"Hey Alex, you've got this, right?" The very large, very sweaty man called out to me from the door of the small food cart, the long line of murmuring customers nearly drowning out his voice. My eyes met an old lady's. She was eying me down like a predator ready to pounce.

No, Dave. I don't got this. It's just me back here, dude.

"Yeah, I got this." I couldn't help but clench my teeth as my spatula struggled to pry free one of a dozen burgers cooking on the little grill in front of me. It didn't help that I had to squat because this damn food cart was made for twelve-year-olds and not a twenty-six-year-old grown man who should be out working a normal job like any normal person would be doing at my age. Not that everyone was six foot three, but fuck. Build a better cart, Dave.

"Great man, I appreciate you. Carla said I need to get back to the trailer NOW, otherwise I'm not getting any, and you know how she gets." He grinned with that sleazy smile of his, his greasy, thinning hair making him look like someone's drunk uncle. "It's now or never, man."

"Lucky bastard," I muttered, still wrestling with the burger.

"I thought you weren't into women?"

"I told you, man. I like women. I'm just selective."

"That's not what I heard..." He twiddled his eyebrows like an idiot.

No, Dave. I just wasn't into your wife. Who came onto me every time we worked together. Kept having to turn her down.

I bit back a groan of frustration as the burger I was working on crumbled away, incinerating in the grill's flames.

Fuck.

Dave was getting his shit together. He snagged a couple of twenties from the till, walked over to me, watched me wrestle with the burgers for a few minutes, then patted me on the back.

"I believe in you. And don't worry too much. Devon will be here in a few hours. You just gotta hold out 'til then."

"Yeah, no problemo," I grunted out, throwing yet another ruined patty in the trash. Another couple bucks added to my tab, Dave. He'd started to charge me every time I burned something on his grill. Said it was gonna come outta my paycheck.

Asshole. Buy a better grill.

"See ya tomorrow," he said, reaching into the cart's fridge, snagging a pack of cold beers, and disappearing down the sidewalk, leaving me alone with in his shitty cart that was too small.

"When will our order be ready?" A snotty woman with a pig nose looked up at me from cart's window. She looked familiar, but I couldn't place her...

"Uh...you ordered?"

"Yes, nine minutes ago exactly. For my friends and I," she replied, pointing towards the small group waiting off to the side. There were five of them there and judging by their pot bellies, they were the ones who ordered the nine burgers. One of 'em ordered three.

"Uh, give me a sec'." I cursed Dave a dozen more times in my head, glancing at the half-frozen burgers on the grill that seemed to be laughing at me. I think I was gonna go home tonight and light myself on fire. But maybe finish my whiskey first, because fuck me if that didn't sound good right now.

I turned around and faced Pig-Nose, wiping my sweat-drenched hands on my pink apron. Dave's little joke. "I'll have that right up for you in ten," I mumbled, turning back toward the grill and cursing under my breath.

"Ten? Ten? We ordered fifteen minutes ago!" Piggy nose was getting oinky. Like angry-pig oinky, as opposed to normal pig oinky.

"I thought you said nine?"

She huffed and started to teakettle.

"Look, the line is twenty deep right now, and my boss just took off to plow his cheating wife." I snapped, "so this line is going to go as fast as I can manage on my own. It'll be ten minutes, okay?"

She squinted at me and looked like she was about to reply but stopped herself. Instead, she sniffled a bit, grabbed some mustard packets, and stomped away angrily. Probably left to find someone who would pretend to listen.

"Wow."

"Such bad customer service."

"He's an asshole."

I ignored the people in line and focused on the grill.

***

I hated Devon. She was young, nineteen, and one of those girls that were too pretty for their own good. And by hate, I mean definitely wanted to get with. She was kryptonite for me. Cute. Funny. Sassy. Always had some angle she was working, and I was as big a sucker as they came and always got roped in. Every. Damn. Time.

I sighed. It seemed like this past year, everyone had an axe to grind with me. Everyone except Marissa. Sweet, sweet Marissa, who kept my spirits high, no matter what my mood was. But ever since we moved from the restaurant to the food truck and started traveling, everyone wanted to be the big boss, but Dave didn't share anything. Not with me, his most senior employee, and certainly not with a few eighteen and twenty-year-old airheads.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"What the hell happened in here, Alex? This place is a wreck!" The tone of her voice made me gag.

Frozen patties sat stacked on one of the freezers, condiments coated just about every service of the cart, and the grill was smoking. I noticed that a bag of plastic-wrapped burger buns had melted to the grates at some point.

"Dave fucked off, and I had to run the cart alone."

She looked at me, her little hands on her admittedly narrow hips. Her lips, painted some bubblegum pink color like usual, were scrunched up, making her look like an angry monkey. But her face softened a bit after a minute. "You don't deserve this, you know?" she said with genuine feeling, reaching down into one of the freezers and grabbing herself a bottle of water before passing one to me.

Devon was annoying, but she really was sweet. This was her first job, and she was a try hard. She had that peppy, I was the petite, former cheerleader who did all the flying tricks energy, with a I'm kind of a bitch undertone.

"Thanks, Devon. You're right, but until something happens, I'm stuck." I laughed, opening my bottle of water and taking a swig.

A sharp crack caught our attention. At first, I thought something broke inside the grill.

