Date with Magic

"I literally just wanted Wendy's," I grumbled.

"Oh, Dad's gonna kill you," she replied with a smile.

The genie was sitting on the counter with a devious smile. It was as if they were in on this together. The genie had told me I could get anything I wanted after I had accidentally washed the little weird teapot my mom had brought back from her trip to Morocco. She had told me that the top was stuck on it, but after soaking it for three days, it came right off and out popped this cheeky Arabic teenager who told me he would grant my every wish. Sure, I could've just asked for a car or asked what time the bus was running, but I just knew that this was an easy wish that couldn't be fucked up.

"Wendy's. I want Wendy's!" I had said.

He shrugged and snapped, and instead of a bag of greasy, questionable chicken nuggets, I got an irritated, fourteen-year-old, freckled redhead who helped herself to my mom's lactose-free chocolate chip ice-cream and was telling me I was going to get in so much trouble when her dad found out. Now, when she wasn't taunting me, I noticed that she was making goo-goo eyes at Fahid, who was making no efforts to hide his infatuation with her.

"How did you bring this little twat here when I asked for Wendy's? Wendy's! With an s!"

"Whoops, guess I misheard," he said, without looking at me.

"Oh, dad's gonna--"

"Oh, shut up. I'm in middle school. Your dad can't do shit to me that I haven't already felt."

She shrugged and kept eating the ice-cream.

"Is her name even Wendy?"

"It's Eva, twat," the girl sighed with an eye roll.

"So, you just used my wish to bring your girlfriend here?" I said to Fahid.

"Listen, when you're a genie, you can bend the rules a bit. Plus, how do you think I got in the damn lamp in the first place? He caught us."

"He caught you?"

"The doors don't lock in Hell," Eva said with an eye roll. "You wouldn't understand true love, kid."

"True love? You both are literally only two years older than me."

Eva shrugged. "My dad will be here any second to fry you."

"Yeah, I'll be terrified when the Burger King shows up to kill me. Can I use my second damn wish now?"

"Just make it quick. I made dinner reservations," Fahid said, eliciting a surprised gasp from Eva.

"I wish you were free, and you and Eva could go and be happy. Get out,"

Fahid smiled with part gratefulness and part deviousness. He snapped and the shackles disintegrated.

"You know, you could've just broken the lamp and saved your wishes. But thanks anyway, kid."

I rolled my eyes. Fahid pulled Eva into his arms, and the two disappeared. I looked at the clock. My mom would be back in twenty minutes, and of course, the one time I tried to do my chores on time some magical shit she would never believe happened to make me unable to finish them. I scrubbed at the pan when I felt the room getting hotter and hotter. I turned around to see a flaming Colonel Sanders looking at me.

"Are you Danielle Sanchez?" he asked in a booming voice.

"Listen, they just left. I wished he'd be free, and they'd go be happy, so just go to wherever she's happy, and you'll probably find them."

"Damn kids," Colonel Sanders said, turning to walk out.

I looked back and saw that he had left charred footprints in the kitchen all the way to the front door that he had kicked open, singeing it, and walked out of without closing. My mother would never believe that this wasn't my fault. A part of me wished that I had that last wish still, though with my luck today, I was better off just taking the ass whooping instead of trying to get out of this mess with magic. I just hoped she got my mental plea and brought me some chicken nuggets from Wendys. That was the least Fahid could do since I'd given him happiness. Though, when my mom showed up a couple of minutes later, earlier than planned, without a bag of greasiness in her hand, I knew he had once again failed me. I rolled my eyes and finished painting the burnt part of the door.