#FlashFictionMagic: Fanfiction

The worst thing to happen to a woman who was already having hot flashes was for the air conditioning to go out. As she sat at her teller station that June morning processing deposits and counting out cash, Geraldine surreptitiously wiped her brow and upper lip with her silk scarf, trying to maintain that famous air of professionalism that had won her employee of the month four times. She hated that she looked such a mess, and that hatred was about to increase because here came Bo Collins through the door. 

Bo was fresh from the garage with oily fingers and a stained shirt, but Geraldine looked right past that to the scruffy salt-and-pepper hair and sea green eyes. Normally, Geraldine tried to look extra pretty when Bo came in, in the hopes that one of these times she’d catch him off-guard enough to get him to talk. As it was, his greeting was a nod and a small smile, and when she said, “How are you today?” he only bobbed his head side-to-side in a noncommittal gesture. 

As she keyed in his account number, though, he seemed to realize how stifling it was in the bank today, and he suddenly said, “Hot in here, huh?” 

Normally Geraldine hated comments about the weather. When customers asked if it was hot enough for her, she often had to resist the urge to slap them. But Bo didn’t do small talk, so she let this one slide. “The A C died on us. The repairman can’t get here until 1.”

“You’ll melt,” he said simply. 

“I very well might.” Geraldine printed his receipt and slid it across the counter. She guessed Bo Collins didn’t really do sympathy. If only he weren’t so darn attractive. “Stay cool now,” she told him, ending their transaction and the awkwardness of his indifference toward her. 

There were no other customers for a bit, so Geraldine went for a drink of cold water and dabbed some on her neck. Then she started counting up her drawer to make sure it was balanced. She had just neatened the stack of five dollar bills when the door swung open. It was Bo again. Had she made a mistake on his deposit? That wasn’t like her, but the heat was doing a number on her brain. 

Bo was carrying something over his shoulder. All she could see of it was a tripod-like stand and a dangling white electrical cord. She watched as he lowered the burden to the floor and looked for an outlet. Finding one behind the wastepaper basket, he plugged it in, and when it whirred to life and he stood back, she realized it was a fan. It was the kind that oscillated, but Bo only let it make half a turn. He stopped it when it was fixed right on Geraldine, and left it that way. 

“What in the world?” she called over to him, and Bo’s whole face lit up with the handsomest smile Geraldine had ever seen. It was all laugh lines and crow’s feet, shiny teeth and kindness. Tipping an imaginary hat, he bowed to Geraldine and headed back outside. Though her skin was cooling comfortably by the second, a new warmth rose inside her chest that had nothing whatever to do with the weather.