me, I guess. And knowing this, I wasn't going to force him to like me. I figured he'd either come around, or we'd just not talk to each other for the duration of our lives. Either way, I was resolved to be fine with it.

Well. A week and a half ago I was working the Friday night shift. Cameron asked me to make him a chocolate milk, and because I was slammed at the time he had to "remind" me to make it for him twice. I did eventually get five minutes of downtime and I whipped up a chocolate milk for him. He wasn't at his station when I was finished with it, so I left it on the pizza counter for him, thinking he'd just see it when he came back. I'd done my job and life was good.

Orrrr, so I thought...

Half an hour later Cameron comes up to me and says "You're dead to me, Addie", and stalked off. I eventually got it out of him that he didn't get the chocolate milk I made for him. He didn't even know I'd done it. When I told him that I had made it for him and had left it on his counter for him, he got this crazy look on his face and turned to the other pizza dudes.
Cameron: "Johnny!!! You drank my milk!!"
Johnny: "What the heck are you talking about, man?"
Cameron: "Did you drink the chocolate milk that Addie left on the counter here?"
Johnny: "... that was yours? Matt drank it."
At that moment, Matt came around the corner and walked right into Cameron's mad gaze.
Matt: "... what."
Cameron: "You drank the milk that Addie made for me!"
Matt: "Oh. That was yours? It was awesome."
Johnny and I had been laughing through most of this, and we straightened up as Cameron turned back to us.
Cameron: "Make me another one."
Me: "Yes sir!"
Matt: "Yeah, and make another for me too! It was good."

I went back to my counter and started preparing their drinks. I heard Johnny complaining in the background that everyone was getting chocolate milk but him. So I made a third one. He was surprised and happy, and Cameron rolled his eyes and teased me about having taken an hour to make it, and Matt began chugging it down. They were one happy team of pizza makers after that.

When I got to work last Friday (the week after the events above took place), Matt called to me as he passed through the sando line behind me, "You know what I want, Addie." And I did. So I made him his milk, and he thanked me and was happy.

So, I've found my nemesis' weakness. Chocolate milk. And apparently I make the best he's had in a while, cause he keeps asking me to make it for him. Thus, I think its safe to say that he isn't my nemesis anymore. He doesn't glare at me like he used to, and he talks to me occasionally now. He knows that I can do something that he likes, and I guess that got us past whatever it was that he didn't like about me before.

I no longer have a nemesis. I have a friend named Matt.