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 Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 4:09 pm
The moment the smell hit her nose, Anastasia felt her stomach rumble, and she glanced over to the food truck that stood a few feet away. Snack and Cheese, huh? Well. It didn’t look like it had much of a line, but then again it was getting dark out…and she was hungry so…
Hesitating slightly, she walked up to the window on the truck, eyes searching out the menu. Oh…well. Everything sounded utterly delicious, and Ana felt her mouth beginning to water at the idea of the mac n’ grilled cheese that was the special for the day, and without any more hesitation, she lightly rang the small purple bell that was on the window ledge.
Huh. It was such a nice shade of purple too. Her favorite shade. How nice! It must mean that this was fate and she was supposed to be getting food here.
Her growling stomach told her that she was simply being silly, and that she was hungry and the truck smelled wonderful…but. Still.
The owner here had good tastes, clearly.
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Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 5:39 pm
The food truck was busier just a little bit before the sun went down in the winter months, but after that the customers trickled immensely. Evan didn’t blame them; he was a little chilly even with being able to warm up by the stove.
“Coming!” he called, hurrying from the warmth over to the ledge.
He was still getting used to this; it wasn’t every night that he came out alone, but tonight was just.
A night.
“Hello,” he said, and tried not to shiver when the cold air hit him. “Sorry, I was heating up by the stove. What can I get you?”
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Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 6:24 pm
He seemed friendly, and Ana gave a little grin. “It is chilly out here! I hadn’t even realized I was so hungry until I smelled your truck, can I please have that Mac and Grilled cheese that you have listed? It sounds delicious.”
Digging through her coat pocket, Anastasia pulled out her wallet and hesitated. “...You know, can I also just have some mac and cheese if you have some? That’s. Honestly it’s my favorite food, and I’ve been craving it really badly lately.” Perhaps more than just the mac and cheese but…that was neither here nor there, and not something this poor food truck cook needed to hear.
“If your food is half as good as it smells, I’m very excited to taste it!”
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Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 6:57 pm
“My food is twice as good as it smells,” Evan promised. “I’m getting ready to pack up, but I’ve still got some.” He rang up one grilled cheese and one order of mac and cheese, and glanced over at everything he had left.
Enough for himself for dinner, and probably everyone in the house if they weren’t already tired of cheese.
“I’ll go fast so you can get out of this cold.” he said. “I think I want to go home soon, it’s too cold for me. I love Mac and Cheese, it’s my comfort food. It’s good in every weather, but especially cold weather. Or when you’re missing family.”
Evan fell quiet for a few seconds and then cleared his throat. “...Sorry, I get weird around the holidays. You’re here for cheese. I haven’t gotten a bad review about how much I overshare, I’m not going to make tonight my night. I hope. Let me overshare some cheese with you instead. How hungry are you? Do you want to try a few things? On the house.”
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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 9:31 am
“Oh! I’m so glad that I was able to get you before you packed up!” Ana smiled brightly and shrugged at the idea of getting out of the cold. “It’s not like home is much warmer, I guess. I live alone so…having someone to talk to is nice!” Perhaps that wasn’t the best thing to just. Tell a stranger. At least she wasn’t the only one oversharing and she nodded at him. “I agree with you about mac and cheese…it fills the void inside your soul.”
…Not that she had a void. Clearly. She was fine. Just hungry. “I wouldn’t give you a bad review at all. The holidays make everyone a little weird, and I would love to try anything you’re in the mood to give me! I’m starving!” She smiled again, firmly banishing her own feelings of melancholy. “I’m sorry that you’re missing your family…I hope that…I hope you get to see them again too, if…it’s a situation that you can. It’s horrible to be missing people that you love…”
She couldn’t imagine how much Eion had grieved. It made her own heart ache at the thought. “I know, I was just brought back into contact with my brother, so I do understand…Maybe. Ah. now I’m really oversharing!”
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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 2:50 pm
“Oh, yeah?” he asked, “That’s not oversharing, congratulations. I have a found family, I didn’t get along so much with my family. But I’ve lost part of my found family so we’re all sort of a mess. But like–it’s Destiny City, and weird things are always going on, you know? I’m not going to lose faith. She wouldn’t want me to. Hold on, I’ll be right back.”
He disappeared for a minute and returned with an incredibly bloated bag.
“Little bit of everything. Most of it’s pretty self explanatory, there are pictures on our website if you want to know what you’re eating. I made them all in the past hour so they’re still fresh. There’s some soup, some fries, grilled cheese, mac and cheese. Cheese on everything. Enough calcium in this bag that you’ll never break a bone again.”
He pushed it to the edge of the shelf.
