The afternoon sun beat down on the reflective, white surface of the hood. I was inside luckily, chilling with the AC on. I peered out my passenger seat window to watch the slow and drab scenery that we drove by. Ice creams melting in children's hands. The sweet, rich cream streamed down from the cone to the fingers, palms, forearms, and eventually elbows. I shuddered; how do kids even eat like that? It was utterly disgusting.
Once bright, green grass started to turn into golden hay as the tips of the blades shifted from the original color of dark green to a yellowish tinge. Water sprinklers in the park made way for mini-rainbows that kids and adults alike ran under. The pavement that was surrounding the park was radiating more heat than that actual sun. Mirages full of fraudulent water magically appeared in front of my eyes. I rubbed them to see if they would disappear, but they didn't. Instead, I got a closer view of the crisp, light-blue sky. No clouds in sight, and also no flocks of migrating geese. Perhaps it was too hot for any living organism to freely move around. Even the small frogs, toads, and dragonflies that claimed the petite pond in the middle of the park were nowhere to be heard. I sighed. It truly was a very hot day.
But! It was different for me. Firstly, I was sitting in an AC, ventilated car. Secondly, Angela was driving. Well, I'm not sure if Angela driving was a good thing or a bad thing, thinking back to what happened the last time she drove. I looked at her stunning figure and decided not to think about it. I mean, she did have an actual, unfabricated driver's license. Angela was wearing a relaxed outfit today. A loose, light-blue shirt that matched with the sky, and bleached jeans that were so white that they could have blinded me if I had looked at them at an angle. Other than that, she didn't look like she was wearing any accessories or makeup. I was wearing white and black shorts and a blue, loose-fitting tank top. I did, however, wear a pair of golden-framed sunglasses.
Angela looked over at me with her crystal-blue eyes and said, "You want something to eat?"
I reshaped my light-brown hair out of my eyes and replied, "Well...yeah. That's why it's called a 'Lunch date'. We're already on a date, now we just need to get lunch to up the lunch in 'lunch date'." I think I used the word 'lunch' too many times in a sentence because Angela stared at me for a long time. Maybe, she was trying to understand what I just said. "Short answer equals: yes. I want lunch. You want lunch. Let's both get lunch. You pick where you want to go because I've got no fucking clue. Also, face the road. I know my face is really handsome, but it isn't going to be here much longer if we hit another road bump."
She blushed and looked straight ahead. "Let's go to this one." She steered her car towards a fast-food joint. Remey's Burgers.
"So, do they specialize in burgers?" I asked. The petite but busy building was engineered to look homey and comfy. I looked through the large wall-sized window. There were people in there dining with their families and friends. The floor was teeming with tiny robots cleaning and scrubbing the ketchup and mustard stains. The lights were dimmed due to the glass wall providing the light, the kitchen was small and cramped but still pumped out mind-boggling amounts of food. Fast. Hence the title 'fast food'.
Angela responded sweetly, "Nope. Quesadillas."
"..."
"They say burgers so they can swing with the trend."
I stayed quiet. Angela was about to park in the miniature lot when I suggested something different, "Angela, can we just go through the drive-thru?"
She looked at me weirdly and said, "Are you sure? You might not get the full experience."
I shuddered just thinking about the inside of the place. "Something tells me that the 'full experience' just isn't for me."
She sighed, "Suit yourself." She shifted the gear into reverse and followed the long line of cars into the drive-thru.
***
After, maybe, twenty minutes, the line finally seemed to thin as the cars in front of us were leaving with paper bags stuffed in the back seats. "People sure do order a lot here."
"Of course, it's cheap, tastes good, and most people don't have to worry about side effects, " Angela replied. She was pulling up the window of the drive-thru. The small window was surrounded by red bricks. Yep, just red brick background. It looked like the place was ready for an instant photoshoot. Angela stopped the car right in front of the window and waited for an employee to check on us. The smells of artificial flavorings, ketchup, and sanitizer. I aggressively exhaled through my nose to get the scent out, but more filled the gap. I sighed and gave up.
About a minute in, a lady with dark skin and frizzy hair popped through the window. In a satisfying voice, she said, "Hello and welcome to Remey's Burgers! How may I take your order?"
Angela cleared her throat and said, "We'd like two quesadillas with the combos, please."
