"Who comes all the way to the fair to stand in line for chili cheese fries? I just don't understand you Keeley." Nicky complained as she stood with Keeley in a line that just never seemed to end.
"Everyone knows that the chili cheese fries they make here at the fair are the best. It's worth the wait." Keeley attempted to convince Nicky to stay, but even she herself was questioning how far she would go for a small bowl of the cheesy goodness. They had already been standing in line for over half an hour anticipating their turn, and there were still at least twenty people ahead of them.
She turned to her best friend. "I know how much you love the Ferris wheel. Just go without me. You can even snag yourself a cute guy and then kiss when you get to the top."
Nicky laughed. "You have been watching way too many romance movies. I'm going to go, but just so you know, it's not going to be any fun without you. But just because you're ditching me for some overpriced fries, I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for your replacement."
Keeley placed her hand over her heart in mock heartbreak before calling out "Have fun!" to Nicky, who was already eagerly skipping to the Ferris wheel.
Over twenty minutes later, Keeley's phone battery was running dangerously low, but thankfully, the number of people in front of her had slowly diminished, and she had finally made it to the front of the line. Just as she was about to step forward to the vendor and place her order, a tall, robust figure practically shoved her out of the way as he positioned himself in front of her.
"Hey!" Keeley exclaimed, angrily. She had waited in line loyally and patiently for almost an hour, and she was not going to let anyone make her wait any longer for her precious fries.
She was about to tell the guy to leave, when she heard his panicked voice talking to the middle aged man who was taking orders.
"Can I have a bowl of chili cheese fries? Please, sir, my grandfather is feeling extremely faint. He really needs to eat some food, or I'm afraid that he will pass out. Please hurry." He pleaded desperately. Hearing his frantic tone, Keeley's anger simmered down into sympathy for the boy and his grandfather.
Keeley discovered the reason for the slow service when the man left to prepare the boy's order. Why a vendor this popular had only one employee, Keeley had no idea, but she thought that it was absolutely absurd. She turned to the boy, who was fidgeting as he nervously waited for his order to arrive. Upon closer inspection, Keeley noticed that he looked about her age, with dark blonde hair and captivating blue eyes. Needless to say, he was attractive, with toned muscles and broad shoulders that were distinguishable from the snug gray t-shirt he was wearing. His physique reminded her of Zach's, or any football player, for that matter.
"Is your grandfather alright?" She asked, concerned.
"Yeah... Food makes him feel better, though." He nodded, leaving a slightly awkward silence.
"You two must be close." Keeley wanted to slap herself as soon as the words left her mouth. She was terrible at small talk. Especially when there was a guy as good looking as him involved.
"I...uh... I guess you could say that."
The man returned with a paper bowl of chili cheese fries, saving Keeley from saying anything else she would later regret.
The boy placed his phone down on the small metal counter as he searched his pockets for his wallet. When he located it, he quickly proceeded to slap a rumpled five dollar bill on the counter before he ran off with his bowl of fries.
"A bowl of chili cheese fries, please." Keeley requested politely, and the man turned away once more to prepare her order.
She turned around and watched the boy until he disappeared into the distance.
Keeley took a deep breath, and the smell of cheese and salt and potatoes assaulted her nose in the best way possible. She her eyes darted around, observing her surroundings as she waited. All of the sudden, a phone with the exact same case as hers caught her eye. It took her a moment to realize that it was the phone the boy had left behind. In his frenzy to get the fries to his grandfather, he had accidentally left his phone behind. Keeley picked the device up, weighing it in her hand.
An abrupt thought suddenly formed in her head to look through his phone, but the idea was gone as fast as it arrived. She knew it was not morally correct to look through someone else's phone, but the curiosity was killing her. She contemplated whether or not she should do it for a mere five seconds before she gave in to the tiny voice in her head that persuaded her to turn on the phone.
Her thumb pressed down on the circular home button, lighting up the screen to show a skinny blonde model in a skimpy bikini, lying provocatively on a sleek cherry red sports car. Keeley made a face. All her respect for the seemingly caring boy was gone as soon as she saw his background photo.
Nonetheless, she slid her finger to the right, surprised when it unlocked without asking for a password. Big mistake, Keeley thought. She saw iMessage, Twitter, Facebook, Tinder...
She could text his friends, mess with his Tinder, write suggestive tweets, or even call his mom! The possibilities were endless.
But she wasn't that evil.
As soon as she received her own chili cheese fries and paid, she headed in the direction the boy had run off to, hoping he hadn't gone too far.
With all the people around her, she knew that finding him would be a long shot, but it was worth a try. She kept her head on a swivel as she navigated through the fair grounds. She watched for any blondes she saw, and responded to any flash of gray.
Keeley had almost given up hope, when she saw him.
