From Tracie: Keys and Margaritas

Friday, May 27, 2011

Keys and Margaritas

This was absolutely the last time I will lock my keys in my car.

That is what I was telling myself, as I tried to break into my car for the third time that month.

It was the perfect end to a terrible day.

That morning, I started a new job.

On the way there, I spilled coffee down the front of my white shirt.

Thankfully, I found a sweater in my backseat that covered most of the spill. Unfortunately, it was the middle of August and 96 degrees, which meant that sweater had probably been on my floorboard for a very long time.

My new boss didn't seem too excited to see me when I walked in....possibly because I was two minutes late, and wearing a crumpled sweater.

By ten o'clock, I had done something to the copy machine that caused it to lock up and become unusable for the rest of the day.

Lunch in the break-room sent me spiraling back into middle school, when all the cool girls sat together and I sat....somewhere else.  I grabbed a candy bar and ate it at my desk.

My new boss stopped by and told me the file I had spent all morning working on was wrong, and I needed to start over and redo the entire thing.

In the afternoon I met Keith, who was really cute.

I made a great impression by getting all tongue-tied, tripping over a wastebasket, and falling on him.

Jessica, the snooty girl whose cubicle I was sharing, leaned over and told me that I should probably go ahead and quit, because our boss already told her that she didn't like me, and she was pretty sure that no one else did either.

And now here I am. Locked out of my car, standing in the parking lot while Jessica walks by with three friends, laughing at me.

Clearly getting out of bed today had been a bad idea, as had the job.

I should go ahead and quit when I go back inside to call a locksmith.

"Need some help?"

I look up, and see Keith standing beside me, with a hint of a smile on his face.

"Are you any good at breaking into cars?"

"Possibly. How do you feel about Mexican food? A job like that could make a guy pretty hungry, and you look like you could use a margarita."

I think I'll give this job another try, tomorrow couldn't possibly be so bad.

And as for Jessica's declaration that nobody liked me? Maybe she was wrong.


This fiction is in response to the prompt from The Red Dress Club:

Write a short piece - 600 words max - that begins with the words, "This was absolutely the last time" and ends with "She was wrong."


Comments and Constructive Criticism are always appreciated. 

18 comments:

  1. We have all been there. New job. Can't get anything right the first day (and for me usually the first month). But there's always someone there on your side. Not always a handsome guy, but someone to help you through the newness and the awkwardness of it all. I'm hoping to have a new job very soon...I'll let you know how that first day goes, if I get the job.
    Good post Tracie!

    ReplyDelete
  2. So relatable. So been there! Poor girl! Thank goodness for Keith! :)

    I love that the two "assigned" lines didn't end up being connected.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fiction? Girl, I could have written this about leaving my headlights on.(of my car, thank you. We don't know each other for me to reference my boobs in a comment...oops.)

    Very cute story with room to develop some fun plot lines.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yay for Keith!

    I hate the first day of a new job. So much anxiety, so much of that need to "be right" but not be too brown-nosey. You capture it perfectly!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love a happy ending-and when it's at the expense of the mean girl-even better! Great job with this prompt!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This was great! B!tchy Jessica was probably jealous that Keith could like her. ;) Well done, I could feel the frustration and man, so was wishing I could fix the day for her. Then, tah dah, Keith did. Fun post!

    ReplyDelete
  7. This was really cute. My favorite line, "Lunch in the break-room sent me spiraling back into middle school, when all the cool girls sat together and I sat....somewhere else."

    It's so funny how work break rooms are just like high school. ugh!

    ReplyDelete
  8. This was good! I felt bad for the poor girl!

    One thing to maybe consider would be paragraphs? I think it might have read a little faster and given a bit more 'oomph'.

    Other than that, it was descriptive, visual, and I could definitely relate! Good job!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Much different than I was expecting! I laughed off the first line (maybe I do that all the time) You definitely took the prompt to a creative level! Good Job!

    Found you off TRDC Red Writing Hood!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Okay I hate Jessica and dig Keith. Well written

    ReplyDelete
  11. I liked the flow - and enjoyed the nice and neat happy ending. And, totally relatable :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I liked this post and the story line could certainly go much further. Loved the witty humor of the terrible day she day. I hope she and Keith end up happy together.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Funny. You did a great job of describing this terrible thing - the first day at a new job. If only there was a keith there for all of us. Loved it.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Nice line about the margaritas!

    He sounds like a guy with great dimples.

    And you capture the angst of a day spiraling out of control nicely.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Good for her! I'm so glad she has a knight in shining armor! I hate Jessica!

    ReplyDelete
  16. This? Is great fiction! You're a writer girl!

    The key to a great story, no matter the size, is drawing readers in. I sat here, going, "Yeah? Yeah? And then what?" You did a seamless job. Congratulations.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I feel like I have lived this day in real life. And there might have been a margarita and the end of it.

    ReplyDelete