The lady - her name tag said 'Betsy'- replied, "Alright, the combo is with fries, a cookie of your choosing, and a medium drink of your liking. Would that be all?" Angela and I nodded our heads in unison. Betsy rang up the total and said, "Perfect, the total for two quesadilla combos comes down to thirteen-point-six credits. Would you like to pay with cash or card?"
Angela was looking through her purse when I stopped her by saying, "I'll pay."
She asked, "Are you sure?"
I looked at her baffled and said, "Babe, I'm your date who can't drive...at this moment. That doesn't mean this isn't my treat." I looked past Angela and told Betsy, "I'll be paying with the card."
Betsy shook her head and held out her hand. I leaned over Angela and shoot it. Betsy pulled back her hand and yelled, "Are you pulling pranks on me?!"
I looked at Angela before saying, "Don't you guys have the integrated card scanners?"
Betsy crossed her arms in a fit. "No, sir, we don't." I reached into my pocket to grab my checkbook. "We also don't take checks. I mean, seriously? A check for thirteen credits. I shrugged my shoulders and pulled out a one hundred credit bill. She took it and filed the payment due. "Oh! Lucky for you guys, the person in front of you paid for your drinks!"
Angela smiled in delight and said, "Wasn't that very kind of them?"
I nodded my head but didn't agree. "But, didn't the car in front of us have like seven kids in it. The person who handed you the money also looked pretty tired with a dog barking in the back and the kids screaming their heads off. You sure it wasn't some kind of...mistake?"
Betsy annoyingly said, "It wasn't. The man specifically told me."
I smiled in delight as well. "Well, that's great!"
I kept smiling. And smiling. And smiling. Until I got awkward. Betsy made a remark, "Well...Aren't you going to pay for the next person's drinks?"
I was perplexed. "Why would I do that?"
She sighed and explained it to me, "It's supposed to be like a gesture of kindness. You know, like a chain reaction. One person gives the next and that person gives the next-"
"Yeah, yeah. I know what I chain reaction is, I'm a scientist for fuck's sake. And for being one, I know that all chain reactions will, at some point, end. And, in this situation, I will be the one to end it. Unless the person behind me wants to splurge their hard-earned money on a pitiful charity in a drive-thru lane."
Betsy looked taken back. "Don't you know what karma is?"
"Sure I do. What do you think those are?" I pointed at the free drinks that she was holding. *HONK!* The person behind us was getting impatient. "I'll tell you what. If I give you the option between taking a thousand credits," I wrote the number down in my checkbook, "and giving the dude behind me a couple of free sodas. Which one would you take? And you can only do one. You can't buy him shit with the money that I gave you. I hate those kinds of loopholes."
Betsy stared at the check. She held the gaze for a solid minute before she gave up. "I would take a thousand credits."
I laughed, "See! That wasn't so hard! No one chooses kindness over their own wellbeing. That's just a fact of life, no need to feel shame about it. Here, I'll add two extra zeros, just for you." I took out my pen again and added the zeros as promised. I gave her the check and she gave us our food. Her eyes lit up when the hundred thousand was in her hands. I smiled and told Angela to keep moving. "You know Angela, money can make everyone happy."
Angela was quiet now. Too quiet. "Angela, what's wrong?" I asked. I was worried.
Angela repeated the same words that I said before, "'No one chooses kindness over their own wellbeing.' What about that man in front of us? He chose kindness when he could have used the money for himself and his family. Do you think what you said is right?"
I looked out my window and thought about it. She did have a point. I pulled out my phone and texted one of my secretaries the license plate number on the man's car. Six-four-five-nine-seven-three-A-G-F. Ten million credits.
Angela looked over at my phone and said, "You think a nice thank you in person would be worth more than sending ten million through some random stranger?"
I sighed. "Fuck it, Angela. Every time I try to do something nice, I always mess it up. I just don't think I can be kind. I just don't think I can," I drifted off.
Angela laughed pleasantly, "You know, you're doing a lot better since I first met you. Being kind isn't something you can rush. You just have to feel it through time. But, you're closer than you were yesterday."
I laughed with her before starting into the empty, blue sky. I was closer to many things than I was yesterday: Evolution Games, Angela, Flin, death. Well, that's what I can think off on the top of my head. But still, 'closer than I was yesterday'. I liked the way that sounded.