Order Up (A Short Narrative)

Prep Time

“It’ll be fine, babe,” she said. “It’ll be fun,” she said.

Well, getting several death stares and ugly looks from your family for the whole day sounded like it was going to be anything but fine and fun, Jasmine. My girlfriend, Jasmine, and I started the day by going to her younger sister’s wedding. While getting ready, my eyes drooped down as I dreaded the thought of seeing Jasmine’s family. Noticing the apparent look on my face, Jasmine glanced at me and began to fiddle with my tie.

“Now, I know being with my family isn’t exactly how you’d want to spend your Saturday, but I need us to be there for Julia,” she said while she tightened my tie.

It’s true. I didn’t really like Jasmine’s family. Her dad, Richard Miller, is this retired CEO of the second-biggest yacht company in the world. The guy acted exactly like the snobby rich man you think would run a business like that. So one could only imagine how such a person would think about his daughter’s boyfriend working at McDonald’s full time. However, today I was actually feeling more nervous than annoyed to see Jasmine’s dad. That was because I was going to ask Mr.Miller for his blessing to marry his daughter while he was in a good mood for the day. Even the thought of spending every day with Jasmine put a smile to my face.

“What’re you grinning about Ray?” she asked after seeing my face.

I looked down at her bright brown eyes and just laughed, “Nothing really, Jaz. It’s just that you tied my tie backwards.”

Her eyebrows slanted down quickly. She fumbled my tie and threw it saying, “Fine you can do it yourself. I need to do my hair anyways.”

Man, with Jaz by my side, I don’t think there’s anything that could keep me down. Richard couldn’t possibly be against his daughter’s happiness.

It’s Fine. I’m Fine

Humiliation.

Humiliation is exactly what a person feels when their girlfriend’s dad laughs at them for asking for his blessing before going on like nothing happened. I even showed the ring to prove I was serious and he laughed even harder. Before he could take a picture of the diamond he described as a “pebble” to show to his friends, I snatched my velvet box closed and shoved the ring into my jacket pocket.

After taking the walk of shame back to my seat, I sat down and looked out into the venue. Our table was smack dab in the middle of this ginormous garden. The flowers were every color you could think of with white pillars acting as the border around it. The elongated table of the bridesmaids, groomsmen, and the newlyweds was located where everyone in the garden could see them lined in the front. To top it all off, there was a marble fountain with baby Cupid holding his bow right behind their table.

Staring at that table I couldn’t help but notice all the effort put into this wedding. I wondered how much those flowers scattered all over the table cost. I glanced at one of the groomsman as he brought his plate of food to the table. He had something red on his plate. Was that… was that lobster? It couldn’t be. No, that was definitely lobster. There was at least a hundred fifty people there and you’re telling me they had enough lobster for everybody?

My eyes wandered to the middle of the table and they met Julia’s. Oh, I hoped she wouldn’t come over.

Oh no, she was nudging her husband. Maybe she just wanted to tell him something about the reception.

Nevermind they got up.

I mean they had a lot of friends and family to talk to, surely they’re not coming to me. No, they were definitely coming towards us.

Duh, Ray you are literally sitting with the bride’s sister.

Julia did a giddy little run to the table as she and Jasmine embraced then gave out a shrill scream.

“Congratulations to you and Brad!” Jaz shouts.

I stood up and shook Brad’s hand to do the same. “Yeah congrats to you guys,” I said.

Brad’s mouth perked up just a bit and asked, “How’s the cake Ray? Sorry it’s not a Big Mac, but I don’t think it’s in our chef’s repertoire.”

I wasted all my “fake” energy on Jasmine’s dad, so Brad really chose the wrong one. Automatically, I felt a touch that was light as a feather graze my arm. I knew it was Jasmine catching me before I slipped up. Gripping the side of my arm, Jaz helped me find the little ounce of “ fake smile” I had in me and I gave out a couple of half hearted laughs to Brad instead.

I felt as though Mr.Miller was really trying to let me know that I wasn’t worthy to spend even a millisecond more with his daughter because right after Brad’s trash attempt at a joke, he ran up to him and bearhugged the couple while giving a few obnoxiously loud laughs. I get it Dick. You don’t like me.

While trying to block out the unavoidable, watered-down jokes that were soon to come for me, I just focused on the warmth of Jaz’s hands on my arm and enjoyed the song, “Can You Stand the Rain” playing in the background. Did I mention these guys booked New Edition to perform at this place? Do you know how much dumb money you need to…. Nevermind my song was playing.

