Flo & Phil

Well, I woke up at 3:30 this morning and couldn't sleep, so I grabbed my prompt book and started writing. What follows is a story I didn't quite finish. I'll finish it the next time I wake up at 3:30 in the morning, probably tonight. Anyway, let me know what you think.

“My goodness, did you see the news last night?”

“Nah, I prefer the positive things in life. Them news stories just bring me down.”

“You’re so full of it Phil. You probly fell asleep in front of the tube watchin’ some half naked chicks and forgot about the news. Well, let me tell you, I am sure not happy ‘bout livin’ by myself right now. There was this story ‘bout a woman home alone, asleep in the middle of the night. Some fella broke into her place, stole everything and killed her; they think she was tryin’ to stop ‘im or something like that. I tell you, scared me half to death, I didn’t know what to do.”

“Flo, this town’s so safe, ain’t no one gonna break into your place an’ kill ya.”

“How do you know that Phil, all these new people movin’ into our little town. What if one of ‘em’s a thief? We don’t know what they been doin’ before they came here.”

“Well, if ya really wanna feel safe, why don’t ya git yerself a gun? That’s what all them hoighty toighty women in the cities do.”

“Ya, got an idea there Phil. I just might.”

“Well, I gotta git to work. See ya for dinner Flo.”

“See ya Phil.”

Phil left the diner and trudged on to work, while Flo continued to serve greasy breakfast and watered down coffee to her other customers.

Flo, short for Florence, and Phil had known each other most of their lives. They had grown up together, just a street apart, and did just about everything together as soon as they could walk. The town thought for sure they would get married just as soon as high school was over, but here it was ten years down the road and both of them were still single with no ideas of getting married. Some thought Phil had cold feet and couldn’t bear the thought of giving up his single life of beer and porn in the evenings. Some thought Flo had dreams of grandeur and wanted to make it big in the music industry; she was always singing some song while working in the diner. Flo and Phil joked about it frequently. But what no one suspected was that Phil had absolutely no interest in Flo. Not because of beer and porn, but rather because he was more interested in Steve.

Steve was the hot single guy that Phil worked with. Phil knew Steve was into girls, not guys, but he just couldn’t stop thinking of him. Ever since Steve had moved into town a year ago Phil had been entranced. Steve was nothing like the guys Phil had grown up with. He was refined and had an accent that made Phil melt inside.

Of course Flo knew about Phil and his interest in Steve, they had known each other most of their lives after all. Phil had made Flo promise to keep his secret until he was ready to tell others. Flo being the good friend she was had kept Phil’s secret ever since she found out. Steve was a topic of conversation between the two of them when Flo got off work at the diner. Flo had never met Steve, but from the way Phil talked about him, she knew he had to be something different; she just wasn’t sure if it was a good different.

During her break that day Flo went to the Hunting Shack, the only place in town that sold guns. The Hunting Shack doubled as a pawn shop. They had the most eclectic collection of things to buy that anyone had ever seen. Flo found a cute little gun that would fit in her purse so she could get it home without everyone knowing she had bought a gun. Of course there was that ten day waiting period before she could actually purchase the gun, but she had found what she was looking for. Flo filled out the paperwork and headed back to the diner. She couldn’t wait to hear what Phil had to say.

That evening Flo saw Phil walk into the diner with the best looking man she had ever seen. He wasn’t that tall, about six feet, but he was gorgeous. Flo decided she was in love. As she walked over to the table she fluffed her hair a bit.

“Hey Phil, how was work today?”

“Not bad. This here’s Steve, we work together. Steve, this here’s Flo, we grew up together.”

So, this was the famous Steve she had heard so much about. Quite a few thoughts were running through Flo’s head at the moment. The top two being, why had Phil kept Steve away from the diner for so long, and how was she going to finagle a date out of Steve before he left for the evening.

“Heya Steve, welcome to our little hole in the wall. Any questions ya got be sure and ask. I’ll help ya anyway I can.”