"Good morning Ana!"
Jeremy greeted his coworker as usual, smiling a little too bright. He approached the prize counter Ana was cleaning. The slender woman offered a faint smile, giving him a friendly wave as well.
"New girl came in and took the night shift last night. Did you hear?" Ana attempted to start a conversation. It was still early morning. She always tried to keep Jeremy company whenever she could. Jeremy knew, she felt pity for him because of his disability. It was better than a mean coworker still. He just wished he had someone that saw him as an ordinary person.
"Jeremy?"
"Oh! Yeah? I bet Frit- she is gonna… quit next week. They always do."
He smiled nervously. It was hard to pretend he was not thinking about the brunette he saw once on the application the entire time he was heading home and, on his way to work. The subtle smile Fritz had. Is that her actual smile? Or maybe she felt the need to look collected for a formal photo. Jeremy's eyes widened at the thought, nodding abruptly to what Ana was talking about next. Does Fritz like talking about girly things too? Most likley. She looks like the type. She has such a pretty face. She has a tall nose, just like the models you'd see in a magazine. The models that have a nice body. Just like Fritz's.
He visibly scowled at that. He felt terrible for thinking about the woman he had never met that way but he could not stop his wandering mind.
"Are you feeling alright?"
"O-Oh yeah. Sorry I'm having a bit of a headache."
The man would apologise before walking off to the side to help tidy up the Foxy plushie on the shelf. He gently put him beside a Chica.
Being single in his mid-20s was driving him nuts. The endless nights of sitting alone in the dark, worn-out living room and fantasizing about a woman who would hold and caress him as they told each other about their days before they would kiss each other on the lips. And then his hand would wander all over her body before he told her how much he adored her.
"AARGH! You cripple — Get your stick out of my way!"
Dave's familiar voice would startle the blonde immediately. Instinctively Jeremy apologised as much as he could, limping over to the side to get his cane that his manager had tripped could hear Dave mumbling something under his breathe, but he tried his best to ignore it. Dave is a kind man. He hired me despite my condition.
Another day of nothing but noisy children running around the pizzeria passed by.
"You sure you will be alright?" Ana asked out of courtesy. It was not like anything could happen in the pizzeria. She was leaving an hour early today to fetch her kids from school. She smiled when she got a reassuring nod from Jeremy.
Once Jeremy was left sitting alone at the prize counter, he glanced over to the clock.
Just one more hour…
He mindlessly looked down at his own watch, exhaling. He stretched and let out a small groan when he heard his back crack satisfactorily. One of his hands lazily went to pull his uniform down to cover his bulging belly. And then he went for another stretch. He yawned before something caught his attention. In the corner of his eye, he spotted… leftovers? Annoyed, he would make his way over to the microwave. This is staff-only… He frowned at the thought of parents letting their kids put random food into the microwave and making a mess.
To his great surprise, there was a neatly wrapped sandwich inside of it. He smiled at Dave's kind gesture. Dave may be a rude man with his words, but it was small gestures like this that reminded Jeremy of just how kind he was. Jeremy bit into the sandwich hungrily before he pulled out a note sticking out the microwave.
"Hm?'
'They gave me an extra sandsanwitch. Enjoy :) '
The handwriting… It was so ugly Jeremy could barely make it out what was written on the note. But then he lost all his judgement towards the horrible handwriting.
' – Fritz :) '
With a trembling hand, Jeremy held the note up. He read it over…
And over…
And then he'd slowly bring it up against his nose. He gulped.
Sniff.
What the fuck am I doing?
"Excuse me?"
A feminine voice came from behind.
It was not Ana.
Fuck.
