D8: Donate or Danny Eats His Way Happy

From C8:
When Danny had balked at Roddy's assumption that they'd share a pie, he'd joked that he'd promised some pizza to one of his housemates and her girlfriend. Quickly enough, they'd started calling the second pizza the "girlfriend" pie. Now, two years and fifty-two pounds later, the joke was flavored with bile.

He folded two twenties into Mike's hand and waved off the change, backing into the wall to swing the door shut with one hand, using the same hand to turn the bolt.

Feeding slice after slice into his mouth as he watched TV, Danny tried to imagine himself at the mall the next morning. To turn himself into the chipper, muscular host on TV.

He'd been made assistant manager by Solange largely, she'd informed him, "due to the quality of his displays, not the quality of his work." He'd grinned, given her the finger behind her back, and treated her to a giant mochachino in thanks.

On the couch, first pizza downed, moving onto just a slice or two of the second, Danny was happy. Glad to have donated the nine dollar tip to Mike's middle-aged life. It felt like a down payment on something, he mused, opening the Phish Food and nestling under a blanket with only the ice cream and spoon exposed. A down payment, he thought, on the skinnier, happier Danny he couldn't yet find it in himself to see.