The air seemed to be sucked away, as a strong suction pulled everything outward. Paper bags fluttered like birds' wings, and I caught sight of a small storm cloud out over park's small lake. The clouds flashed, and streaks of lightning flared in the distance.

"It wasn't supposed to rain," Devon muttered, peeking her head out of the food truck window. She pulled her phone out, and her long fingernails tapped at the screen. I always wondered how girls could do that. I couldn't press the buttons with my normal fingernails.

As quickly as the storm arrived though, it disappeared. The skies cleared to their typical afternoon blue, and all traces of dark storm clouds were gone.

"What the fuck was that?" I said as I joined Devon at the food cart window.

"Don't know. Pretty weird though." Her lips were pursed. She did that when she was nervous. Or angry. Most of the time really.

A couple of the festival goers walked by, dragging their screaming kids behind them. Tonight would be slow if storms rolled in.

"Hey, let's take advantage of the storm. Help me get this place put back together. The crowd might thin out early because of it." She looked doubtful, so I added some sauce. "Plus, with fewer people to serve, we could maybe call it an early night." Her eyes sparkled. Offering early closes was one of the rare perks of functionally running someone else's business. And I needed that perk today.

"Yeah, I don't see why not," Devon replied. "You got it, boss."

Fucking, yes.

The rest of the night went smoothly, if quietly. After a couple more quick sales, the clouds started rolling in again, and the crowd dispersed. I handed the last burger plate out and turned, wiping the sweat and grease smoke out of my eyes.

Devon was flitting around the cart, doing whatever else needed to be done. I had to give it to her; she really was a hard worker. She finished putting the last of the condiments away and teetered her little body on the freezer's railing, her little butt wiggling in the air in her short skort thing as she did her best to organize the buns and patties.

It's the small things, really.

After admiring for a moment, I cleaned the grill and noticed it had become eerily quiet out there. I didn't even hear crickets or the usual evening insects. A flash of lightning lit the sky, and the scent of ozone filled my nose. Storm coming. A big one.

We needed to close up the shop before the rains came.

I got to work, doubling my efforts, but it wasn't enough to occupy me. My mind wandered to how awesome this work used to be back when I was younger. When Dave pitched the idea of a food cart, I was all in. When he said I might be his main guy, I was pumped. I worked my ass off. When he brought on Tony, then Marissa, and later Devon, it was a ton of fun. I taught them how to work the carts, the customers, the whole deal. We started going to all the fairs and festivals. Tony and I became buds. Marissa and I got close. Devon was... Devon. Cute and annoying.

We got busier and busier, so I worked longer and longer, grinding myself into hamburger meat.

But then Dave started dipping into the till a bit too often.

Carla started being more demanding. Then she cheated. They decided to make it work.

Dave had a midlife crisis. Bought himself an old muscle car. An RV. Boats. Guns. Knives.

Tony and I handled the cash flow. We knew what Dave was up to. So did Dave. So, Tony disappeared, and I learned my lesson. Don't rock the boat. Don't question orders. Just do the job. No matter how shitty the work.

"How much longer?" Devon asked with an overly innocent look on her face. I hated that face. Nothing good came from it.

"I dunno. Probably 10-15 minutes." I glanced around, looking at what was left. It really just came down to the grill and cleaning up any lingering messes inside the cart. There were always fries tucked somewhere on the floor.

"So... would you mind if I took off a little early? There's a party tonight, and I kind of wanted to go..."

I grunted. "Finish the last of the prep, and you can head out."

She sighed and got to it. She'd just gotten herself a new boyfriend and was all excited to see him. She spent most of her time bouncing from one guy to the next. I knew. She talked about them all the time.

There was Craig, the tall guy, and Louis--he was exotic--and Mark or something, and Jason, who was always hanging around. I couldn't help but notice how often her conversation lingered on the fact that they weren't exactly dating dating or anything. Girl did what young girls do.

She finished up. "Can I go now." The pursed lips again.

"I guess that's fine..." I sighed, looking at her pouty lips and pretty eyes. She always knew how to work me.

"Thank you! Thank you!"

"Yeah, no worries. Have fun out there."

"You sure?"

"Nah, you're fine. I've got it covered."

Devon stood there, watching me for a moment, then stepped in, and gave me a big hug. "You're sweet."

"Don't worry about it, kiddo." I tried to laugh it off.

She was into me. I knew it. She knew it. And we both knew I wasn't about to try anything. I wasn't that confident, and I wouldn't want fuck up her future with my baggage.

"Have fun tonight, and make sure you get to work on time tomorrow. Dave won't be happy if you're late." Again. Late again, Devon.

"I know!" Her lips scrunched up again. "Uh, Alex?"

"Hmm?" I went back to scrubbing the grill.

"Do you think that I should have worn a shorter skirt today? I've been doing my squats every morning now, and I think my legs are looking extra good!"

I turned and looked. The short little devil was staring at me, biting her lower lip as she waited for a response. She tied up her shirt in one of those front knots girls tie. Her abs were glistening with sweat. She twirled. All her hard work paid off, from what I saw.

"Well yeah, but..." I stammered, my eyes unable to leave her abs. Goddamn, she was hot.

"Yeah what? Yeah to the skirt?"

"Yeah, you're legs are looking great."

"Thanks, Alex!" With that, the girl flitted off into the darkness.

Fuckin' girl was a menace.