Conflagration

IX

Bill sat hovering over the bowl of curly fries on the table in front of him trying not to jitter. His phone was out and open but there were no texts to respond to nor any notifications to fidget with. He'd eaten one fry out of about a billion and he could not wrap his head around why he'd ordered them in the first place. A whole menu and he chose this.

His only source of income up at school had been a waiter job at a drive in fast food joint. The kind a lot of his classmates came to and trashed at his and the other worker's expense. The main side dish that came with just about every order was the same plate he was staring at now. After taking enough of it home as an after shift snack he began to develop a Pavlovian response to it. Just smelling them made him feel sick.

He arrived a half hour early in an attempt to clear his head of any anxiety before Meadow showed up but his plan had backfired. With nothing to do and no appetite to speak of he spent that time doing nothing but thinking of the unending list of ways he could screw things up with this girl. He imagined that it wouldn't be hard. To say he was punching up would be like saying that space is a pretty wide thing. He was doing more than punching up. He was climbing a ladder at the top of a peak and swinging at something so far above him it couldn't be seen.

When she finally walked in the small bell above the door rang out and he felt the ventricles in his heart slip and nearly give way. He thought about standing but had no idea what he'd do after doing so. As she approached he decided to stay put and smile menacingly at her instead. His upper lip felt like it was in the grips of an isolated seismic event.

To his surprise he caught her smiling back. She slid into the seat opposite him and tossed a fry into her mouth.

Bill thought back to what Sam had told him. About her growing up. There were some truths in this life higher than others and he put that one right up near the top of the list.

"Hey, Meadow," he said. The fidget in his voice was as present as the two of them.

She cocked a finger at him and narrowed her eyes. "You look different."

"Me? Are you short on mirrors?"

"I'm the same."

"The hell you are."

She smiled and whipped her black hair behind her head.

"Curly fries?"

"I figured you might want some."

"I did."

"You did?"

"Back around age four."

"Well they got a bunch of other stuff."

"Is that what you wanna do today? Eat some burgers?"

"I guess so. I don't know what else you're looking to get into. Your folks are probably gunna want you home at some point."

"Don't worry about my folks. They're taken care of."

"The hell does that mean? You kill them?"

"Yeah. Buried them and everythin. I told them I was stayin over to a friend's house."

"Okay." He looked left then right. "I don't know much all to do here in town."

"If you try to take me to another movie I'll be gone before the end of the previews. Tell you that I'm goin to the lady's room and cut out the front door. You won't know a thing."