Noise

Copyright © 2013

Noise

 My best friend, Ava, is in the back getting her head chewed off by the boss. I wish the two would just get a room already. I've got much more to worry about than the ever so secret relationship going on between the worst secret keeper in town and her thirty year old lover. The ding of the front door rings in my ears and my mouth opens to say "Welcome to Caffeine Castle!", without having to look up from the mint foam Chai I hand off to a customer.

         All I see is the man's hairy fingers envelope around the white cup, his gruff voice pushing out the smell of cigarette smoke. It mingles with the sweet smell of tea, dulling the magic from my work of art. 

        I don't hear him over the sound of a toddler crying near the front door. It doesn't really matter. He's either said, thanks, or go screw yourself; in which case, my response is away the same. A plastic smile and a, "Have a great day sir."

        I'm no beauty queen like the tall slender girl who's perched against the wall, waiting to be served. If I looked something like her,my boss wouldn't dare  get on my case about being genuine with my customers. There's no  point of offering a real smile. Makeup or no,this face will always be invisible. Not like Ava, with her flawless looks and outspoken double pierced tongue. Not even the life of a coffee shop can dull her shine. Or you know, dish duty. In the back the shouts are getting louder. I hear Ava say something along the lines of, "I'll be damned if you put me on cleanup because I blew you off!"

       The satisfied customer grunts and walks away, taking a detour through the argument happening in the shop. He splits it up for a moment when he walks through. He's a large man. I can tell by the sound of his footsteps that he's roughly around two fifty. Either he's on his way to a manicurist, or the tea is for a prospective lover.

The door dings again, and I know hairy knuckles has left which signals the start up of the same fight he'd interrupted. Someone cut in line and according the the one who sounds like a true Californian, cutting on a Monday is, "like, totally not cool dude."

The baby is still crying, his mother is still hushing him, and now they're next in line. Ava has stopped yelling which only means the fight is over an they're probably making out. I sigh, running my hands through my curly hair before starting for the smoothie maker.

A few moment's later the fight in the front of the store has escalated.

"That'll be three fifty. I say to the customer before me, handing her a foam cup. When she pays me, I scoot a banana smoothie to her also. "That's for Trevor." I say, mentioning the name I'd heard her call her son when he was crying. "It's on the house."

       She smiles, but I slide from behind the counter before she can begin blessing my heart. Looking down at my shoes, I wonder what words to use to break up the fight. I don't have to see their faces to know that some caffeine deprived civilian is moments away from socking the other to Timbuktu, I can tell by the inflections in their voices.

"Please guys, calm down." I say, letting my hair fall over my face. I'm not good with confrontation.

Another thing I'm not good at, ducking. I hear the swoosh of a fist as the first swings at the other and in the next instant I'm on the floor. This time, my overly alert sense feel everything. The sound of shouts all around me, the scattering of feet against the linoleum, the sounds of the brothel that was once my ritual workplace. What I don't register however, is any pain.

I did just get punched, right?

Wrong.

It's only now that I realize that someone is on top of me. He has smooth brown skin contrasting with hazel green eyes. The combination is beautiful and I can't help but wonder if eyes like these are what I've been missing when addressing peoples shoes instead of their faces. He smirks and I see a dimple form in his cheek. For the first time ever, I can't hear the commotion around me.

He scrambles up after a moment, and offers a hand which I take dumbly. The way he shields me from the riot that's broken loose in the cafe makes me feel indescribable. Both his arms wrap around me as he walks behind me, ushering me forward. I don't even realize that Ava and the boss have emerged when the boy leads me outside.

"Sorry for tackling you back there." He says when we are out."It was the best move before that jerk in there could miss his target."

"Thanks." I murmur quickly.

"You work a lot huh?"

"What makes you think that?" I attempt to joke. He actually smiles at it.

"I've seen you behind that counter every day this summer."

"I hate to be rude but I've never seen you before."

"I would imagine you haven't." He leans against the store window now. "You're always looking down.
Why don't you ever look up?'

"I don't know." I say feeling embarrassed. "There's no need to."

"I hate to sound corny but, with a smile like yours, there's a lot of reason to look up."

Before I can say anything else he says, "See! there it is! That smile!"

I try not to laugh now as I spin on my heels to go back into the cafe.

"I have to get back in there to help." I say over my shoulder.

"Why?"

"Because that's my job."

"No." He gently grabs my hand and turns me around to face him.

"That'" he says, nodding towards the riotous coffee shop, "is just noise."

Noise

 The word reverberates in my mind. I don't hear the noise when I'm talking to this boy, and he doesn't seem to notice anything around him but me.

 "I'm Kellan."

"Lacie."

"Would you like to go for a walk with me Lacie? I know this great music place."

"No." I say suddenly. "How about we just walk. You know, in silence."

He raises an eyebrow but smiles.

"May I?"

I let him take my hand in his. It fits perfectly in his warm grasp. And then we walk away. Away from my boss from hell, even though I can feel his eyes searing out from behind the window. Away from Ava, who I know will text me before the night is up. But most importantly away from the thing that made my life seem so small compared to it's ongoing madness, finally I was getting away from the noise.

Hey guys! So I havent posted in a week or two and I really feel ashamed. I don't want to make excuses but the truth is, I don't know what to say!! :/ So until I get over this bloggers block(I just made that up...yes) I thought I'd humor you with this short story I wrote for a group contest on figment.com. The promt was basically write as someone who obsevres the things going on around them. Lacie was supposed to be like that theoretical fly on the wall. Keep in mind, I haven't written a short story in forever and ages ago so please don't judge my skill by this. I just thought it'd be fun to share whilst we await an actual spark of genius to hit me with a waffle iron. XXXXX