***2X WINNER OF @YAROMANCE'S 'BITE-SIZED LOVE BUFFET 2024'***
❝ Walking through life with you, ma'am, has been a very gracious thing. ❞
- Errol Flynn, 1941
A POST-WWII SHORT STORY COLLECTION.
Title: The Milkshake Talker Contest: Bite-sized Love Buffet 2024 Prompt: Favorite Meal Host: Ambassadors of Wattpad's Short Story Profile & YARomance Profile Word Count: 500
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KENNETH LINDEN'S PALMS are sweating. His steering wheel could attest to that fact, yet he supposed it's better a wet steering wheel than handprints on the front of his trousers.
Especially since he is going to Virginia McVey's place.
His heart quickens at the thought of her name, for that dish has had his head spinning the moment he laid his eyes on her. At first, he thought it was her hair, red and styled like the older girls on campus. But as he watched her brown eyes brush over book pages as seamlessly as an issue of Photoplay, he became curious of the girl's mind. He'd watch her until her sister, Lois, came to pick her up, and Virginia returned the book to one of the library's shelves.
Kenneth would grab the book shortly thereafter, and although he was no ace in understanding the phonetic theories or neurological disorders etched into the pages, they at least gave him a sense of what Virginia was interested in.
But he wanted to know more. So that is why, right now, the man is cruising down a block with cookie-cutter homes rising up on each side of him, his eyes peeled for the house with the star spangled banner waving by the front door.
He eventually spots it in the glow coming from the home's picture window and parks. Stealing one last look at his bottom lip—still a purple hue after the hit he took at last week's game—Kenneth accepts his appearance and hops out of the car and walks to the front door.
Knocking once, Etta McVey answers. Despite Bernard assuring him over the Ameche that the whole family will be aware of his arrival, Virginia's mother still looks surprised.
"Good evening, Mrs. McVey."
The woman blinks twice before yelling for her husband. Kenneth sees Bernard's forearms first, muscular from pushing the wheels of his wheelchair. The Army veteran smiles at the boy once he's close enough, and beckons for Kenneth to bend down. He does, careful not to brush the stump where half of Bernard's leg used to be.
"She's a stutterer."
Kenneth's eyes widen as Mrs. McVey and her daughter appear next to him just then, and the young man straightens himself out.
———
Kenneth can't shake Bernard's confession about Virginia's stuttering as the couple walk towards a diner Bernard said is her favorite. That explains why he's never heard her speak—she was hiding her voice.
Sliding into a booth, Kenneth orders two milkshakes as he tells Virginia about why his lip is discolored. He knows it isn't the most killer diller story; however, it fills the silence as Virginia nods at him.
When the waitress sets the drinks in front of them, Kenneth is almost relieved, and while he sips on the blend of chocolate and cream, gazes up at Virginia.
He opens his mouth to speak again, but Virginia cuts him off with her melodic voice as she praises the milkshake.
