string bean | wilbur soot

2

          I look impatiently at the time. It's currently 5:30 pm. 30 minutes left until I get to leave. I hate standing on my feet all day, but it's better than having a horrible job that I truly do hate. At least this is easy and I don't have to talk too much if I don't want to.

          I'm currently ringing out a middle-aged woman in a fancy looking suit, who probably has a sit-down office job and a picture-perfect family. I normally make up little stories about the customers I have. It makes the day go by faster and a lot less boring.

          "That'll be $40.14, ma'am," I say, looking at the people in line behind her. There were two guys laughing uncontrollably. Probably childhood best friends catching up, I think. I look back at the fancy suited lady as she hands me $41, telling me not to worry about the change. She's probably rich, or just in a hurry. 

          All the two guys have is a bag of Doritos and some toilet paper. As I'm ringing them out, the one with glasses keeps looking at me.

          "Can I help you?" I ask, making uncomfortable eye contact with him.

          "I'm sorry- I just couldn't help but notice the face next to the name on your nametag. Is that a creeper?"

          I look down at my nametag. I forgot that I drew on it with a sharpie a while back. "Uh, yeah."

          "Do you play?" he asks again, his friend just listening to our conversation.

          "Not as much as I used to, but yeah, I guess. Why?"

          He held his hand out. "I'm Carson. It's nice to meet you, Victoria."

          "Vee," I correct him, shaking his hand awkwardly. I wish I would've put that on my nametag instead of my actual name.

          "Like the letter?" Carson's friend asks. I nod to him. "Ohh, that's cool. I'm Travis, like the, uh, I don't know."

          "Uh, that'll be $12," I mumble, not sure how to carry on the conversation. Travis handed me a $15 bill and as I was grabbing their change, Carson handed me his phone. I looked at him, confused as I handed the leftover money back to Travis.

          Carson smiled and said, "You play Minecraft. We play Minecraft for a living, almost. We've been looking for some more friends in the area. If you say no, we understand 'cause this is pretty weird and I see that now."

          I thought about it for a bit. I mean, the only friend I've made my entire 6 months of living in California is Elena. I could use more friends in the area... Without thinking about it, I say "sure" and the next thing you know, I'm giving my phone number and Instagram handle to two complete strangers.