Grounded

We came back to the apartment and I switched on the light as it did its usual three flicker before it turned on all the way. I broke down on the couch and let out a long breath as my rear sunk into the imprint on the sofa. My eyes became focused on the stained wall and I asked Jaz, “Hey you think we could repaint this wall sometime?”

She flipped her head towards me, with her curly hair falling to her opposite shoulder simultaneously.

“You got ‘repaint this wall sometime’ money I don’t know about or something?” she asked.

I laughed it off a little and replied, “Yeah you’re right.”

I walked towards the bookshelf and searched through the tens of notebooks stacked in the rows. I grabbed the one spiral that was titled, “Getaway” and sat back on the couch. I took my pencil and opened the notebook. Jasmine suddenly rushed and jumped to my side as she crossed her legs.

“How’re you gonna have the prince save the damsel in distress babe?” she asked.

I just dropped my shoulders and scratched my head while watching her. She was even more invested in the story than I was and I was the one writing it!

“I honestly don’t know.”

She just nodded her head with no worry and walked to the door.

“Do you want to get some McDonald’s? I’m hungry,” she asked.

I automatically find the keys and stood back up while she became giddy. I had never seen someone so excited to get the same large fries that they had almost every day. I grabbed my notebook and threw the keys to Jaz.

“Can you drive? I think I cured my writer’s block.”

The Little Things

I held the fries on my tray and took it to our table.

“Did you notice all the lame rock jokes my dad was making today, babe?” she asked.

“Nah it must’ve slipped my mind. I wonder why he thought it was so funny. Must be a dad thing,” I replied even knowing damn well what Dick was trying to accomplish.

“So how’d you end your story, Ray?” she questioned.

I slid the notebook towards her and let her read what I wrote during the drive. While I watched her eyes dart back and forth on the pages, I started explaining, “You see the damsel-in-distress theme wasn’t really going for me.”

I reach into my jacket pocket.

“The girl gave the prince the purpose and courage to go out and achieve things he probably didn’t think was possible.”

I slid the ring on a fry.

“I felt like the audience should recognize that the girl was the real hero. By the way, do you want a fry?”

She popped her head out from my notebook.

While gently dropping the fry into her hand, my legs started to buckle under the table. I willed everything I had in my body to hold her hand and dropped to a knee on this musty floor of McDonald’s.

“Jaz, you saved me. Through all the times I didn’t see greatness in myself, you saw that and more in me every time.”

For the first time in the five years that I’ve loved her, Jasmine was silent.

“I got an inscription too,” I added.

Jaz flipped over the ring and just softly reads, “Sunshine.”

My legs finally became still as I told her, “Yeah, because I can’t ever have any rainy days when you’re there by my side. I guess this is the time where I would ask if you’d marry me, but your dad didn’t really give me the approval when I asked him.”

My eyes started to shift down, until a force pushed up my chin and lifted my head. I was face to face with Jaz.

There were water droplets forming in the corners of her eyes. I wiped them off and asked, “Why’re you crying babe?”

Jaz wasted no time and suddenly started pouring out with, “Because I don’t care about what my dad has to say about us. He wasn’t there for me when I was struggling in school. He wasn’t there to tell me everything was going be ok after my mom died. He wasn’t there to keep me believing in my dreams, but you were there. Every time you were there.” She gave me a peck on my forehead. “And he wasn’t there to see his daughter accept her proposal from her boyfriend at Mcdonald’s”

My head rocked back and I said, “So does that mean-”

She interrupted and screamed, “I do!”

Then she ate her fry.

A Dish Best Served as Cold as Possible (FIVE YEARS LATER)

“Babe are you sure we’re not going to miss our flight? And is it ok for you to be working away from home?”

I smiled and replied, “We’ve got plenty of time and this laptop is my work. I can write wherever we go. Isn’t that right Jessica?”

I reached into the car and looked at my little human. Yeah, we had a kid, and thank God she got her looks from her mom or she’d be one ugly baby. Her teeny arms automatically stretched out for me after I unbuckled her from her seat. I handed her off to her mother and asked, “Can I hold the papers please?” Jaz’s eyes rolled as we swapped, “Honestly, I can’t with you. You’re enjoying this way too much.”

We walked down this extravagant driveway as we approached a house with doors the size of five me’s. I ran to the door and knocked as loud as I could. The door creaked open as a groggy man with a five o'clock shadow slugged his way out of the shadows.

“Hey Brad, Julia didn’t really feel comfortable coming out herself, so she asked if we could give you the divorce papers to sign.”

Seeing that as my cue, I lunged out to Brad and shook his hand.

“Hey Brad here they are. Sorry it’s not a Big Mac, but Julia was tired of your bullshit,” I said with a grin on my face.