He was with another boy who Keeley assumed to be his friend. He was similar in height and build, but not nearly as attractive as the blonde boy he was standing next to. The boy's blue eyes were twinkling as he laughed at something his friend had said. In his hand was the almost empty bowl of chili cheese fries... but there was no grandfather in sight.
Keeley was fuming. Not only was this boy a pervert, but he was a liar too. And she had let him cut in front of her for some fries! He was not going to get away with it.
Just as she was about to march up to the boy and reprimand him, her phone rang. Seeing that it was Nicky, Keeley knew she had to pick up.
"Nicky, I'm kind of in the middle of something," she hissed. She kept an eye on the boy, watching as he and his friend were simultaneously laughing and devouring the fries.
"Keeley! I can't believe you're putting your chili cheese fries in front of me! Your best friend! What are your priorities? What happened to best friends before fries?" Nicky scoffed. "Anyway, where are you? I just finished riding the Fer-"
There was a prolonged pause. "Hello? Nicky?" Keeley removed the phone from her ear to discover that her phone had died and was in the process of shutting down.
She shrugged and put her phone back into her pocket. She would have to deal with Nicky later. Right now, there was more important business to take care of.
"Hey! You!" Keeley stomped up to the boy and his friend. She put her most intimidating face on. He turned around to face her. "I don't suppose that this is your grandfather?" She cocked her brow, waiting for his response.
It never came. Instead, the friend looked at her, confused. "Bro, do you know this girl? Is she crazy or something? She into roleplay?"
The boy elbowed his friend in the ribs and glared at him. He seemed to get the message and muttered something about getting cotton candy before walking away.
The boy turned his blue eyes back on Keeley. He still looked relaxed as Keeley continued to scowl at him.
"Look, I'm sorry okay? I just didn't want to wait in line for the fries. I mean, did you see the line?"
Keeley seethed. He didn't sound sorry at all. "Of course I saw the line! I waited in it for over an hour!"
"It was an innocent white lie. What do you want from me? You got your fries, I got my fries, we're all happy. No harm no foul." As he said this, he plucked a large chili cheese fry from the bowl in Keeley's hand.
Her jaw dropped. "How dare you? You are the most unbelievably annoying human being I have ever met!"
He smirked. "Why are you even here, babydoll? Just for an excuse to talk to me?"
Keeley took the boy's phone out of her pocket and shoved it in his chest. "Here. I don't even know why I bothered to return this to you. I should have just left it there for someone to steal it."
His smirk disappeared as his face morphed into a look of confusion. "I...what...how?"
She didn't say a word as she angrily stomped away to go find Nicky. 'He hadn't even bothered to say thank you,' Keeley thought incredulously. She wanted to get as far away as possible from the devious, irritating blue-eyed devil.
She took a few steps forward, before she realized that she had no idea where Nicky was, and that she had no way to contact her because of her dead phone. Keeley groaned and hesitantly went back to chase down the boy. It turned out to be an easy feat, as he was still standing where she had left him, still with a dumbfounded expression on his face.
"I need to borrow your phone."
"Why? So you can secretly add your number to it?" He recovered quickly from his state of shock and grinned smugly.
"Shut up." Keeley replied tersely, embarrassed that she didn't have a better comeback. She motioned for him to hand the phone over.
Disregarding the atrocious, almost-naked model staring at her, she unlocked the phone and dialed Nicky's number, which was the only number she knew by memory, seeing that it was her best friend. Nicky picked up on the second ring.
"Hello, who is this?"
"Nicky! It's Keeley. Where are you?"
"Oh, hey Keeley! I can't believe you hung up on me! You owe me an explanation and half of your fries if you haven't finished them already. Meet back at the chili cheese fry stand?"
"Okay. Don't worry, I'll explain everything. See you in a minute. Bye."
Keeley hung up and returned the phone to the boy. "Thanks," she muttered, before walking back to the chili cheese fry stand and walking away from the horrendous boy, once and for all.
***
Keeley was woken up suddenly in the middle of the night by the sound of her phone ringing. She lethargically moved to take a glimpse at the clock on her nightstand. It was three in the morning. Zach was right on time, as usual. She groaned as she moved to pick up.
"The sex better have been worth waking me up."
A deep voice chuckled in her ear. "Now that sounds like something I'd like to hear more about."
The voice was definitely not Zach's. "What? Who are you?" She took the phone away from her ear to glance at the screen. Instead of Zach's name, a number she didn't recognize was displayed.
"I'm the extremely sexy guy you returned the phone to. Remember me?"
Keeley was speechless, but it quickly turned into anger. "Why are you calling me at three in the morning? Wait, hold up. How did you even get my number?"
"I think her name was Nicky? She gave me your number."
Keeley smashed her face into her pillow and grunted.
She was about to let out a muffled scream when the voice came from her phone again. "Are you okay? You're not pooping, are you?"
She was going to murder Nicky.
(2082 words)