Escapism

Chapter 1 - Dani

College is so god damn expensive. What did I do to deserve 40k a year in debt plus interest just to get a job? Which is the reason why I'm working two jobs. And also the reason why I was half asleep at the drive-thru window.

It's summertime, and the weather is hot and humid just like it always is in the south. I've got the headset on for taking orders, and I can feel the sweat dripping down my back from constantly keeping the window open. But it's getting later in the night, closer to closing time. The air is finally starting to cool off despite it being hours after dark. We're surprisingly slow, which I guess is to be expected. Everyone is off going to the beach, mountains, or whatever for vacation.

I just want to get home and sleep. I'm so sick of the stupid customers. I swear some of them have just never ordered wings in their life. When I ask what wing sauce is, you don't say ranch. You pick a wing sauce.

Normally, I'm not as annoyed. This week has been a bit rough. I'm running behind on sleep due to the 70 hours I'm working a week. I just want to go and do something for myself.

The familiar beep of the drive-thru signals a car has pulled up to the speaker. I put the tea urn I was cleaning down and hit the button to turn on the mic, pulling me out of my thoughts. I give my usual introduction and ask what they want.

They order something basic, and my fingers fly across the screen to put in their order.

"Seven, twenty-seven at the first window please," I answer at the end of the order. Just one person.

He pulls up to the window, taking a moment to get out his cash from his wallet. He looks familiar like I should know him from somewhere. Which is odd because I don't really know anyone unless I've worked with them. I didn't have many friends, if any, in high school. And he looked to be around my age, maybe slightly older. Something about the not blond, but not brown hair... Or the way he smiled...

But I couldn't place him, so I just ignored it.

I handed back his change for a ten, his hands surrounding mine to make sure the change wouldn't fall to the ground. He thanked me and went on his way. I was thankful he was nice and didn't make any last-minute fusses.

I left the window open to bring in some of the cool-ish air into the hot building. Fryers and grills really bring up the temperature in here. And even though I'm not a cook, I'm still dying in the heat. I was forced to wear blue jeans, which didn't help at all.

I picked up the tea urn to finish cleaning, scrubbing away at the tea that had accumulated on the metal. I could hear the scratch of the green, itchy sponge. Nobody here could ever do cashier's dishes right. It's been a while since I was on the night shift here, and nobody listened to me when I told them the brown spots on the urns weren't stains.

Once I had cleaned them halfway, I decided I wanted to drag someone back there to prove my point. It was taking a hell of a lot of arm strength that I didn't really have. I was mad that I was having to pick up the slack, again.

I should really stop acting like I get paid more than ten an hour.

I turned off the water and went to the front counter where the rest of the cashiers could be found. Emily, Mia, and Ashton were standing around talking while lazily cleaning. Emily and Mia were going on about some boy, and Ashton was just leaning against the counter.

Ashton was the one who had claimed the brown spots on the urns wouldn't come off. He was offended when I told him the tea urns weren't cleaned correctly before he told me he had cleaned them the night before. I started toward Ashton to drag him to the back, to show him that it can actually be cleaned. My family was starting to get annoyed I wasn't bringing home any more sweet tea, but why would I when I know how... gross the urns are.