“I’m sorry it’s lonely back home. Have you thought about getting a cat? I got a dog not so long ago, to help me through some stuff. He’s super cute, best decision I made. But I had people to help me look after him. Cats are more independent, so if you live alone it can take care of itself while you’re gone. Or you can get two cats, so they aren’t lonely. One for each side when you go to bed.”
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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 3:11 pm
That…seemed terribly sad to Ana. Losing one’s real family was bad enough, but losing a found family…one that you pretty much made yourself…with bonds that were strong…perhaps stronger than she could really even imagine…that…
Was terrible.
When Evan returned, Anastasia was playing with the end of one of her pigtails and blinked in surprise. “Oh…oh wow that is a lot of food! Thank you! I might..think about getting a cat. It sounds nice, and I love how they curl up on you and purr…sometimes I pretend that I have one, and sometimes I dream about one too.” Reaching out, she took the bag and held it close, inhaling the smells that wafted up from inside of it. “Oh…wow this smells so good.”
Her stomach grumbled loudly enough for them both to hear it, and the girl grinned sheepishly. “I’ll come back again soon to tell you how delicious it was? And, I really hope that you find who you’ve lost soon. I can’t imagine your pain…ah. By the way! I’m Anastasia, and I hope this means that we can be friends?”
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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 4:40 pm
Evan smiled, a bit sadly, but he forced a laugh. “Yeah, we can be friends. It's nice to meet you. I'm Evan. I hope you like the food, come find me again and tell me what you like. You can follow us on social media, here,” he said, and reached for a business card. He stretched himself over so he could offer it to her without her needing to stretch herself.
“You can send a message, or just see where we’re going to be. Sometimes we have polls for new products, or we bring back limited items for a night. But um, I have to say. If you’re pretending like you have a cat, or dreaming about one, yeah. We’ve got one back home and–honestly, he’s. I guess sassy is the best way to describe him. He’s been pretty needy lately, but my friend was like, his person. So sometimes he just lets himself in and curls up with me. Downside, I wake up with cat hair in my mouth. Upside, um. You know. I don’t have as many nightmares. If you’re home alone, it might be nice to have someone to come home to.”
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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 4:45 pm
She took the card and hesitated, her smile fading slightly. “Ah! I’ll have to make a social media account! I don’t have one yet, but that’ll be fun!” Ana smiled and pocketed the card, shifting the bag of food to be more secure in her arms and looked sad for the cat. The poor baby…”I really hope that your friend comes home soon. Nobody should have to miss the ones that they care about, and clearly you care about her a lot. Give the kitty a kiss on his furry face for me, okay?”
Maybe she would look into getting a cat…or ask Aria if perhaps…they could look into doing the whole…roommate thing. At least for a little while. Everything felt so up in the air, and she felt…disorientated. “It was really nice to meet you, Evan. I’ll be back, and maybe I’ll have gained a few pounds because of all of this food!”
Her smile was back, though it wasn’t quite reaching her eyes. “Be safe going home, and stay warm, okay?”
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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 4:59 pm
He nodded. “Yeah, I’m going to pack up soon, I think. I don’t know if he’s gonna want me to kiss him, but I’ll tell him it’s not from me, it’s from a very nice, pretty girl. He’ll probably like that more.”
He paused. “I’m not flirting. I’m so sorry if that came across weird. I’m engaged. I don’t know how to give a compliment. I can go throw myself into the oven right now, though.” At least it would be warm.
“Um, you be safe going home, too. I’ll see you soon. I promise, there’s usually someone better than me working the counter, there’s a reason I’m supposed to stay in the kitchen,” he said, and looked at the sign next to him as if it were his backup.
It wasn’t an impressive sign, just something printed on normal computer paper and laminated; it read, ‘We are currently understaffed and doing our best. Please be kind.’
He seemed like he was one bad customer away from a breakdown anyway, but he was doing his best.
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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 5:31 pm
“Engaged! Congratulations! I hope that you’re very happy! I…I think I…um. I think I’m a lesbian? So…no worries on the flirting, please don’t throw yourself into the oven, I…I want to be friends, not lose you in a fire!”
Anastasia wrinkled her nose and looked sadly at the sign. “I’ll be safe. I hope I get to see you again soon! Thank you for all of the food! I’m so excited to eat it!” She wasn’t able to wave so she wiggled her head in a gesture of farewell and began to walk home, holding the warm food close to herself. Maybe…maybe this would be good. A friend who wasn’t involved in anything. Who didn’t know her…and who seemed just as lonely as she was…but.
If he didn’t want to be friends…well. That…would be okay too.
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