Toaster (Promptember #13)
Dorm kitchen; stupid early.
A vacant-eyed Ren shuffles in, wearing pajama pants and a jumper.
"'ey, Ren," yawns Jackson. "Yer jumper's on backwards."
Ren keeps shuffling.
"Are you even awake?" asks Juliet with concern.
"Toaster!" squeaks Ren, scooping it up.
"That thing's broken," reminds Jackson.
"I like toast." Ren presses her cheek to the chrome. "Toasters. They're great."
"I don't think that's healthy," says Juliet.
"If you're fucking the toaster, leave," says Logan.
"Set the little turny-button thing to four, put toast in and wait for toast to happen." Ren sighs happily, rocks on her heels.
Pencils scratch out homework in workbooks.
Ploing!
"Boom!" cheers Ren. "Toast!"
"Yay." Logan starts a new page. "Now, shut up," he grumps, "some of us are trying to work."
Ren shrieks—
Jackson starts.
—whacks the toaster. "You lied!" Retreats. "You lied to me! This—" Shoves her toast in its face. "—is three toast! Not four toast! Three toast!" A sweeping 'no'. "Hardly done!"
Toast bounces off the side of Jackson's head.
"Oi!" He ruffles crumbs out of his hair.
"The toaster, Florence," says Juliet with extreme calm.
The toaster remains aloft.
Ren's breathes through her teeth, chest heaving.
"Florence, sweetie, the toaster."
Ren's eyelid twitches.
"PUT DOWN THE TOASTER, FLORENCE!"
Logan stomps over, plucks the toaster from Ren's hands, tucks it under his arm, shtumps out.
Juliet, Jackson, and Ren watch him go.
A crash and something metal bounces down the stairs.
Logan stomps back in, brushing off his hands.
Juliet, Jackson, and Ren blink.
"Fixed it," Logan declares.
Inspired by Suddenly; Prompts! and Eddie Izzard’s “Toasters Lie” bit
Photo by Martin Cathrae [CC BY-SA 2.0] via Flickr