Alex :: Martin’s Drive-In :: May 2005
Sometimes, I regretted ever saying yes to “Can you roller skate?”
My feet were killing me, my head was spinning as fast as it could go, people were barking orders at me.
What a life. And to think I dropped out of college and switched to this.. it was almost unbelievable.
I picked up three chocolate shakes and delivered them to car three, an ugly white minivan. They couldn’t figure out how to do the tray-window thing. It must have been the sixteenth person that day, not that I could really argue with it. It was the dumbest system ever. But I guess they kept it in for old-fashioned effect.
Which is the same thing I reasoned for the roller skates.
The best part of the job was seeing all the cars come in. What kinds, what makes, what models, what colors. And the people inside. If you couldn’t tell a man by his car--
God, I was spending a lot of time with my dad.
But I couldn’t help but get excited when a silver Lexus pulled in. Inside, I could see two kids in the backseat and two guys in the driver’s and front seat.
They rolled down the window and I looked like a complete dork. Standard.
“Hey, welcome to Martin’s Drive-In,” I said with as much gusto as I could muster. “Can I bring you drinks to start out with?”
“Uh, yeah. Liv? Max? What do you guys want to drink?” the guy in the driver’s seat asked the kids in the back.
Chocolate shakes. Damn. I may have been the worst milkshake maker on the planet. Another thing to add to the list of “old-fashioned” crap I couldn’t stand.
“Jim?” the guy said to the other guy, who was fiddling with the radio station and finally turned it off.
“I’ll just take a Coke,” Jim said.
“And I’ll have a vanilla shake, thanks.”
Damn it. I liked this Jim guy. He would stay on my good list. Unless, of course, he got a shake later.
It took me an obscene amount of time to make three shakes. Most of the other people working there could make them in half the time with half the mess. The only thing I could truly assure my customers was that their milkshakes were not skimped on with whipped cream-- I used it to hide my mistakes.
I skated back with the tray of drinks, grateful and silently hoping that my milkshake quota had been filled for the day.
Two kids meals and two double cheesburgers later, Jim looked a little bored.
“You must get tired skating around all day,” he said. His brother, which I had gathered, was busy attending to his kids in the back seat.
I collected the tray from their window and not wanting to step out of the conversation, placed it on the ground. He laughed.
“Yeah, pretty tiring. That’s something you can always bet on.”
“I didn’t even know these places existed anymore,” he said. I skated over to his side of the car so we could actually talk. I could have cared less if I were to be fired. In fact, I actually preferred that thought.
“Well, in the flesh. Living proof of--” I couldn’t even think of how to finish this statement.
“Tradition?” he offered.
I smiled and heard the damn bell ringing for me to take an order.
“Crap. Gotta go. Can I get you guys anything else?” I gestured to the whole car, that fancy car.
Jim turned and looked at his brother and niece and nephew. One third of the trio had fallen asleep, and his brother and the girl were arguing over how much she had eaten. My parents always thanked me for being a good eater, and after being in the service industry for so long, I could see why.
“I think we’re okay. I’ll probably be here a while though. Whenever you get a chance, do you think you could get me a strawberry shake?”
I cringed for a second, but all else melted and faded.
This guy must have been something, to get me to not care about battling with another milkshake.
You can always tell a man by his car..
When I told my dad about this, he smiled and said some guys were just unpredictable.
I forgot to tell him it wasn’t really his car.
But I still liked to believe he was a little unpredictable.
He never came back, but he did tell me it was one of the best shakes he’d ever tasted.
Chapter End Notes:
gahh too cute :X i hope it was okay
