Wednesday Brief: your hump day dose of flash fiction

Happy 4th of July!

Welcome to another Wednesday Brief story! This week's prompts were:


- Use any sort of patriotic reference or
- the alternate prompts: cat, chocolate, mysterious or
- Use a grand old flag or
-"I never told you that..." or
- find a way to crack the whip in your story (take that any way you want to!)

The prompts were great but my muse was being bitchy so it took me forever to come up with something. As my mind overturned possibilities I thought about all the people that would be working on the 4th of July and came up with this sweet little brief.The final result which you will find below, is not exactly to my liking but it's better than nothing. Enjoy! and please, don't forget to visit the other Briefer's great stories! (Links at the bottom)

Celebrating through the night

Megan wiped the tables clean while humming softly to the rock song playing in the background. She couldn’t believe the night was finally over. She stuck the tip of her tongue through her teeth as she scrubbed at a mysterious spot on the grey table.

Independence Day had come and gone and she had worked right through it. It had been a long ruthless night. The place had been packed to the brim and by midnight there were more drunkards than not. Nate, her boss had even had to throw out a couple of brawlers. She glanced up at the Kit-Cat clock and sighed. Five am. Picking up the last chair, she placed it on the tabletop. Throwing the damp cloth over her shoulder, she looked around the small establishment. Everything seemed to be in order. She mentally checked all the items: clean tables, glasses, dishes and bar. The only thing missing was the sticky-icky floor. Rubbing her eyes, she made her way between the furniture to the back of the room and picked up the broom.

Something crashed in the conjoining room and she jumped. Her heart rate accelerated and her palms began to sweat. Who was there? She had closed the door, right? Doubt gnawed at her gut as she heard whoever was on the other side of the door clumsily move around. Maybe she should call the police. Whoever was out there had broken into the locale, because she could swear she had closed the door after the last customer left. Shit. She had closed the door, but Trixie had had to leave early ‘cause her kid had called her with some emergency. It wasn’t like Trixie to leave the door unlocked but…

“Meg?”

The familiar voice, deep and mellow, caused a shiver to run down her spine. She hated when he called her Meg because she always reacted like that. She was like a love struck teenager every time she was around him. Trembling slightly when his fingers brushed her skin, blushing when he spoke to her, ogling from behind the bar like he was the finest work of art that had graced the earth. Now, he was here. At five am in the bar. What the hell was he doing here?

“Nate?”

She stepped out of the cupboard, broom and dustpan in hand, yellow cloth still hanging onto her shoulder. “What are you doing here?”

Nate gave her one of his smiles, the sort that caused the dimple on his right cheek to show up. His eyes regarded her with playful intent as he spread his hands in front of one of the tables.

“Surprise!”

Megan stared at him and then at the table. She looked up at him again. Her cheeks burnt red and her stomach churned nervously.

“What’s this?” she said breathlessly.

“Well,” Nate walked up to her and took the broom and dustpan from her hands, setting them aside. Taking her hand, he led her to a chair. “You’ve been working your pretty ass off tonight and I decided you should celebrate a bit.”

She gaped as Nate pulled back a chair and offered it to her. He took the sloppy washing rag from her shoulder, his fingers skimming her skin and causing her breath to hitch. Throwing the thing at the bar, he took a seat across from her and cut a piece of the delicious chocolate cake set on the table. Smiling, he popped open the cold champagne bottle and poured it into the plastic flutes he had brought.

“There really was no need for this. I mean, it’s no big deal, I’ve gotten some pretty good tips for the night.”

Nate laughed, the deep and throaty sound creating a warm glow through her body.

“You deserve those tips. You’re a great worker, Meg. Dedicated, competent, driven, intelligent, bright, sweet, beautiful, sexy…I,” he paused. “That last bit was not about your professional qualities, this is not about your work, Meg.” He indicated the table, the chocolate, and the golden bubbles.

Meg glanced into his blue eyes before quickly looking away. Instead, she focused on his foot, tapping the floor nervously.

“I’m sorry, this was a bad idea, I just thought--”

“No.” Megan looked up at him and smiled. Butterflies danced at the pit of her stomach and her hands shook so badly she had to clasp them together on her lap to avoid upsetting anything on the table. “It wasn’t a bad idea, Nate. I, well, you. Who told you that's my favorite cake?” Megan bit her lip and Nate laughed.

“Trixie. You didn’t think I was interested?”

She nodded.

“Oh, sweetheart, I’ve been interested ever since you walked through that door. I never told you that because," he shrugged. "I thought that with us working together it’d be awkward but the more I worked with you the more I crushed on you.”

“But, why now? I mean, we’re still working together.”

“Trixie told me that now that you've settled some of your debts you’ve been looking for something more related to your line of work. I had to try before you left.”

“Oh, wow.”

Nate leaned closer to her and Megan’s eyes widened. He reached for her hand and squeezed. “Only if you want—“ Still trembling, Megan closed the distance between them and crushed her lips against his. Nate gasped and pulled her closer. Her hands entwined around his neck, his finger brushed against her arms. He nipped at her lower lip and she gasped. His tongue tentatively brushed against her and she moaned. Stroke against gentle stroke, passion against passion, their kiss burned a flame which had sparked a long time ago. Drawing her onto his lap, Nate nuzzled her neck.

“Let’s get out of here, go down to the beach, eat some cake and drink champagne.”

“What about the bar?”

“Trixie can clean it tomorrow,” he replied with a grin. He kissed her again, and she smiled against him. "By the way--"

“Happy fourth of July,” they said in unison and laughed. Megan stood up and took his hand. Independence Day hadn’t been that bad after all.

This week's Briefer's

MA Church    m/m

Michael Mandrake  m/m

Tali     m/m

Sara York    m/m

Julie Lynn Hayes m/m

MC Houle     m/m