Blind Love

Against Policy to Insult Customers

I stumbled down my front steps onto the sidewalk while wiping the crust out of my eyes. Yawning, I pulled out a pair of blue earbuds and jammed the end into my phone. It was time for work at the wonderful world of McDonalds and apparently the world decided to pee all over me on my walk there. The rain was pouring in consistent sheets, soaking me to the skin. I shivered and popped in one bud and turned on my music full blast. Nothing like angry music for an angry soul.
    A coworker told me about a short cut I could take from my apartment to get to work faster because I'm always late. Today was my day to test it out. I had finally woken up and gotten dressed early enough to go on that route so that just in case I got lost I had time to spare. I shoved my phone in my back pocket and stuffed my hands into the pockets of my jacket. Work was never exciting. There was always at least one person complaining about "cold fries" or "my patty isn't cooked the whole way" whatever. You're going to the beat up McDonalds in the crappy part of town, what do you expect?
    I noticed someone sitting on a bench. Why in this horrible weather? I plucked an earbud out of my ear and walked over. "Are you waiting for someone to pick you up or something? Don't you have an umbrella?"

"No one to wait for." He shook his head and smiled. "Just like the way the rain feels."

    He just likes how the rain feels? Being frozen to the core and soaked feels good? No one ever told me. "Have fun catching your death." I popped the earbud back in and continued on my way. What a freak.

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    Thirty minutes into work and I'm already getting complaints. The joy of drive through. "You're at McDonalds, what do you want?" My coworker snapped his head over to me and glared.

"Molly! You can't say that to people! Do you want to get fired?"

"Yes," I rolled my eyes, "that would be delightful. Oh- no not you. What do you want to eat?" I punched the woman's order into the machine then went to make an order for two customers waiting at the counter. While I got their food together I overheard their conversation.

"Is that Molly Martin?"

"Oh my gosh, it is. How gross."

"I actually feel kinda sorry for her...look at her skinny clothes! She's so ugly, how doesn't she freak out in public?"

"I don't know, I would die if I looked like her!"

This was the usual for me. Molly the Mutt. I grinned and spat in their breakfast sandwiches. I hoped their fake blonde hair fell out and their tanning machines broke making them into burnt twigs.

"Here you are ladies." I gave them a mock smile, "I hope your arteries rot from this."

"Ew! She's even worse to talk to!"

They snatched their trays and took their seats. I watched in satisfaction as they ate their spit riddled food. I was fired. Apparently it's against policy to tell someone that you hope their arteries rot.

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I took the short cut back home. I wanted to end the day quick and the short cut proved to be correct. I watched the brown and red leaves tumble across the road in the soft breeze. It had stopped raining thankfully but the sky was still dark grey and my clothes were damp. I patted my pockets for my earbuds and that's when I realized I left them at work. Or ex-work. I'll find a new job and a new set of earbuds.
Time passed faster than last time because I was semi familiar with the area now. The stranger was still sitting on the bench. He was just staring straight ahead. "You're still sitting there?"

His head turned my way just a bit and his light brown hair was ruffled in the breeze. "Do I know you?"

"I saw you earlier when it was raining. I asked if you were waiting for someone."

"Oh right." He smiled. "You told me to have fun catching my death." He had a small gap in his front teeth and all the rest were slightly crooked.

"So.." I flopped down onto the bench next to him, "I see you didn't and you're still alive." This caused him to smile more.

"Unless you see dead people and I don't know that I'm dead yet." He shifted back to look at whatever he was watching before.

I smiled. It was a rare occasion and he wasn't even looking at me. Waste of a smile. "What are you looking at?"

"I'm not looking at anything." He nodded his head a little and looked down, a few strands of hair fell into his face.

"You aren't looking at anything? There's everything to look at, it's probably your hair blocking everything out. Get a hair cut and actually take care of yourself." I stood up. I didn't have time for games. I didn't know what I was looking for friends and I wasn't going to start now. I had bridges to burn and peoples souls to stab with ice cold fear.

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Later that night laying in bed that boy was all I could think about. It wasn't about being fired and needing to find a job, just that boy. I had so many questions. Would he be there tomorrow? What was his name? I fell into a restless sleep with images of deep blue eyes and a tooth gap. When I woke up I realized his eyes never actually focused on anything and whenever he looked at me his eyes never landed on my face.