Flash Fiction Magic: In Love is here!

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When Tessa met Austin it was not love at first sight.

Two weeks in and she’d finally been scheduled the dinner rush (groan) and placed on the fry baskets (double groan). The intake of orders had slowed for like a second when this tall, unknown co-worker wearing a headset on his light-brown head of hair started pressing buttons.

Remember, she’d never been on fries before, but the first thought in her head was, Don’t touch my fries. He didn’t say hi, just made the vats stop beeping before saying, “Welcome to McDonalds. How can I help you today?” into the headset before making his way back to the drive-thru corner.

Since then, they had worked on closing shifts regularly. Tessa learned his name was Austin; he had the most ridiculous, genuine humor that she found funny. He trained her how to clean the coffee machine (dubbed FRANK-E), the ice cream machine, and the soda fountain machine in the lobby (neither had names).

Tonight, Tessa was cleaning trays, trying not to be too self-conscious of what she was doing while Austin was on his break practically on the other side of the counter.

“Hey, do you have a cell phone?”

Tessa’s knee-jerk response couldn’t be stopped: “Of course I do.”

“This is my first phone,” he said with a shrug. “Could I get your number?”

The butterflies swirled. Was this moving beyond casual, fun shift banter? Was this… Don’t get ahead of yourself. “Yes. I can give it to before I leave.”

“Cool.”

Ohmygosh! her brain was screaming. A boy had never asked for her number. We’re coworkers, friends. This is fine. It’s normal.

When her shift was over, Tessa scribbled her number and found Austin in the back washing out FRANK-E. “Here.”

Austin swiped his left hand on his black pants taking the paper from her. Their fingers brushing the teeniest bit, setting off more of those random butterflies.

“I’ll shoot you a text when my shift ends.”

Ohmygosh, Tessa’s brain screamed again while the words, “Sounds great!” came out of her mouth.

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This story was inspired by how Ant and I met at McDonalds. It was a Sunday night shift and he had been on vacation when I was hired so I didn’t know him/hadn’t worked with him yet. This is a real interaction. Actually both are. He really did ask if I had a cell phone because that one at the time was really his first one. The difference between Tessa and I–I didn’t say, “Of course I do” out loud, but I sure thought it haha

It’s also inspired by Katie Fitzgerald’s Flash Fiction that is set at a Denny’s. Because when Ant and I were dating and working at McDonalds, the only thing still open in Cameron Park after the closing shift was the Denny’s. Which, we need to go visit soon for nostalgia’s sake. Katie’s story is cute! I hope you read it too!

Follow along for more love stories at #flashfictionmagicinlove story community on Instagram hosted by author Elise Gilmore.

You can find more flash fiction I’ve written over here in the Story Corner 🙂

Happy reading!