A fictional piece that I did that's semi true to life...



It was a day like any other, the sun shone brightly on another early morning. The employees at the local fast food restaurant made themselves busy prepping everything for the breakfast rush, which would start in less than three minutes.
With prep finally done the employees take their assigned positions and wait. Nina adjusts her headset and readies herself next to the drive through window. Mark and Thom talk about what they did last night as they warm the fryers and grills. Nate and Sara barely acknowledge each other’s existence as they stand at their respective register.
Nina opens the drive through window and half sticks her head out the window. She closes her eyes as a soft breeze tussles her hair.
Mark and Thom whisper to each other and begin to chuckle as they point at Nate and Sara. Sara huffs and folds her arms in front of her as she looks back at the laughing boys.
Sara, “Enough!” She shouts and stumps off. Nate sighs and mutters as he rubs his face.
Nate, “You guys need to grow up.”
The two laugh again and throw a dismissive wave at him. Nate grumbles and follows after Sara. Pulled out of her day dream from the voice on the other end of the drive through speaker Nina punches the order as it’s given. After instructing the customer to pull forward she looks over at where Nate and Sara should be standing. Not seeing them she lets out an exasperated sigh and slaps the counter next to her.
Nina, “Guys come on! We’re open now! I’m not doing this myself!” She yells out pushing her headset down around her neck and gets up off her stool to search for her missing co-workers. Mark looks up as Nina leaves the register area.
Mark, “What about the customers?” He yells after her.
Nina, “You give them their food!” She yells over her shoulder.
He sighs and hangs his head. After a moment he looks back at Thom who simply shrugs as he continues to prepare the order in front of him.
A few minutes later the customer’s tooting their horn. Mark scrambles pulling the order together and quickly gives it to the customer. The customer angrily hands over money before pulling away.
Mark, “That’s not as hard as Nin says it is…” He mutters to himself as he looks out the window.
Thom, “Get back here man before they come back.”
Mark, “But what about the orders?” He asks moving where he can see Thom.
Thom shrugs and waves his friend back. Thom, “You don’t have a headset to take the orders.”
Mark nods in agreement and returns to his friend just as Nina, Sara and Nate return. Sara looking like she had just finished crying, Nate looking bored, and Nina looking feed up as all three return to their spots.
Time seemed to fly as a string of customers bombards the drive through and the purchase counter. When the breakfast rush finally passed only a few stragglers remain. A handful of elderly couples two that appeared to be old married couples. A single man who sits with his face buried in a newspaper and a half cup of coffee cooling on the table in front of him. And a group of old ladies murmur to each other over their empty Styrofoam breakfast platters.
Sara and Nate go around wiping down the tables and chairs. Nina moves to take over for Sara and Nate and continues to wait for orders from the drive through. Mark and Thom make quick work of cleaning the kitchen and prep for the lunch rush.
Within ten minutes Nate and Sara have cleaned all the empty tables and chairs, cleaned the bathrooms and emptied the garbage. After cleaning themselves up a little they return to the registers. Nina takes her spot next to the drive through window again. She starts to fidget as boredom sinks in. Finding an empty straw wrapper she balls it up and flicks it at Nate, it bounces off his shoulder and flies back towards Mark and Thom. Thinking he felt something Nate looks around and spots Nina waving him over. Looking over at Sara for a moment he takes a chance and goes over to see what Nina wants.
Nina, “So, what happened?” She whispers cupping her hand over her mic so no one in the drive through can hear. She looks past Nate to Sara making sure she can’t hear. He follows her gaze not sure what she’s talking about. As he looks back at Sara he understands and looks back at Nina.
Nate, “She…broke up with me…” He whispers back. A familiar look of defeat covers his face.
Nina, “Again?!” She quickly slaps her hand over her mouth not meaning to say it so loud. But it’s too late Sara heard and quickly looks towards Nina and Nate.
Sara, “Hey?!”
Nina quickly turns to face the drive through window. Nate signs and turns to face Sara.
Nate, “Knock it off.” He says simply as he goes to stand in front of his register.
Sara, “But Nate…” The look he gives her is enough to keep her quiet.
Nate, “It’s not her fault you broke up with me.”
Thom, “Hey?” They look at him. Thom, “You mind not broadcasting all your personal problems to the customers?”
Nate looks back at Sara and crosses his arms. Sara begins to skulk like a spoiled girl who was just told no.
Nate, “That’s real mature…” He mutters at Sara, half glancing at her.
The crew works in almost complete silence for the rest of the day.
With the sun now set Nina checks the bathrooms for customers. Not finding any she goes around and locks all of the entrances. Once she’s done she begins cleaning the eating area and then mps the floors. Meanwhile Thom and Mark clean up the kitchen area while Nate and Sara clean up the counters and order area.
Once they’re all done they all gather around the picnic table set up in the back, it sits behind a tall wooden fence between the back of the building and the menu for the drive through. The single street lamp that sits between the fence and the drive through menu is enough to light up the small sitting area.
Thom, “Ok, so spill.”
Sara faces the fence, she’s been dreading this. Nate slouches forward as he sits at the table, his elbows rest on the table and he hangs his head. Nina sits beside him and puts her hand on his shoulder.
Nate, “She broke up with me…again…” He says looking over at Nina, she smiles kindly at him.
Mark, “Really?... How many times are you two going to go through this?”
Thom, “You two didn’t have anywhere near this many problems when you were friends.”
Sara turns to face them. Sara, “So?”
Mark, “So, maybe you two should just be friends.”
Nate looks over at Sara. Nate, “I like being with you, but maybe they’re right. I’d rather us be friends then nothing at all.”
Tears begin to build in her eyes. Sara, “You don’t want to be with me anymore?”
Nate, “You broke up with me…you don’t want to be with me… But I still really like you.” He gets up from the table and goes over to her. He wipes the tears from her eyes and then hugs her. Nate, “Can we try to be friends again?”
She nods slowly and hugs him back. Sara, “I feel like I’m losing you…”
He squeezes her. Nate, “I’m not going anywhere. We’re going to work through this I promise.”
She squeezes him back thankful for his kindness. After a few minutes they finally let go of each other. Nina appears beside them.
Nina, “Come on, I’ll take you home and we can have a girls night.” She says with a kind smile and places a warm hand on Sara’s shoulder.
Sara nods trying to force a smile as more tears build in her eyes. Nina leaves with Sara while Thom and Mark leave with Nate, both groups hoping for a happier tomorrow.