Spicy Eats

1. A Spicy Fluffernutter

*Final vore warning*

"No Corrine," said Tara staunchly. "I've told you before, I don't do hookups or blind dates!" She had grown so tired of telling her friend and coworker this fact, that this time she nearly threw a box of plastic utensils off the restock cart in frustration.

"Relax girl, I'm just trying to help," said Corrine, sensing Tara's irritation. They wore identical turquoise vests with Bucko's Dollar Store embroidered on them, filling empty spaces on the shelves from the new truckload of sundries. Redheaded Corrine, although taller than petite dark-haired Tara, kept a distance from her impatient friend, placing a sleeve of plastic cups on an opposite shelf. "Just you've been trying these dating apps for almost a year, and every time you meet a guy in person you're disappointed. Jake's friend saw your picture on my phone, and he asked."

Feeling a poke of guilt, Tara sighed, calmly continuing to assemble the display of plastic and paper cutlery. "I overreacted, sorry," she admitted. Truthfully, Tara was irked because Corrine was right. Her most recent relationship ended over a year ago and since then she was avidly searching the internet and geosocial apps, in search of her "type" of preferred guy. Catch-22 of it all was her physical "appetites" were unorthodox, so much so that she hadn't even divulged them entirely to Corrine, or any other relations. They didn't understand what dimensions she really meant when she said she was into tall men.

A soft ding came from the front of the store as a customer at checkout rang for service. "Could you take this old man?" Tara muttered to Corrine, glancing across the store at register one. A greying man in a t-shirt waited with an armful of pet food and cat litter.

While Corrine went to ring out the customer, Tara continued restocking, ignoring chiming notifications from her cellphone in her pocket. This late in the day she wanted to wrap up tasks as swimmingly as possible before clocking out. Then she could go home alone, plop down in front of the TV, and drown her sorrows in ice cream and sangria. Maybe a guy she hadn't blocked yet on the Spice app had sexted her a dick-pic she could be flattered by before going to bed and dreaming of her true fantasy. Tara timed her duties flawlessly. When it was almost closing time at 9pm, she was wrapping up. Final items on the cart from the stockroom belonged in the food aisle, and Tara hummed that song about a final countdown, shoving jars of mayo, peanut butter and marshmallow fluff into their designated racks and cubbyholes.

Corrine, as the manager on schedule, began to disinfect the cash registers and conveyor belts upfront as Tara completed restocking. Closing time was mercifully close now. Leaning lazily against the greeting card display rack, Tara retrieved her phone to see what those noisy notifications had been. She wasn't expecting to see several orange chili pepper logos, for the Spicy Eats app. For the first time in days, she genuinely smiled. "No way, I've been matched on Spicy Eats?!" she could barely contain herself, trying to stifle a squeal of excitement.

Eagerly, Tara kept out of view from her meddlesome friend, as she scrolled through the updates and messages. After over a month, her post Mouthwatering Little Lady Wants to be Eaten received a response. After so much time without a nibble on the line, Tara began to worry she would never find a giant man whose appetite she could satisfy. A man whose Spicy Eats handle was LadyEater94 messaged her. Contents of the message were "My name's Darren. Giant man seeking little gal snack," followed by a lip-licking emoticon. According to his profile, Darren was a giant, tipping the measuring tape at 102 feet tall, nice. Very muscular, according to the picture of him in a brown uniform hoisting a bulky parcel over his shoulder. Giant Darren's bio stated he worked as a deliveryman for the Gigantic Parcel Service.

"Swipe right!" said Tara with a perky excited crack in her voice. Just as she looked up the clock struck 9pm. Thumbs frolicking rapidly, she sent Darren a message back "It's dinnertime!"